Australia Claremont Serial Killer, 1996 - 1997, Perth, Western Australia

THE serial killer behind the 1994 Claremont murders may be leaving clues to his identity in a series of comments on Australia's leading crime blog which show an unusually detailed knowledge of the case.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21853031-2,00.html

 

This is very interesting MistyM....thankyou for the link.

 

i spent a while reading all his posts. it's a pretty interesting read i'll tell ya.

 

Thank you for posting the link Misty (even though it was some time ago now). It was a chilling read.
I recently came by this forum and have been searching for threads on the Claremont killings. I'd be interested in reading any other old links if ppl could point me in the right direction.

 

Thanks for the links. Fascinating case


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I was under the impression LE have a suspect, they just can't prove it.

I believe they are still watching him, all these years later.

:moo:

 

Hi everyone,

I wanted to created a thread dedicated to the Claremont Serial Killer who killed (at least) three women in Perth, Western Australia over a period of 18 months from 1996 - 1997. I was motivated to do so after watching a recording of "Crime Investigation Australia" (from 2008) that is available on YouTube for all to watch.

An an Australian myself (albeit on the opposite side of the country) I have heard about the "at large" Claremont Serial Killer a number of times over the years. However, I never really "appreciated" how disturbing these murders were, or how close the police may have come to catching him, until I saw that episode of Crime Investigation Australia.

Now, anyone who wants the full (or close to full) background can simply visit the Wikipedia entry (link below), or watch the Crime Investigation Australia episode (again, link below).

However, this is the story in short...

Sequence of events.

- Friday 26 January (early Friday morning, Australia Day Public Holiday) 1996: Sarah Spiers, 18, disappears from the centre of Claremont (a posh suburb a few kilometres South-West of Perth, Western Australia). Last seen phoning for a taxi after leaving a nightclub very close to the Claremont Hotel (as it is now called). By the time the taxi arrive she was gone. Her body has not been found. She is obviously presumed to have been murdered.

- Sunday (early Sunday morning) 9 June 1996: Jane Rimmer, 23, is murdered. Last seen standing outside the Claremont Hotel (as it is now called). She had declined to share a taxi home with her friends a few minutes earlier. Her body was found in bushland near Woolcoot Road, Wellard, (South of Perth) in August 1996.

-Friday 14 March 1997: Ciara Glennon, a 27-year-old lawyer, is murdered. She leaves the Claremont Hotel earlier than her friends (at around 11PM) to catch a taxi home. Her body is found in bushland (North of Perth) three weeks later.

- Police have never revealed how the two women whose bodies were found were killed " for fear of jeopardizing their enquiries".

- Throughout 1997: thousands of Perth taxi drivers are DNA tested, and there is a huge amount of public awareness of this case due to news coverage. Women in the Perth area become especially careful travelling home at night. Depending on who you listen to, the police being watching several key suspects very VERY closely. This surveillance may or may not still be in operation today.

- 1997 - present: no more murders occur that are attributed to the Claremont Serial Killer.

- 2008: on the Australian TV show "Crime Investigation Australia", during an episode about the Claremont Serial Killer, police release 1996 CCTV footage taken from the Claremont Hotel. It shows the second victim, Jane Rimmer, standing outside the hotel shortly before she disappeared. A "mystery man" is seen to approach her, and she looks at him and smiles noticeably (as if she recognises him). The footage then cuts out as the security camera then switched to a different part of the Hotel. It switches back to outside (where Jane is still standing) a short time later. Jane is now seen standing and looking in the direction where the mystery man was walking. The camera switches away, and then back to the outside of the hotel once more. This time, however, Jane is gone.

- There is no proof at all that they "mystery man" is involved in her disappearance. However, to this day he remains the ONLY person outside the Hotel that night captured on CCTV that the police have been unable to identify. He is also the only person that Jane is seen to interact with (and is likely the last person she would have spoken to).

- The reason the police waited until 2008 to release the CCTV footage featuring the "mystery man" is because the original footage (1990s CCTV footage, shot at night) was of bad quality. NASA were asked to enhance it, but were unable to do so. A production company was able to do some kind of digital enhancement on it, but this apparently was not a great improvement.


Key suspects (source: Crime Investigation Australia, 2008).

Presumably, both these men are still under some level of surveillance to this day...

- Suspect #1: a known "sexual pervert". Kept gun underneath passenger seat of his car. Used to drive 'round Claremont on certain nights of the week. Was familiar with the areas of bush where Ciara Glennon's (third victim) body was found. Could not provide any alibis for the nights the women were murdered.

- Suspect #2: a well-educated Martial Artish from a wealthy English family (who was 34 years old in 1996/1997). Worked closely with Sarah Spiers (first victim) and hat met Jane Rimmer at least once. However, he told "blatant lies" about his familiarity with these women during his police interviews. Could not provide any alibis for the nights the women were murdered. Polygraph test results were "inconclusive".

- "Wildcard" suspect: UK murderer (and possible serial killer) Mark Dixie. Killed a woman in the UK (Sally Anne Bowman), in 2005, in similar circumstances to the Claremont murders. He lived in Claremont at the time of the murders, in fact they started shortly after he arrived and was hired as a chef. Moved out of the area (was fired) in 1997 and the murders ceased. He has been DNA tested by Western Australian Police, but the test results were presumably negative (or at least inconclusive).

Sources of information.

Crime Investigation Australia: The Claremont Murders (Part 1 of 4):
[video=youtube;s3k9HkSscvE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3k9HkSscvE[/video]

Crime Investigation Australia: The Claremont Murders (Part 2 of 4):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HhATWg9EP0

Crime Investigation Australia: The Claremont Murders (Part 3 of 4):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjaB7U4CTb4

Crime Investigation Australia: The Claremont Murders (Part 4 of 4):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jusunn-TbL8

CCTV footage, featured on Criminal Investigation Australia, of "mystery man" suspect approaching Jane Rimmer (victim number 2):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbbg-FVij4c

Claremont serial murders - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.thestarfish.com.au/the-claremont-killings-16-years-on/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-past-Sally-Annes-killer--struck-before.html

 

And yes, as of 2013 this case remains unsolved. So, please check out the links above (especially the EXCELLENT episode of Crime Investigation Australia) and discuss.

Any comments/opinions from residents of Perth/Claremont who remember these killings would be especially welcome.

One can only hope (REALLY hope) that whoever is responsible is brought to justice some day...

 

One small correction to my first post. There was a small typeover. With regards to Suspect #2, he was a "a well-educated Martial ARTIST..."

Cheers.

 

I remember reading about this in the late 1990's. It didn't get much coverage in the States but, as I recall, the assumption was that it was a taxi drive of some sort. From what I've read now, it probably wasn't.

The "mystery man" in the security video is probably the best evidence. We don't have a face shot but we have a pretty good idea of what he looks like. He was obviously tall, somewhat slender with neatly combed short hair. He appeared to be dressed for clubbing, not taxi driving. Jane Rimmer appears to be very excited to see him yet they interact for such a short time before he leaves. She appeared to waiting for someone before their encounter and then she resumes waiting.

Somehow, I would expect two people who knew each other as well as Jane's reaction suggests to chat for a little longer (their conversation was probably only a few seconds). If they had planned to meet however, he may have told her, "I'll get my car" or "I'll tell my buddies I'm leaving"; something like that.

It seems unlikely that Mystery Man didn't know that Jane disappeared that night and, unlike others in the footage who did not know Jane, he would be the only one who did not come forward with what would be important information. He is probably involved.

We know Sarah Spiers was waiting for a taxi when she disappeared. I can't see one guy abducting a girl from a corner that had significant traffic and then keeping her restrained while he drove away. It seems much more likely that she entered his vehicle volunarily: she either knew him or he was some sort on "gypsy Taxi driver" offereing a cheaper ride home (I am under the impression this is not normal practice in Australia). I'm thinkng someone she knew offered her a ride.

We don't know much about what Ciara Glennon did after leaving the group she was with. Catch a taxi, meet up with someone she didn't want to tell her friends about or just go somewhere else. No one knows.

We don't know how good the resolution was in 1997 so it is hard to pass judgement on the police for not circulating his picture but it seems to me that his general appearance would be distinctive enough to induce a few Clairmont regulars to "drop a dime " (report him to the police) if they new anyone who fit that basic description. By 2008, it was just too late. Too much time had passed. Still, I suspect he was a regular in the area and girls knew him, went with him freely and perhaps, normally had no problems with him.

 

He could be dead or anywhere in the world.. Lebanon, Italy, or here in Perth.. :seeya:

 

Yes unless this one is solved pretty soon, it's going to become one of those classic unsolved cases. It remains me a lot of the Bible John Case of 1968-69 in Scotland. Due to the time span though, almost certainly not the same killer.

 

I seriously hope the police haven't messed up on this one with their huge focus on one prime suspect at the expense of others!

I'm just reading about the Green River Killer in the USA - for years LE focused on another man, convinced - obsessed even - that he was the killer. He wasn't - it was Gary Ridgeway who they'd interviewed but let go a couple of times before.

The Claremont case reminds me of that. I'm from Perth originally, and it really is a very parochial, law-unto-itself kind of place in many ways. I'm worried that LE have focused on the wrong man. JMO.

 

Will he come back to Perth from overseas..

 

Great Sources of Information Aberline. I would also add the following books:
The Devil's Garden: The Claremont Serial Killings by Debi Marshall
Broken Lives and End of Innocence by Estelle Blackburn - these two books are not specifically about the CSK but there is mention of a suspect.

 

Back in 2011 after seeing the Crime Investigation documentary a girl from Perth created a Facebook page about the CSK. Being the first of its kind I took the opportunity to post a theory that is based on the premise that the suspect might have links to an establishment adjacent to the Claremont town centre. Myself and the Facebook girl discussed this at length but being careful not to mention names to avoid slander. We decided to continue the discussion in private via email. We swapped addresses, I sent her an email but I never ever received a reply. Within a few days the page was shut down.

This is a revised version of what I sent her in an email and what was discussed in various posts on Facebook before the page was taken down:

In the Claremont area there are number of business-owned houses that accommodate university students, young men in their 20s on international exchange programs who as part of their arrangement are required to supervise local school children. Why could one of these young men be suspects? There have always been two profile themes to the CS murders, one that the perpetrator lived in close proximity to Claremont town centre and two they appeared instantly trustworthy or conveyed credibility to their victims. Here are some reasons as to why these men are worth considering:
• They are young men similar in age to the victims.
• They reside adjacent to the Claremont town centre.
• They work for a safe, credible institution and local establishment.
• They are living abroad for a set period of time hence why the murders ended so
abruptly.
• They have a sound alibi for leaving the country.
• The dates the girls disappeared coincide roughly with the beginning and end of
the school term: 26 Jan, 14 Mar, 9 June.

The one key weakness is with the sites where the bodies were found. It is more than likely a local would have better knowledge of these areas. Although a determined, educated mind would be able to research and access these locations if so desired.

 

The Police were interested in a Martial Arts expert. Previous people mentioned Martial Artist lols. But the Kung Fu, Juditsu expert was discounted. So was the guy with the rifle under his car seat. There is another FB blog started when Hermit posted. Probably co incidence I`d say. Claremont Ghost on U tube was interesting at first but he never really came to much. Capisce on Perthnow readers comment section was also a lead but as per the others was all woffle. See what comes up.

 

I have heard through a source re a scream at the top of Swan View, Perth the night S.S went missing. But the Police have gone over the bush area. Me thinks that may have been the in between site.. If anything happened there that is.

 

@Parkie - the heard scream in Swanview was either mentioned in the book The Devils Playground or from a person by the name of Mr ****** on a blog of the Australian Newspaper.
Im not on FB so it wasn't me who created the page - anything of interest on there or the name of the person who started it?

@Everyone - the media here in Perth are reporting on rumours today (22/1/14) that an arrest is going to be made but the Police are out right denying it. http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/01/22/18/16/police-deny-talk-of-claremont-arrest
I am trying to find out from my police source where these rumours started from (the media are just saying the "community"). The source can not confirm if an arrest will be made and thinks its unlikely.

Maybe the rumour started from a post on the FB page?