Unsolved Karmein Chan

Oct 2, 2007
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I was in high school when this happened, can't believe 25 years has gone already...


To my knowledge, no rewards have ever been paid out in the history of crime in Victoria. Maybe if they actually started paying these rewards for information they would get witnesses coming forward.

Are you saying people have come forward and provided info for other crimes that led to a conviction and were not paid?
 

Two Planks

Norm Smith Medallist
May 14, 2012
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I was in high school when this happened, can't believe 25 years has gone already...




Are you saying people have come forward and provided info for other crimes that led to a conviction and were not paid?

As far as I am aware Andrew Fraser is in line to be the first person ever to be paid a reward, but this itself is being dragged out with the police saying his evidence was only a part of the reason for the Peter Dupas conviction and not the sole reason.
 
Oct 2, 2007
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As far as I am aware Andrew Fraser is in line to be the first person ever to be paid a reward, but this itself is being dragged out with the police saying his evidence was only a part of the reason for the Peter Dupas conviction and not the sole reason.
Interesting. I didn't know this.
 
Aug 17, 2006
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So why the increase? Do the cops really think there is someone who knows something? If it was anything of substance would they have not come forward by now? Or do the police need to provide a bit more info to prompt the right sort of information coming forward?

Perhaps just making it newsworthy again may set off some behaviour (in potential witnesses, or the perp) that they can work with.

What are people's gut feelings on it? I can't see him ever coming to justice unfortunately.

I'd say the bolded. They've got a suspect (or perhaps more than one) in mind and this is a way to turn the screws, observe their reaction and see if they unearth anything more incriminating.
 
Nov 27, 2012
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I was in grade 1 at the time and remember being terrified, as soon as this happened all the kids that use to walk alone to primary school started being accompanied by parents, friends etc, it was a time where you simply didn't want to be alone. I remember those big Karmein chan billboards all over Melbourne As well so it was in your face, you really couldn't escape it. The case has always fascinated me, so many theories on who he could have been, he has been linked to so many different professions from school teacher to tradie.
 
I dont believe that this case will ever be solved. Too much time has passed and the gap between evidence collection then, vs what skills, techniques and technology is available now might have had a different outcome.

Apart from suspicion there does not appear to be any DNA evidence establishing a physical link to those suspected.
 

Two Planks

Norm Smith Medallist
May 14, 2012
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Does anybody else think that the families who were present during the home invasion phase and also the girls themselves would recognise the voices of the 7 suspects. The 2 girls who survived being taken have had remarkable memories in regards to clues, surely they would cringe if they heard this guy speak. The 7 suspects were identified only a year or so after the abductions, so I wonder if the police ever played them the interviews.
 
Jun 14, 2015
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Does anybody else think that the families who were present during the home invasion phase and also the girls themselves would recognise the voices of the 7 suspects. The 2 girls who survived being taken have had remarkable memories in regards to clues, surely they would cringe if they heard this guy speak. The 7 suspects were identified only a year or so after the abductions, so I wonder if the police ever played them the interviews.
Interesting idea.

One of the victims had to "role-play" with Mr. Cruel, another said he pretended to have a conversation with another man while she was held captive, so they'd know his voice.
 
Depends on what direction the planes were landing or taking off on the day at the time she was held captive.

Planes can land from all directions at Tulla.

Most likely within a 15km radius from the airport though it doesn't say how loud the planes were, just that they could be heard. I'd bet within 10k though given the house probably had some sort of walls blocking them out (brick would block more sound than weatherboard etc). More modern aircraft are quieter but sometimes I can hear aircraft out in the far eastern suburbs ie. 747 cargo planes.
I wonder if they ever investigated the possibility that it might have been planes landing at Moorabbin airport. Why did they focus on Tullamarine?
 

grouse mate

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I wonder if they ever investigated the possibility that it might have been planes landing at Moorabbin airport. Why did they focus on Tullamarine?

Thought the same due to the planes only being heard in the morning before he turned the radio on. Dont know about back then but Tulla has international flights landing around the clock. I live close to Moorabbin and the description of planes being heard in quick sucession by one of the girls matches what i hear. Smaller aircraft would clear a runway quicker than bigger planes I would of thought.
 

CitizenU

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Apr 21, 2016
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Yeah with these sorts of cases, whilst definitely not impossible, generally only one way they get solved after this amount of time....

Need him to commit another crime.

Would suggest if the police think they have there man and are waiting for that to happen...unless he has totally switched up his MO, or he is under 24 hour covert/overt surveillance...then I'm afraid the nature of the offences and the period of time since the last crime was commited, would tend to suggest that they don't.

Same principle applies to a fairly highly profile cold one over here in WA.
 
Mar 16, 2007
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Thought the same due to the planes only being heard in the morning before he turned the radio on. Dont know about back then but Tulla has international flights landing around the clock. I live close to Moorabbin and the description of planes being heard in quick sucession by one of the girls matches what i hear. Smaller aircraft would clear a runway quicker than bigger planes I would of thought.

I live directly in line with the East-West runway at Melbourne Airport, though in the North East suburbs so some distance away. We are used to planes flying overhead but there are some that you have to stop and take notice, you'd swear they're going to come straight down on top of you. I can only assume in the days of the 727 etc the noise would have been much louder.

It's not for me to question the focus on the North-Western suburbs, but I wonder if there was any consideration given to a house closer to the homes of the victims?
 

pennypal

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May 8, 2012
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I have often thought that the aircraft noises could have been a recording that he played to make it sound like it was near the airport. Back in the 80's and 90's there were cds you could buy of all sorts of sound effects. I got a few from JB's hi fi.
 

Dan Baker

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Jan 12, 2017
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It appears your linked video has been bought out or claimed by zodiak entertainment

PQRZ0Fq.jpg
 
Dec 21, 2005
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I think he's dead. You don't just escalate and then just stop.

My thoughts...

The prevailing ones are:
He's dead
He's in jail on a different charge
He was spooked into stopping after Karmein was killed. (Theory is she saw his face)
He stopped because the cops know who he is but they have no evidence because he was so meticulous.

As hard as it is to believe he'd just stop if he's known to police (they can't monitor him 24/7) I'm leaning towards this one for a few reasons...

He's not a natural killer... the murder was out of necessity (In his mind) and he was known to be gentle towards his victims. Taking a long time to clean and groom and release them. He also wasn't an opportunist. He planned and staked out victims before hand. All this takes time. Which if he's known, he doesn't really have. If a child goes missing he'd be a point of call for police. He would want to take his time to eradicate any evidence, but he probably knows he won't be afforded that time.
 
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