A brutal murder and the rise of a serial killer fear | Forensic Files

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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at
anytime you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website the seaside city of warm Gong is located
82 kilometers until ilaria region on the east coast of Australia with a population of close to 300,000 people
it's the third largest city in the state of New South Wales behind Sydney and Newcastle archaeological evidence
suggests that Indigenous Australians inhabited Wollongong and its rich surrounding regions as far back as
40,000 years with the immense growth of Sydney during the early 1800s new townships were established to expand the
population and grow industry a harbour was built in Wollongong creating a fishing industry and the Port Kembla
still works followed soon after cementing Wollongong is a hub of steel and other heavy industries bricks
fertilisers machinery and coal money the opportunities for working immigrants seemed endless and soon Wollongong is
population grew by 1966 almost 60% of the workers were immigrants coming from around 70 countries the mix of cultures
bought a liveliness to the city which blended with the relaxed atmosphere of leisurely beachside living at sea level
surf beaches stretch endlessly both north and south with twisting rocky coves and crystal-clear waters behind
the city Dilawar arrangers also known as the Illawarra escarpment fold over and over
dramatically along the entire coastline huge cliffs and plateaus eroded over 30 million years the covered in dense they
grant scrub and rainforest creating a green mountain range hugging the city with its natural beauty in the cultural
diversity and opportunity Wollongong was an appealing place to live [Music] 56 year-old Wilhelmina Krueger was
dropped off to work shortly after 2:00 a.m. on January 29th 1966 it was an early start but she had grown accustomed
to her six-day awake 2:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. cleaning job each night she'd unwind in front of the
television before going to bed around 8:30 p.m. Wilhemina would wake up 5 hours later to
get ready for work and in recent times her partner Stanley had been getting up with her Stanley had been driving
Wilhemina to work from their home in Greenville in inner-city suburb of Wollongong Wilhemina worked at the
Piccadilly Centre a small indoor shopping arcade on the corner of Crown Street and Gladstone Avenue the western
edge of Wollongong city centre the Piccadilly Centre is spread out over far floors and is still similar in layout
today as it was in 1966 the very top level features the Piccadilly Motel a budget motel and has a reputation of
attracting some unruly visitors the motel is only accessible by entering the centre via the western entrance on
Gladstone Avenue and driving up the external ramp there is no access to the motel internally underneath the motel
the two floors dedicated to retail the shopping arcade in the 60s had featured a variety of department stores offices
and specialty shops that serviced the surrounding community the top level of the shopping arcade features pedestrian
access only through the front entrance on Crown Street the bottom level of the shopping arcade is accessible from the
Gladstone Avenue entrance and of course both floors are accessible internally via stairs and escalators the bottom
level of the shopping arcade also features a car parking area in the two floors underneath the basement and
sub-basement levels are dedicated entirely to car parking vehicles enter the Piccadilly Center via
the Gladstone Avenue entrance and can either park on the Gladstone Avenue level or drive down the ramps to the
basement and sub-basement levels alternatively you can drive up the rim to make your way to the motel so on that
morning January 29th 1966 Stan Lee drove Wilhemina into the Piccadilly Centre via
the Gladstone Avenue entrance they arrived around 2:20 a.m. the centre was completely dark there was will the
meanest job to turn the lights on the ceiling lights on the Gladstone Avenue parking level only dimly lit small areas
of the large empty space but that was better than the basement in sub-basement levels that had no lighting at all the
building supervisor refused to install lights down on those levels as they believed hoodlums would damage them
that morning Wilhemina was especially anxious in the preceding weeks she had developed the funny feeling that someone
was watching her it's the reason why Stanley was driving her to work and only two days earlier she had trouble with
the lights when she arrived at work in the early hours of the morning on January 27th the lights didn't turn on
at all uneasy about working alone in the dark Wilhemina complained to the building
supervisor and request that they be repaired he's shorter that he'd get around to it however the next morning
January 28th the light's still won't working will the main a complaint again but this time threatened that if the
lights weren't fixed immediately she wouldn't be attending work the following day it was her third year working as a
cleaner in the Piccadilly Centre in Willow Manor had established herself as a valued and highly respected hard
worker she wasn't a petty complainer there was clear the Birkin lots were making her uncomfortable so the building
supervisor caught an electrician in to fix them the cause of the problem was found in
the wooden fuse box in the parking area on the glutes then Avenue level the lights had fused there was an easy fix
not a big problem at all and it could have been caused by a multitude of issues but one of the screws in the lock
has but the fuse box thought was hanging out which made it look like someone had
accessed it without a key the electrician replaced the damaged fuse and the lights were back working again
he tightened the loose screw back into place and reported his findings to the building supervisor the supervisor
nodded his assumptions were confirmed hoodlums were entering the Piccadilly centre at night and destroying his
property he told the electrician that only three weeks earlier he had found two of the three screws in the hospital
fuse box missing completely the electrician attended to fix the lights after Wilhemina had finished her shift
so she wasn't sure if they were back working again when she arrived to start a shift on the morning of the 29th
stanley parked the car and got out to walk alongside Wilhemina to the small fuse box on a nearby concrete pillar
Wilhemina unlocked the fuse box with a set of a case in stanley flicked several switches inside when the light slowly
flickered on in the parking area both Willow Manor and Stanley were relieved Wilhemina went to the second fuse box at
the far end of the building that turned on the main lights in the shopping arcade
on some mornings Stanley stayed to help Wilhemina clean to keep a company and to
help her get through the overwhelming amount of duties she needed to complete in her shift she had a large area to
tend to not just the two levels of the shopping arcade but also several shop interiors and the motel foyer on the
very top level there was so much work to do that she rarely completed everything
by the end of her shift but that morning Stanley opted to go back home to bed as
they had to go to work himself that day he and Wilhemina exchanged a goodbye wave as he slowly drove out of the
center by 5:30 a.m. the Sun had not yet risen over Wollongong the outer city streets were dark empty and quiet when
Thomas Fitzgibbon arrived at the Piccadilly Centre from his home in dab dough a south western suburb of
Wollongong Thomas was a butcher and was working inside the Piccadilly Centre that morning Judah start work at 6:00
a.m. Thomas pulled into railway Square a short roadway adjacent to Wollongong train station directly behind the
Piccadilly Centre he parked his car and began the short walk to work he made his
way up a footpath on the eastern side for the Piccadilly Centre that ran between the center and the train line
this took him to Crown Street where he bought a newspaper and then entered the shopping arcade area through the front
entrance on Crown Street it came as no surprise that the centre was deserted when Thomas entered but what was
surprising was that the air inside felt unusually heavy and hot he investigated and found an electric immersion heater
submerged in a drum of water at the rear of the building the heater had caused the water to boil filling the arcade
with steam he knew the drum and heater were items used by the cleaner and that there was little water remaining so it
looked like it had been left for some time Thomas didn't touch the drum or Heder
and instead headed to the butcher shop when he attempted to open the door it was locked
the owner hadn't arrived yet while standing around waiting Thomas realized he'd left his butchering
knives back in his car so he had to go back and get them excluding the very top level where the motel was each level of
the peak ability center was accessible by an escalator and staircase located at the back end of the building the
escalators only accessed the shopping arcade levels but the staircase continued all the way down to the
basement in sub-basement parking levels when Thomas reached the escalator those are mop and bucket in the way and
a ring of keys on the ground the items appeared or been left lying around haphazardly by the cleaner who probably
didn't expect many people to be walking around at that time of morning Thomas bypassed the escalator and took the
stairs instead he attempted to open a service door but it was jammed probably locked so he decided to continue down to
the very bottom sub-basement level where he would be able to walk straight out to
his car his attention was drawn to a men's wristwatch near the top of the stairs
someone must have lost it he assumed he left it and continued down the stairs where he stepped over a bunch duct
cleaners apron as he descended down to the sub-basement level Thorne was now breaking and a faint morning light was
seeping through he's always adjusted to the dark shadowy space below he tensed when he saw the
outline of a person lying on the ground at the foot of the stairs he rushed back
up the stairs to find a telephone unable to find one he sprinted out onto the street and approached the taxi who had
just dropped the passenger off at the Piccadilly Center Thomas Yoda the driver to radio for an ambulance as there had
been an accident it was approximately 5:45 a.m. Thomas rushed back down to the sub-basement level to render assistance
as he approached the foot of the stair we're the person way he physically recoiled there was blood everywhere
[Music] investigators knew the moment they arrived on the scene that this was one
of if not the most brutal murders in the history of New South Wales one and a half pages of notes were required to
detail the horrific injuries inflicted on the female victim who was identified as 56 year old Peggy Billy sent her
employee Wilhemina Krueger will the mina was found on her back partially covered by a
dress and petticoat both of which were badly torn and blood-stained she was naked from the chest then her eyes were
bruised black her nose jaw and five of her ribs were broken she had suffered multiple stab wounds all over her face
head neck and the body her heart had been ruptured her skin was bruised bitten and torn breasts disfigured
disembowelment had occurred and accord was secured tied around her neck [Music] the trial of objects leading from the
crime scene up into the shopping arcade gave a detailed account what happened the drum of water and submerge data
along with the mop and bucket at the top of the escalators showed the Wilhemina was in the process of mopping when she
was attacked as she dunked the mop into the bucket her killer snuck up behind her and wrapped a cord around her neck
Wilhelmina put up a fight she struggled with her attacker as she was dragged down the escalator several cuts and
scrapes on her body were attributed to the rigid edges of the escalator steps on the escalator she lost her case the
top set of her false teeth and a shoe at the stairs leading down to the parking levels the struggle intensified
Wilhemina wore a men's wristwatch and it unclipped from her wrists her apron was
ripped off on the stairs and the vicious mutilation began on the sub-basement parking level the killing appeared
premeditated Wilhelmina's attacker showed he was familiar with the layout of the Piccadilly Centre intentionally
dragging her down to the dark sub-basement level where they wouldn't be seen additionally the killer was
aware Wilhemina would be working there alone the killer may have watched her for some time familiarizing himself with
her routine and determining the ideal time to strike it was well known Wilhemina worked meticulously and
methodically to a predictable set routine that rarely changed she completed her duties in the same order
at around the same time each morning so it was known that Wilhelmina began cleaning the post office around 4:40
a.m. however the post office hadn't yet been cleaned which meant the time of her
murder was likely prior to 4:40 a.m. several unknown fingerprints were discovered at the crime scene along with
a large bloody footprint the size of an average Manchu the same footprint was found at the top of the stairs leading
down to the basement and sub-basement parking levels Wilhemina didn't smoke but 30 centimeters away from her body
with two cigarette butts the front of her dress also had seven circular holes caused by the tip of a burning cigarette
the murder weapon was believed to be a 15 centimeter long three centimeter wide double-edged knife that wasn't found at
the scene a police officer conducting an initial search of the Piccadilly Centre
noticed the bunch of ripped out hair on the steps of the escalator there were about 30 years in the bunch that were
blond in color and around one to one and a half inches long the hairs had little
white particles on the ends giving the appearance that they had been pulled out by the roots
this hair sample didn't match Wilhelmina's her natural hair was grain so she had been dying at a reddish-brown
color the officer who discovered the hairs didn't touch or disturb them however investigators weren't alerted
until around an hour later and when they went to collect them the hair was no longer there presumably blown away by a
draft [Music] similar pieces of hair was stuck to Wilhelmina's right thumb and her left
index finger these pieces did not have roots attached the light coloring of the hair sample was thought to be as a
result of bleaching the stray hairs on Wilhelmina's fingertips visually matched a bunch of torn hair seen on the
escalator but as those hairs weren't recovered and match could never be confirmed a one centimeter wound on the
left side of Wilhelmina's face was believed or been caused by a ring on her killer's finger an autopsy revealed that
Wilhelmina's cause of death was strangulation it was believed that she had died five minutes into the violent
attack the stab wounds a mutilation inflicted all over her body occurred after death every available police
officer in wongkom assisted with the initial investigation into Wilhemina Krueger's murder those on leave had it
canceled and had to return to work the investigation showed that after being dropped off at the Piccadilly Centre by
her partner Stanley around 2:20 a.m. Wilhemina had gotten straight to work she worked out of a caretakers office on
the bottom level of the shopping arcade where all the cleaning equipment was stored there were several witnesses who
confirmed seeing Wilhemina working in the arcade that morning a police officer happened to be driving his patrol car
down klutz than avenue at 3:20 a.m. he saw the lights in the parking area and the Gladstone Avenue level were off in
thinking that was unusual the constable pulled into the center to investigate in
the darkened space he saw the outline of a female carrying something the constable slowly drove up the ramp to
the motel he patrolled the motel carpark and then drove back down the ramp when he saw the woman again it's believed the
woman he saw was Wilhelmina carrying her mop and bucket it was 3:40 a.m. when the officer drove
away separately a car carrying a male driver his wife and four of their friends drove a stolen Crown Street area
3:30 a.m. that morning as they passed the Piccadilly Centre the driver spotted Wilhemina mopping the entrance of the
shopping arcade he commented to the others in the car imagine having to be up cleaning at this hour the group drove
further down Crown Street until emerged into Keira Street the group had travelled all the way from the southern
state of Victoria so decided they should find somewhere to stop and rest they spotted a man sitting in the driver's
seat of a utility vehicle parked on the side of Keira Street they asked him if there was somewhere nearby they could
get a bed for the night the man directed them back up Crown Street to the Piccadilly motel as they
drove up the ramp to the motel lobby they spotted Wilhemina again it was around 3:50 8:00 a.m. she was alone and
carrying a mop and bucket towards the escalators the group booked into the motel and later they heard quote a
tremendous noise like a vehicle driven fast and turning at the same time the Piccadilly Santa's not Watchmen I
actually spoke to Wilhelmina at around 4:00 a.m. the two bumped into each other in the shopping arcade he said g'day to
Wilhelmina who he called Amy and gave her a copy of the morning newspaper during their brief exchange
Wilhelmina emptied her bucket into the gutter at the front Crown Street entrance of the arcade the two then went
their separate ways and the night watchman didn't see or hear Wilhelmina for the remainder of the morning these
statements greatly narrowed down the time of the murder that occurred sometime after this final interaction
with the night watchman at 4:00 a.m. in the prior to her scheduled post office clean at 4:40 a.m.
the building supervisor was interviewed by police he outlined the issues had been having with the tampered fuse box
and gave details of the electrician who had been called to fix the lights only the day before Wilhelmina's partner
stanley confirmed the lights were working again when he dropped Wilhemina off the morning of her murder
however the lights were off when police investigated the crime scene and the patrolling police officer reported they
were off when he conducted his patrol at 3:20 a.m. that morning investigators checked the fuse box and
saw a screw was sticking out the hasp inside the fuse box two of the fuses are blown meaning the lights had gone out on
Wilhelmina during her shift highly unusual considering they'd only been fixed the day before markings on the
fuse box and the loose screws confirmed it are being tampered with again it was starting to look like those are far more
sinister explanation than hoodlums if it was will the mean is killer who accessed
the fuse box and turned off the lights at least three weeks of planning and stalking had gone into the murder as
that's when signs of tampering first appeared shortly after arriving at the crime scene investigators were hit with
the bizarre distraction a reporter for the local newspaper the Illawarra mercury received a phone call
the caller warned there was a bomb in the Piccadilly Centre and it better be cleared by 1:00 p.m. as that's when it
would be detonated the reporter tried stalling the caller to keep him on the line however he quickly hung up the bomb
threat interrupted the investigation but it turned out it was just a hoax there was no bomb in the Piccadilly Center the
phone call ended before it could be traced and the caller was never identified the savage nature of Wilhelmina's murder
shook the local community police appealed to her friends and family for information regarding any concerns you
may have had leading up to her death such as confrontations or fights or threats you may have received however
Wilhemina was described as someone who kept good company a pleasant person who was well-liked there was no suggestion
that she was in any danger a friend of Wilhemina told the Illawarra mercredi quote she was very easy to get
on with mrs. Kruger was very strong physically and was a woman who would not be frightened by anybody she was healthy
happy and energetic in the days leading up to her murder her partner Stanley and
her children could not think of anyone who would want to harm her but she did express Thor worker in one of the
Piccadilly shops the day before her murder as she had a feeling someone was watching her clean she had expressed the
same thing to Stanley but little more was known about it she never explained in any further detail there was no
description of the person and no further information to go on police were open-minded to the possibility that
Wilhelmina knew her killer and her personal history was looked into she was born in 1909 in Broken Hill an isolated
morning town in Far West outback New South Wales she grew up in Broken Hill and eventually married Albert Krueger
whom she had a daughter and two sons with in 1950 whilst her husband Albert was in
hospital Wilhemina met a man by the name of Cyril Wakefield she separated from her husband to pursue a relationship
with Cyril however the two were only together for a short period of time before Cyril ended their relationship
and left Wilhemina police were unable to track him down for questioning in 1951 now but Kruger purchased the block of
land in Greenville Wollongong he was still living in Broken Hill but he allowed his ex-wife Wilhelmina to
live there with their three children at the time it was an empty block of land so they lived in a tent a house was
eventually built and Wilhemina and the children moved in to eventually married and moved out leaving only one of her
adult sons living at home in 1965 Wilhemina aged 56 started a relationship with stanley Dawson Stanley was 18 years
her junior at 38 years old the noticeable age gap didn't bothered the couple though it was obvious the two
cared deeply for each other and wanted to be together Bill Amina's personal history failed to yield a likely suspect
so police appealed to anyone who is in the vicinity of the Piccadilly centre on the morning of the murder to come
forward they were hoping someone may have seen something any piece of information was considered vital no
matter how insignificant it may have seemed one detective told the Illawarra mercury quote this is one of the most
vicious attacks made of a woman in the criminal history of this state we feel without the assistance of the general
public this crime could go unsolved police received hundreds of phone calls and conducted dozens of interviews in
the first few days of the investigation alone taxi drivers railway workers night
watchman council workers and staff from Wollongong Hospital only a short walk away from the Piccadilly Centre were all
questioned the taxi driver who Thomas Fitzgibbon approached to radio an ambulance the morning of the 29th told
police he was parked at the taxi rank opposite the tarsals Hotel on Crown Street at 4:00 a.m. today Sol's hotel is
called dicey Reilly's hotel today the hotel is located close to and in view of the Piccadilly centre front entrance
just a few buildings east on Crown Street while parked at the taxi rank the taxi driver noticed a big man about six
feet tall acting suspiciously the unknown man walked slowly up Crown Street towards the Piccadilly cinema he
stopped at the ironworkers Club which was next door to the tassles hotel before abruptly crossing to the other
side of the road the taxi driver drove away after the man crossed the street and he didn't return to the area until
nearly two hours later when Thomas Fitzgibbon emerge from the Piccadilly centre requesting an influence police
got to work trying to identify the man seen by the taxi driver but they soon realized he wasn't the only person they
needed to identify as more witnesses came forward it became apparent there were a variety of people spotted acting
suspiciously around the Piccadilly centre on the morning of the murder a husband and wife were taking an
early-morning walk that took them past the Piccadilly Center about 4:45 a.m. in that morning they noticed the lights
were off in the entrance to the arcade looked 30 and unclaimed they spotted a slim young male wearing blue jeans with
a studded belt ahead of them he looked to be in his 20s and was walking in a hurry and looking from side to side he
ran off down a walkway next to tarsals hotel another witness who lived opposite the Piccadilly Center woke at 4:30 a.m.
and went outside to water the plants on her front veranda as she tended to her plants her attention was drawn to two
young men loitering at the front of the Center requests from police for each of these persons seen in the vicinity of
the crime scene become forward went unanswered [Music] dozens of witness statements were
collected suspicious persons vehicles and behaviors were noted and as more details came to life several separate
witness stories were woven together by a single thread the first major clue in the case a witness who lived nearby
stood at the front gate of his property waiting for the morning newspaper to be delivered
there was 455 a.m. when he saw a young lean unshaven man with hair hanging down over his forehead driving a utility
vehicle like a frenzied animal near the crime scene the witness told the Illawarra Mercury newspaper quote I was
shocked at the look on his face he had a horrible appearance I never saw that shot before and I never want to see him
again the sound of a screeching car was corroborated by both the group from Victoria who was staying at the
Piccadilly motel and another witness in the area who stated quote I heard a noise
but the screech of tires coming from the shopping center this witness claimed to
have heard the sound not long after he saw the lights of the Piccadilly Centre go out the witness who was waiting for
the newspaper who actually saw the car driving erratically described it as a Holden or Chevrolet utility that had a
canopy over the rear tray made of plywood the canopy didn't have windows but was
open at the back the vehicle went plywood canopy were like colored either white or cream the entire vehicle
appeared hand-painted the paint job was untidy and was flaking and peeling the vehicle was old and had rusted and the
bonnet didn't sit straight it was a very distinctive looking car the same utility
was seen by another witness parked in Gladstone Avenue around 5:00 a.m. 50 meters from the western entrance to the
Piccadilly so no descriptions of the same vehicle popped up in separate witness statements and it instantly
became a major clue for investigators however they couldn't track the vehicle down despite being distinctive it seemed
to have vanished the details of the wide or cream-colored utility featured heavily in the news at the request of
police hoping someone would recognize it Dione became the most important person of interest in the investigation about
one week later after numerous appeals police finally received an intriguing call about the vehicle
[Music] on the other end of the line was a man named Gary mum whoa and he said he had
information police agreed to meet Gary in fairy meadow a five minute drive north from the Piccadilly Centre
Gary told them he was 21 years old and lived locally giving his address as a house on Gladstone Avenue gary explained
to police that he had been sitting in his parked car with his girlfriend in the parking lot of railway Square
directly behind the Piccadilly Centre between 2:30 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. the morning of the murder during that time
he watched the utility vehicle drive into railway square and circle the end of the road three times before driving
back out onto Gladstone Avenue it did a u-turn on Gladstone Avenue and a parked opposite the Piccadilly cinema a man got
out of the utility and walked out of Gary saw it Gary described the utility as a rusty
cream-colored vehicle with a plywood canopy over the rear tray investigators now seriously considered the possibility
that the vehicle was driven by the killer with Gary Malmo statement police could
place the utility at the scene of the crime before and after the murder however when investigators attempted to
contact Gary mum whoa to follow up on his statement and questioned him for more details they couldn't get a hold of
him it turned out the address on Collette's than Avenue that he gave had nothing to
do with him the people who lived there had never heard of him the electoral roll revealed no one in the area with
the surname um whoa in fact no other names even resembled mum whoa a check of files in various government registers
revealed that the name Gary Mann whoa didn't exist anywhere in the entire country the name and address were fake
the witness whoever he really was had vanished explanations for this were varied
maybe he feared reprisal from the killer and didn't want to be identified maybe he didn't want to get involved in the
investigation any further he may have felt he did all he could total he knew and that was going to be the end of his
participation maybe he didn't want to go through a lengthy court process involving the retelling of his story
over and over he could have also been a hanger-on type who had read about the utility in the
paper and simply wanted to insert himself into the investigation the description of the vehicle had been
broadcast all over the media by that time and then there was the dark possibility that this Garry man whoa was
Wilhelmina's killer and he was taunting police was this turning into a cat-and-mouse game for his own enjoyment
police tried to shake off the interaction with a man who called himself garrymon Wu and continued to try
and track down the distinct utility however the owner never came forward nor were there any further sightings of it
police continued their appeals for help they wanted information from anyone who may have seen any vehicle bearing
bloodstains anyone who used someone absent from home or work the night of the 28th or the early morning of the
29th or anyone who gave list the hitchhikers out of Wollongong after the time of the murder police was certain
that the killer's clothing would contain bloodstains and appeal to anyone who may
have seen someone washing or disposing of blood-stained clothing to come board tips continued to roll in in response to
these appeals for help and police received information about a man spotted acting suspiciously at North woman gold
bait shortly after the murder police and council workers arrived at the beach under the presumption it may have been
where the killer disposed of their blood-stained clothing an excavator aided the search digging a 100-meter
strip of sand up to a meter and a half deep but nothing was found in immediate fear of the killer would strike again
seeped throughout wound gong police began warning local women the following warning was printed in the Illawarra
mercury quote the shocking brutality of this killing could have been exercised only by someone with an unhinged mind
the killer is an absolute madman a monster but you would be able to pass by the killer in the street without
noticing he's no slobbering idiot who stands out in a crowd therefore the police are anxious that
women should run no risks at Norton due to the nature of her injuries tests were
unable to confirm if Wilhemina had been sexually assaulted but given her injuries the attack appeared to be
sexually motivated one police officer warned quote everyone should realize there is a sex maniac at large and the
same thing could happen again although I dread the thought [Music] at midnight on February 16th 1966
18 days after Wilhelmina Krueger's murder 27 year-old an Italian caller sat at a table surrounded by friends in the
popular night spot the taxi Club located in the high-energy suburb of darlinghurst Sydney the taxi Club was
known as the 24-hour hangout for taxi drivers and in the early hours the dimly lit party place attracted a diverse
variety of revelers seeking a good tone it was also known as a local pick up place for sex workers Anna stood out
amongst the crowd her outfit including a cherry red colored jumper and cardigan with a blue green and white colored
skirt dark brown stockings and a pair of white shoes was colorful and eye-catching pinned to her jumper was an
oval brooch with a single red stone a white sapphire ring and gold wristwatch sparkled on her arm she was a bright and
memorable beacon within the dark noisy Club yelling over the thumping music and I
told her friends she had to go outside to meet someone her friends assumed she was going
outside to meet a customer Anna had worked as a retail shop assistant and waitress by day but earned extra income
at night as a sex worker soliciting since she was 12 years old and I had a strong understanding of the risks
involved in the work she only accepted quick jobs purchased off the street that she completed in the back seats of cars
or down to familiar alleyways she never took clients back to her flat in the beachside suburb of Bondi
she didn't want them to know where she lived or where they could find her an affair world her France and walked
outside the taxi club alone almost 100 kilometres south the Wollongong community was still reeling over the
unsolved brutal murder of Wilhelmina Krueger only weeks earlier but the sense of danger hadn't reached a Darlinghurst
ten days later on February 26th Roy streeting drove through the suburb of Lucas Heights 40 kilometers southwest of
darlinghurst it was approaching 5:30 p.m. when Roy noticed one of his tires was causing him problems so he pulled
over to the site of old Illawarra Road to investigate old Illawarra Road was a relatively straight stretch of road that
cut through the top end of an industrial work site featuring the Atomic Energy Commission Research Station surrounded
by dense shrubbery the road was mostly used by local workers of the industrial sites and typically bypassed by the
average traveller as Roy began the process of changing his tire he spotted something colorful tangled amongst the
long grass upon closer inspection he realized that was a human body the female victim was partially clothed
in a distinctive cherry red colored jumper and a blue green and white colored skirt a gold wristwatch and
white sapphire ring was still on her body she had been strangled stabbed and mutilated she was 27 year old an Adele
in color [Music] the cause of death was determined to be strangulation with the mutilation
occurring after death the murder weapon was a knife but it wasn't located at the
scene similarities between the murder of Wilhelmina Kruger were made immediately
the gruesome mutilations on Anna's body was similar to those found on Wilhelmina
police considered the possibility that the same killer was responsible for both murders and investigators from the
Wilhelmina Krueger task force were called in to assist in the Anna Dillon color investigation Lucas hearts where
Anna's body was found is only about a 40-minute drive north from Hong Kong and lies almost in between Wollongong and
Darlinghurst the killer could have picked up an ax from darlinghurst and dumped their body at Lucas hearts
when he's buy back to Warren gong Anna was well known to police originally from Perth in Western
Australia she had a long list of arrests stemming back to her childhood mostly charges for vagrancy and soliciting and
are avoided authorities by using a variety of aliases including Anna darling in Hamilton Sherry darling
cherry Willis and Sonya Lynch filled amongst many others Anna had been married twice previously and had a son
who was three years old at the time her son whom she hadn't seen in a long while
lived with her ex-husband and his personal life was so widely scattered throughout Australia and so disjointed
from the deception of aliases and false identities though it was difficult for investigators to piece together her
history prior to her murder associates and clients in the sex industry who knew Anna were not very forthcoming with
information the only confirmed fact was that Anna was last seen a lot of her friends as she left the taxi club in
Darlinghurst ten days before her body was found no one recalled seeing her e outside the club leading investigators
to believe she may have met her killer immediately after walking outside possibly stepping into the killer's
vehicle the remainder of Anna's belongings she had with her that night including her cardigan brooch shoes
stockings and handbag with two Diaries inside were missing the most disturbing discovery made at the crime scene were
10 metres of drag marks on the ground leading out from a thicket of bushes to where and his body was found a crime
scene examination revealed that the killer had originally dumped on his body in the bushes but the bushes prevented
her from being found in the killer grew impatient so he returned to the scene three to four days later and dragged on
his body out of the concealment of the bushes to the open spot on the side of the road the killer wanted owner to be
found psychiatrists consulted by police explained that this action was common with killers who found a pleasure in the
infamy of their acts there were unusual acts performed after both murders that if done by the same killer proved he was
a gruesome showman who derived pleasure taunting police there was the bomb hoax at the Piccadilly Centre the suspicious
statements of the unknown witness who called himself Gary Monroe and near the intentional interference of Anna's body
to ensure it would be discovered if the same killer was a work he wasn't burdened with a sense of remorse or
guilt and police knew he would likely strike again however they weren't sure if it was the same killer and just like
the murder of Wilhelmina Kruger and his murder featured no worthwhile leads suspects or motives police were
initially hesitant to publicly draw direct parallels between the two murders however behind the scenes the two
investigations worked in tandem shopkeepers cafe owners and hotel and motel managers in Wollongong were
questioned about Anna there were rumors she may have spent time in Wollongong at
some stage but with all her different aliases it was hard to pin down exactly where she had been in whom she had
interacted with over 1700 people were interviewed in relation to both murders and a $10,000 reward was offered for
information leading to an arrest despite the offer no information was shared to help identify the killer
whoever it was it seemed as though he lived two separate lives one life as an unassuming member of the community who
didn't draw much attention to himself and the second life a frenzied psychopathic killer who wanted his
violent acts to be front-page news police worked feverishly in fear another attack was imminent home last full
months after the murder of an Italian car on the night of June 11th 1966 20 year old Carolyn orphan said goodbye to
her parents and left her family home in Greenville Carolyn was known as a quiet and reserved respectable woman that
night she'd agreed to go out dancing with friends to let her hair down Carolyn and her friends wound up at the
ironworkers Club on Crown Street Wollongong just based of the Piccadilly Center Carolyn crossed paths with the chief
wool and friendly alan basset a 20 year old man from Yunnan Dara a suburb in southwest Wollongong thus it worked as a
manufacturer and a similar of metal components for tools and machinery he had the natural rugged charm of an
everyday working man and both he and Carolyn hit it off instantly the two enjoyed a dizzying late night of
drinking and dancing together it was nearing midnight when the CID offered Carolyn a lift home graciously she got
into the passenger seat of his light-colored sedan Bassett assured Carolyn it was no trouble he said there
were a lot of dangerous people out at the time and it was not safe for her to be wandering the streets alone Bassett
made the draft north towards Carolyn's home in Greenville when he reached her place he pulled over just down the
street at some point Bassett took a pair of nylon stockings and used them to tie
Carolyn's hands behind her back he then drove her to me on easily bypass road about five kilometres away
a long windy road surrounded by thick bush the most common Road driven on by people traveling to and from Sydney
Basset strip Carolyn and brutally raped her during the attack besa grabbed another
pair of stockings and a belt and tightened famiry and Carolyn's throat a hitchhiker walking alone on my own
easily bypass road walk by Basset scar around 3:30 a.m. however he didn't see anything suspect as the windows were too
fogging - singing - at the time after raping Carolyn Bassett strangled her until she fell unconscious he then
pulled her from his car and dragged her battered and bruised body out onto the ground Bassett picked up a large
sandstone rock from the side of the road stood over Carolyn lifted the rock high
above his head and with violent intensity brought it back down when Carolyn didn't return home after
her night out on the town her parents instinctively felt something was wrong and immediately contacted the
police the police searched for Carolyn had already begun when at 6:45 a.m. a couple driving along Mia usually
bypass road on their way home from Sydney spotted what they believed was a truss makers dummy when they pulled over
to investigate they realized there was the body of a young woman it was the third fallen murder of a
woman that year all within close proximity of each other people immediately started to wonder if all
three murders were linked it didn't seem obviously so the murders of Wilhemina and Anna were very similar however the
murder of Carolyn orphan had several significant differences although Carolyn was strangled like the others her cause
of death was a fractured skull caused by a large rock that had shattered into two
pieces upon impact her murder didn't involve the use of a North nor was her body mutilated and the most profound
difference was the fact that a suspect was identified very quickly for Carolyn's murder
Alan Bassett had been seen by multiple witnesses leaving the ironworkers Club with Carolyn the night of the murder
the day after the murder the cement with friends in dab dough to watch a local game of rugby league his friends noted
the Bassett didn't appear at all interested in the game he was just staring and lost in thought this same
group of friends we're at the ironworkers Club their night before when Besser met Carolyn later
Bassett's friends saw a photograph of Carolyn in the local news alongside a story detailing her murder they
recognized her as the woman Bassett had gone home with from the ironworkers Club
from there the overwhelming evidence piled up against Bassett and he couldn't reasonably deny his involvement
he's friends as well as Carolyn's friends singled in the art as the last person seen with her his car was seen in
her straight and again on the road where her body was discovered he was arrested
and interviewed at first Bassett denied any involvement but upon being shown the
nylon stockings used to tie Carolyn's hands behind her back he paused and said what did do it that his murder trial the
SATCOM lee told the jury quote it's very hard for me to try and explain things I
didn't realize what I was doing at the time of the crime something must have come over me and I can't really describe
things until further tests have been done on me I certainly did not intend to kill any girl or any person or any such
like I'd ask for a plea of manslaughter as I don't think it's outright murder I just ask for your help in my case the
jury deliberated for only 16 minutes before finding basak guilty of murder the presiding judge commented on Bassets
reckless indifference to human life and he was sentenced to life in prison however following the trial thus it was
assessed by medical professionals who diagnosed him with schizophrenia he was relocated to a psychiatric
hospital to serve his time in a unit for the criminally insane despite his own father pleading not to release his son
back into the community Alan Bassett only served 29 years of his life sentence and he was released in
1995 Bassitt was an opportunistic violent rapist and murderer who had preyed on a
vulnerable woman at naught and for that reason he was considered a person of interest in the murders of an Adele and
koa and Wilhelmina Kruger similarities were drawn between all three murders during which the victims were battered
and strangled and left partially naked in places where they would be easily discovered Wilhelmina suffered from
internal injuries similar to Carolyn consistent with being knocked down on or knead with great force all women
suffered distinct injuries to their sexual organs and breasts some investigators felt there were
similarities to another murder case as well one year earlier in early January 1965 the bodies of two 15-year old
friends Mary Ann Schmidt and Christine sharukh were discovered partially buried in the deserted windswept sand hills of
Wonder Beach Cronulla in the south of Sydney the two girls had gone missing whilst visiting the beach with Mary
Ann's younger siblings Mary Ann and Christine's bodies were found the next day partially buried in the sand
both had suffered from multiple violent stab wounds caused by a knife amongst other injuries their murders came to be
known as the Wanda Beach murders and remain one of the most infamous unsolved Australian murder cases we covered the
case in detail in case file episode number one based on his history Alan Bassett was considered by at least
one detective to be a prime suspect in the Wanda beach murders Bassett strongly denied any involvement and he even
offered to give a DNA sample to prove his innocence it's unknown if your has ever taken up on his offer a
blond-haired young men described as a surfer was seen around wonder beach at the time of the girls murders he has
never been identified and thus became a prime suspect in the killings Bassitt has naturally dark hair he
continues to strongly deny involvement in any crimes other than the murder of Carolyn orphan the Australian Institute
of Criminology stated the following quote police suspect that there are links between the Wanda Beach murders
and the murders of Wilhelmina Kruger and an Adele in Khoa indeed there appears to
be striking similarities between all three murders in each case the body was dragged along the ground with no real
attempts made to conceal the bodies sexual molestation after the slayings was involved in all cases and the
victims were murdered near or in Sydney the question still remains whether the murders were committed by the same
killer or were coincidentally committed around the same time in a similar manner
on multiple killers retired detective Keith Paul who was in charge of the Wanda Beach murders investigation was
interviewed by Alan Whitaker for his book wonder the untold story of the Wonder Beach murders Kate Paul warned
quote it's easy to pull out some points of comparison and say it could have been
the Wonder Beach killer but the dissimilar points warn you to back off and not be in such a hurry to make
assumptions detective Paul is firm in his belief that alan basset had nothing to do with
any of the other murders the search for the killer or killers has stretched in a
state and globally a dossier on the murders were sent to Scotland Yard detectives in London on the belief there
may have been a connection with an unidentified serial killer operating in London in 1964-65 nicknamed Jack the
stripper the link was weak the detectives refused to rule out any possibility chuck the stripper targeted
sex workers specifically strangling them and leaving them in public but his killings did not involve mutilation
to this day will Jimeno Krueger's crime-scene carries clues that might still be answered by members of the
public the rusty white or cream-colored utility with the plywood cover has never
been identified the large six-foot torment seen acting suspiciously by the taxi driver near the ironworkers Club
was never identified nor was the man in blue jeans and a studded belt seen running down a walkway next the
pterosaurs hotel more than fifty years later the depraved brutal and unsolved murders of Wilhemina Kruger an Italian
car Maryann Schmidt and Christine sharukh still horrified the community and stumped police their deaths leave
many unanswered questions of a killer or killers who may still be out there [Music]
you [Music]

Case 72: Wilhelmina Kruger and Anna Dowlingkoa

Wilhelmina was especially anxious. In the preceding weeks, she had developed a funny feeling that someone was watching her. It was the reason why her partner Stanley was driving her to work…

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research and writing – Milly Raso Production, scoring – Mike Migas Additional scoring – Andrew Joslyn

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RESOURCES

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Brief Summary

Wilhelmina Krueger was brutally murdered in 1966, sparking an unsolved investigation linked to other violent crimes.

Key points

The Murder of Wilhelmina Krueger. Wilhelmina Krueger was found brutally murdered in the Piccadilly Centre.
Wilhelmina's Murder Investigation. The investigation into Wilhelmina's murder reveals troubling signs of tampering and a potential killer.
Witness Descriptions. Multiple witnesses report seeing suspicious individuals and a distinctive vehicle near the crime scene.
Anna Dillon's Murder. The discovery of Anna Dillon's body raises fears of a serial killer in the area.
Alan Bassett's Trial. Bassett claimed he didn't intend to kill, asking for a plea of manslaughter.
Unsolved Murders Haunt Community. The brutal killings of women remain unsolved, leaving many questions unanswered.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Blood everywhere.

Thomas's reaction upon discovering Wilhelmina's body.

13:59WatchNov 20, 2018

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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