1993: A Firewood Hunt Led to Two More Bodies in Belanglo Forest

In October 1993, a local man out gathering firewood stumbled on human remains in a remote corner of Belanglo State Forest. The bones belonged to Deborah Everist and James Gibson, a Melbourne couple missing since 1989.

What unsettled investigators was that Gibson’s camera and backpack had already turned up years earlier, dumped by the roadside at Galston Gorge, more than 120 kilometres from where his body finally lay. Within weeks, a wider search of the forest uncovered four more young backpackers buried nearby, confirming Belanglo as the burial ground of a serial killer.

Belanglo State Forest
Belanglo State Forest

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1996: The Ivan Milat Verdict: Seven Murders, Life Without Parole

Ivan Robert Marko Milat, known as the Backpacker Murderer, was found guilty on 27 July 1996 of seven counts of murder, the worst serial killing case in Australian history. His victims, mostly young backpackers travelling the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne between 1989 and 1992, were lured under the pretence of a lift before being taken into the Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales and murdered.

Milat was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole and spent 25 years appealing his sentence. Police remained confident he was responsible for more killings than those proven at trial. He died in custody on 27 October 2019.

The <a href='https://darkstories.com.au/belanglo-state-forest-ivan-milat/' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'>Ivan Milat</a> Verdict: Seven Murders, Life Without Parole
Belanglo State Forest

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On This Day in True Crime History
1794·The First Free Settler Murdered in the Colony: Hanged at Sydney for a Parramatta Stabbing
1826·The Gun That Misfired Twice: Three Bushrangers Hanged Outside Sydney
1873·A Tearful Confession in Custody Cracked the Case: Two Men Hanged at Perth Gaol for Eating their Victim
1889·He Called It an Accident. The Jury Called It Murder: Robert Landells Hanged at Melbourne Gaol
1907·A Doctor Fooled Twice: Martha Rendell and the Second Child to Die of Diphtheria
2002·Shot Dead in His Own Bed: A Melbourne Gangland Killing Blamed on a Friend
More Crime On This Day →

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