THE TRURO MURDERS

hey guys it's bella welcome back to my channel i hope you're all having an incredible day today in today's video we're going to be talking about the churro murders which is one of south australia's biggest and most notorious serial murders between december of 1976 and february of 1977 christopher warrell and james miller murdered seven young women in south australia because of this the name truro will always be notorious and will forever be associated with one of the worst mass murders in australian history before we get into the case i just want to thank today's sponsored case defy i mean you guys already know i love case defy by now they are the only cases i use on my phone i got four of the leather cases which are just so luxe and beautiful and classic and timeless and i'm obsessed i just feel like these are the kind of cases that will never go out of style and they're just gonna go with everything there are eight different colors in the leather cases and you can also personalize 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below and speaking of cases let's go ahead and get into today's mystery monday case 23 year old christopher warrell was born in adelaide on the 17th of january in 1954 he never knew his father and by the time he was six his mother had remarried in his teens he joined the royal australian air force and he spent some time in victoria and western australia apparently he also admitted to killing two girls while traveling from western australia to south australia but there's no evidence this actually happened after serving in the air force world moved back to adelaide to live with his brother danny for a while and i guess kind of like went off the rails he was described as charismatic and sociopathic which i feel like are two very contradicting descriptions but it is what it is while there he was put on a suspended sentence for rape charges which he eventually broke when he was found guilty of raping another girl and the judge described him as depraved disgusting and sentenced him to three years in yatler jail 40 year old james miller was born melvin raymond just in 1938 but changed his name to james miller which is actually the same name as the founding father of truro he was known as a bit of a loner he didn't have any friends and he ran away from home at an early age and by the time he was 11 he ended up at the magle reform school starting in his teenage years miller gained an extensive criminal history with over 30 convictions for car theft larceny breaking and entering and stealing and from age 20 to age 40 he actually spent more time in jail than out he ended up meeting warrell in yellow jail after being sentenced to three months for breaking into a gun shop and while in prison the two formed a sexual relationship and miller was actually known as the [ __ ] of yatla oh my gosh these earrings are actually hiding my ears after milla's three-month stint in jail it wasn't long before he was back serving an 18-month sentence for trying to sell 400 pairs of stolen sunglasses to different hotels around adelaide nine months after miller was released laura was granted early parole and the two met outside of jail and pretty much became inseparable they lived in various different locations but always together they would always share the same accommodation and even slept in the car together sometimes and they also continued a sexual relationship when i say world too much it's like miller would give warrell oral sex while warrell would read like bdsm magazines and pornography but over time their relationship fizzled out because world did prefer women so eventually they just became kind of more like brothers their killings began on the 23rd of december in 1976 when world was 21 years old and miller was 38. 18 year old veronica knight had a pretty difficult childhood her mother died shortly after she was born and she was taken away from her father because he was a severe alcoholic she spent the majority of her life in care at brighton's mind home which was basically for kids who couldn't be placed with a foster family in 1974 when she was 16 years old she met peter and jeanette woods at an anglican church youth group and over the next two years they grew super close and peter and jeanette were really the closest thing veronica ever had to family and they helped to mentor and guide her through her final teenage years veronica was described as a confident sociable and kind girl and by 1976 she was living in the sutherland hostel on the 23rd of december in 1976 18 year old veronica knight went out with a friend to do some last minute shopping before her trip to melbourne to go and visit peter and jeanette while she was out shopping she got separated from her friend and ended up accepting a lift home with christopher warrell and james miller once she got in the car the two men drove her to swamp road near truro and a lot of the details of these attacks come from interviews with james miller so i guess just take them with a grain of salt he claims once they stopped the car he got out and walked away and he said he was gone for around 20 minutes it was while he was gone that warrell all of a sudden attacked veronica she struggled hard and fought for her life but in the end warrell overpowered her tied her up raped her and then strangled her to death when miller returned to the car and found veronica dead he confronted warrell but warrell pulled a knife on him and threatened to kill him too if he didn't help dispose of the body so together they dragged the body over to where a couple of trees were and they just put some branches and some sticks on it left her body there and drove back to adelaide within 24 hours dorothy reed the matron who ran the sutherland hostile veronica had been staying at at the time of her disappearance contacted the police to report her missing and police just kind of said oh you know she probably just ran away and they didn't really look into it dorothy badgered police for some time after this to get updates on the case but the missing person's report just got shelved and they never really looked into it after veronica's murder warrell and miller kept driving around adelaide mostly looking at bus stops and train stations for their next victim and on the 2nd of january 1977 they came across 15 year old tanya kennedy tanya had been staying with some friends in victoria harbour just after christmas and on the 2nd of january she just hitchhiked back to adelaide james claims that that day he dropped warrell at rundle mall and went for a drive and then when he got back to the mall warrell was with a girl laurel and tanya got in the car and miller drove them to a sister's old house which was an unoccupied house in woodville when they got there miller stayed in the car while rural and tanya went inside and while inside warrell attacked her miller said he heard a scream a little while after they went inside and when he went in to check it out he found that warrell had strangled tanya to death he said that she had a sharp line around her neck which indicated that he had used like a guitar string or something similar it was still light out when this happened so miller and warrell locked the house up drove to an old rifle range in wingfield where they dug a shallow grave they then went and got tanya's body when it was dark and took her back to wingfield to bury her that night when tanya didn't get home her parents weren't like crazy worried or anything they just assumed that she had gone to stay at a friend's house for the night but the next day when they still hadn't heard from her and couldn't get in contact with her they went to the police to report her missing and police did look into the case however they didn't connect it to veronica knight's disappearance at this point julia makita was born to anne and mike makita both of whom were teachers they were a close and loving family and ann and mike really trusted their children we felt that the values that they got from us would keep them safe on the 21st of january in 1977 just 19 days after tanya's murder 16 year old julie had been working at a part-time job in the city and called her parents that night to let them know she'd been getting home late by 9 pm she was waiting at the bus stop outside a hotel on king william street and it was then that she was approached by christopher warrell he offered her a lift and she accepted miller was driving once again and he drove them to a secluded spot in port wakefield and he reckons when they got there he got out and went for a walk as he always seems to do conveniently while he was on his walk warrell attacked julie while in the backseat and tried to tie her up but somehow she managed to escape and ran towards the nearby paddock unfortunately though warrell caught up with her and tackled her to the ground miller claims that he heard julie struggling and returned to the car to find wuerl pinning her down on the ground he claims that he tried to pull warrell off but that he wasn't strong enough and that world threatened to kill him once again so as miller watches on warrell holds down the terrified julie and strangles her to death the two men then put her body in the boot of the car drove her to truro put her body on the ground and covered her with sticks and branches the next morning julie's dad mike woke up and initially he was actually pretty mad at her because she hadn't come home and she hadn't contacted him to let him know that she wouldn't be coming home so the afternoon of that day was the last time we saw her alive the next morning i found that she wasn't home i was angry i was angry because she hadn't rung i was angry because it was very much unlike her but then by midday when he still hadn't heard from her and couldn't get in contact with her he started to get really worried so he called around to all of her friends none of whom had seen or heard from her and so immediately he contacted the police and the police in this case i mean it's just really frustrating because they told him oh you know she's probably just with a friend or something oh you know she maybe she ran away you know teenagers always do that sort of thing i got the usual story of i had a dollar for every worrying parent whose child hasn't come home for a while and i'd be a rich man and all that sort of thing so they didn't really take us seriously you know just the usual sorts of things police seem to say in these missing persons cases around two weeks later on the 6th of february miller and world found their next victim 16 year old sylvia pittman was waiting for the train at adelaide railway station when she was approached by world who offered her a lift to wherever she was going she accepted and miller drove them all to wingfield when they got there warrell told miller to go for a walk and while he was gone world raped and strangled sylvia to death in the back seat of the car when miller got back to the car about 20-30 minutes later sylvia was already dead he drove them to truro where they dumped her body and covered it in branches and sticks and then within 24 hours miller amoral struck again on the 7th of february warrell told miller to meet him at the adelaide post office at 7 p.m and when he arrived warrell was with vicky howell vicki was a 26 year old woman who was in a bit of a slump in her life she had just separated from her husband after an unhappy marriage and she was just kind of going through it you know warrell had convinced her to go on a drive into the barossa valley and she had accepted so miller drives them out along the barossa valley highway until they get to nurius and roral instructs miller to pull over when they stop miller got out and went to the bushes to go to the bathroom leaving warrell and vicki in the back seat alone warrell then attacked her as she fought for her life he tore her pantyhose off and used them to strangle her to death and when miller got back to the car warrell was already covering her body with a blanket and told miller to get in the car and drive the two men argued a lot about this matter apparently miller thought that vicky was a nice girl who didn't deserve to die but warrell once again threatened to kill him if he disagreed with him or had anything to say about the murders so they drove to truro and dumped the body and covered it in sticks and branches before heading back to adelaide just two days later they attacked again so by this point their killing spree is really picking up the pace i guess they thought that they'd gotten away with it so many times that they just felt invincible and decided to amp up the pace so two days later on the 9th of february when they were driving around adelaide city they came across 16 year old connie lordinitis known to friends and family as connie jordan miller's story is that while they were driving around in the city they got pulled over by the police for like a defect notice or something and as they were pulled over this girl connie walks past and world just cannot keep his eyes off her so when the police eventually leave he tells miller to go and drive up to her and warrell starts chatting her up throughout the window and asks her if she wants a lift connie accepts and she gets in the front seat and instead of heading to where they had promised her they were going to go miller instead drives the opposite direction towards wingfield when they get there miller got out of the car and where do you think he went for a walk while he's gone warrell attacks connie rapes her and strangles her to death miller heard her screaming and returned to the car only to find that she was already dead and covered with a blanket in the backseat the men then drove to true and disposed of her body in the same manner as the previous five victims they then drove back into adelaide and slept in their car that night at victoria park racecourse three days later in the early hours of the 12th of february miller and wuerl were driving around adelaide city when they came across 20 year old debra lamb trying to hitchhike on hindley street they pulled over and offered her a lift as far as port galler and she accepted and got in the car when they got to port gulla miller as usual got out and went for a walk conveniently again deborah's murder was the most violent so far warrell attacked her dragged her from the car forced himself on top of her tied up her hands and then put a gag in her mouth he then took her pantyhose off and wrapped them around her neck and head seven times he then dragged her body into a small sandy alcove and it was found later that she was actually buried alive a week later on the 19th of february deborah scuse had just recently left her boyfriend who was a criminal and had met warrell and miller in jail so she knew the two men through her ex-boyfriend and that day on the 19th they went to her house looking for her ex-boyfriend and found her alone and offered to take her away for the weekend to mount gambia while they were down there warrell got into this really bad mood he got really super angry and decided they should all go back to adelaide after having a few beers world decides to drive them back instead of miller who normally drives and he was you know speeding he was driving really crazy and the three of them actually got into an argument over how crazily he was driving and then one of the tyres blew world swerved to avoid oncoming traffic and the car rolled over multiple times witnesses rushed over to help but it was already too late for warrell and debbie who were killed in the accident miller however only suffered a broken shoulder and was rushed to hospital with shock a few days later when morale's funeral was held miller obviously attended but while he was there he spoke to one of wuerl's former girlfriends named amelia and just like told her everything told her all about the murders he told her that it was getting worse lately that it was happening more often and that maybe it was a good thing that chris died but she didn't actually go to the cops or anything at this time after warrell's death miller became really depressed after losing his best friend and you know his lover and he actually ended up becoming homeless 14 months after warra was killed in the car accident veronica knight's remains were found on the 25th of april in 1978 william thomas and his wife valda thomas were out in a paddock near swamp road looking for mushrooms just outside of truro when they came across what they thought was animal bones they went home that night but valde just had a really bad feeling about the bones so she went back the next day even though it was like an hour away from where they lived to just check out the bones again she couldn't sleep and she was getting premonition that someone was calling her back to go back there which she ignored initially the next night the same thing happened his feeling was so strong that they had to were compelled to go back which is an hour's drive that's when they realized that the bone had actually been attached to a shoe and inside the shoe was a human foot still with skin and painted toenails all attached they also ended up finding clothes and blood stains and more bones nearby and so they called the police upon looking at the bones police determined that they were likely the remains of a teenage girl but due to the state of the remains they weren't able to determine how she died or how she even got to where she was the bones were collected and brought back to adelaide and dental records were used to confirm that the body was that of veronica knight police though really didn't think much of it the area she was found in could be like pretty harsh hot and dry conditions so they thought that maybe she just walked off into the bush became disorientated and died due to the elements died of thirst you know and that's it it wasn't until a year later when police got another lead which actually prompted them to look into the case on the 15th of april in 1979 four bushwalkers discovered the remains of sixteen-year-old sylvia pittman about a kilometer from where veronica's mains had been found with the two bodies found in such close proximity of each other police finally started to connect the dots they then organized a huge search of the area to see if there were any other bodies there and that's when they found a skull on the opposite side of swamp road and it was pretty open to police to the point where police were like how did we not see that like it's literally just sitting there staring at us it wasn't covered or buried or anything which makes sense because a lot of the time miller and world would simply just put branches and sticks over the body and that was it and then not long after that during their search they also found the remains of a fourth body both bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition and so once again they had to use dental records to identify them and they were then positively identified as that of vicki howell and connie jordan all victims were found partially buried in the same area and so police now believe that veronica was the first of the girls to be murdered serial killers were like a pretty new phenomenon in australia at the time but after finding these four bodies in such similar ways in the same area police now believe that they were dealing with a serial killer within hours of discovering the remains of vicky and connie the media was all over the case and over the next few weeks police received hundreds and hundreds of calls with possible leads over those few weeks police weren't really getting anywhere because i mean there wasn't really that much evidence besides the actual bones themselves but then police look into this report they received about the death of a former prison inmate christopher warrell when they look into him you know he obviously has been convicted of multiple violent and sexual crimes and they find he was killed in a car accident at around the same time as all of the murders of these young women stop so police appeal to the public and they offer a 30 000 reward for any information that could lead to the killer and that is when in may of 1979 world's former girlfriend emilia collects the 30 000 reward and tells police that she had heard from james miller that warrell had been raping girls and dumping their bodies up near truro she claims the reason she didn't come to the police sooner is because there was no proof that what miller was saying was true and also because there was no point in going to the police because warrell was already dead which um i don't know if i share the sentiment i feel like even if the kill is dead you still want to give the victim's family's closure so you should go to the police right seems like she maybe just came forward for the 30 000 but either way i'm just glad she came forward because without her it's likely the case never would have been solved based on what she told police it was obvious that warrell and miller were the guys that they were looking for so they went and they tracked down james miller and arrested him and brought him in for questioning on the 23rd of may in 1979 and at first he denied knowing anything about the murders at all but then eventually he tells police i should have done what amelia had done and he kind of confessed everything but he denied having any involvement in the killings themselves and said warl was solely responsible for raping and murdering the girls when detective glenn laurie decided it was time to charge miller they took him down to the charge room and within three minutes miller told them hey there's actually three more buddies and i can take you to them under police escort he's driven to truro five kilometers past swamp road on the left-hand side down about 1.5 kilometers he directed police to turn into an old abandoned farmhouse where the body of juliet makita is found he then takes detectives to port gala where debra lamb was buried and because it was so dark her body was actually really hard to locate and police began a detailed search and once they found her remains it took them more than two hours to actually dig her body fully out while that was happening miller was then driven to wingfield where the body of 15 year old tanya kenny was found her remains were found at the dean rifle range at the end of a track leading to the target mound it's nearly dawn when james miller is driven back to police headquarters and formally charged with the murders on the 12th of march in 1980 he was found guilty of six counts of murder one count for each of the girls he murdered except for that of veronica knight for the six murders he was then sentenced to six life sentences his parole was set for 2014 but he died of cancer in 2008 after serving 24 years in prison and he was actually the longest serving prisoner in south australia before his death while in prison he actually wrote a book called don't call me killer and the description of the book is the truth of churro a chilling testament from a prison cell by the lifer who helped his lover bury six of the seven murdered girls despite his conviction most people believe that there's more to the story than what he said in his confession you know a lot of people believe that he was involved that he wasn't just going on these walks every single time and letting warrell murder someone in the back of his car and then coming back and being like oh they're dead you did a bad thing and then world threatens him and he helps warrell you know go and bury the bodies or whatever you know people just believe that he was downplaying his role in the whole thing because he had nobody to discount what he was saying because the person he did it with was dead deborah lam's daughter nicki lamb said that she 100 believes that miller was involved because she didn't think that just one person could hold her mother down but that is everything for this case i would love to discuss your thoughts in the comments down below what do you guys think about miller what do you think about his confession i think he's a total load of horseshit a hundred percent he had way more involvement than he's claiming to have there's no way he was just like going for walks and that's it and you know even if that did somehow happen to be true he's still just as bad as warrell because he knew exactly what was going to happen he still drove warrell and these girls knowing warrell was going to kill them but i would love to talk to you guys about it in the comments down below let me know your thoughts and i hope you guys have an incredible rest of your day hopefully i will see you guys in my next video bye

Channel: Bella Fiori

Views: 653,258

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Id: 1WpCURIfXUk

Length: 23min 26sec (1406 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 30 2021