Snowtown murders

[laughs] Yeah, it has.

I was a bit shocked last week that some of the team didn't know very much about Snowtown, and the Unabomber was even earlier than that.

So we thought, at the risk of becoming the true crime department here-

Mm-hmm

Because it's all still a legend.

Um, so just so you know, James Vlasiccus, part of the Snowtown murder crew, uh, he is also being released, but we knew that for a fact.

He's the young one, the one who was abused by his brother.

Yeah.

The group's murderous rampage was brought to an end in 1999, and all of the men were given lengthy prison sentences.

But in 2024, the Snowtown murders are once again making news.

The night before I recorded this interview with today's guest, it had been revealed that Mark Haydon had been released from prison.

His maximum term is expiring in late May 2024, which means he's due to be released without any supervision or conditions.

There were good people there then.

There's good people there now.

And I think a really important part of this story is that this has become known as the Snowtown murders, but in actual fact, only one murder happened at Snowtown.

It's just where this discovery was made that- Turned it into what we know it to be today.

[gentle music] This is Australian True Crime with Michelle Lawrie.

Big news in the world of Australian true crime this week with the release on parole of Jamie Vlassakis, the youngest member of the Snowtown bodies in the barrels gang.

In May 1999, South Australian police investigating the disappearance of Adelaide woman Elizabeth Hayden, and acting on a tip-off, entered a disused bank in the tiny hamlet of Snowtown, a couple of hours north of Adelaide.

Upon entering the bank, they discovered the dismembered remains of eight people in barrels of acid.

One of them was indeed Elizabeth Hayden.

He'd been molested by his older brother, Troy Youde, who became one of the gang's victims, and Vlassakis confessed to his involvement in the crimes during his first interview with police before he was even suspected of taking part.

As of his upcoming release, Vlassakis will have served 27 years in custody.

It's hard to do this story justice in summary, so we're reissuing a conversation from some years ago with journalist and author Jeremy Pudney, who wrote the definitive book on the subject, Snowtown: The Bodies in Barrels Murders.

I just started talking about poo.

But I just thought it was really needed after the Snowtown murders case to do something a bit lighter, a bit funner.

Where were you, Scott Williams, when the poo...

Like you've got to

That that was the choice that he chose.

Yeah, yeah.

And I just feel, personally, after the Snowtown murders this week, everyone needed a bit of light relief.

Definitely.

Here's what's making headlines this evening.

[upbeat music] The youngest person jailed over the notorious Snowtown killings will be released after serving 26 years in prison.

James Vlassakis pleaded guilty to 4 of the 11 murders between 1992 and 1999, and was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 26 years, which expired in August last year.

He also acted as a key prosecution witness against John Bunting and Robert Wagner, who were found guilty of 11 and 10 murders respectively.

The bodies of eight of their victims were found dismembered in barrels inside an old bank vault in Snowtown, north of Adelaide, in 1999.

South Australia's Parole Board voted in favor of releasing Vlassakis last year, but the state government sought to block the move.

Following an independent review, the Parole Administrative Review Commissioner has now upheld the decision to release Vlassakis.