The horrific murders carried out by a convicted serial murderer, Paul Charles Denyer, between June 11 and July 30, 1993, in the Australian neighbourhood of Frankston are covered in the podcast “Podcast: The Frankston Murders.” He was charged with three counts of murder and one act of kidnapping before being identified by Genetic evidence, earning him the moniker “Frankston Serial Killer.” Whom and how did Paul’s victims die, then? Let’s investigate.
Who Were Paul Denyer’s Victims?
On October 21, 1974, Elizabeth Anne-Marie Stevens was born. In January 1993, she travelled from Tasmania to Melbourne to attend TAFE Frankston. In June 1993, Elizabeth resided with her uncle and aunt at Paterson Avenue, Langwarrin, a neighbourhood of Melbourne, Australia. She was last observed getting off a bus on June 11 at a station on Cranbourne Road. Elizabeth’s local guardians had anticipated her to be at home around 8:00 PM, and when she didn’t show up after 10:00 PM, her uncle began looking for her.
Around 1:00 AM, Elizabeth’s worried uncle called the police after being unable to locate Elizabeth. The severe weather that night, however, prevented the authorities from looking for her. Eventually, on June 12, the next day, a man discovered the teenager’s partially clothed body in Lloyd Park on Cranbourne Road. Police reports claim that the 18-year-old was discovered partially undressed. She had been stabbed, her neck slit, and she had been strangled. The medical examiner also found six significant knife wounds on Elizabeth’s chest.
The victim’s body was found to have multiple deep wounds that formed a cross-cross pattern on her belly, which was the most horrifying revelation. Her face had numerous scratches and abrasions, and the postmortem report also revealed that her nose was broken and swollen. The coroner came to the conclusion that she had not been sexually assaulted even though the condition of her clothing suggested rape. The community was outraged by the needless and terrible killing, and Elizabeth’s friends and family were perplexed as to why she had been so brutally attacked.
The authorities initially believed that the incident was the result of a failed sexual assault and that some disturbed person may have been involved. A life-sized mannequin was placed at a roadblock near the bus stop where Elizabeth was last seen alive as part of a huge search for the murderer. They hoped that some witnesses would spot her and come forward with fresh details. Also, the detectives contacted the teenager’s favourite libraries and questioned the bus drivers and other passengers from her final voyage. They even went door-to-door around the neighbourhood.
But, the investigators found no leads during their unsuccessful hunt. On July 8, 1993, Rosza Toth, a 41-year-old bank clerk, got off at the Seaford train station. Around 5:50 PM, she passed the Seaford North Reserve in the Frankston neighbourhood as she travelled north along Railway Parade in the direction of her residence. As Rosza was attacked, she observed a man lingering close to the bathroom building. As she was dragged back into the park, she realised the attacker was playing a bluff and didn’t have a gun.
After a brief battle, Rosza was able to escape when she repeatedly bit his finger. She ran to the main road and made it back home with the help of a passing car after he plucked out chunks of her hair. The 41-year-stockings old’s and pants were torn during the struggle, and she was also missing her shoes. Rosza was confident that if she hadn’t resisted so vehemently and managed to escape, she would have been slain. She then called the police, who arrived at the scene of the crime quickly but discovered nothing.
How Many People Did Paul Denyer Kill?
Rosza was able to escape her attacker, while Deborah Ann Fream, 22, was unable to defend herself. She was born in 1971, resided close to Seaford’s Kananook Station, and had recently given birth to her son, who was 12 days old at the time. About 7:00 PM on July 8, Deborah had left her young kid in the care of a friend and gone to a nearby supermarket to purchase some milk. When she did not return even an hour later, the friend became concerned and called her boyfriend.
The two men searched for information regarding Deborah’s whereabouts and whether she had been in an accident by calling the police, going to the neighbourhood hospital, and reading the news. The two reported her missing to the Frankston Police Station after making every effort to find her but coming up empty-handed. Soon after, a farmer on Taylors Road in Carrum Downs discovered Deborah’s half covered body in one of his paddocks. She had reportedly been stabbed 24 times in the neck, head, chest, and limbs in addition to being strangled.
Deborah’s throat was likewise cut, but unlike Elizabeth, she was not sexually raped despite the fact that her clothing suggested otherwise. The authorities abandoned their first notion of a purse snatching gone bad when they discovered she was last seen alive approximately an hour after Rosza’s assault. The police believed that one person was responsible for all three incidents. The ladies began taking measures after three horrifying crimes against women occurred in Frankston in one month, and the streets were largely abandoned at night.
The incidents made national news, and the offender was dubbed the “Frankston Serial Killer” by the media. To find the person, the Frankston police launched a thorough search and followed every lead they could find, no matter how small it may have seemed. In order to give women advice on safety precautions and what to do if they are assaulted, the government even established a help centre called Operation Reassurance.
The last attack by the Frankston Serial Killer occurred on July 30 despite extensive security precautions. On October 25, 1975, Natalie Jayne Russell was born in Frankston, Frankston City, Victoria, Australia. The 17-year-old student vanished while returning home on her bike from John Paul College. According to reports, the adolescent chose to take her normal shortcut home to Frankston North via a fence-enclosed corridor that she remembered as Nat’s Track. On Skye Road, the route ran between the Peninsula and the Long Island Golf Clubs.
On July 30, 1993, at 8:00 p.m., Natalie’s parents called the police to report her missing. Hours later, her body was found in the underbrush next to a bike path connecting the two golf courses. According to police sources, she was repeatedly stabbed in the face and neck after being pulled through a sizable breach in a wire fence and into the nearby brush. Natalie’s throat has been brutally cut, much like the previous two victims. Nonetheless, the young girl appeared to have resisted, leading to significantly more cruelty than the first two victims.
