List of Serial Killers: Australia

It's no surprise that by their mid-twenties, Crump and Baker had extensive criminal records and had spent the majority of their lives in prison. Released within weeks of each other in 1973 they met up on a farm near Boggabilla in western New South Wales, where Baker worked as a hired hand. Crump had stolen a car at Aberdare and picked up Baker at the farm Nov. 2. The property owner was not surprised at Baker's abrupt departure since working conditions were poor due to recent rains.

In rural New South Wales, Australia, Allan Baker and Kevin Crump murdered a complete stranger for $20, a packet of cigarettes and a couple of gallons of gasoline. Then, for no other reason other than that one of the men had once worked for her family as a farm hand, they kidnapped Virginia Morse, a young mother of three, from her home. Morse was raped and tortured repeatedly while Crump and Baker drove to neighboring Queensland. Next, they tied her to a tree and shot her execution-style.

When Crump and Baker were finally captured back in New South Wales, the fugitives had a running gun battle with police as their cars raced along a highway. A police officer was wounded in the car duel.

In the wake of their 1973 trial, the Australian public was left to ponder whether the two men were insane, or, even more chilling, whether their deeds were the result of rational minds gone astray.

Because Virginia Morse was killed in Queensland, New South Wales authorities could not charge the pair with her murder. Not wanting to extradite the two men, New South Wales police chose to charge them with conspiracy to murder Virginia Morse. But the New South Wales prosecutors didn't have to rely only on the Morse allegations. Their list of crimes also included the murder of Ian Lamb, the stranger, as well as wounding a policeman, and car theft, among other things.

It took the jury one hour and forty-five minutes to convict Baker and Crump on all charges. Baker showed no emotion at the verdict, while Crump appeared to stare at the floor and shudder. Mr. Justice Taylor then sentenced both men to life imprisonment.

David and Catherine Birnie

Born in 1951, David Birnie was the eldest of several children. His parents were alcoholics, and when he was 10 years old, they divorced. When neither parent wanted custody, he became a ward of the state. In the early 1960s, he was hired at a stable as an apprentice jockey, but was dismissed after a short while when he approached a female customer wearing nothing but a stocking over his head.

By the time he was an adolescent, he was already guilty of several crimes and had spent time in and out of jail for misdemeanors and felonies alike. As an adult, he was a known sexual addict, pornography addict, and paraphiliac. He had one childless marriage prior to his common-law marriage with Catherine.

Catherine was also born in 1951. She was 10 months old when her mother died, after which her father took her to live in South Africa with him. At the age of two, she returned to Australia to live with her grandparents, and after a year was sent to live with an aunt and uncle. It was while she was living with her aunt and uncle, at age 15, that she first met David Birnie. Although she and David were casual lovers into their late teens, she married Donald McLaughlin on her 21st birthday. She and McLaughlin had six children, one of whom was hit by a car in infancy.

Shortly thereafter, she abandoned her husband and began cohabiting with Birnie. She had her surname legally changed to match his, and was completely emotionally dependent on him.

She is still alive and serving a life sentence. She becomes eligible for parole in late 2007.

Their final victim, the only victim to survive their attacks, was a sixteen-year-old girl, whose name was never released because she was a juvenile. She ran naked and weeping into a grocery store on November 10, 1986 and insisted on seeing the police. When the law enforcement officials arrived, she alleged that she had been abducted at knifepoint by a couple who had taken her back to their house and chained her to a bed, and that the man had raped her while the woman observed. The next morning, while the man was at work, the woman unchained her and forced her to telephone her parents to say she had spent the night at a friend's house and was okay. The woman then led her back to the bedroom, but left to answer the door before securing her. The girl escaped out the window. She told the police the phone number and address of the couple who had abducted her.

When the girl and the police arrived at the Birnies' residence, Catherine admitted that she recognized the girl but refused to answer any more questions without her husband. When the police brought him home, the couple claimed that the girl had not been abducted, but had willingly come to the house to share a bong with the Birnies, and that all sexual activity had been consensual.

The Birnies were detained by police, who tried to trick them into confessing to a crime by intense interrogation. Around dusk, Detective Sergeant Vince Kaitch said in a joking manner to David Birnie, "It's getting dark. Best we take the shovel and dig them up." Birnie replied, "Okay. There are four of them." The Birnies were reportedly very excited, even proud, to show the police the locations of the graves of their four victims: Mary Frances Neilson (age 22), Susannah Candy (age 15), Noelene Patterson (age 35), and Denise Karen Brown (age 21).

When sent to trial, David Birnie pleaded guilty immediately to four counts of murder and one count of abduction and rape. When asked why he pleaded guilty, he gestured toward the victims' families and said, "It's the least I could do." After being found sane enough to stand trial, Catherine was sentenced in the West Australian supreme court. Both were sentenced to life in prison. While incarcerated, they exchanged over 2,600 letters, but weren't allowed any other form of contact.

Eric Edgar Cooke