'Bodies in Barrels' Serial Killer Is About to Be Freed

An Australian court ruled on Tuesday that one of three serial killers convicted over the murders of 11 people in one of the country's most notorious criminal cases can be released from prison, rejecting a state government's bid to block his parole. The victims were killed over seven years, and most of their bodies were found in 1999 in barrels of acid in Snowtown, a small town north of the South Australia state capital, Adelaide, per the AP. The discovery led the crimes to become known as the "Bodies in Barrels" murders. Three judges of the South Australia Court of Appeal upheld a parole board decision made last month to release the youngest of the three convicted murderers, James Vlassakis.

Vlassakis, now 46, was 18 when his crimes began in 1998. He pleaded guilty to four murders, including those of a half brother and stepbrother. He became a star witness for the prosecution and was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 26 years, which expired in August of last year. He was granted parole in December, but the state government succeeded in overturning that parole board decision. The discovery of dismembered bodies in a derelict Snowtown bank branch and a yearlong trial that ended in 2003 captured the nation's attention at the time, inspiring books and the 2011 movie Snowtown.

The parole board believes Vlassakis is contrite and no longer poses a risk. Frances Nelson, the board's chair, argued that Vlassakis had "always been remorseful and contrite." He'd not been diagnosed with any anti-social personality disorder and his prison behavior has been "excellent," she said. South Australia Attorney-General Kyam Maher, who'd unsuccessfully challenged the parole decision, instead argued that the traumatic nature of the crimes justified keeping Vlassakis behind bars. "This is definitely indelibly marked on the psyche of South Australia," Maher told reporters. "These were horrific crimes that were committed against innocent people."

Nelson told reporters the parole board "would not have recommended his release on parole if we thought he was a risk." Vlassakis was the stepson of the killers' ringleader, John Bunting, who killed people he suspected of being pedophiles, gay, or overweight, or who were drug users. Bunting was convicted of 11 murders; his neighbor, Robert Wagner, was convicted of 10. Both had been active in neo-Nazi groups. Both were sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Another accomplice, Mark Haydon, who pleaded guilty to helping dispose of two bodies, was released from prison in 2024 after serving a 25-year sentence. A jury had failed to reach verdicts on two murder charges against him.