Speaker 1: The late nineteen eighties and the early nineteen nineties in Melbourne,
Speaker 1: Australia were marked by a series of heinous crimes, ones
Speaker 1: that sent shockwaves through the community and left a horrible
Speaker 1: mark on the nation psyche. These crimes were perpetrated by
Speaker 1: an individual known only as mister Kruel, a meticulous and
Speaker 1: calculating predator whose primary target was young girls he watched,
Speaker 1: bited his time, and abducted these girls from the homes
Speaker 1: they lived in. This is the case of mister Kruel.
Speaker 2: My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked Ingram,
Speaker 2: a true crime podcast.
Speaker 1: The following podcast material intended for a mature audience. Massive
Speaker 1: news in the true crime world. Earlier this week, Robert
Speaker 1: picked In passed away. He was assaulted while in jail,
Speaker 1: and he died of those injuries.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The world, in my opinion, is way better off right
Speaker 1: now without that man.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I'm honestly a bit surprised that it
Speaker 2: didn't happen much sooner.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was a very evil man.
Speaker 2: Spoke a lot of lives, that man some evil things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and yeah, I'm surprised no one else went at
Speaker 1: him while behind bars. Yeah, but as one of our
Speaker 1: patrons actually mentioned that. Now with his death solidifies the
Speaker 1: fact that we may never know the names behind all
Speaker 1: of his victims.
Speaker 2: Which is too bad.
Speaker 1: But then, I mean, he wasn't going to give it up.
Speaker 2: Who knows for sure if he would have even given.
Speaker 1: That up, So he wouldn't have he reveled in that.
Speaker 1: There's no way he was giving up those names. Never
Speaker 1: es we covered that case. Actually believe you did that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I had a two parter with that one.
Speaker 2: Well you kind of need it, yeah, for Foozy for.
Speaker 1: Picked In, no kidding, So if you want to check
Speaker 1: that out, that's in our library, go and scroll back,
Speaker 1: find it, give it a listen. But yeah, he's no
Speaker 1: longer here, so good riddance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no shit.
Speaker 1: On a nicer note, we did a true crime thing
Speaker 1: at home, a little date night. We had a free
Speaker 1: date night. That was fun, fun, and we solved it.
Speaker 1: Took us about four hours together.
Speaker 2: I know. Is that good or bad?
Speaker 1: I don't know. He went through a bottle of wine,
Speaker 1: solved it in four hours. It was our first ever one, so.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was quite a depth. I didn't
Speaker 2: quite realize how much there was going to be to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a fair amount.
Speaker 2: Like there was just so many articles, so much little
Speaker 2: readings to do. We even had to log into like
Speaker 2: a fake email on email email online and read some emails.
Speaker 1: And to be honest, I think our first hour was
Speaker 1: just like understanding what we got ourselves into, you know, like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, Yeah, there's there's this fake email we have
Speaker 1: to log into online and all this paperwork and these photos.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Once we finally started like making a list of who
Speaker 1: the suspects were and stuff and really getting into it,
Speaker 1: I think we did a lot better.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we'll we'll do it again.
Speaker 1: We definitely will.
Speaker 2: Good date Night, I like.
Speaker 1: It definitely will. No no sponsorship or affiliation, But if
Speaker 1: you guys just go on Amazon sear it's like a
Speaker 1: little like murder Mystery thing. You can find these like
Speaker 1: packages just for like doing solo or as couples or
Speaker 1: parties whatever. And yeah, yeah it.
Speaker 2: Was a thirty five bucks or something. Yeah, like Canadian
Speaker 2: not too bad for.
Speaker 1: An evening of entertainment. It was off. Yeah, wonder to
Speaker 1: know what else is not too bad for a good price.
Speaker 1: Our Patreon and so many people have been signing up.
Speaker 2: Yes, awesome.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much to these individuals who are signing up,
Speaker 1: getting an exclusive behind the scenes and supporting the show
Speaker 1: at the same time. So special thanks to Terry Meyer,
Speaker 1: Alyssa and fur Babies. Love that. Oh okay, Alena Hyatt
Speaker 1: and Alec van Driel, thank you so much for signing
Speaker 1: up and supporting a show. You go ahead and check
Speaker 1: out all that exclusive stuff they signed up this week.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much.
Speaker 2: That's really awesome. I love that.
Speaker 1: I love the fact that Alyssa put in fur babies.
Speaker 2: I know I kind of love that too. I'm surprised
Speaker 2: no one has done that yet. Yeah, no kidding, we
Speaker 2: would show it out with the fur babies, Come on.
Speaker 1: No kidding. Anyways, this is a doozy of a case.
Speaker 1: This is mister cruel.
Speaker 2: Yeah, from the intro, I'm not sure I'm looking forward
Speaker 2: to this one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not not too great. But we are headed
Speaker 1: back to Australia for this. We've we've been spending some
Speaker 1: I'm in Australia proverbially in these cases recently, so I
Speaker 1: think after this one I'm going to try and spread
Speaker 1: my wings to some other places around the world for
Speaker 1: a little bit but when I discovered this case, I
Speaker 1: was like, we got to cover it.
Speaker 2: So was the very last one Australia as well?
Speaker 1: I can't remember what her last episode was. Thanks for
Speaker 1: putting me on the spot. What was our last episode?
Speaker 1: Do you remember? No? I do you spend days researching
Speaker 1: this and I'm like reading another book on another case?
Speaker 2: Shit?
Speaker 1: Oh Lindsay n Hawker? I don't think that was Australia,
Speaker 1: was it? I know the poor Arthur massacre was?
Speaker 2: Okay, So it's just it's just we've done a few
Speaker 2: in the last like couple.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, okay, I don't was Lindsay and Hawker Australian?
Speaker 1: I can't remember whatever this case okay?
Speaker 2: Just really quickly, A lot of people ask like how
Speaker 2: we cope, and I think it's just that we do
Speaker 2: an episode in and it just leaves our brains pretty much.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, Lindsay was in Japan, that's.
Speaker 2: Right, right, yes, yes, yes, okay, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, moving on to the next case is generally how
Speaker 1: we cope. It's kind of like, yeah, onto the next
Speaker 1: horrible fucking thing that happened like this one.
Speaker 2: So yeah, you ready, I am. I'm just going to
Speaker 2: say someone actually asked me the other day if like,
Speaker 2: we'll ever run out of things. It's like, nope, you
Speaker 2: know what, I don't think we will, which is actually terrible.
Speaker 1: There. Yeah, there's no way we're ever going to run
Speaker 1: out of true crime. I bet you we could do
Speaker 1: a life's worth of true crime episodes on a year
Speaker 1: of occurrences of crime in the British Columbia Province alone.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet you. That's terrible.
Speaker 1: Hey, yeah, Okay, that's where we live BC. Just throwing
Speaker 1: that over.
Speaker 2: Enough of this, sorry, let's we'll move on.
Speaker 1: Here, we digress onto the case. So, as I said,
Speaker 1: we're going over to Australia, and we're particularly going to Melbourne,
Speaker 1: which is the capital of the Australian state of Victoria.
Speaker 1: Now it is known for its vibrant culture, diverse population,
Speaker 1: and historical landmarks. By the nineteen eighties, it was a
Speaker 1: bustling metropolis, home to millions of residents and known for
Speaker 1: its high quality of life. However, the city's piece would
Speaker 1: soon be shattered by the emergence of a predator who
Speaker 1: preyed on the most vulnerable members of society children. On
Speaker 1: July seventh, nineteen eighty eight, an article titled Mother Battles
Speaker 1: Blanket Blaze appeared in the Sun newspaper featuring Julie Wills
Speaker 1: and her daughters in their bedroom after a fire caused
Speaker 1: by the faulty electrical blanket. So they're they're pictured, you know,
Speaker 1: in the bedroom and they're pos kind of like sitting
Speaker 1: on the bunk bed and they're you know, like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know what, we almost burnt our house down. Thankfully
Speaker 1: we didn't post it in the newspaper, right So six
Speaker 1: months later, after that article was posted, on Boxing Day,
Speaker 1: December twenty sixth, nineteen eighty eight, the Wills family returned
Speaker 1: to their home at eleven Hillcrest Avenue, Ringwood. At around
Speaker 1: ten pm. John and Julie Wills put their four daughters
Speaker 1: to bed, with their ten year old Sharon on the
Speaker 1: top bunk, that same bunk that was featured in the
Speaker 1: newspaper photo months earlier. John finally turned off the lights
Speaker 1: in the home at quite late or early, at four
Speaker 1: fifty am in the morning, which was only about an
Speaker 1: hour before sunrise at the time. What he or the
Speaker 1: family were unaware of was what was outside in the dark.
Speaker 1: Someone was watching and if they had been observing the
Speaker 1: house since the family returned, and they had been waiting
Speaker 1: for the moment to strike for the lights to go out.
Speaker 1: They would have been waiting and watching for a total
Speaker 1: of seven hours. The man waited an extra thirty minutes afterwards,
Speaker 1: just after those lights were turned out, just to make
Speaker 1: sure before he finally made his move. Now, the house
Speaker 1: key was left in the back door lock, but on
Speaker 1: the inside of the door, so when he approached the
Speaker 1: back door, it is locked. There's no key available, okay,
Speaker 1: but he did know what the key was left on
Speaker 1: the inside, so he used a tool to push through
Speaker 1: the lock and pop the key out. It fell to
Speaker 1: the floor inside the home. However, he knew this was
Speaker 1: going to happen too, and he had slid a newspaper
Speaker 1: underneath the crack of the door, and the key fell
Speaker 1: on top of the newspaper, and from then he pulled
Speaker 1: the newspaper, giving him access to the key. He put
Speaker 1: the key in the lock, turned it and unlocked the
Speaker 1: back door, giving him access to the home. And immediately
Speaker 1: upon entering the home, the man burst into John and
Speaker 1: Julie Wills's bedroom, turning the light on. He was dressed
Speaker 1: in dark blue overalls, gloves, and a black bellick clava
Speaker 1: with white and possibly red stitching around the eyes and
Speaker 1: mouth holes. He was armed with a knife and a
Speaker 1: dark colored handgun. He was also carrying a bag flashlight.
Speaker 1: Julie Wills's reflex is instantly kicked in and she screamed
Speaker 1: for her children to get out of the house, but
Speaker 1: the man quickly silenced her by holding a gun to
Speaker 1: her husband's head and said, you're not going to be
Speaker 1: a hero, are you?
Speaker 2: Holy shit?
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of lot to unpack you already, hey.
Speaker 2: Kind of yeah, And like so he got this came
Speaker 2: in contact with this family because of the newspaper thing. Basically,
Speaker 2: is that what you're.
Speaker 1: Saying, that's speculation?
Speaker 2: Oh I hate that.
Speaker 1: That's so what I do touch on that here in
Speaker 1: a little bit, so I'll cover it then. But yes,
Speaker 1: that is the speculation.
Speaker 2: Gosh, that's just something that you wouldn't really think of.
Speaker 2: You know, you're warning people both these electric blankets, which
Speaker 2: I do use. So that's a little alarming.
Speaker 1: Well this was the eighties too, right, eight I believe so.
Speaker 2: But then that's like putting your family in more danger.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh wow, Okay, Well, the man who's now holding
Speaker 1: them hostage, forced both the two of them onto their
Speaker 1: stomachs and bound their hands and feet with copper electrical wire,
Speaker 1: and began demanding money. He took thirty five dollars from
Speaker 1: John's wallet and then cut the phone cord with pliers
Speaker 1: that he had found in the house. One of their daughters, Sharon,
Speaker 1: woke up to the mother's screaming and heard the man's voice.
Speaker 1: She lay frozen as the intruder entered her room. The
Speaker 1: intruder then called her by name and shown a torch
Speaker 1: right in her face. Initially, she pretended to sleep, hoping
Speaker 1: that he would leave, but of course, you know, he didn't,
Speaker 1: and he commanded her to get up and out of bed.
Speaker 1: He selected several items of her clothing for her to
Speaker 1: take with her from her wardrobe, and then led her
Speaker 1: out of the house in the hallway. Though he took
Speaker 1: John's checkered lumberjacket from the hatstand, and he also gave
Speaker 1: Sharon to work are sorry, and he gave that jacket
Speaker 1: for her to wear over her nightgown. After about eight
Speaker 1: minutes in the house, he carried Sharon outside and to
Speaker 1: muffle her screams, he shoved a red ball into her mouth.
Speaker 1: The man began assuring her that he wouldn't hurt her
Speaker 1: and would return her by morning. He then blindfolded her
Speaker 1: and placed her in the passenger seat floor of the
Speaker 1: car and drove off. After driving for some time, the
Speaker 1: car came to a stop and the man carried Sharon
Speaker 1: into the house. He made Sharon brush her teeth and bath,
Speaker 1: after which he sexually assaulted and raped and abused the
Speaker 1: ten year old Sharon.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's just fucking devastating.
Speaker 1: There's a reason that call this man mister Krule.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that's that's putting it nicely.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, despite being blindfolded, Sharon sends that the man
Speaker 1: had a hairy chest and possibly even facial hair, maybe
Speaker 1: the beginning of a beer sort of thing. After the assault,
Speaker 1: he gave her milk and a stale veggimite sandwich, which,
Speaker 1: for the record, I have yet to ever try vegemite.
Speaker 2: Maybe one day, but I don't even know what the
Speaker 2: hell that is.
Speaker 1: It's an Australian thing. Oh, it's kind of like, I
Speaker 1: don't know. It seems like a like a jam of
Speaker 1: some sort, like a jelly maybe, I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: like a spread for bread and stuff.
Speaker 2: I haven't heard of that.
Speaker 1: It's really dark and I have no idea what it's
Speaker 1: made of. But vegemite. Yeah, okay. Anyways, he gave her
Speaker 1: a stale vegemite sandwich and he leashed her to the
Speaker 1: bed by her neck, and then he left. Sharon managed
Speaker 1: to lift her blindfold and observe the room that she
Speaker 1: was now being held in. She noticed a wooden tripod
Speaker 1: and a camera set up for filming.
Speaker 2: Oh, you're fucking me.
Speaker 1: Everything she just endured was most likely being captured on camera.
Speaker 2: Hmm, gosh, you don't even know what to say to
Speaker 2: shit like that.
Speaker 1: No, that's low, That is fucked up. That is so disgusting. Yeah. Now.
Speaker 1: The man would return late, and he forced Sharon to
Speaker 1: bathe once again and then assaulted her in another room. Afterwards,
Speaker 1: he dressed her in a shirt and he had taken
Speaker 1: her from the home, wrapped her in garbage bags, and
Speaker 1: carried her to the car. At around eleven fifteen pm,
Speaker 1: the man stopped the car and began carrying Sharon for
Speaker 1: some distance before he put her down at Baywaters High School.
Speaker 1: He removed her blindfold and garbage bags and instructed her
Speaker 1: on how to reach a nearby food plus store. He
Speaker 1: warned her not to look at him as he left.
Speaker 1: Just after midnight, a woman found Sharon at the corner
Speaker 1: of Orchard and Armstrong Roads. Sharon calmly told her, quote,
Speaker 1: my name's Sharon Wills, and I was taken from home
Speaker 1: early this morning. A man left me here and told
Speaker 1: me to go ring home. The woman took Sharon to
Speaker 1: her home and called the police. So, yeah, we of
Speaker 1: course happy to have Sharon back at home. But the question,
Speaker 1: of course everyone's wondering, you know, who is this dude, right,
Speaker 1: who's this man and his thought? Whoever had done this
Speaker 1: potentially seen that newspaper article six months prior and had
Speaker 1: decided to target Sharon in that moment, which meant he
Speaker 1: had been stalking and watching the family for six months. Right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: now you do recall when he entered her room he
Speaker 1: called her by name, Yes he did. He knew exactly
Speaker 1: who she was, he knew what she looked like, he
Speaker 1: knew her name. Shone the light at her and said, Sharon, good.
Speaker 2: God, just having just the thought of someone like knowing
Speaker 2: or thinking that they had been watching you for that long.
Speaker 1: Hey, my our dogs stared us for too long, and
Speaker 1: I get uncomfortable. I'm like, what do you want?
Speaker 2: What do you need? Stop man? I mean because and
Speaker 2: you think, oh, you think you'd notice or something, right, potentially, No,
Speaker 2: like there, because you wouldn't be looking for that expecting that.
Speaker 1: So well, there was some alleged reports of a prowler
Speaker 1: in the area before the abduction.
Speaker 2: Actually, oh so some people maybe did notice him.
Speaker 1: Yes, some did. And there was actually a witness who
Speaker 1: claimed that a man that someone saw a man filming
Speaker 1: the Willis's house with a JBC video camera six weeks
Speaker 1: before the abduction.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, so.
Speaker 1: There is claims of this alleged person. Now. The man
Speaker 1: was described as thirty to thirty five years old, balding,
Speaker 1: with brown hair and a pot belly.
Speaker 2: Younger than I thought, or yeah, younger than I thought
Speaker 2: he'd be.
Speaker 1: He apparently would like when he was caught filming whatever.
Speaker 1: He quickly left when he was disturbed, packing his camera
Speaker 1: into a gold Ford trunk before driving away. The Willis
Speaker 1: family estimated his height to be between one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy three and one hundred and eighty centimeters, which is
Speaker 1: like five ft nine or something like that. I think
Speaker 1: somewhere around there are just under six feet. I'm not
Speaker 1: exactly sure we're sentiment's converting the feet, but yeah, he
Speaker 1: had a thin to medium build and his age was,
Speaker 1: as I already mentioned, described as thirty to thirty five
Speaker 1: from the witnesses. However, the willis but believed him to
Speaker 1: be mid twenties to thirties. Okay, some reports suggest that
Speaker 1: he might be even younger based on his voice. So
Speaker 1: we are looking at someone quite young, up to thirty,
Speaker 1: and even younger than twenty potentially.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh.
Speaker 1: Now, to the Wills, his voice sounded well spoken, with
Speaker 1: no discernible accent. Now, to authorities, this could be the
Speaker 1: work of only one man, someone they were actually already
Speaker 1: familiar with, someone by the moniker mister Kruel. Now. The
Speaker 1: Sun newspaper gave him this moniker mister krule after police
Speaker 1: described a serial home invasion rapist in November of nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty seven as quote super cool and super cruel and
Speaker 1: by cool like calm, cool and collective. Oh okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: not like, hey, that's a radical awesome dude.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a freaking opposite of cool.
Speaker 1: No, like he's he keeps as cool. Sort of thing
Speaker 1: that makes sense now at the time, police believed that
Speaker 1: the same perpetrator was responsible for three rapes, and the
Speaker 1: first is in nineteen eighty five of a woman and
Speaker 1: again in nineteen eighty seven. So we do have as
Speaker 1: I mentioned that the Sun had described him as a
Speaker 1: serial invasion rapist. So yeah, serial home invasion rapist.
Speaker 2: Was it children?
Speaker 1: Not all of them? No? No, it was nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: five and nineteen eighty seven they were both women. Oh okay,
Speaker 1: but there was another in nineteen eighty seven that just
Speaker 1: might be mister Corule's first instance of targeting a younger girl.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, this guy, which brings us to our next
Speaker 1: incident here, of course it does. Yeah, so now this
Speaker 1: one actually predates because this is the first incident of
Speaker 1: a younger girl. So this is in the early hours
Speaker 1: of Saturday, August twenty second, nineteen eighty seven, a family
Speaker 1: of four in Lower Plenty, Melbourne were targeted at around
Speaker 1: four a m. Mister Krule broke into their home by
Speaker 1: quietly shattering a room window of the home the front
Speaker 1: of the house. The intruder was dressed in an open faced,
Speaker 1: navy blue belliclava, yellow surgical gloves and a blue waterproof
Speaker 1: zip up jacket beneath a brown tweed jacket. Armed and
Speaker 1: well prepared, the assailant carried a small black handgun, a
Speaker 1: kitchen knife, several sets of handcuffs, red and white nylon cord,
Speaker 1: a small gray bag resembling a child's library bag, and
Speaker 1: three rolls of colored electrical tape, along with alestoplasty surgical tape.
Speaker 1: Elastoplasty surgical tape. There we go. He headed immediately straight
Speaker 1: to the parents bedroom, upon breaking in, forcing them into
Speaker 1: their stomach and restraining them with their hands and ankles
Speaker 1: behind their back with handcuffs. Sounding familiar, hey, very The
Speaker 1: parents were of course terrified, but remember the man saying
Speaker 1: this to them, be quiet and don't move or I'll
Speaker 1: hurt someone.
Speaker 2: Man. I just like that, just the feeling of that, hey,
Speaker 2: like you're in your children or in the other room.
Speaker 2: My god.
Speaker 1: Well, and through all this, as I mentioned, he keeps
Speaker 1: as cool. He is very calm collected throughout all of this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I sort of feel like that is expect
Speaker 2: Like I would expect that.
Speaker 1: I mean think about this way, like like someone's like
Speaker 1: doing something like this. You would think adrenaline might be pumping,
Speaker 1: maybe breathing heavy or something like that. No, he's stone
Speaker 1: fucking cold.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like this is just a normal day, like an
Speaker 2: average day for him.
Speaker 1: So the intruder then woke up the seven year old
Speaker 1: son and eleven year old daughter, hurting them into their
Speaker 1: parents' bedroom. He tied the son to the bed and
Speaker 1: bound the daughter's hands. All the victims were gagged with
Speaker 1: electrical tape, and the children were blindfolded with surgical tape.
Speaker 1: With everyone in the family now immobilized, the intruder demanded cash,
Speaker 1: a first aid kit, clothes, a shower, food, and a shave. Quote.
Speaker 1: All I want is money, food and clothes. How much
Speaker 1: money is in the house. He forced the parents into
Speaker 1: a wardrobe, covering them with a blanket, and appeared to
Speaker 1: make a phone call. Then led the eleven year old
Speaker 1: girl to another room where he made her brush her
Speaker 1: teeth and bathe. Then he sexually assaulted.
Speaker 2: Her in her own home.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: He then took her to the kitchen, where he ate
Speaker 1: some of the food in the kitchen, some cold lamb biscuits, milk,
Speaker 1: orange juice, before assaulting her once again.
Speaker 2: God okay.
Speaker 1: He left the girl in a lounge chair while he
Speaker 1: checked on her parents and brother in the master bedroom. Returning,
Speaker 1: he tied at her ankles with nylon cord, made her
Speaker 1: sit in a chair, and instructed, quote, I'm going out now,
Speaker 1: so count to one hundred slowly, then you can free
Speaker 1: your parents. Before leaving, he picked up the broken glass
Speaker 1: from the lounge room floor and ripped the telephone from
Speaker 1: the wall. When she heard the front door close, the
Speaker 1: girl freed herself and her family. It was about six am.
Speaker 1: The intruder had been in the house for nearly two hours.
Speaker 2: Man eleven and ten. Hey, that is so disturbing. That
Speaker 2: is like beyond disturbing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. But that's who he's targeting. And
Speaker 1: he went for like, you know, older women effort. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying like older women, but like grown ass adults
Speaker 1: at first. Yeah, and then he for whatever reason made
Speaker 1: the switch in this instant, which is quite the switch,
Speaker 1: because I'm not sitting here saying he should have done
Speaker 1: this or should have done that. But like he had
Speaker 1: her mother there, so he right specifically chose who he
Speaker 1: was targeting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I never really thought of it like that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, he had also stolen various items on his way
Speaker 1: out of the home as well, including some of the
Speaker 1: father's clothes, a jacket, razor, cash, jewelry, and even some
Speaker 1: vinyl records which were apparently quite collectors collector's items. But
Speaker 1: besides the point, the man dubbed as mister Krule was
Speaker 1: leaving residents in Australia absolutely horrified and authorities were scratching
Speaker 1: their heads.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, this guy needs to get caught like a
Speaker 2: sap here now.
Speaker 1: The biggest thing, though, was the man seemed to plan
Speaker 1: his attacks in extreme advance. Remember the case of Sharing,
Speaker 1: like I said, it was six six months months. He's
Speaker 1: most I think scouting out families for days, weeks, or
Speaker 1: even as we just said, months at a time before
Speaker 1: ever making his move. He executed his plan carefully, can insistently,
Speaker 1: ensuring that he was well prepared to handle multiple people
Speaker 1: at once, ensuring he got what he wanted and through
Speaker 1: it all stayed very calm.
Speaker 2: Well then also doing it in the middle of the
Speaker 2: night too, because then you're just so getting woken up
Speaker 2: to that, right you're so alarmed.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, well not only so alarmed, but like you're
Speaker 1: so discombobulated, right, like what's going.
Speaker 2: On and almost think you're dreaming or something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you're in the pitch black lights turn on.
Speaker 1: You can't fucking see. You're so out of it. What
Speaker 1: the fuck is going on? Yeah, you're you're stunned for
Speaker 1: let's just say ten seconds. He's got advantage on you
Speaker 1: for ten seconds. That's a lot.
Speaker 2: That is a long time.
Speaker 1: So now his next victim, this is after ten year
Speaker 1: old sharing, will be a girl by the name of
Speaker 1: Nikola Linz or Linus. Sorry not Linz, My apologies, read
Speaker 1: that wrong. On the evening of Tuesday, July thirtieth, nineteen ninety,
Speaker 1: Brian Linus and his wife Rosemary were picked up by
Speaker 1: friends to attend a function, leaving their daughter's thirteen year
Speaker 1: old Nikola and fifteen year old Fiona at home that evening.
Speaker 1: As on previous nights when they're you know, at home
Speaker 1: alone or whatever and the parents are out doing whatever
Speaker 1: it is, the girls ordered pizza. I remember being a kid,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like parents are going to do with thing,
Speaker 1: so you get.
Speaker 2: Like take off, right, that's like so exciting.
Speaker 1: So that's what they were doing. It's like, oh, parents
Speaker 1: are out, we get pizza tonight, right, And the pizza
Speaker 1: arrived at about ten oh five pm. The girls ate
Speaker 1: their pizza and then they went to sleep at around
Speaker 1: eleven pm. However, just twenty minutes later, a man wearing
Speaker 1: gloves and a dark green belliciclava with creams stitching around
Speaker 1: the eyes and mouth, forced open a window in the
Speaker 1: parents' bedroom and entered the home Quietly. He made his
Speaker 1: way through the home, down the hall and entered the
Speaker 1: room where both of the girls were sleeping. Mister Krule
Speaker 1: woke up Nikola by tapping her head with a long
Speaker 1: serrated carving knife and said, see this, this is a
Speaker 1: really sharp knife. Then in his other hand he held
Speaker 1: a gun with a silver barrel and a brown wooden handle,
Speaker 1: and he said, this is a real gun. It shoots
Speaker 1: real bullets. Blow your heads off.
Speaker 2: Gosh, this guy's a freaking piece of shit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's getting under your skin, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like this is so disturbing. I I am. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I said it once already, and I'm sure I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it more times. They call him mister Krule for
Speaker 1: a reason.
Speaker 2: I think there needs to be a worse name.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, fair enough. Now, he led the sisters to
Speaker 1: their parents' bedroom. He forced the girl's face down on
Speaker 1: the bed, hogtied Fiona with galvanized wire and took Nicola
Speaker 1: to the kitchen, where he cut the phone line. Cruel
Speaker 1: then led Nikola to her own bedroom, told her to
Speaker 1: get dressed in her school blazer, and took several items
Speaker 1: of clothing from her drawer, which he would then stuff
Speaker 1: into a beach bag, a ken done beach bag. He
Speaker 1: asked about her father's employment and told Fiona he was
Speaker 1: kidnapping Nicola for a ransom of twenty five thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: stating he would call their father the following morning to claimant.
Speaker 1: So at eleven forty seven pm, mister Kruele left with Nikola,
Speaker 1: placing her in the front seat of the Linus family
Speaker 1: car parked in the driveway. He took the keys from
Speaker 1: the kitchen. He told her to get down under the
Speaker 1: dashboard and pulled her beanie over her eyes. Quote, crouch
Speaker 1: down on the floor, Get down low, get your head
Speaker 1: right down.
Speaker 2: This is the eleven year old, right, I believe.
Speaker 1: So I'll have to go back, scroll back and see how.
Speaker 2: Much no she is their okay, this is the older.
Speaker 1: No Fiona fifteen Nikola was.
Speaker 2: Oh oh right, it was thirteen to fifteen. Sorry, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: So he drove north out of the driveway and west
Speaker 1: along Mont Albert Road before stopping and putting thick tape
Speaker 1: over Nikola's eyes and a belli clava over her head. Quote.
Speaker 1: If you try to see it will be very dangerous
Speaker 1: for you, he told her. He then drove for a
Speaker 1: while further and abandoned the car. He walked with Nicola
Speaker 1: to another vehicle that was waiting and parked at as
Speaker 1: assumed a predetermined location, which shows the premeditation shows, the waiting,
Speaker 1: shows the planning. The drive from there lasted between ten
Speaker 1: to fifteen minutes before mister Krule pulled into a driveway,
Speaker 1: led Nicola barefoot off the concrete driveway, up several steps,
Speaker 1: and threw a kitchen and into a bedroom where radio
Speaker 1: was playing. He removed the tape from her eyes and
Speaker 1: replaced it with cotton pads, and he told her a
Speaker 1: quote keep your eye shut if you want to stay alive.
Speaker 1: He made her brush your teeth and take a bath. Quote,
Speaker 1: you've got to clean yourself thoroughly, Clean your teeth thoroughly.
Speaker 1: Mister Krule leashed Nicola to the bed by her neck
Speaker 1: before turning off the radio and falling asleep next to her.
Speaker 1: Nikola lay awake all night, not being able to get
Speaker 1: an ounce of sleep and being afraid to move a.
Speaker 2: Muscle, scared like shitless.
Speaker 1: At ten am, mister Krule awoke. He turned on the
Speaker 1: radio and took Nicola between the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen.
Speaker 1: Throughout the day, he dressed her in school dress clothes,
Speaker 1: making a lot of people speculate that he had a
Speaker 1: school girl fantasy sort of fetish, because these were some
Speaker 1: of the clothes that he had taken her home and
Speaker 1: he was dressing her in. He also claimed that he
Speaker 1: had followed her home from her school. The next morning,
Speaker 1: he made her bathe again and dressed her in her
Speaker 1: tennis skirt, and he began calling her Missy and Nikki,
Speaker 1: which were names that her friends and family would often
Speaker 1: call her, obviously suggesting that he'd been watching very closely.
Speaker 1: At two pm, he leashed Nicola to the bed again
Speaker 1: and gave her bread and water, quote, I'm just going
Speaker 1: to tie your feet up now, and he tied her
Speaker 1: legs with wire and left, returning at five pm. Mister
Speaker 1: Krule then took Nikola to the bathroom, made her stand
Speaker 1: on a sheet, and shower to avoid leaving any evidence
Speaker 1: he replaced her eyepatch with tape, wrapped her in a sheet,
Speaker 1: and forced her into a car again, back onto the
Speaker 1: passenger seat floor. Just before two am on Friday morning.
Speaker 1: He released her and instructed her to count for a
Speaker 1: while before contacting authorities. Fifty hours after the ordeal began,
Speaker 1: Nikola knocked on the door and called her father. She
Speaker 1: was safe.
Speaker 2: WHOA And so he didn't he didn't sexually assault her.
Speaker 1: There are some conflicting reports on whether she was sexually
Speaker 1: assaulted or not. Okay, Some sources say that he did
Speaker 1: in fact sexually assault or abuse her during the time
Speaker 1: that she was held, similar to his other victims. Others
Speaker 1: suggest that he didn't actually assault her and instead this
Speaker 1: time it was more psychological sort of stuff he was doing,
Speaker 1: like the nicknames and the dressing up and those things.
Speaker 2: Well, just the way you were talking, like this is
Speaker 2: just like such a fucked up game to him.
Speaker 1: Oh it is, and it's he's fucking so twisted. There's
Speaker 1: there's so many levels to it, because there's the pre
Speaker 1: which is leading up to the event, the weeks, the
Speaker 1: months however fucking long he's watching and doing this for,
Speaker 1: and then there's the moment of going into the house
Speaker 1: and actually abducting, which he is so planned for and ready. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he has all his steps once again planned out thoroughly.
Speaker 1: And then what seems to last not very long for
Speaker 1: all this build up is the actual abduction and the
Speaker 1: sexual abuse. Don't get me wrong, it's the most horrific part.
Speaker 1: And thankfully it doesn't last that long. We've covered cases
Speaker 1: where it's fucking years, right, Yeah, So thankfully he does
Speaker 1: let them go.
Speaker 2: It's surprising that he doesn't kill them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and there is a massive mind game to this.
Speaker 2: But I mean, he's keeping them alive, but he is damaging.
Speaker 2: Oh no, he's for the entirety of the rest of
Speaker 2: their life.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, No, what he's putting them through not cool.
Speaker 1: It's gonna fuck with them. Yeah, I have no words
Speaker 1: for it, honestly. So after that, that leads us to Carmen.
Speaker 1: On Saturday, April thirteenth, nineteen ninety one. It was a
Speaker 1: nice spring day and thirteen year old Carmen Chan had
Speaker 1: spent the day attending tennis lessons, having lunch with their mother,
Speaker 1: and spent time studying alone at the library. In the afternoon,
Speaker 1: friends of the Chans picked up Carmen and her sister Carly,
Speaker 1: who was nine and Karen, who was seven, and took
Speaker 1: them to the family's restaurant, where they had dinner and
Speaker 1: were seen playing outside. At six thirty pm, on employee
Speaker 1: of the family restaurant drove the girls home to the
Speaker 1: family's sprawling home where their father, John was waiting. From there,
Speaker 1: John greeted them, but he had to leave for work,
Speaker 1: and it was about an hour later that Carmen was
Speaker 1: now in charge of babysitting her sisters. This was a
Speaker 1: routine for the Chan family. After school, Carmen and her
Speaker 1: sisters would take the bus straight for dinner at the
Speaker 1: restaurant and get dropped off at home by one of
Speaker 1: the restaurant employees. It is possible and theorized that someone
Speaker 1: had followed the girls home from school from the restaurant
Speaker 1: on one of these trips. In the weeks prior, a
Speaker 1: man had reported to be sorry reported to Doncaster Police
Speaker 1: by neighbors for sitting in a sedan apparently watching the
Speaker 1: school bus opposite the chance House for several mornings. So
Speaker 1: someone saw this man sitting in a vehicle watching. According
Speaker 1: to another source, two weeks before, a tradesman had mysteriously
Speaker 1: appeared at the Chans door looking for work, and the
Speaker 1: days leading up to this day, the Chans had been
Speaker 1: forced to turn off their alarm system after something kept
Speaker 1: setting it off.
Speaker 2: Oh and they oh, no, okay.
Speaker 1: Now their house was essentially a fortress like that. They've
Speaker 1: got money, right. They had a two meter high fence
Speaker 1: an electric gate, but still being a fortress or not.
Speaker 1: On the night of April thirteenth, there was little security
Speaker 1: that would protect these girls well.
Speaker 2: And honestly, he probably I feel picked that on purpose
Speaker 2: as a challenge or something.
Speaker 1: Right, they very well could have now well. Carmen and
Speaker 1: her sisters red stories and watched TV. A man in
Speaker 1: a green, gray tracksuit and brown belliclava broke in through
Speaker 1: a window at around eight forty pm. When Carmen and
Speaker 1: Carly headed to the kitchen for something to eat, he
Speaker 1: made his move and confronted them with a long silver
Speaker 1: carving knife quote see this knife, where's your mom and dad?
Speaker 1: And then he grabbed them by the hair be where
Speaker 1: he led them back to Carmen's bedroom and this is
Speaker 1: where he found the other sister, Karen, hiding behind the door.
Speaker 1: He gagged and bound the two younger sisters, and he
Speaker 1: shut them in a cupboard and he told them, you,
Speaker 1: two little ones, get in the cupboard, I won't hurt you.
Speaker 1: Still holding Carmen by the hair, he pushed a bed
Speaker 1: against the cupboard door to trap them inside and told
Speaker 1: them she would be back to get them. From here,
Speaker 1: things get a little unclear, but she was taken from
Speaker 1: the home and again, like all the others, placed into
Speaker 1: a car. The two younger girls, Karen and Carly, managed
Speaker 1: to free themselves after about ten minutes and called the
Speaker 1: restaurant to tell their father a man had taken Carmen now.
Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, the family car was found spray painted with
Speaker 1: the words quote payback Asian drug dealer, more and more
Speaker 1: to come now. This led many people into believing that
Speaker 1: Carmen's father had something to do with us. The family,
Speaker 1: after all, had a lot of money, and speculation began
Speaker 1: to circulate about him being involved in some sort of
Speaker 1: drug ring and having some serious gambling debts. Investigators, however,
Speaker 1: could not find any evidence of this, and they believed
Speaker 1: the message was put there as a red hair. Her
Speaker 1: father was squeaky clean. Each one of these incidentss incidences
Speaker 1: incidents incidents there you go. Have had things to try
Speaker 1: and throw people off, from radio stations playing at each
Speaker 1: time a different radio station, to pretending to be on
Speaker 1: the phone with someone or acting as if another person
Speaker 1: was in the room as mister Krule was, holding victims blindfolded,
Speaker 1: or even pretending that a car wouldn't start and saying
Speaker 1: that it was a stolen car that a friend had
Speaker 1: loaned him. Many of these things investigators believe were done
Speaker 1: to confuse victims, confuse investigators, throwing them off of the trail,
Speaker 1: and they believe this vehicle, the spray painting was also Yeah,
Speaker 1: those things.
Speaker 2: That makes sense that I mean, the amount of time
Speaker 2: that this fucking guy is putting into this shit. Hey,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, he's It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Everything, every ounce of his energy is going into planning
Speaker 1: these and executing these. Yeah everything. I think this is
Speaker 1: literally his fucking life.
Speaker 2: To do these. Now you even wonder if he has
Speaker 2: a job or what.
Speaker 1: Hey yeah, Now, through it all, the family was distraught.
Speaker 1: They wanted their daughter and they wanted their sister back safe.
Speaker 1: They did press conferences, conferences and pleaded for her safe return.
Speaker 1: But the days turned into weeks. Oh no, in the
Speaker 1: weeks turned into months, until finally, on April ninth, nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety two, a human skull was found in a landfill
Speaker 1: area at the rear of an electrical substation on the
Speaker 1: intersection of Mahoney's Road and High Street. Dental records confirmed
Speaker 1: it was Carmen Chan and she had been shot at
Speaker 1: least three times in the back of the head. Her
Speaker 1: badly decomposed body had been there for a year.
Speaker 2: No no, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1: Now. A witness who lived in a house overlooking the
Speaker 1: landfill area where Carmen's remains were found recalled seeing a
Speaker 1: man wearing a hooded waterproof raincoat digging beside a truck
Speaker 1: on a gray and rainy day. When this sighting occurred,
Speaker 1: It's kind of unclear, but two three days after Carmen's abduction,
Speaker 1: the weather was cloudy with showers.
Speaker 2: Okay, man, so he has really escalated here. That is
Speaker 2: just so brutal, so sad.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, a lot of people do have their doubts
Speaker 1: that mister Krull was responsible for Carmen's death.
Speaker 2: Oh, they think of someone else.
Speaker 1: Carmen's execution style murder a hallmark of a criminal hit,
Speaker 1: they say, rather than a murder by a pedophile. So
Speaker 1: they're saying, you know, maybe the messages on the car
Speaker 1: were true. Maybe this execution style is showing or saying something.
Speaker 2: And it has nothing to do with this other dude.
Speaker 1: That's what some think. Authorities disagree, and Phyllis, Carmen's mother, however,
Speaker 1: firmly disagrees as well. She believes that Carmen's fate may
Speaker 1: have been sealed in the moment that she may have
Speaker 1: ripped off her blindfold in the abduction, making her the
Speaker 1: only person to see mister Kruhle's face. But in that moment,
Speaker 1: he made sure she would be unable to tell anyone
Speaker 1: what she saw.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I mean I guess he has all these
Speaker 2: really weird freaking rules.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, huh. It is believed that this man could
Speaker 1: be responsible mister Krule or connected to up to a
Speaker 1: dozen different incidents. One of the primary challenges in investigating
Speaker 1: mister Krule is the lack of forensic evidence that was
Speaker 1: left behind. His meticulous approach to cleaning up crime scenes,
Speaker 1: leaving behind false clues left little for investigators to work with.
Speaker 1: He wore gloves, he wore a mask. He ensured that
Speaker 1: there was no fingerprints or DNA left behind. This careful
Speaker 1: attention to deeptail frustrated investigators and made it very difficult
Speaker 1: to develop any sort of leads. Now they have found
Speaker 1: a partial fingerprint that may be mister Crules, may not be,
Speaker 1: and a swab from a rape kit from one of
Speaker 1: the victims. But outside of that, they have some descriptions
Speaker 1: from incidents which allowed for several composite sketches of mister
Speaker 1: Krule to be created, which were widely circulated. Now, these
Speaker 1: sketches portray a man in his thirties or forties with
Speaker 1: a slim build and a calm, methodical demeanor. But apart
Speaker 1: from that, they have nothing.
Speaker 2: This fucking case isn't solved.
Speaker 1: Ben, There's no definitive identification that has ever been made,
Speaker 1: and the identity of mister Kruel is still to this
Speaker 1: day a mystery. Damn it.
Speaker 2: I was waiting to hear about this motherfucker. I know you,
Speaker 2: and what the hell he is doing?
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Okay, that is the case that really ends.
Speaker 2: We're done, and after Carmen is Carmen right, Yes, there's
Speaker 2: just like there was no other victims that we know of,
Speaker 2: that we know of.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're speculated that it can be responsible of
Speaker 1: to a dozen. But there's the there's the four that
Speaker 1: I talked about are the four confirmed mister Kruel. In fact,
Speaker 1: actually one of them is still speculated.
Speaker 2: But yeah, gosh, the guy has gotten away with as
Speaker 2: shit and just live in his life. He has live
Speaker 2: in his fucked up life he has. Wow, I'm shocked.
Speaker 2: I didn't actually expect this one to be not solved.
Speaker 1: Now. I do want to say there is a website
Speaker 1: called who is mister Cruel dot com. It was a
Speaker 1: major source in this episode, and I do want to
Speaker 1: say you guys should go check it out because there
Speaker 1: is a lot of there's This is a massive case,
Speaker 1: like I could probably go on for like twelve episodes
Speaker 1: in this case, it's insane. I do recommend you go
Speaker 1: check out this website, do some reading, dive into it
Speaker 1: because it is very interesting. It's quite wild, and they
Speaker 1: do go through some suspects, but I mean, there's there's
Speaker 1: nothing really that's ever really come forward as far as
Speaker 1: suspects are. It's just like maybe sort of thing, but
Speaker 1: that's about it.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, that is so disappointing that he did such
Speaker 2: terrible things yeah, and it's just live in his life.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's exactly what he's doing. He got away with
Speaker 1: it so far.
Speaker 2: That's the thing that just I feel like gets me
Speaker 2: so much about with true crime is when it's not
Speaker 2: solved and that they are not paying for their actions.
Speaker 2: I just can't. I can't deal with that, especially like
Speaker 2: these there's kids involved, Like, Oh.
Speaker 1: I'm not okay, you don't say.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 1: Are you just gonna like stress punch me in the
Speaker 1: face after this or something? That's what I feel like
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: Alarmed or on guard after this.
Speaker 1: If I have a black eye in next week's.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, says me, who woke up with the
Speaker 2: freaking sore nose the other day? You punched me in
Speaker 2: the nose while I was sleeping. I think what my
Speaker 2: nose was so sore. It was the weirdest thing I've
Speaker 2: ever encountered.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's probably the dogs kicking you in the face
Speaker 1: or something.
Speaker 2: Something happened while I was sleeping.
Speaker 1: Clearly, Yeah, anyways, that's the case. Like I said, go
Speaker 1: check out that website, and I'm sorry to drop a
Speaker 1: mystery one on you. I was really tempted at the
Speaker 1: beginning to tell you guys, it's an unsolved case. It's
Speaker 1: a mystery. But you know what, it's been a long
Speaker 1: time since I left the hangar, so I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, No, I'm leaving it on this one.
Speaker 2: I guess, Yeah, it has been a while, so I.
Speaker 1: Guess I've been very nice and recent.
Speaker 2: Unsolved, I've been very nice.
Speaker 1: I have my house, I've told people ahead of time.
Speaker 1: It's all at the beginning, I'm like, this is an
Speaker 1: unsolved case. No, this one, I'm pretty sure people were
Speaker 1: going to get some angry.
Speaker 2: Messages though possibly, No, it happened.
Speaker 1: It's it's definitely going to happen. I know it will happen,
Speaker 1: but trust me worth it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, that would have been a very
Speaker 2: hard one to research and to present. So I guess
Speaker 2: you had to get a little something out of this, right, yes.
Speaker 1: Well, anyways, if you guys want to check out our
Speaker 1: social links and everything else we have, it's in the
Speaker 1: description of this podcast. We have Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, two
Speaker 1: YouTube channels. Ones of log one you can catch a
Speaker 1: video form of this podcast. You can go ahead and
Speaker 1: check that, and you can see Nicole's OMG reactions and
Speaker 1: me pointing at the camera and opening a.
Speaker 2: Beer and all not making eye contact at you because
Speaker 2: I'm pissed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty much. All the good stuff is there, including Patreon.
Speaker 1: We have merch If you guys want to give us
Speaker 1: a rating, we appreciate that. It really helps the show.
Speaker 1: We are an independent podcast produced out of our tiny
Speaker 1: home solo. It's just us, that's it. So yeah, we
Speaker 1: appreciate all the support.
Speaker 2: We sure do. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Okay, well, thank you for being here until next time.
Speaker 2: Until next time, Stay wicked.
Speaker 1: I thought I was going to say it per second.
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll say it too.
Speaker 1: No, it's all good. You got it, you did good.
Speaker 2: Okay, stay Wicked.