A former forensic investigator has revealed how one of his team members is "still broken" 26 years after examining an appalling crime scene, leaving forensic investigators with lasting PTSD. The notorious "Bodies in Barrels Murders," which occurred in and around Adelaide, South Australia, took the lives of 12 men and women who were individually subjected to torture by a depraved gang that had targeted them as somehow "weak." It is considered one of Australia's most appalling crime scenes.
Mutilated remains found in barrels
The mutilated remains of eight victims were discovered by South Australian Police in six plastic barrels within an abandoned bank vault. In a fresh podcast, retired forensic investigator Gordon Drage has described how his team were overwhelmed by the terror of what they witnessed while attempting to piece together the narrative behind the crimes.
"There was this Variaq electrical torture machine that they had. It's an adjustable voltage device that they were using for torture. A number of the victims had small electrical burns and stuff on them, apparently, and their genitals and their nipples and those sorts of areas," Drage said.
Team member 'still broken'
Drage also revealed how certain members of his team were severely traumatised by what they heard on those tapes. "I don't like to make criticism of too many people, but I have to make one criticism of [South Australia Police]. I rang Adelaide the following day and said, 'You need to keep an eye on my junior colleague who was there. She was really quite overawed by the whole deal. I'm a bit worried about her," he said.
He also said: "And then they sent her to all the other scenes for the subsequent two or three more weeks. And then during that time, she's also managed to somehow hear some of the actual recordings that they would make of these people, the torture. She's never come back to work. She's still broken".
Murderers' trial and sentencing
The murderers were headed by John Bunting, a slaughterhouse employee with a pathological loathing of homosexuals and others he deemed "weak." The third gang member, James Vlassakis, assisted in torturing and murdering his own half-brother, Troy Youde, and his stepbrother, David Johnson, yet became a crucial prosecution witness following his arrest.
Similar to his partner Robert Wagner, Bunting had been involved in various neo-Nazi organisations. The murderers created recordings of their victims, revelling in their desperate pleas for mercy while they tortured them to death.
Bunting and Wagner's trial stretched nearly twelve months, marking South Australia's longest legal proceeding. In October 2002, a juror stepped down due to the disturbing nature of the evidence presented. Justice Brian Ross Martin ruled that Bunting was the mastermind and imposed 11 consecutive life sentences without any chance of parole. Wagner received 10 consecutive terms.
