Career
He forced Karmein"s sisters into a wardrobe before fleeing with Karmein. Before leaving, he spray painted "Pay up Asian Drug Dealer, More and More to Come" on a vehicle in their front yard. Police suspect this was a ruse to distract them from the killer"s real motive.
Karmein"s mother made an emotional plea on television for Karmein"s return.
Her badly decomposed body was found nearly a year later on 9 April 1992 at Edgars Creek in the suburb of Thomastown. There had been several abductions of girls in Melbourne prior to the abduction of Karmein.
Victoria Police detectives believed even though the other girls had been freed that the offender known in the media as Mr. Cruel was responsible.
Victoria Police added Karmein"s case to the Spectrum taskforce hunting Mr.
Cruel. Despite the best efforts of the Spectrum taskforce the offender was never brought to justice. A reward of $100,000 was offered for information leading to his conviction.
The case has remained open with Victoria Police cold case detectives regularly reviewing the investigation.
