In 2001, the bodies of six women were found in bushland. Each victim was discovered after nights of wild thunderstorms. No one stood trial for these serial crimes. The perpetrator is still at large. Police are still asking for help to find a killer.
It’s tempting to forget the impact of old crimes. As each day passes, new and different ones take hold of our attention and that of the police. This lowers their priority while others gain more. As our memory dulls, too, we allow complacency to creep in, believing the murders won’t happen again because they’re not happening now. Many of us have no reason to worry anymore.
There should be a reason to worry.
This 2001 killer is still out there, waiting for the trigger to reactivate them. I believe it comes down to those storms. The weather patterns have changed. The climate wasn’t the same after 2001. But there’s a good chance they’ll change back, and the killer will return.
Several families are living with scars from these vicious attacks, and no closure can take place for them until an arrest has been made. You may not know these strangers or the victims who tragically lost their lives in 2001, but you might know the person who committed the crimes.
The statistics guarantee this. You’ve made contact with them at some point.
There’s one other thing to remember.
Triggered or not, ninety per cent of serial killers kill again. Serial killers don’t get bored and stop. They kill. That’s what they do. The urge to kill is far too great for them not to. The next victim may be you or someone you know. You can stop this from happening. Apply a little time to this post before the next victim falls. The smallest piece of information could break the case.
Cast your mind back to the early 2000’s. A forensic psychiatrist has established that the perpetrator is male, was between the ages of 20 and 40, married, and suffered from an undiagnosed mental health condition. He shows no outward rage but will express his violence in other ways, perhaps through obsessing over the work he does or a sport he plays.
We know he’s tech-savvy. He used computers to study his victims months before making a move on them. This means he’s observant and highly patient, possibly to a fault. The murder timeline suggests he would’ve had to make an excuse to leave whenever there was a storm brewing. He may have even used the storm as an excuse to exit quickly.
Remember, this was the summer of 2001. Shows like Twenty-Four and Crossing Jordan were popular. We were listening to Nelly Furtado and Matchbox Twenty. A year earlier, we survived the Millennium Bug.
The psychiatrist believes he’s a closeted misogynist, outwardly respectful of females but inwardly loathing them. He didn’t say why.
“It’s just a matter of time. Someone knows this individual. They’ll be a neighbour, work colleague, or a family member.”
Alan Sweetman led the specialised crime unit Operation Kurdaitcha in 2001. He stated no weapon was used on the women. The killer used only his hands, and the storm destroyed the forensic evidence after he was done.
“Just as we [Op-Kurd] were forming, the murders stopped. It was like he left the country, died, or was in police custody for another offence.”
Mr Sweetman stated that those lines of investigation didn’t turn up anything.
He recently released new details from the investigation. It concerned online dating and hidden microphones.
“The problem we have with dating sites is that it can be hard to track down users. If someone doesn’t want to be found, they can remain hidden, especially in 2001.”
“The most disturbing thing we discovered during this investigation is his use of the victim’s own microphones. He accessed their device’s inbuilt mikes and then listened, sometimes for hours. None of the women one would have known this was happening.”
The case was scaled down at the end of 2002 but remains open and active today.
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“Forman’s writing style is artful, with the protagonist Mitchell’s warped thought processes masterfully exposed. The author has a powerful and vivid command of language and his word pictures are stark and disturbingly real.”
– Linda J Bettenay, author of ‘Secrets Mothers Keep’ and ‘Wishes For Starlight’.
Discover more from Michael Forman – Author of Dark Fiction & Drama
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