Backpacker murders

Between 1989 and 1993, seven young people aged 19 to 22 disappeared after setting out from Sydney, most while hitchhiking or backpacking along routes including the Hume Highway. The victims were Deborah Everist and James Gibson (Australians from Melbourne, missing since 30 December 1989); Simone Schmidl (German, missing since 20 January 1991); Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Habschied (German couple, missing since 26 December 1991); and Caroline Clarke and Joanne Walters (British, last seen 18 April 1992). Their bodies were discovered in stages, partially buried in Belanglo State Forest, roughly 15 km south-west of Berrima, NSW.

Clarke and Walters were found first, on 19–20 September 1992, by runners orienteering in the forest. Walters had been stabbed multiple times; Clarke had been shot repeatedly in the head. Gibson and Everist were found in October 1993 by a local resident who had searched the area independently for months; both had been stabbed and Everist had also suffered severe blunt-force injuries. Schmidl, Habschied and Neugebauer were found in early November 1993 during a police search; Schmidl and Neugebauer had been stabbed and shot respectively, and Habschied had been decapitated, her skull never recovered.

The discoveries prompted the NSW Police to form Task Force Air in October 1993 and offer a reward that rose to $500,000. Investigators used link analysis across vehicle, gym, and firearms licensing records to narrow a large suspect list. A key break came when Paul Onions, a British backpacker who had survived an attempted robbery and shooting by a man calling himself "Bill" near Belanglo in January 1990, contacted police in November 1993. Onions later identified Ivan Milat from a photo array and, in May 1994, in person.

Milat was arrested on 22 May 1994 on charges related to the Onions incident; searches of his and his relatives' properties recovered weapons, including firearms consistent with those used in the murders, and belongings linked to several victims. He was subsequently charged with all seven murders. Following a lengthy committal hearing and a trial that opened on 26 March 1996 at the NSW Supreme Court, a jury found Milat guilty on 27 July 1996. He received seven consecutive life sentences without parole, plus additional sentences for the attempted murder, false imprisonment and robbery of Onions.

Police have stated Milat may have been involved in other unsolved disappearances and killings with similar characteristics, though no further charges were brought due to insufficient evidence. In 2005, Milat's former lawyer alleged in a deathbed statement that Milat's sister had assisted in two of the killings; this claim was reported but not the basis of any charge. Milat died in prison on 27 October 2019, having never confessed to the murders.