Hunt for the Easter Hit-and-Run Driver | Forensic Files

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episode on your app or on our website. >> [music] >> On the night of Thursday, April 8, 1998,
Luke Nolan and his partner Angela were driving along the Hume Highway, [music] one of Australia's major interstate
roadways. The Hume stretches for 840 km between the capital cities of Melbourne and
Sydney. With the dozens of exits and interchanges dotted throughout, Luke and Angela were heading to the New
South Wales border city of Aubry for the Easter break. As they traveled north on a quiet and
remote stretch of the highway between the Victorian towns of Euroa and Manila, the couple encountered something that
made them markedly uneasy. A large red freight truck with a white semi-trail was weaving in a snake-like
way. across the northbound roads double lanes. Luke and Angela suspected the truck's
driver was either drowsy or on something. Wanting to get a safe [music] distance
away, Luke moved into the right lane to overtake the truck. Just as he drew near, the truck veered
over into his lane. Luke hit the brakes and pulled back. When the truck was back in the left
lane, Luke tried once more to overtake, but it swerved again. It took Luke three more attempts before
he was finally able to overtake the dangerous truck, and it gradually became a [music] distant speck in his rear view
mirror. A short time later, at 12:15 a.m. on Friday, April 9, Victoria Police's major
collision investigation unit were alerted to an incident on the Hume Highway near Violet Town, the halfway
point between Euroa and Benella. The request for the major collision squad's presence highlighted the
seriousness of the matter, as they were only ever summoned to vehicular incidents that resulted in
life-threatening injury. The team immediately left their office in Melbourne and headed up the Hume
Highway, where the densely populated cityscape soon gave way to long stretches of agricultural fields,
rolling hillsides, and thicket of trees. The highway consisted of four lanes, two
in each direction, with a large grassy median strip between them. Even with their lights on and sirens
blaring, it took the major collision team 2 hours to reach the remote location where the incident had
occurred. They could easily tell when they were drawing close to the site as an uncharacteristically long traffic jam
had formed despite the early hour. The Hume was particularly busy that [music] night as travelers drove to or
from Regional Victoria for the Easter break. Police further ahead were directing cars
to turn off the highway at an exit before Violet Town, but the detour was slow moving.
The major collision team veered onto the gravel that boarded the road and slowly
drove past the bumper-to-bumper traffic until they spotted the incident site artificially lit up in the distance.
They parked well clear of the [music] debris and walked the rest of the way. By now, it was 3:00 a.m. and icy cold.
The surrounding countryside was still blanketed in pitch black darkness. As the major collision team approached
the scene, [music] they realized the incident involved a Mazda Bravo four-wheel drive that had been towing a
caravan. The two vehicles had separated and rolled in different directions. The caravan had come to rest upright on
the median strip in the middle of the highway. A rectangular section had been torn
cleanly from the back right hand panel, leaving a gaping hole that exposed a tartan mattress within.
The Mazda had landed upside down on the other side of the highway. Several items had tumbled out of the
vehicle as it rolled, including a coloring book, pencils, [music] children's slippers, various toys, and
empty fast food cups. Protruding from a shuttered window was a small pair of blood streaked feet.
They belonged to a young boy who was lying face down on the roof inside, clearly deceased.
One of his hands still grasped an Easter egg wrapped in gold foil that he had been holding at the time of the
collision. The child was identified as 12-year-old Nikki Fleming. He had sustained severe
head injuries as well as fractured ribs and a broken leg and collarbone. Nikki had been traveling with his father
who was behind the wheel as well as his brother and sister. They had been rushed to hospital by the
time the major collision team had arrived. Their injuries varied in severity, though all miraculously survived.
Ian Fleming, Nikki's 45-year-old father, had a broken arm, a lacerated forehead,
and [music] a deep cut across his nose. His eldest, 13-year-old son, suffered a fractured skull.
Ian's [music] 8-year-old daughter was being treated for minor cuts and grazes. While recovering in hospital, Ian
Fleming was able to recall the leadup to the collision. He had left his home on the seaside
Morningington Peninsula Shire southeast of Melbourne at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 9.
He and his children were going on their annual Easter camping trip in the northeastern Victorian town of Bright,
more than 4 hours away. The children's mother had decided she wanted to do other things that weekend,
so it was just Ian and their kids. After packing the caravan, Ian drove north until he reached the Hume Highway.
Shortly before 11 p.m., Ian noticed his petrol tank was running low. Bright was still over an hour and a half
away, so Ian had to stop somewhere to refuel. He saw a sign up ahead for Violet Town
and safely reduced his speed to [music] take the turn off. Just before the exit, Ian was startled
by a loud bang. Ian's body immediately jolted forward with such intensity that it left him
feeling dazed. Within seconds, his car veered out of control. Ian's mind raced as he tried to
understand what had happened. He thought he must have blown a tire or the car was
malfunctioning in some other way. He desperately tried to regain control, but the car seemed to have a will of its
own. It mounted the median strip and flipped before rolling over and over for what
seemed like forever. When the car eventually came to a stop on its roof, Ian could hear his daughter
whimpering and he called out asking if she was all right. Ian removed his seat belt and fell to
the roof. His daughter did the same, [music] as did his oldest son. 12-year-old Nikki didn't move.
Ian managed to escape the wreck. Broken glass coated the road. The roof inside the car was stained with
blood. Ian dragged his children out one by one. The two older children were hurt, but
conscious. Nikki wasn't responding to his father at all. He had died on impact. Ian had no idea what had happened.
When first responders arrived, they initially thought the incident was a single vehicle collision as there were
no other impacted vehicles or victims in the vicinity. It wasn't until they spoke with
witnesses an hour after the crash that they learned a large red freight truck with a white semi-trail was responsible.
It had been cited driving erratically along the Hume, drifting between lanes and almost hitting other motorists in
the leadup to the crash. There was no clear explanation for the truck's reckless driving. It had been a
clear night with perfect conditions. The incident occurred on a straight stretch of road in the middle of empty
fields. Ian Fleming hadn't noticed the truck at all as it carelessly barreled up behind
him. What happened next was described as every highway users's worst [music] nightmare.
The Waywood truck clipped the rear of the Flemings caravan, which caused the Mazdar in front to go wildly astray.
There was little Le Ian Fleming could do to prevent what happened next. The caravan was hit on its right hand
side, causing it to veer violently to the left. This made the Mazda jack knifed to the right toward the median
strip. The caravan was wrenched free and slid across the road on its side before
somehow riding itself and coming to rest on the median strip. It had a few minor dents and scratches
and the rear right panel had been cleanly torn off by an eyebolt on the front of the truck.
Otherwise, the caravan was in remarkably good condition. The same couldn't be said for the Mazda.
The truck driver had swerved to the right to avoid the caravan as it swung violently.
This caused the truck to collide with the driver's side of the Fleming's Mazda and hit it again when the car rotated.
The car was sent into a high velocity roll that left a perfect impression of its side in the bumen.
It rolled three times before its crushed wreckage finally came to rest 105 m down
the road. A collision squad reconstruction expert calculated that the truck, which was
carrying upwards of 40 tons, had been exceeding the speed limit at 106 km hour before the driver slammed the brakes 10
to 20 m behind the caravan. It was too little, too late. The Mazda had slowed down to 88 km hour
in preparation for taking the exit to Violet Town. The truck driver had failed to react
sooner, causing the fatal and devastating crash. It was speculated that the driver had
been tailgating the Mazda, following too closely and not leaving a safe distance
between them. Ian Fleming's field of vision was obscured by the caravan, so he wasn't
aware of the danger right behind him. The truck disappeared in a cloud of dust immediately after the collision.
No one caught a glimpse of the driver and none of the witnesses followed in pursuit as they had pulled over and
assumed the truck would do the same. This categorized the incident as a hit and run, a criminal offense.
Police established a roadblock further north where the Hume Highway crossed over into New South Wales, hoping to
intercept the fleeing truck there, but it didn't appear. The morning sun revealed the full scope
of the crime scene. Investigators likened it to a bomb site. An aerial view of the crash showed
debris strewn 400 m up the highway. Black skid marks left by the missing truck showed how it had swerved around
the debris and onto the gravel along the shoulder of the road before regaining control and fleeing the scene.
Double tracked tire tracks arched across both northbound lanes of the highway and
continued onto the median strip. This meant the truck traveled for some meters on the grass after the collision,
perhaps giving the driver enough time to slow down and veer left to take the Violet Town exit.
If not, they must have continued straight up the highway and taken another exit further ahead.
By the time the major collision investigation unit were beginning their search for the truck, it already had a
near 4-hour head start. There were multiple routes it could have taken in every direction.
By daybreak, it might have already been many hundreds of kilome away. The section of road where the fatal
crash occurred remained blocked over the busy Easter weekend. With such a large-scale crime scene on a
busy interstate highway, part of the challenge was sorting out which pieces of debris belonged to it and which
didn't. All up, it took investigators more than 12 hours to collect evidence and
document the crime scene. Double the time it usually takes. All sorts of unrelated vehicle
components were found amongst the wreckage until a major collision team member stumbled upon an accident
investigators version of a jackpot. Some small pieces of amber glass from a broken indicator light.
Most significantly, [music] one of the pieces had a serial number on it. Investigators contacted the makers of
the glass, a company called Hela Australia, and provided the serial number. Hela's records revealed they had fitted
that same kind of light to various boats and cars, as well as many trucks over the years, though they couldn't pinpoint
which exact vehicle the glass from the crime scene had originated from. Looking closely at the back right hand
panel torn from the caravan, investigators noticed a rectangular indentation imprinted on the aluminium.
It looked like an inverted V or perhaps the top of an A. Investigators thought it might be the
impression of a number plate. At this early juncture, the police had few details to go on. All they knew was
that they were looking for a red freight truck with a white semi-trail, a broken
amber indicator light, and possibly a license plate that featured the letter V or A.
Ian Fleming appealed to the hit run driver from his hospital bed. He was in shock over losing Nikki, whom
he described as a beautiful child and much loved son and brother with a wide range of interests, including softball,
drama, and a jazz ballet. When Ian first learned that the person responsible for Nikki's death had fled
the scene, he was furious. Since then, he'd come to understand that the driver likely panicked and made a
spur-of-the- moment decision to leave. Ian remained hopeful they would do the right thing. He begged the unknown
driver, "I'd like him now to think about what he's done and honor himself and step forward, please."
Investigators were aware that it wasn't unusual for hit-run offenders to give themselves up in the days following
crashes. Sometimes they needed to come to grips with what had happened or sober up from
stimulants they had taken. Hitrun offenders almost always told someone what they'd done. If not, the damage to
their vehicle raised questions and they'd be dobbed in. The police knew in this circumstance
that there was no way the truck driver hadn't realized the damage they'd caused. As a spokesperson stated,
"It is obvious to us the driver knew he had been in a very serious collision, and he showed considerable skill to get
back on the road. A 12-year-old boy deserves more than to be left by the side of the Hume Highway for dead."
Truckers shared news of Nikki Fleming's death over their vehicles CB radios, calling the person responsible a
mongrel. They urged him to come forward and stop giving them all a bad rap. Rival truck drivers accused each other
of being responsible. Crimestoppers also received a deluge of tip offs from individuals with personal
vandettas against particular truckies, from former partners to neighbors who were sick of seeing rigs parked in their
street. Investigators followed up each lead and interviewed many drivers, ruling them
out one by one. As time wore on, it became clear that Ian Fleming's impassioned plea had
fallen on deaf ears. With no one coming forward to claim responsibility, [music] detectives were
facing the worst case scenario. The driver seemingly hadn't told a soul, and the damage to their truck had either
gone unnoticed or was discreetly repaired before it raised any questions. Investigators suspected they were
looking for an owner driver rather than a company driver as the collision damage
would be easier to hide if the trucky wasn't answerable to anyone. Back at their Melbourne office, the
major collision investigation unit got back to work. Not being trucking experts, they were
about to take a steep learning curve. If the truck driver was heading north along the Hume Highway just before
Easter, he had to be going home because most truck depots would be closed over the long weekend.
It was unlikely he would sit outside a closed depot and wait 4 days for them to open again.
Inquiries at the State Motor Registration Board revealed that there were 160,000 trucks registered on
Australian roads. Finding the one responsible was going to be a massive undertaking.
In the meantime, forensic analysts examined the evidence from the crime scene. The truck had left smears of red
paint on the Mazda and caravan. Under a microscope, the paint was shown to have an ironbased undercoat with an epoxy
primer and a top coat. The top coat was made from an organic red pigment. Most people see a red car or truck, but
can't differentiate between different shades and color bases. This was purplish red.
Paint samples were requested from companies that had red branded trucks, including Australia Post and Mac Trucks,
as well as from the paint manufacturers themselves. None matched the paint from the
collision. A gantry on the New South Wales border photographed all trucks that crossed
from Victoria. 30 km further up the road, the trucks were photographed again and their speed
was calculated from the time between the photos. Infringement notices were issued to
truckies who were found to be speeding. 50 black and white photos of trucks were
taken in the period between 10:30 p.m. on April 9 and 6:00 a.m. on April 10. None of the vehicles featured damage
consistent with the collision. When the Mazda Bravo and the Caravan were forensically examined, photographs
of the damage were sent to the major collision investigation unit. They arranged to get a blown up picture
of the caravan's rear right hand panel where the truck had made initial contact.
Upon studying the images closely, investigators deduced the letter V or A impressions were the wrong size to be
lettering from a license plate. The shapes had to have been made by something on the front of the truck's
bullbar. They could now see there was a rectangular shape with the inverted V as
well as some circles and a rectangular tear. Trucks had all sorts of signage on their
fronts. Investigators knew if they could identify what imagery caused the strange
impression, they might be able to identify the truck. However, by the eighth week of the
investigation, the case had stalled. After a massive interstate search, all possible leads had reached dead ends.
By now, Nikki Fleming had been laid to rest in a moving service attended by 350 family members and friends.
Despite the outpouring of love and grief, the culprit continued to show no remorse by refusing to come forward.
No one was more invested in finding the person responsible than Senior Constable
Casten Schulz of the Major Collision Investigation Unit. The case preoccupied his mind at all
times, and he agonized over the evidence, trying to uncover something they had missed.
He even bought every trucking magazine he could find in the hopes they featured an image of the truck they were
desperately looking for. Having a son of his own only amplified Constable Schulz's drive to find Nikki
Fleming's killer. Constable Schulz worked the case full-time. After one shift, he drove to a local
industrial estate where several trucking yards were located. He drove by each site before coming
across a red truck parked up the road. What caught his eye were two small canvas covers on the left and right hand
sides of the bullbar under the headlights. The insignia on the covers was a big white W with a red star in the middle.
It was the logo for Western Star, an international truck manufacturer. Schulz had examined pictures of the
Fleming's caravan panel thousands of times and all of a sudden it clicked. The inverted V was in fact the center of
a W. The truck at the center of the collision was a Western Star. Heler Australia, the company that fitted
the truck's amber glass indicator light, had a contract with Western Star. Finally, the case was moving forward.
Constable Schulz got out of his car to take a closer look at the red truck. It showed no sign of damage or repair
consistent with the Violet Town collision. The truck's driver was nevertheless tracked down and ruled out.
Constable Schulz had found the right [music] type of truck, just not the one he was looking for.
The major collision team could now further narrow down their search by finding out which Western Star trucks
were fitted with the model of Hela light fragments found at the crime scene. Records indicated that 1,732
trucks built since 1993 had the hella amber light. As it turned out, the measurements of
the indentations left by the truck's bullbar weren't standard. The vertical sections were 75 mm wide,
while most vertical uprights on bullbars were between 90 and 100 mm wide. There were only a few manufacturers who
made 75 mm uprights. One of them was King Bars in Queensland. Western Star trucks were manufactured in
Queensland, so it stood to reason that King Bars might be their supplier of choice.
According to King Bar's manager, only one bullbar fit the measurements of the suspect truck, a 4964F
heavyduty road train bar. A wooden mockup made to the King Bar's specifications was placed against the
Fleming's caravan panel. It fit like a glove. Same with the Mazda panel. The King Bar's manager sent his receipt
books to Melbourne. His records revealed that 679 Western Star trucks had the heavy duty
road train bullbar. Of these, 206 were fitted with the bullbar and the Western Star canvas
covers. For an investigation that had begun with 160,000 possible trucks, police were now
down to 206. Each of these trucks had to be located and checked. This proved difficult as
the trucks traveled the entire country. A four-page questionnaire was distributed to police and was to be
filled out each time a Western Star truck was pulled over, listing make, model, color, and most importantly, any
damage to its exterior. This meant the hit-run driver would have every traffic cop looking for him.
The plan also compelled every innocent truck driver to be on the lookout for the culprit in order to take the heat
off them. Forensic officer Ted Kennedy Ripen had been assisting detectives with the case,
but in midepptember he temporarily stepped away to go on personal leave. During his break, Ted and his family
holidayed with his in-laws in the northern Victorian town of Auka. At around lunchtime on Saturday,
September 12th, Ted and his father-in-law went for a drive and pulled into a service station to get
some petrol. When Ted exited the car, he noticed a red truck parked on the other side of
the station. As his father-in-law filled the tank, Ted walked over to the truck for a
better look. With no sign of the truck's driver, Ted approached cautiously from the side.
The vehicle's big silver logo caught his eye. It read, "Western Star." "Right sort of truck," Ted thought.
After examining paint samples for months, he also knew it was exactly the [music] right purplish red color.
Ted looked at the bullbar to see if there was any signs of damage. It was then that he spotted a crack in
the bottom rung on the right hand side consistent with the Violet Town collision.
He also saw a damaged indicator light that someone had tried to repair. The truck had Western Star canvas covers
on the front and the eyebolt was in the correct position to have made the tear in the caravan panel.
With growing excitement, Ted realized his stroke of luck. He walked around the truck to see if
there was any damage to the paintwork and found a scrape the size of a 10-centent coin close to the Hela light.
Everything was consistent with Violet Town. As Ted leaned in to inspect the scraped
paintwork, the truck driver stepped down from the truck's cabin. Ted hadn't noticed him there and nearly
jumped out of his skin. [music] When Ted Kennedy Ripen came face to face with the truck driver, who could be the
man they'd been hunting for 6 months, the first thing he thought to say was, "How big's your engine?"
Playing it cool, Ted pretended he was a trucking enthusiast. The truck driver's initial suspicion
relaxed as the two men started talking trucks. "Do you own it?" Ted [music] asked. The
driver replied nonchalantly with a laugh. "Nah, the bank owns it." This meant he was an owner driver, just
the type investigators suspected was responsible for the hit and run. [music] Ted returned to his father-in-law and
wrote down the truck's details. He then contacted the major collision investigation unit and provided a
detailed description of the truck. What Ted didn't know was that an officer in Victoria had pulled over the same
truck 3 days earlier and filled out the questionnaire provided by case investigators.
The driver's name was Brett Kilmore. He was from Queensland and was a 30-year-old father of two.
Two hits on Kilmore's truck in 5 days pushed it to the top of the investigation.
Investigators worked to determine if they could place Brett Kilmore on the Hume Highway on the night of Thursday,
April 8, 1998. They checked Kilmore's mobile phone records and discovered that his device
had been traveling north along the Hume Highway that very night. At 10:09 p.m., he placed a call near the
town of Nagambi. Violet Town was a further 60 km away. Travel timings aligned for him to have
been involved in the collision. Kilmore's mobile had no further activity until 1:49 the following morning, almost
2 hours after the crash. Call towers pinpointed his location around the regional city of Sheperton,
less than an hour's drive northwest of Violet Town, indicating that Kilmore exited the Hume shortly after Violet
Town and continued along the New Highway. This was not a typical [music] route truck drivers used when traveling north
and explained why Kilmore went unnoticed after the crash. This data also showed that Kilmore had
stopped his truck for quite some time in the middle of the night before continuing on.
It turned out Brett Kilmore was the focus of three other investigations pertaining to car collisions that took
place after Violet Town. Two occurred in South Australia and another was in New South Wales.
In fact, at the time investigators were honing in on Kilmore, his red Western Star truck was in for repairs.
If damage on the truck was being repaired, then possible evidence from the Violet Town collision could be lost.
It was imperative that the truck be impounded and forensically examined without delay.
Members of the major collision investigation unit traveled to Queensland and immediately swooped on
Brett Kilmore's truck. Inside, [music] investigators found a strange device wired to the engine and hidden in a
compartment in the sleeper cabin. Known as a whizzer, this was used to override speed limiters on trucks.
Prior to the Violet Town crash, the offending truck was traveling at 106 kmph. Western Star Trucks were speed limited
to 100 km per hour. That meant the suspect used a device to override the speed limiter. And here it
was. There were three huge round fuel tanks on the right hand side of Kilmore's truck under the driver's door.
One of the fuel tanks had a huge dent in it, [music] but had been turned around,
so the dent faced inwards and couldn't be seen. This was definite evidence [music] of
Violet Town. The cracked bullbar was also consistent with the crime scene. Furthermore, a tiny patch of canvas
found embedded into a screw from the caravan's rear right panel was a perfect match for the hole in the Western Star
road train cover. On Tuesday, October 7, 1998, almost 6 months to the day since the Violet Town
collision, a tall, lanky man walked into a Nala police station in Queensland. It was Brett Kilmore.
He explained that a New South Wales police officer had asked him to report to the station in regards to a collision
he'd been involved in. Victoria's major collision team was waiting out the back of the station.
Kilmore's arrival had been a trap they'd arranged with their interstate colleagues.
After being informed that Kilmore was present, they ushered him into an interview room.
Kilmore didn't appear nervous until the officers introduced themselves. We're from the Victoria Police and we
would like to ask you some questions about a collision at Violet Town on April 9 this year.
Kilmore was immediately rattled and replied, "What Victorian collision? I thought I
was here about a New South Wales collision." Then Kilmore began to shake. After a moment of anxious silence, he
asked, "Should I ring a solicitor?" [music] Investigators told Kilmore that it was
up to him, but cautioned that anything he said would be used as evidence. Kilmore stared at the floor before
announcing, "I've been waiting for you Blok to come around for 6 months." With that, the floodgates opened.
Kilmore denied driving erratically that night, but admitted to taking no do caffeine tablets that can restore mental
alertness and wakefulness in moments of fatigue. Despite knowing that driving while
fatigued was dangerous, [music] Kilmore blamed the pressures placed on truck drivers, especially owner operators.
He said he often drove for excessive hours to make ends meet as he had once been sacked for running late.
Kilmore said that he hadn't seen the Fleming's caravan until it was too late to avoid it. He tried to blame bright
lights on a vehicle behind his truck for distracting him, but this didn't add up.
Investigators had interviewed multiple witnesses and none reported seeing a car with bright lights or high beams behind
the truck. Kilmore admitted that he had collided with the Fleming's caravan and car. He
then veered off the Violet Town exit before stopping up the road. From there, he could see cars on the
Hume Highway screeching to a halt in the aftermath of the collision. Kilmore claimed to have seen other cars
navigate around the crash and keep driving, which led him to believe it mustn't have been that serious.
A mix of fear and panic propelled him to drive on and to not go back. A week later, Kilmore paid a repairer in
Queensland $100 to fix his damaged bullbar. Checking Kilmore's mobile phone records
for the week after Violet Town, investigators rang every number with the Queensland prefix07.
Eventually, they located the repairman. The major collision detective introduced
himself over the phone and said, "I'm making inquiries about a hit run in Victoria where a young child was killed.
I believe you may have repaired a truck that was involved in the collision. There was a pause at the other end of
the phone before the man replied. You're not going to tell me that the bloke who came in here killed that kid
at Violet Town. I had a feeling about that bloke. I even told my mate in the factory next door
that it might be him. The repairer's voice shook as he spoke. It was clear he was upset that he hadn't
trusted his instincts and contacted authorities earlier on. There was nothing that could be done to
prove or disprove whether Kilmore had taken any illegal substances in the leadup to the collision.
Investigators suspected Kilmore had deliberately collided with the other vehicles in the 6 months after the
event. This would give him a legitimate reason for claiming repairs to his truck while
concealing the damage that occurred outside Violet Town. Brett Kilmore faced 10 charges,
including culpable driving, failing to stop at an accident, failing to render assistance, and a string of other
offenses relating to the injuries to the Fleming family. He made no formal plea and faced trial
in March 2000, [music] nearly 2 years after the devastating collision. Kilmore maintained that it was a
horrific accident and not gross negligence. After 2 days of deliberation, the jury
returned a guilty verdict on all counts. Brett Kilmore was impassive as the judge
read out his sentence of 5 years in prison with a 3-year minimum sentence. Nikki's mother was angry that the 3-year
suspension of Kilmore's driver's license would coincide with his prison sentence
[music] instead of being instituted following his release. Relatives and friends met to celebrate what would
have been Nikki Fleming's 14th birthday [music] the same week Brett Kilmore was found guilty.
In a victim impact statement, Nikki's brother told the court that he had lost his brother and his best friend in the
collision. Nikki's mother said both of her surviving children were traumatized by
what had happened. outside the court, she told reporters of her pain. Every day I don't have my son. Every day
I have that loss. When asked about Brett Kilmore, she simply said, "I hope that every day he's
in jail, he thinks about driving carefully when he comes out." Following the closing of the case, Ted
Kennedy Ripen, who had stumbled upon Brett Kilmore's truck, received commendations from the chief
commissioner of police. For a long time thereafter, he was known as truck stop Ted. [music]
Senior Constable Casten Schultz of Victoria Police's major collision investigation unit spoke out about why
he and his team were so dogged in their pursuit of the Violet Town offender. He said
it's an affront that somebody could just not come forward. It goes against honor
and standing up [music] for yourself and taking responsibility for what you did.
You [music] have to be held accountable.

In 1998, the Easter holiday in Victoria, Australia, got off to a tragic beginning when 12-year-old Nicky Fleming was killed in a car accident while travelling to a family camping trip.

But what initially looked like a single vehicle tragedy turned out to be a crime. And whoever had hit the Fleming family’s car had fled the scene…

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Brief Summary

A hit-and-run crash in 1998 killed Nikki Fleming, leading to a lengthy investigation and the conviction of truck driver Brett Kilmore.

Key points

10-Year Anniversary Episode. This episode marks a decade of storytelling, now available to all listeners.
Tragic Collision on Hume Highway. A family trip turns deadly when a truck collides with their vehicle, resulting in a fatality.
Ian Fleming's Heartfelt Plea. In the wake of his son's death, Ian appeals for the hit-and-run driver to come forward.
Brett Kilmore's Arrest. Brett Kilmore, the suspect in the Violet Town collision, was finally apprehended after months of investigation.
Guilty Verdict. After a lengthy trial, Brett Kilmore was found guilty on all counts related to the collision.
Nikki's Birthday Remembrance. Relatives and friends gathered to celebrate what would have been Nikki Fleming's 14th birthday, reflecting on their loss.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Every day I don't have my son. Every day I have that loss.

Nikki's mother expresses her ongoing grief.

42:56WatchFeb 21, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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