Snowtown Murders - The Murders

The Murders

Bunting moved into the Salisbury North home in 1991 and befriended Wagner, Wagner's boyfriend Barry Lane, and Mark Haydon, who all lived nearby.

John Bunting seems to have chosen his victims for imagined infractions. He hated paedophiles, and some victims were murdered after Bunting was informed of their alleged sexual behavior with children, often based on flimsy evidence or rumor. Others were killed due to his dislike of obese people, or drug users or because they were gay men. Most of the victims were friends or acquaintances of at least one of the group. Others were relatives, sometimes living in the same house as one of the killers. Others were befriended and drawn into the group, having been picked as easy targets. Usually victims' social security and bank details were obtained, and the murderers or their associates impersonated the victims to continue to collect their pensions after their deaths. Although a total of $97,200 was obtained in this manner, social security fraud was not judged to have been the primary motive for the killings.

The final murder was conducted in the bank building after the barrels had been moved there for storage. Describing the scene he encountered when entering the building, one Snowtown officer said: "It was a scene from the worst nightmare you've ever had; I don't think any of us was prepared for what we saw." The building was littered with tools used by the killers to torture and murder their victims, including:

• Knives
• A bloodstained saw
• Double barreled shotgun
• Coils of rope
• Rolls of tape
• Rubber gloves
• Cloths
• A Variac metallurgy tool that the killers used to administer electric shocks to the genitals and other sensitive parts of the victim's body

The pathologist's report later revealed that prolonged torture had taken place using everyday tools such as pincers, pliers and clamps. Examples of all of these implements were found in the vault. Wendy Abraham QC, the deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, reported at the Supreme Court of South Australia that the victims were forced to call their torturers 'God', 'Master', 'Chief Inspector' and 'Lord Sir'.

Ray Davies was garrotted with a piece of rope and a tire lever after being placed in a bath, attacked with clubs, repeatedly beaten about his genitals and had a toe crushed with a pair of pliers. Frederick Brooks received electric shocks to his penis and testicles, and had a sparkler inserted into his urethra and then lit after which this torture was repeated a second time; after his toes were crushed and his nose and ears burned with cigarettes, he was allowed to choke to death on his gag. A piece of the flesh of the eleventh and final victim, David Johnson, was fried and eaten by Bunting and Wagner.