Murder in Tiny Towns: Australia’s Notorious Rural Killers
Rural settings can be just as dangerous as big cities
There’s a tendency to think major crime only happens in the city — “down these mean streets” where dark alleys and doorways inspire murder and mayhem. Cities make perfect places for murder, where people are more anonymous and someone going missing may not in fact be missed. But small country towns and villages also can be a hotbed of crime, both fictional (Midsomer Murders) and true. Australia is no different.
Over the past few years, both novels and true crime books have explored some of the bizarre or brutal crimes that can happen in small places here. Australia is a huge country with hundreds of tiny towns, some of which have become notorious. One of the most infamous in South Australia is Snowtown, in what has come to be known as the “Snowtown murders” or the “bodies in the barrels” murders. None of the killers came from or lived in Snowtown, and only one of the eleven victims was killed there. But eight of the bodies were dismembered and put in barrels, then kept in an abandoned bank vault in the town.
The murders, committed between 1992 and 1999, were carried out by three men: John Bunting, Robert Wagner and James Vlassakis, and Mark Haydon was convicted of assisting them with disposing of the bodies. Bunting was the leader and convinced the others they were helping to rid the world of paedophiles and homosexuals. In fact a number of the victims were partners, ex-partners or related to the killers in some way. They were all tortured with a variety of tools, and died in horrible ways.
Bunting was clearly the ringleader. He was described by others as a nice man, friendly, but was extremely manipulative and able to convince the others to follow his lead, drawing them further and further into the mutilations and killings. Like many serial killers, he had a history of killing animals and was obsessed with death.
Upon conviction, Bunting was sentenced to eleven consecutive life sentences and Wagner to ten, with no possibility of parole. Vlassakis was sentenced to four life sentences, with no parole before 26 years. Haydon pleaded guilty to assisting and received a sentence of 25 years with no parole before 18 years. Snowtown has been…
