Snowtown murders: 21 years on from Australia’s worst serial killings | ABC News

Twenty-one years ago, a gang of serial killers put Snowtown on the map. The discovery of their victims’ bodies in a disused bank vault, in barrels of acid, left a stain on the town forever. The crimes now known as the "Snowtown murders", or the "bodies-in-the-barrels murders", remain one of the nation's worst serial killings. But for two decades, Snowtown has suffered because it was the end point of events which began many miles away. In the early '90s John Bunting, who was living in Salisbury North in Adelaide's underprivileged northern suburbs, met Robert Wagner, who was born in Parramatta. Both men were the product of deeply disturbing upbringings. From 1992 to 1999 they unleashed a campaign of torturous violence, recruiting two others — James Vlassakis and Mark Haydon — to assist their cause. Allegedly driven by a hatred of paedophiles and homosexuals, their victims were mostly people the perpetrators themselves associated with, including family members. People with intellectual disabilities and welfare recipients were also killed for financial gain. Twelve deaths were linked to the case, 11 of which were deemed murders. The killings were characterised by extreme sadism, with the perpetrators using various tools to torture their victims before killing them. In one instance, it descended into cannibalism. This is the story of the town of Snowtown, 20 years after the discovery of the murders. Read more here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-2... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-2... For more from ABC News, click here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/ Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://ab.co/1svxLVE You can also like us on Facebook:   / abcnews.au   Or follow us on Instagram:   / abcnews_au   Or even on Twitter:   / abcnews