Case 199

Truro

*** Content Warning: serial killer, sexual assault ***

During the summer of 1976 and 1977, seven young women mysteriously disappeared from the streets of Adelaide. Veronica Knight, Sylvia Pittman, Julie Mykyta, Connie Iordanides, Vicki Howell, Tania Kenny, and Deborah Lamb were all last seen near main roads or waiting at bus stops. 

Police assumed they were runaways and would reappear again soon, until a year later when two brothers were picking mushrooms in the scrubland near the town of Truro and came across human remains. When more bones were found the following year, investigators realised they weren’t dealing with runaways at all, but a serial killer. But who was responsible, and why did their crime spree stop so suddenly? A man named James Miller held all the answers.

CREDITS

 

Casefile Presents

 

EPISODE:

Research & writing – Elsha McGill

Creative direction – Milly Raso

Narration – Anonymous Host

 

MUSIC:

‘Flatline intro’ and ‘Come play with me’ intro and outro – www.dl-sounds.com

Audio production – Mike Migas 

Scoring – Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn

 

OTHER:

Logo and website design – Paulina Szymanska

 

PREMIUM

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RESOURCES

 

BOOKS

It’s a Long Way to Truro – Anne-Marie Mykyta

A Voice for Veronica: The story of the first victim in the Truro Murders in South Australia – Jeanette Woods 

Don’t Call Me Killer – James William Miller

 

NEWSPAPER ARCHIVES

Pants, purse, shoe found in paddock The Age

Father hits interference The Age

Graveyard of missing girls The Sydney Morning Herald

Shoe and more bones found in Truro area The Sydney Morning Herald

Police step up hunt for bush skeletons The Age

No more clues in the Truro murders The Age

The Truro murders: new charges The Sydney Morning Herald 

Truro murder case: Trial set The Age

Slain girls mother: I lived behind glass The Sydney Morning Herald

Tension high in ‘raffle ticket’ court drama The Sydney Morning Herald

Defendant said Truro victims ‘were rags’ The Sydney Morning Herald

Miller: I helped dispose of bodies The Sydney Morning Herald

Third man in Truro Murders The Age

Jury finds man guilty of six Truro killings The Sydney Morning Herald 

Adelaide: A city of missing children and lost innocence The Sydney Morning Herald

Deaths raise spectres from another killing field: Truro The Age

 

ONLINE ARTICLES

Truro Murders: The untold story of the serial killings – The Advertiser 

Truro murders: Deborah Lamb’s daughter Niki reveals how she learned of her mother’s tragic death – The Advertiser 

‘My real mum fell victim to a serial killer’ Woman’s Day

Truro killer had quick cancer death – ABC News

 

OTHER

Missing Persons – Australian Institute of Criminology (Canberra, 1988)

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