Snowtown Murders- Part 1 (Serial Killer)

According to the City of Evil episode on the Snowtown Murders, Adelaide is considered the “murder capital of Australia.” But author Sean Fewster says it’s more like the “bizarre crime capital.” Many insane murders occurred there with one of the more disturbing ones being about the 64 animals in the zoo that were found dead of stabbings, broken necks, and beatings. You may be asking yourself, “Self, why is Tyrella talking about Adelaide when this case is called ‘SNOWTOWN Murders’?” Well, friends, that’s because while Adelaide was the true epicenter of today’s case; Snowtown (about an hour-and-a-half North of Adelaide) was unfortunate enough to have an empty bank….

the final victim

On May 9th, 1999 in Snowtown, Australia, a man named David Johnson had been going to see about a computer that his step-brother, Jame Vlassakis told him was for sale. Vlassakis was supposed to be taking them to Clare, Australia for this computer, but instead, he drove Johnson to Snowtown to an abandoned bank. Trusting his step-brother, Johnson followed him into the building. Unfortunately, when he entered, he was attacked.

A man put his arm around Johnson’s neck and cut off his airway. Once the man had handcuffs on Johnson, his captors provided him with a script and recorded him as he read the words. (They would later use the recording to convince Johnson’s family that he was alive and just didn’t want to talk to them anymore.) Johnson was also forced to give up his banking information. Two of the men left this bank to head to an active bank to try and get in Johnson’s account, but they were unable to access the money for some reason. Furious, they headed back to their bank to have words with Johnson, but the friends they’d left behind with Johnson had been busy as well.

When the would-be-identity-thieves returned, Johnson was dead. Now they were out whatever money they would have gotten and they had missed out on the fun of the kill AND now they had to dispose of a body. Johnson’s body was dismembered and, for added sickness, the quartet of psychos fried and ate parts of Johnson’s body. David Johnson would become the final victim of Mark Ray Haydon, James “Jaime” Spyridon Vlassakis, Robert Joe Wagner, and, the “ringleader,” John Justin Bunting. (David would also be the only victim to be murdered in Snowtown.) The foursome would soon be arrested, but like we said; Johnson was the final victim. There were many before him and the murderers had become very skilled at this stuff.

john justin bunting

When learning about these murderers, we have to (much like Maria von Trapp) start at the very beginning. In this case, “the beginning” starts with John Justin Bunting. John Bunting was born on September 4, 1966, in Inala, Queensland, Australia, and some sources say, without a sense of smell, oddly enough. His parents Tom and Jan Bunting didn’t have any other children and by all accounts were just a plain old family. His parents were described as “good, honest people” who loved their son. This is about all the information known about Bunting’s early life and family.

However, at just 8-years-old, Bunting claims he was attacked by his friend’s older brother. Bunting said this brother beat him and then sexually assaulted him. This would be the event that began Bunting’s aversion to all things homosexual and pedophilia.

As a teenager, Bunting developed an interest in Neo-Nazis and White Supremacy and he reportedly became a Neo-Nazi. He also read Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf. Like any good cult leader or serial killer, Bunting had been described as a “good listener,” “kind,” “compassionate,” and “empowering” and he was said to “have a knack for talking to people and befriending them and making them feel connected.” But he was also called a “master manipulator.”

Bunting always showed intense interest in weapons and anatomy but was also a classy guy who liked photography. However, instead of going the typical routes of maybe being a doctor or joining the army or becoming a photographer, his interest in anatomy and weapons took on a darker hue. As a child, Bunting enjoyed dropping insects into different types of chemicals. Then he moved on to animals. As an adult, Bunting got a job at a meat factory (and at some point a crematorium) where he took great joy in the slaughtering of the animals. Most people found it to be nothing more than a job, but Bunting was living his best life. He often talked to others about how much he loved doing this.

At this time in 1988, Bunting was living with a friend and the friend’s girlfriend. Possibly stemming from how much he loved his job and his inability to leave work at work, Bunting killed his friend’s dog for no real reason other than just to do it. In 1989, Bunting met Viktoria Tripp who he would marry that same year. Bunting and Tripp moved to 203 Waterloo Corner Road and met friends that would become very important to their futures. (We’ll get there.) While married to Tripp, Bunting began seeing Elizabeth Harvey on the side and in 1994, he and Harvey moved in together. Both of these women would go on to assist Bunting in at least 1 murder each.

Elizabeth Harvey had a son named James or Jaime Vlassakis. Jaime had also had a hard time in life. He was sexually abused by his father when he was young and then his father died. An uncertain amount of time later (because we don’t know the age the abuse occurred), Bunting comes into Jaime’s mother’s life and by extension, Jaime’s life. Jaime was 14 years old at this point.

Bunting became Jaime’s father figure and Jaime watched everything he did and listened to everything he said. Bunting’s hate speech wasn’t filtered at all for young Jaime since he was going to have to teach this boy to be a man. Jaime wanted to impress Bunting and be the son he wanted. So if Bunting hated gay people and pedophiles, well then Jaime hated them too. One night while watching Australia’s Most Wanted with Jaime and Elizabeth Harvey, a story came on about a missing person. Bunting proudly told Jaime, “That’s my handiwork.”

The Murders Begin, the Investigation, and The Accomplices

Bunting hadn’t let his obsession with death go with just killing his friend’s dog. Back in August of 1992, Bunting was living on Waterloo Corner Road with Viktoria Tripp. Here he met new friends; Barry Lane and Robert Wagner. The pair had been visiting a friend and when Bunting and Tripp moved into 203 Waterloo Corner Road. Lane and Wagner were neighborly and helped move them in.

Lane and Wagner lived together and had been in a relationship since 1985 when Wagner was 13. While Wagner wasn’t open with his sexuality, Lane was. Lane was known to dress in women’s clothing and go by the name “Vanessa,” but there was little information about if he lived as a woman or how identified. Bunting didn’t appear to demonstrate the same hatred of Wagner and Lane that he had for pretty much all other homosexual people…yet. For now, Bunting needed them. Robert Wagner became Bunting’s henchman. He was a tall guy that most people wouldn’t mess with.

Barry Lane was Bunting’s link to the world of people Bunting wanted to get rid of. Not only was Lane a gay man, but he was also a convicted pedophile. Lane would be able to connect Bunting with the type of people he was looking for. Bunting had plans that appeared to resemble that of Charlie and the case of Pepe Silvia.

He had what he called a “Rock Spider Wall.” This was a wall covered in papers and string and a web full of names. These were the names of people that Bunting suspected were homosexual or pedophiles. He seemed to think that he could look at a person and tell that the were homosexual or that they were a pedophile. Occasionally, he would pick a name and crank call them. Bunting would accuse them of whatever he believed they were up to and tell them that they “would get what’s coming to them.” He and his friends along with young Jaime Vlassakis often vandalised the homes of these people – spray painting derogatory things on and in their homes.

His first real target was 22-year-old Clinton Trezise. Bunting was convinced that Clinton was a pedophile despite having absolutely no evidence of this and Bunting wasn’t going to let him get away with these ficitious misdeeds. Bunting invited Clinton (who he would refer to as “Happy Pants” after the murder) over under the guise of a friendly visit, but instead, when Clinton was in Bunting’s living room, he was beaten to death with a hammer, or possibly a shovel (conflicting information). Bunting and Haydon were the main murderers in this instance. Bunting, Wagner, and Lane dug a shallow grave in the backyard and dumped Clinton’s body into it, where it remained hidden for 2 more years.

Clinton’s disappearance would be the catalyst for the downfall of these murderers. That’s right. Their first murder would be the one that took them down, but not right away. See, Former Head of Major Crimes of the South Australia Police, Paul Schramm decided that under his tutelage in the late 90s, when detectives have downtime, they are to check back into cold cases. One that they encountered fairly early on was Clinton Trezise. Clinton was reported missing on October 26, 1995. At first, the case seemed to still be cold because Clinton was kind of a “loner” and didn’t have a lot of friends. They had done nationwide searches for him or information and found nothing. Then the detectives found out that he did have at least one friend; 42-year-old, Barry Lane who he had lived with in the early 90s. There had been rumors that Lane and Clinton had been in a romantic (or at least sexual) relationship.

Jeremy Pudney, the author of Snowtown: The Bodies in the Barrels Murders said in the Crimes that Shook Australia documentary that Barry Lane was a “bizarre, warped” guy who had “no redeeming features.” It was too bad that the detectives wouldn’t be able to talk to Barry Lane though on account of him also being reported missing back in October of 1997. Barry Lane and Clinton Trezise both received disability payments and, strangely, both were still having that money withdrawn from their account on the reg and from a specific ATM.

So, the police in Adelaide decide that they are going to put surveillance on that location. That’s when they saw Robert Wagner on the camera withdrawing money from Clinton’s account. And 2 weeks later, he showed back up to do the same thing again. After this withdrawal, the police follow Wagner. Turns out, Wagner goes right to Bunting’s house. This discovery would lead the detectives to look into more missing person cases to determine if there were more reportedly missing people that were also drawing some sort of financial aid (pensions, disability, welfare, etc.) and connections to Wagner and/or Bunting.

They found the case of 47-year-old Suzanne Allen from Murray Bridge. Suzanne disappeared about 2 years before the detectives opened up Clinton’s file again. Suzanne’s bank account (with her Social Security payments) was also still being used. Surely she can’t be as easy to link to Bunting and Wagner as Clinton was! You’re wrong, because she is! Suzanne had actually previously been in a relationship with John Bunting.

Now there were 3 missing people who could all be easily connected to Bunting and Wagner. But, wait, there’s more. Suzanne had a “tenant” of sorts who had been living in a camper or as the Aussies call it, a caravan, in her backyard. This man, 26-year-old, Ray Davies didn’t have an official missing persons report, but he was also very definitely missing. Since he and Suzanne were both missing and were both easily connected to Bunting and Wagner, he was added to the list of connections. The detectives continued looking at missing persons reports for more possible connections. They found another one in 37-year-old Elizabeth Haydon.

Elizabeth was reported missing by her brother on November 25th, 1998. Oddly, she hadn’t been reported missing by her husband, Mark Haydon. Elizabeth was also reportedly intellectually disabled and had led a hard life. The same was true for Mark. She and Mark were friends with Bunting and Wagner. But Bunting didn’t really like Elizabeth and she grated on his nerves. Mark, however, fell hook, line, and sinker for everything Bunting had to offer.

The detectives brought Mark Haydon in to determine what he knew about his wife’s disappearance. Haydon was said to have been cooperative-ish. The detectives said that, yeah, he answered questions, but he really didn’t give them any information that would help them find his wife. He told them that their marriage was over and Elizabeth left. In looking into Elizabeth’s disappearance, the detectives found that around the same time she disappeared, so did her 4-wheel-drive Land Cruiser. While this could appear that she got in her car and left, the detectives didn’t think that was what happened. Then, a neighbor told the detectives that they had seen Bunting and Wagner loading bags into the Cruiser around the time both it and Elizabeth disappeared.

Now that the police have been able to connect Clinton Trezise, Barry Lane, Suzanne Allen, Ray Davies, and Elizabeth Haydon to Robert Wagner, Mark Haydon, and John Bunting, the cases were changed from missing persons to major crimes and they now had more resources plus enough evidence and probable cause to tap the phones of all three men. This would be the step that led the detectives to Snowtown. A small town about an hour-and-half north of Adelaide. Until this point, detectives didn’t even have Snowtown on their radar in regards to these cases.

Detectives head out to a house in Snowtown where they have traced phone calls to and from the 3 suspects. Once there, they find Elizabeth’s Land Cruiser in the yard. They talk to the owner of the house and he tells them that the car had been left there by Bunting and when it was left, it had 6 huge, black plastic barrels in it. But, said the man, the barrels had been moved to the bank across the street.

The bank had been abandoned, but had recently been rented. Financial records would show that it was rented by none other than John Bunting and his associate Mark Haydon. On May 20, 1999, police made their way into the bank. When they get to the area of the vault things become even more apparent that they were about to come upon something very wrong and probably really nasty. Paul Scramm told a documentary that his guys didn’t even open the doors before they told him, “Boss. We’ve got bodies.” The smell in the bank had been “the smell of death,” but the vault seemed to be the hub of the smell.

Detectives head out to a house in Snowtown where they have traced phone calls to and from the 3 suspects. Once there, they find Elizabeth’s Land Cruiser in the yard.

They talk to the owner of the house and he tells them that the car had been left there by Bunting and when it was left, it had 6 huge, black plastic barrels in it. But, said the man, the barrels had been moved to the bank across the street.

For part two, please click here.