Hitchhiker murdered in gruesome outback slaughterhouse | 60 Minutes Australia

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's a hot summers night in Townsville North Queensland a lone hitchhiker waits for a ride on the side of the road his name is Tony Jones and his next trip will ultimately carry him to a violent death this has been a story of cowardice on the part of whoever killed Tony and of bravery of those coming forward these are the brave women lifting the lid on an alleged confession revealing the gruesome cover-up of a young man's lonely death in an outback slaughterhouse he told me it killed somebody that was boy who was upset what did he tell you he'd done that he had helped dispose of a body he said I know how to do things probably and these are the two childhood mates at the heart of Australia's creepiest cold case Tony Jones was 20 carefree on a hitchhiking adventure exploring as much of North Queensland as he could on the evening of the 3rd of November 1982 Tony called home to Perth from a phone box in turns ville it was the last time older brother mark would ever speak with him do you remember that conversation yes I do What did he say he talked about coming down from Cannes he talked about having to sleep on the beaches that lifts were tough to get along that part of the highway compared to his earlier travels he warned me that he'd be back soon and to make sure his bed was ready when he returned Tony hitched a ride out of Townsville that night he'd made plans to meet another brother Tim in Mount Isa almost 900 kilometres west he told his family he'd be there within a day or two Tony never showed up [Music] his bank transaction showed that he'd been drawing seven or eight dollars a day over the final few days he had a bank balance of $2 99 and then on the 3rd of November 1982 it just stopped he'd made a phone call and used his he mentioned that he was using his last calls everything stopped from that point you think he was dead within hours of that phone call I believe he died that night after more than three decades of searching for any trace of Tony Jones new evidence that may solve one of Australia's longest-running missing person mysteries leads here to Hugh ndon it's a small cattle town in Northwest Queensland that seems to have been harboring a dark secret at the center of that alleged secret are Kevin Wright and Johnny Stav lifelong friends who grew up together in Hughenden halfway between Townsville and Mount Isa tell me about Kevin's relationship with John east of Johnny was a friend of his from Huen and that he grew up with who he always referred to as being one of his best mates Nathalie Parker is bravely speaking out against a man she's feared half her life ex-partner Kevin Wright you almost felt that East off had a hold over Kevin but notice that Kevin to me his behavior was different when Johnny was around so I did ask him one night what is the hold that Johnny has on him and he did say that Johnny and I have done things together that nobody will ever know about the couple met in 1992 and have two sons together Cael and Sam it was a volatile relationship from beginning to end how early in the relationship with Kevin did things get bad it was within a week of shifting in together before he first hit me he told me that night if I ever leave him or take his son away he will track me down or [ __ ] kill me and he made it clear did you believe him yes that's why I stayed you stayed for 18 years yes [Music] Jennifer crisp has also suffered but at the hands of Kevin's best mate Johnny Stoff did Johnny ever threatened to kill you yes he would say to me I'm gonna put you in the ground and I would say well that's stupid you know you do me in the kids that have no mother you'd go to jail they'd have no father he said I'm too smart for that they've got to prove it was me they're never gonna prove it was me so he boasted to you that he could get away with killing you if he wanted to yeah quite often for 23 years Jennifer's protected her former husband with her silence not anymore he's ripped shower curtains down from the railing and choke me with strangled me we saw shower curtain held me up against the wall choking me throw me to the ground like a little rag doll and are you remonstrating with him while he's doing this oh yeah yeah what would you say yeah there's no getting through to them once they're in that once they're in that rage I don't know just their eyes turn they're just a different person as teenagers in Hue ndon in the early 80s Kevin Wright and Johnny stuff were joined at the hip known as much for their drinking as they were for their fighting did John ever talk to you about the fact that he'd been in fights with other people yeah What did he say I remember I think he was a Shearer so I remember John skating about putting him in hospital breaking his jaw and having to suck out of a straw at 17 Kevin Wright an apprentice butcher worked at the local slaughter yard his father owned Johnny staff was a boarder at Townsville grammar school with his family based in Huron Dhin whether Tony Jones crossed paths with these two mates inhuman Dhin is currently the subject of a Caronia Lynn quest police have named two persons of interest in this case and they have been the subject of intensive investigations Tony Jones was the youngest of seven children the family was large but tight-knit and from the moment their kid brother vanished they fought for answers has there been a day in the last 34 years when you haven't thought about your brother now there probably hasn't I haven't always been obsessed with finding out the answers but where there are leads they have to be bloody well followed up it's as simple as that if only it was at the time police refused to take Tony's disappearance seriously in the years that followed leads were neglected and evidence lost [Music] the issue was the silence the deafening silence the phone that just never rang we needed news we were told to go home that they would handle it but we heard nothing and it was unbearable and does he reference his stuff in there long for three decades mark and his brothers conducted their own investigations determined Tony's case would not go cold they even became the force behind National Missing Persons week now finally the breakthrough they've been waiting for an alleged confession which leads here to the Hugh ndon slaughter yards so Kevin Wright told you he cut up the body of an unknown person and that person had been killed by John east off yeah he said that Johnny had killed this flight and Kevin helped him by going to pick up the body and he took it to the slaughter yards and put it through a bandsaw [Music] Kevin said that he had a special bond with Johnny because that killed somebody Jerry Stanfield is the recent ex-partner of Kevin Wright a person of interest in the inquest into the disappearance of hitchhiker Tony Jones the 20 year old vanished in 1982 did Kevin ever make any admissions to you at any time about who the person was that they'd allegedly killed no there was no names he just said some backpacker that nobody would miss so he used the word backpack yeah six weeks ago Gerry told the inquest into Tony's disappearance that in 2011 Kevin Wright made a number of shocking admissions to her he's making these admissions while he's very drunk yeah just falling lifeless on the floor and cry and just crying and sobbing did Kevin tell you anything about how the person was allegedly killed yeah he said that Johnny hit him punched him and had broke his neck and Johnny had turned up in the middle of night you know yelling and frantically trying to get Kevin to come come and help him and Kevin helped him by going to pick up the body and he took it to the slaughter yards and put it through a bandsaw did he say when this happen he told me it was when he was 17 so when Kevin Wright was 17 what year would that have been 1982 [Music] if the story of Kevin Wright's anguished confession is to be believed then this is the place where 34 years ago he and his friend Johnny Stav see her to conceal a murder what better place to dispose of a corpse then an Outback slaughterhouse in 1982 Kevin Wright was living in Hughenden and working for his father as an apprentice butcher and slaughter money it's a role that included killing and cutting up beasts skulls and bones were burned in large pits and leftover fat boiled up in copper pots so cheery that's the old family butchery is it yay yeah we can past here right took Jerry on a tour of his hometown Hughenden in 2011 his first home his father's butchery and the smaller yard so where did you pull up just a van here and he said oh that's that's my slaughterhouse and when you've got the opportunity you confronted him about what he admitted to you when he was drunk yeah I said you know you did tell me that you killed somebody here and he just went one what are you talking about and I just said well you told me that you cut somebody up here you [ __ ] kidding you sort of laughed and he just went with that huh yeah no is it fair to say that you believe he was kind of tormented by the guilt of the whole mint it rocking like in a fetal position and saying I'm so [ __ ] up you know I've killed somebody yeah it was like you know it was always tormented definitely [Music] Jerry first told police about Kevin Wright's alleged confession in July 2012 after an explosive argument with him but she later retracted her statement after right found out and allegedly forced her to tell police she made it up they said I'll kill you girls and yourself if you don't betray if I don't go in there and sort it out so you went to the police yeah yeah well he parked outside the Townsville police station he drove into the Townsend police station and and I went in and saw you know ask to see somebody about a statement I'd made about Kevin right so you told the police then that you'd made up these allegations about Kevin right making admissions about murder what was the truth he he had told me that he was involved with someone with murdering somebody so were cutting up somebody and why did you lie to the police I was just scared for myself for my girls people will suggest that you're lying now what do you say to that no notnot but Jerry's evidence would have amounted to nothing if it wasn't for another of Kevin Wright's ex-partners Natalie Parker she came forward a few months later I do believe he regrets probably now confessing this to people and I don't think he really thought any of us would have the guts to come forward drunk and hysterical Kevin allegedly confessed to Natalie three times during their 18-year relationship but in her version it was a truck driver he and mate John Easter off killed what exactly did he tell you that night he told me he'd killed somebody that was why he was upset he um went on to tell me it was something that he did with Johnny East off what did they do then Kevin's parents on the slaughter yards out in here under which had a burning pit where you would get rid of the carcasses so I believed they put the body into the burning pits and set it on fire Nataly finally left Kevin right in 2010 but waited two years to make a statement to police did Kevin ever threaten you about the fact that you know knew about this confession yes he constantly reminded me of the fact that I know what he's capable of you're obviously really quite bitter towards Kevin Archie he's been violent to you I'm verbally abused you I hate what he's done to our children are you saying what you're saying to us and to the police and to the inquest because you just want to get square with Kevin right no I would never bring my children or myself into this and why would I want it when I have to fear the repercussions of what Johnny or Kevin or anyone else they associate with the country it also took guts for another key witness Melissa Bell to come forward to police as a friend to both Natalie Parker and Kevin Wright she told the inquest Kevin broke down in tears one night in the back of a cab and made a chilling confession had you told Melissa at this stage that Kevin had confessed to you told nobody I had never spoken anyone about what Kevin said to me at that point so Melissa comes to you what does she tell you she said NAT Kevin told me something in the taxi last night and she then went on to explain to me that Kevin had told her that he had killed somebody with a good mate of his Johnny that it was a hitchhiker did you believe that the two of them had killed somebody yes I certainly after he told Mel as well why would you tell another person three alleged confessions to three separate women to ex partners and a friend but Kevin Wright is consistently inconsistent naming the victim firstly as a truck driver then a hitchhiker and a backpacker he never once names Tony Jones how do you explain those inconsistencies well that's something for Kevin Wright to be asked I believe that he desperately needed to unload these confessions were made curled up in the fetal position in tears talking about being tormented by this knowledge needing to tell somebody about it and I believe the first confession which is a different scenario to the others was this first attempt to unload but without giving revealing evidence why would he have said a truck driver rather than a hitchhiker Tony was the only hitchhiker to have gone missing and in North Queensland for a long time before in a long time after that hitchhiker killing a hitchhiker ian huen would have been a very incriminating thing to say but there's some consistencies that are pretty damning this is Kevin right now a 51 year old businessman who runs KJ right concreting in Townsville we approached him for an interview to respond to the allegations before the inquest that he's confessed to being involved in a murder excuse me Kevin but Wright was in no mood to shed light on the claims Jonny stuff also living in Townsville refused as an interview while the inquest is ongoing but he's promised to sit down with us when it ends early next year east off has denied the allegations against him saying it's crazy talk he asked us to make it clear that Kevin Wright is now an ex-friend this has been a story of cowardice on the part of whoever killed Tony and of bravery of those coming forward now we need to see more bravery we're not saying that either Kevin right or Johnny Stav are guilty of any crime involving the death of Tony Jones only our courts can make a finding like that the inquest into Tony Jones disappearance will resume early next year and the coroner has ordered both men to appear however Kevin Wright and Johnny Stoff are taking Supreme Court action to avoid giving evidence if you have any information please call Crime Stoppers on 1-800 triple three triple zero hello I'm Liam Bartlett thanks for watching so keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

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Views: 1,137,222

Rating: 4.6460605 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter Overton, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Paul Barry, Peter Harvey, Michael Usher, Ross Coulthart, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo

Id: jAF_G94J8ZY

Length: 23min 7sec (1387 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 31 2019