The worst of the killers

Australian maniacs John Bunting and Robert Wagner have more than ten murders to their credit. And more than ten life sentences for each without the right to parole

Between 1992 and their arrest in 1999, they killed at least 11 people. Before death, almost all victims were subjected to brutal torture. And the maniacs ate the last one killed. Both defendants did not show the slightest remorse at the trial. They are still confident that they rid society of scum.

Strange duet

Criminologists are still arguing about how completely different people, with completely opposite views, formed a criminal duo that kept the entire southern part of Australia in fear for ten years. Banting, who knew how to hypnotically influence people with his speeches, pathologically hated homosexuals. And Wagner was a gay man who did not hide his orientation. In fact, it was from him that Banting received information about homosexuals, choosing those who, in his opinion, deserved punishment.

They didn’t just kill: they sophisticatedly tortured their victims for several weeks. As Bunting’s stepson James Vlassakis later said, his stepfather told him that “looking into the eyes of a victim during torture, you can see the soul of a person.” Later, psychiatrists would agree on one opinion: they agreed because they both liked killing too much.

John Bunting and Robert Wagner met in 1992 when Bunting moved into a house on Waterloo Corner Road on the outskirts of Adelaide. He arrived in the city at the age of 18, worked at a slaughterhouse, and managed to marry a girl with a child. His housemate was Robert Wagner, with whom Banting became quite close, despite the fact that he hated gays. He was probably the victim of sexual abuse as a child.

They committed their first murder in August 1992. Banting was then 26 years old, Wagner was 21 years old. The victim was Wagner's sexual partner Clinton Trezise. Bunting believed that he was not only gay, but also a pedophile. They beat Clinton to death with a shovel and buried his body on the outskirts of Adelaide. Trezise's remains were discovered only in August 1994, and for a long time they could not be identified. In 1997, Trezise's portrait of Clinton, reconstructed using computer design, was shown several times on television. According to Vlassakis's stepson, when Bunting saw the photo, he grinned and said , “My work!” The teenager did not tell anyone about this; his stepfather was an idol for him.

The criminal duo committed their next murder three years later, in December 1995. The victim was Bunting's neighbor, mentally retarded Ray Davis. Bunting's ex-girlfriend Suzanne Allen briefly dated Davis after breaking up with him. And she told Bantling that Davis allegedly tried to rape her 7-year-old grandson. He was kidnapped on December 25, 1995. Suzanne also took part in the kidnapping along with Bunting and Wagner. They took Davis to Bunting's former home and tortured him there for almost a month. For torture, pliers, a stun gun, a scalpel, and a saw were used. On January 21, Davis was strangled and his body was walled up in a wall. He will be found only in 1999, after the arrest of the criminals.

Almost simultaneously with Davis, Suzanne Allen also disappeared. Her body was never found, and therefore no one was ever charged with her murder. But police later discovered that Wagner had been withdrawing social benefits from Davis and Allen's cards for three years. Moreover, social services were periodically called by a man and a woman introducing themselves as Suzanne Allen and Ray Davis. In fact, it was Bunting's neighbors Mark and Elizabeth Hayden who called. It is because of her that the police will subsequently detain psychopaths.

And again the killers fell silent for almost two years. In September 1997, Bunting and Wagner went hunting again. The victim was 19-year-old homosexual Michael (Michelle) Gardiner. He lived next door to Wagner's second cousin, who said that Michael often communicated with teenagers. Gardiner was kidnapped, tortured for a long time in Bunting's barn, then strangled, his body dismembered and placed in a plastic barrel. Later, the killers would try to dissolve the corpse in hydrochloric acid, but it turned out to be diluted, and the remains could not be completely disposed of. In addition, they vandalized Wagner's sister's apartment, stole valuables and presented the case in such a way that the police decided that Gardiner had done it.

Less than a month had passed before Bunting and Wagner set off again “to work.” This time the victim was 42-year-old Vanessa Lane. In 1985, Lane, who was still a man named Barry at the time, picked up 14-year-old Wagner as a runaway on the street, took him to his home and raped him. For a long time, Barry remained Wagner's sexual partner, but then decided to change his sex. There were no more sexual relations between Lane and Wagner after that, but they remained friends. Vanessa-Barry was aware of what happened to Clinton Trezise and Michel Gardiner, but kept quiet. In October 1997, she decided to move to another area of ​​the city, and the killers decided that she could join the police.

Vanessa was kidnapped on October 17, 1997. The next day, Bunting forced her to call her mother and tell her that she was moving to another city and cutting off all old ties. Then Vanessa/Barry was tortured for a long time, learning PIN codes from bank cards, after which she was strangled and her body was placed in a barrel. As with the other murders, Wagner withdrew benefits from Lane's account every month. And he did it in the same place. By that time, all ATMs were already equipped with cameras, and the bank noticed that instead of Lane, another man was receiving his benefits. Security reported to the police. They established Wagner’s identity: he stated that he was simply withdrawing money at the request of his friend, who did not want to “shine” because he was being hounded by haters of non-traditional relationships. The police knew that Lane had changed his sex, and this explanation was considered quite logical.

And the killers, despite the interest of the police, continued to kill. Almost simultaneously with Lane, 18-year-old Thomas Trevilyan, Lane's last lover, was killed. The killers tried to fake suicide - Trevilyan was found hanging from a tree. Wagner and Banting's plan almost worked. The police actually thought Trevillian had committed suicide. It was only after the arrest of Bantling and Wagner that it became clear that the suicide had been faked.

After Trevilyan and Lane, maniacs began to kill much more often. On April 8, 1998, 29-year-old homosexual Allan Gavin was killed after five days of torture. September 8 – William Troy, 21. On September 19, 18-year-old Robert Brooks died. On November 14, 29-year-old Gary O'Dyer was killed. As Bunting's stepson Vlassakis would later tell, his stepfather had a whole file of gay neighbors. When the maniac talked in the presence of Wagner, Haydon and Vlassakis about the need to “kill homosexuals and pedophiles,” he named the names of potential victims. From these they were later chosen by those whom the “cleaners” sentenced to death.

But the wife of neighbor Mark Haydon, Elizabeth, did not like much what her husband began to talk about. The woman threatened to go to the police if her husband did not stop communicating with the suspicious Wagner and Bunting. But he told about the threats to Banting. And thus he signed his wife’s death warrant.

No remorse

In January 1999, police were finally able to identify the remains found in August 1994 as that of Clinton Trezise. The police began to check the surroundings of the deceased and found Wagner. Here the old story of receiving other people’s benefits came up and the fact that no one else saw the “recipients” was seen. It looked suspicious, but “no body, no case!” The neighbors took note, but there was nothing to attract them for.

But then Elizabeth Haydon's brother came to the police and said that his sister had disappeared in November 1998. Her husband Mark was questioned first. He said that the day before his disappearance, he and his wife had a big fight, and he went to live with his friend. Moreover, on the day Elizabeth disappeared, Mark Haydon had an alibi: he was seen by several people in a bar 5 km from home. But the police were interested in Mark’s friend, with whom he moved after a quarrel with his wife - he turned out to be Robert Wagner.

In a short period of time, investigators studied Wagner’s life literally under a microscope. And they found out that Wagner and his neighbor Bunting communicated with at least five people who disappeared without a trace. In addition to Barry Lane and Elizabeth Haydon, Bunting and Wagner knew Clinton Trezise, ​​Susan Allen and Ray Davies. All this was very suspicious, but there was no evidence yet. And the police set up surveillance of the suspects.

And despite the fact that they were already “under the hood” of the police, Bunting and Wagner managed to pull off another “case”. In early May 1999, they kidnapped and killed 24-year-old David Terence. He was also tortured, then strangled and, after being dismembered, placed in a barrel. During the dismemberment, the idea of ​​“preparing the victim” arose . They cut several pieces from the body and fried them. They ate themselves and tried to feed Vlassakis and Haydon. According to the latter, they refused.

The surveillance of Wagner and Banting continued for several months. On May 18, 1999, a couple of maniacs went to the town of Snowtown, 150 kilometers from Adelaide. And there the police who were following them discovered an old Toyota Land Cruiser - the same car that the missing Elizabeth Haydon had. The car found did not have license plates, but the police found out that it was the right car.

Having discovered the missing car, the police went door-to-door. And one of the residents of Snowtown recalled how a few days ago two men unloaded barrels from a Toyota and brought them into the former bank building. The police went to the specified address.

Six barrels with a specific smell were discovered in the basement of the former bank office. The source of the smell became clear as soon as the police opened the first barrel. Among various debris there was a human arm and leg. The remaining barrels were filled with similar contents. As experts would later establish, six barrels contained the remains of eight human bodies. Bunting, Wagner, Haydon and Vlassakis were arrested .

After the discovery of barrels with remains and the arrest of the main suspects, the police were faced with the task of identifying the corpses - in some barrels, hydrochloric acid had almost corroded the bodies. Wagner and Bunting refused to talk, Haydon knew too little, and the police switched to the youngest member of the criminal group - Vlassakis. In exchange for a promise of leniency, he told the police everything he knew. In addition to taking part in four murders, Vlassakis remembered Bunting's boastful stories when he talked about other murders.

When James Vlassakis was 14 years old, Bunting married his mother Christine and effectively replaced the father he never knew. As Vlassakis would later tell, Bunting simply fascinated him. However, knowing about some of his stepfather’s affairs, Vlassakis was sure that if he told anyone about Banting’s affairs, he would simply kill him. In court, he asked to “deprive Bunting of the opportunity to influence him with his gaze.”

The trial began in December 2000 and became the longest in Australian history. In May 2002, John Bunting was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Robert Wagner received ten life sentences for ten murders. Mark Haydon was found guilty of murdering his wife and complicity in the murder of two others and received twenty-five years in prison. And Vlassakis, found guilty of complicity in four murders, received 25 years in prison - investigators kept their promise of leniency. He could be released this year.

As witnesses said, Bunting and Wagner did not repent of anything at the trial. They still believe that by killing they were committing acts pleasing to God. Journalists covering the trial dubbed them "the worst killers in Australian history." And even after they were sentenced, they did not lose their composure. Bunting smiled as he was led out of the courthouse and into a car that took him to a maximum security prison.