How world's most depraved killers tortured victims & injected bleach in testicles before dumping bodies in acid barrels

The Irish Sun

5 hours ago

PRIZING open the first of six barrels stored at a disused bank vault, in Snowtown, South Australia, detective Gordon Drage expected to find fertiliser used to grow illegal cannabis.
But, after releasing a stomach-churning stench he discovered the vats contained something far more horrific - the dismembered remains of multiple murder victims.
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John Justin Bunting was convicted for his role in the grisly killing spree and sentenced to life imprisonment
Credit: Getty Images
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Robert Joe Wagner was also arrested after police found eight hacked up bodies stuffed in barrels
Credit: AP
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The remains of up to six people were discovered in a disused bank vault in Snowtown, a small village near Adelaide
Credit: Reuters
And the chilling find, in 1999, led police to uncover Australia's
Over a period of seven years, twelve people had been tortured, murdered, decapitated and dismembered, their bodies left to rot in barrels or
Meanwhile their killers, led by psychopath John Bunting, profited from their victims by selling their possessions and withdrawing their benefit payments.
Bunting, described as a "charismatic" leader who made his victims call him "God", "Master" or "Sir Lord" during vile torture sessions, recruited a gang of followers to assist in his heinous crimes - including a stepson who helped to murder his own siblings.
What makes these crimes all the more shocking is that many occurred while Bunting and his followers were under active police surveillance.
Now the killing spree is revisited in a new Crime+Investigation documentary, Bodies in the Barrels, with interviews from the detectives and scientists who were first to uncover the horrific scene in Snowtown.
Forensic psychiatrist Richard Furst explains that Bunting, who had a pathological hatred towards gay people, drug users and paedophiles, would use the trauma of abuse victims to manipulate them into doing whatever he wanted them to do.
Forensic psychiatrist Richard Furst says: 'This crime sequence is quite unusual in that a lot of the victims were known to Bunting and his followers.
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"The recruitment and victim selection very much fitted what he was projecting, which was the hatred towards paedophiles, hatred towards gay people.
'I think there is a charisma that you might see in a lot of cults. People within a cult, do things because there's a greater motive, and they have a sense of belonging and allegiance.'
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Killer squad
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Robert Joe Wagner, John Justin Bunting and Mark Ray Haydon were all suspects in the killing spree which found between six and 12 bodies in acid vats
Credit: Getty
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The exterior of the bank in Snowtown where police discovered the bodies in vats stored in the vault
Credit: News Pictures
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Gordon Drage, a Former Forensic Officer, originally thought the smelly barrels contained fertilised water for cannabis plants
Credit: Crime+Investigation
John Bunting had had a trouble childhood, wasn't academic and had a fixation with killing animals and dropping insects into acid. One of his first jobs was as an
In the 90s he lived in the marginalised, working-class suburbs of Adelaide, Australia, where he recruited a faithful flock of acolytes.
They fancied themselves as righteous
In fact, most of their victims were not paedophiles, but loners and outcasts.
Bunting would invent excuses to justify his bloodlust, and with the assistance of his friends, conspire to steal the government benefits of those they monstrously tortured and murdered.
His first accomplice was the easily manipulated Robert Wagner who had a troubled childhood and had been the
The next key player Bunting met was Elizabeth Harvey who he soon moved in with.
She perceived John Bunting as some sort of white knight, a saviour, if you like
Jeremy Pudney
She too was vulnerable. Her husband had died, but her children had also suffered abuse at his hands.
He essentially became step-father to her children, one of whom was James Vlassakis, who Bunting took under his wing. James hero-worshipped him.
Local journalist Jeremy Pudney says: 'She perceived John Bunting as some sort of white knight, a saviour, if you like."
Journalist Peter Overton adds: 'But Bunting wasn't a saviour for this vulnerable family he was their downfall.
"He would soon groom them and manipulate them into committing the
Twisted torture chamber
In 1994 , two farmers discovered a
It would take several years for police to discover that the body belonged to John Bunting's first victim - Clinton Tresize - who had been bashed to death with a shovel after being invited into his home, two years earlier.
His second victim was a man called Ray Davies who came to Bunting's attention after he exposed himself to children in the neighbourhood.
In late 1995, he was ambushed, handcuffed, dragged into a car and driven to the house Bunting shared with Elizabeth Harvey.
Bunting, Harvey and Wagner tortured Ray Davies with jump leads and beat him to death.
Over the next four years, more and more people disappeared from Adelaide's north and investigators began to link these missing persons cases, suspecting foul play may have been afoot.
Several of the bodies had ropes around their necks, others had gags in their mouths
Forensic pathologist, Roger Byard
In August 1999, the trail led to Snowtown, South Australia, a desolate and dusty hamlet which is little more than a battered collection of rundown buildings on the side of a highway.
Officers investigating five of the missing had been watching three suspects and were following a suspicious four wheel drive vehicle that had been under surveillance.
When they got to the address where the car was, they were told by a resident that it had been driven there by John Bunting and it had smelly barrels in it.
When asked what was in them, John Bunting claimed they were the carcasses of dead
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Clinton Tresize, John Bunting's first victim
Credit: News Ltd
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Barry Wayne Lane's body was found in the abandoned State Bank building in Snowtown
Credit: News Pictures
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Elizabeth Audrey Haydon was also found in the abandoned State Bank
Credit: News Pictures
Police discovered that the barrels were now in a disused bank across town.
Former detective Gordon Drage says: 'At that stage, we had no suspicion of there being bodies at the bank we thought it was going to be a drug crop, we suspected that the smelly liquids was probably going to be fertilised water for his cannabis crop growing inside the vault.'
But when they got inside the bank their investigations took a sinister turn - on top of the six barrels were saws, handcuffs and used rubber gloves.
A cheap couch, containers of hydrochloric acid and a machine which delivered electric shocks were also found.
I think there is a charisma that you might see in a lot of cults people within a cult, do things because there's a greater motive, and they have a sense of belonging and allegiance
Forensic psychiatrist, Richard Furst
The police officers gingerly opened a barrel. Gordon Drage says: 'Only then did the smell come out. This was not hydroponics. That smelled very much like dead bodies.'
In the first barrel, a human foot was found at the top, so they drove all six to the forensics lab in Adelaide.
Forensic pathologist Roger Byard says some of the bodies were whole, others had been dismembered and all of them gave clues as to how they had reached their grisly end.
'There were handcuffs and thumb cuffs. There were ligatures....gags, plastic bags, rubber gloves they'd been using when they were dismembering the bodies. Several of the bodies had ropes around their necks, others had gags in their mouths.'
Hand-picked victims
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The murders took place in a poor neighbourhood and people were largely unemployed or on pensions
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The victims had their benefit payments withdrawn and properties sold
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Richard Furst, a Forensic Psychiatrist, doesn't believe the defrauding of the victims was a reason for killing them
Credit: Crime+Investigation
As police looked into the bodies from the bank vault, a full picture of Bunting's depravity began to emerge.
On the wall of his home, the cold-blooded killer had a spider chart of potential victims. Some of the information had been provided by paedophile Barry Lane who had abused his accomplice Robert Wagner.
Soon Lane was deemed surplus to requirements and was also tortured, beaten and murdered by Bunting, Wagner and a new accomplice Thomas Trevilyan, with his body taped up and left lying on the floor.
When Trevilyan found it difficult to cope with what he had done and started speaking out, he too was murdered - with his death staged to look like suicide.
But as well as sick brutality, there was also greed behind the killings. The killers would sell the
Richard Furst adds: 'It was a poor neighbourhood and people were largely unemployed or on pensions, but I don't think the defrauding of the victims was a reason for
"But I think it was certainly a factor in selection. I think it was the issue of a double reward. So you kill someone, but you also get money, regular income from that, and they kept on going to withdraw money from the account.'
So you kill someone, but you also get money, regular income from that, and they kept on going to withdraw money from the account
Forensic psychiatrist, Richard Furst
Jeremy Pudney adds: 'One of the reasons this was able to go undetected for so long is some of these victims were really isolated from their families for whatever reason, didn't have many friends. And sadly, people didn't really notice when they went missing, so this is a story of how
Another victim was a woman called Suzanne Allen who had had relationships with both Ray Davies and Bunting himself. When that affair ended she became a target.
Despite Bunting and Wagner never being convicted of Suzanne Allen's murder, her body was found
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Suzanne Allen and Ray Davies were buried in a shallow grave in Bunting's garden
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Frederick Brookes was just 18
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Roger Byard, a Forensic Pathologist, said some of the bodies were whole while others had been dismembered
Credit: Crime+Investigation
The barrels in Snowtown bank
Killing was easy for Wagner and Bunting, but disposing of the bodies was another matter. And this is when they recruited Mark Haydon.
He had become friends with Bunting and between them they cooked up the plan to store the
By 1997, police had begun investigating the disappearance of Bunting's first victim Clinton Tresize. And the group of fairly inept murderers brought together by Bunting were soon on the police radar.
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Karen Davies, the sister of Ray Davies who was killed by Bunting, Harvey and Wagner
Credit: Crime+Investigation
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The film crew interviewed John McCready, a shop owner in the Snowtown area
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Cops soon discovered that missing Barry Lane's benefits were still being withdrawn. So they set up a security camera at the cashpoint and spotted Robert Wagner making the withdrawals.
At first police thought they were dealing with a few missing people who had possibly had their benefits plundered. But they still had no idea there was a
Incredibly, in the 16 months after the case became a missing persons and potentially a murder investigation, eight more people were killed by the gang.
And the murders became more frequent and more sadistic.
At least one of them had a firework sparkler put into his penis, in the urethra
Forensic pathologist Roger Byard
Forensic pathologist Roger Byard says: 'At least one of them had a firework sparkler put into his penis, in the urethra. There was there were stories of having the scrotum injected with bleach, of being electrocuted, of having their toes squashed with pliers.'
Soon Bunting brought his stepson James Vlassakis into the murder team - encouraging him to help in the killing of his own half brother Troy.
He was beaten, dragged from his bed and handcuffed before having his toes crushed with pliers. He was then strangled.
Frederick Brookes, who was just 18 and the son of accomplice Jodie Elliott, was handcuffed and tortured for hours, and his genitals electrocuted, before choking on a gag.
The next victim was disabled local Gary O'Dwyer, tortured for hours and recorded, pleading for his life.
Bunting and Wagner then murdered Elizabeth Haydon, the wife of their accomplice Mark Haydon, attacking her in her own home before gagging and strangling her.
It was her disappearance that made police realise this was a much more
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Court sheriffs lead accused murderer, Robert Wagner, from the old bank
Credit: Getty
But incredibly the watch wasn't 24/7, and it was during one of the blank spots that the pair murdered another of Vlassakis' step-siblings, David Johnson.
Lured to the bank in Snowtown by his stepbrother, Johnson was murdered in May 1999, before Bunting and Wagner cooked and ate a piece of his flesh.
This was to be the last murder the killers committed. Days later, the investigators finally stumbled on the horrific scene in Snowtown and arrested Bunting, Wagner and Haydon in dawn raids.
James Vlassakis later handed himself into police, consumed with guilt about what he had done. His interviews brought police to further victims, and revealed a whole new depravity to Bunting and Wagner's crimes.
Wagner was convicted of ten murders. Bunting, the ringleader was convicted of 11. They were both given a mandatory life sentence meaning they will never be released.
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James Vlassakis confessed to four murders and was jailed for life. Mark Haydon was convicted for his role in disposing of the bodies, but was released from prison last year under a supervision order after serving almost 25 years behind bars.
Bodies in the Barrels premiers on Crime+Investigation and Crime+Investigation Play from Sunday 3 August at 9pm.
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Detectives, scientists and reporters who were first on the scene are tell their stories as part of a new Crime+Investigation documentary, Bodies in the Barrels
Credit: Crime+Investigation