Background
The Snowtown murders involved 12 killings committed in and around Adelaide, South Australia, between August 1992 and May 1999. The case takes its name from the small town of Snowtown, where several victims were found in plastic barrels in the vault of a disused bank, which is why it is also called the "bodies in barrels" case. The group was led by John Bunting.
Most victims were vulnerable people. Bunting targeted some as supposed paedophiles, gay people, drug users or people he saw as weak, and about A$97,200 in victims' welfare payments was fraudulently collected, although money is not thought to have been the main motive.
What happened
Police reached Snowtown while investigating the disappearance of Elizabeth Haydon. On 20 May 1999 they found the remains of eight victims in six plastic barrels in the bank vault, and in the following days two more were found buried at a house in Salisbury North. One further victim, Clinton Trezise, had been found in 1994 at Lower Light but was not linked to the group at the time.
Bunting, Robert Wagner and Mark Haydon were arrested on 21 May 1999, and James Vlassakis on 26 May 1999.
Investigation and trial
The trial of Bunting and Wagner lasted nearly a year, the longest in South Australian history. In September 2003 Bunting was convicted of 11 murders and Wagner of 10. Justice Brian Martin sentenced both to consecutive life terms without parole. Vlassakis pleaded guilty to four murders, testified for the Crown and received four life sentences with a 26-year non-parole period. Haydon was convicted in 2004 of assisting and was sentenced to 25 years.
More than 250 suppression orders applied to the case, and the remaining ones were lifted in 2011. A final charge relating to the death of Suzanne Allen was dropped in 2007 after another hung jury.
Haydon was granted parole in 2024. Vlassakis's parole process has been the subject of legal review. For the families the court process did not mark the end of their grief, and the victims continue to be remembered.
Legacy
The case is regarded as one of Australia's most notorious serial-murder files. It deeply affected the victims' families and communities, and the 2011 film "Snowtown" sparked debate. It is often cited in discussions about protecting vulnerable people and handling missing-person reports in South Australia.