Between 1996 and 1997 three young women - Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer, Ciara Glennon - vanished after visiting nightclubs in the affluent suburb of Claremont. With no eye witnesses and no apparent motive, police became locked in a deadly race to catch this killer before he struck again. The bodies of Jane and Ciara were found, dumped in desolate bush areas. Sarah is still missing. The families' agony is endless.
A decade on, police and forensic experts are no closer to solving the identity of the menace, who paralysed the community with fear; no closer to either clearing or charging the prime suspect, who has wilted under surveillance for years. And, despite more than 20 missing women or unsolved murders in Western Australia, they are no closer to knowing if the killer's body count stops at these three victims.
In the mid-1990s, three girls went missing within a short space of time after visiting nightclubs in Claremont Western Australia. The state of Western Australia was in shock. Claremont is a salubrious suburb of Perth. Three women disappearing from relatively safe streets without a trace was very disturbing. The investigation has continued full-time for more than 10 years, the biggest in the history of the WA Police. And it is now Australia’s longest-running and most expensive murder investigation. Controversy surrounding the Claremont killings has not faded with time. There are a number of suspects. Bodies of two of the three missing women have been found. But what about all those other young women in Western Australia who have not been seen for years—are they also victims of the Claremont serial killer? Debi Marshall looks critically at the police investigations and 16 other disappearances in Western Australia. She talks to everyone involved including forensic investigators, criminologists, the police, the media, and the victims’ parents. The results of her investigations should not be ignored.