On 13 November 1993, police received a call from Paul Onions (24) in the U.K. On 25 January 1990, Onions had been backpacking in Australia and, while hitchhiking from Liverpool station towards Mildura, had accepted a ride south out of Casula from a man known only as "Bill".[25][16] South of the town of Mittagong, and less than 1 km from Belanglo State Forest, Bill stopped and pulled out a revolver and some ropes stating it was a robbery, at which point Onions managed to flee while Bill pursued and shot at him.[26][27] Onions flagged down Joanne Berry, a passing motorist, and together they sped off and described the assailant and his vehicle to the Bowral police.[28] On 13 April 1994, detectives re-found the note regarding Onions' call and sought the original report from Bowral police, but it was missing. Fortunately, a constable had recorded details in her notebook. Onions' statement was corroborated by Berry, who had also contacted the investigation team, along with the girlfriend of a man who worked with Ivan Milat, who thought he should be questioned over the case.[29]

Background

Ivan Robert Marko Milat (27 December 1944 – 27 October 2019)[30] was the son of a Croatian emigrant, Stjepan Marko "Steven" Milat (1902–1983), and an Australian, Margaret Elizabeth Piddleston (1920–2001), who married when she was 16.[31][32][33] Milat was the fifth-born of their 14 children.[34] Many of the 10 Milat boys were well known to local police, and Milat displayed antisocial behaviour at a young age, leading to a stint in a residential school at age 13.[35] By 17, he was in a juvenile detention centre for theft, and at 19, was involved in a shop break in.[35] In 1964, he was sentenced to 18 months for a break and enter, and a month after release, he was arrested for driving a stolen car and was sentenced to 2 years hard labour.[35] In September 1967, aged 23, he was sentenced to 3 years for theft.[35] In April 1971, he was charged with the abduction of two 18 year-old hitchhikers and the rape of one of them.[36] While awaiting trial, he was involved in a string of robberies with some of his brothers, before faking his suicide and fleeing to New Zealand for a year.[35] He was rearrested in 1974, but the robbery and kidnap cases against him failed at trial with the help of the Milat's family lawyer, John Marsden. Taking on a job as a truck driver in 1975, he met a 16-year-old girl who was then pregnant by his cousin, whom he married in 1983.[35] She left him in 1987 due to domestic violence and they divorced in October 1989.[35] By the time of the first crimes, Milat had worked on and off for 20 years for the Roads & Traffic Authority all over the state.[35]