BUNTING, JOHN et al: Serial Killers: Bodies in the Barrels TV - Robert Wagner - The Daily Beast online - Crimes that Shook Australia TV -
In a remote Australian town police make a horrific discovery. In a disused bank, officers open six barrels full of decomposing human remains. But this serial killing is unique for one chilling reason: over seven years not one but four men would mercilessly torture and kill friends, spouses and neighbours. They were led by a dominant and sadistic psychopath. Serial Killers: Bodies in the Barrels aka Bodies in Barrels: Crimes that Shook the World, 2009
May 1999: investigating the disappearance of five missing persons in Adelaide. ibid.
Bunting could have been caught after his first murder ... There was no emotion from the accused ... Twelve victims are dead. ibid.
Paedophiles were doing terrible things to children. The authorities didn’t do anything about it. I decided to take action. I took that action. Thank you. Robert Wagner
It was the most gruesome serial killing spree in Australian history. On May 20, 1999, the mummified remains of eight victims were found in barrels of hydrochloric acid inside a former bank in Snowtown, a tiny village in South Australia about 150 kilometers north of Adelaide with a population of around 500. When the bank vault was opened, a stomach-turning stench was released.
‘As a police officer, I’ve smelt death before,’ said Snowtown policeman Ian Young. ‘You didn’t have to get close to this to know what this was.’
Inside the bank vault, police found a collection of torture instruments, including knives, a bloodstained saw, pliers, a double-barreled shotgun, rope, tape, rubber gloves, and a Variac metallurgy device that was used to administer electronic shocks to the victims' genitals. Several of the bodies were dismembered.
A thorough police investigation revealed something even more sinister at work: a vast conspiracy involving as many as seven perpetrators and 12 victims who were murdered between August 1992 and May 1999. The ringleader was John Bunting, a former neo-Nazi who harbored a deep hatred of pedophiles and homosexuals and targeted those he suspected of being such. The case, which was like a cross between the West Memphis Three murders and the Manson Family, became a media sensation in its native Australia due to a years-long trial – three jurors withdrew because of the horror of the evidence – and came to be known as the ‘Bodies in Barrels Murders’. The Daily Beast online article
It was a series of murders that would defy human comprehension. The revelations about the case would captivate and shock the nation … This is Snowtown and the Bodies in the Barrels murders were crimes that shook Australia. Crimes that Shook Australia s3e1: Snowtown, CI 2018
A tale of torture, cold-blooded murder and lead to Australia’s most prolific serial killer. ibid.
Police discovered that [Robert] Wagner was a friend of Barry Lane’s and now he’d been spotted taking money from the missing man’s bank account … The trial led to the home of a man who also knew Barry Lane: his name was John Bunting. ibid.
They [missing people] were all linked to the same two individuals. ibid.
They filled six large black barrels … bottles of acid … ‘When I took the lid off the first barrels I could see what appeared to be a mummified foot …’ ibid. rozzer
People were murdered as the killers covered their tracks or they had simply outlived their usefulness. ibid.
Ted Bundy’s four-year reign of terror that led to the deaths of dozens of women is well documented. His first confirmed murders started in Washington State in 1974. True Crime Recaps: Ted Bundy, Youtube 38.49, 2021
His possible connection to three cold cases from the 1960s: Ann-Marie Burr … Two flight attendant in Seattle in 1966 … Lisa Wick and Lonnie Trumbull [attacks] … The murder of Susan Davis and Elizabeth Perry: 1969. ibid.
He’s been showing those psychopathic traits at three years old. ibid.
BURFIELD, ANDREW: The Murder of Katie Kenyon 2023 - Faking It: Tears of a Crime TV -
‘Police are searching for the missing Burnley mum, Katie Kenyon.’ The Murder of Katie Kenyon, news, Youtube 41.33, 2023
April 2022: Police arrive at Andrew Burfield’s house. Katie Kenyon’s car is parked at the address. Katie’s family raise concerns. ibid. captions
He claims he threw an axe and hit Katie by accident. ibid.
The team finalise the phone evidence building a picture of premeditation. ibid.
The Forest of Bowland, an area of outstanding natural beauty straddling the Lancashire, Yorkshire border. At its eastern edge, Gisburn Forest, a haven for sightseers and walkers. In April 2022 police teams from 4 forces also headed there, all in search of a mum of 2 named Katie Kenyon. Faking It: Tears of a Crime s7e6: Andrew Burfield
‘Andrew Burfield was a builder, an odd-job man. He didn’t have any regular or full time employment. He was 17 years older than Katie when they first met. Now Katie was vulnerable, she suffered from anxiety, she was struggling to bring up 2 children by herself.’ ibid. reporter
What she needs is to get rid of this bully who is trying to make her question her own sanity. ibid. Kerry
He led them to a clearing 70 metres off the main track. ibid.
Burfield had struck her 12 times with the axe. ibid.
BURGER CHEF Murders: True Crime Recaps 2022 -
Just after midnight, Burger Chef in Speedway, Indiana: The back door was open … the place empty … all four of them [workers] were gone … The safe was wide open … One of the most notorious cases in the country. True Crime Recaps: Tragic Mystery of the Burger Chef Murders, Youtube 10.05, 2022
Daniel Davis and Mark Flemmonds both 16, Ruth Sheldon 17, the Assistant Manager 20-year-old Jane Friedt. The store manager arrived shortly after that and verified a total of $581 was also missing. ibid.
$100 worth of coins was left behind and so were the women’s purses and jackets … all pretty responsible employees. ibid.
An elderly couple hiking through woods in the next county over found Jane; someone had stabbed her to death so violently the blade broke off … Ruth and Daniel were nearby; their bodies were face down on the ground shot … Mark wasn’t far away; he had been beaten with a metal chain. ibid.
They [rozzers] were pretty sure they were looking for more than one suspect. ibid.
Eight years after the brutal mass murder a detective got a lead: Donald Forrester was a twice-convicted rapist … He claimed he was the man who had shot Daniel and Ruth. He said he and his buddies went to the restaurant for Jane; her brother owed the wrong person so they started leaning on her. Then Mark stepped in. From there the situation spiralled out of control … Not only did he [Forrester] lead them straight to the murder scene but he went on to describe exactly where and how they’d been positioned. ibid.
In the end they decided not to charge him and eventually cancer killed him in prison in 2006. ibid.