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The Snowtown Murders · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: All right, buckle up for this one because it's a
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  heavy one. We're diving into the Snowtown murders today, and
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  yet they don't call him the bodies and barrels murders
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  for nothing.
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  Speaker 2: Grim Yeah, that's a good word for it.
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  Speaker 1: It's a case that's stuck with me. Honestly.
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  Speaker 2: It's nineteen ninety two to ninety nine when all this
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  goes down in and around Adelaide, Australia. John Bunting, that's
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  the name at the heart of it all, the ringleader.
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  Speaker 1: Twelve victims, seven years. How does it even happen? I mean,
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  how do people like this, How does a group like
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  that even form?
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  Speaker 2: It's Bunting. See, he's the glue in a way, twisted,
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  but the glue. This guy. He had so much rage
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  inside anything he thought was weak, morally wrong. Pedophiles you
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  mentioned that before, especially them, Yeah, homosexuals too. You thought
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  he was like cleaning up the world, delivering some kind
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  of twisted justice.
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  Speaker 1: Ah, that whole plane god thing. It's scary how often
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  that pops up?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. You take Robert Wagner, just an ordinary guy,
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  Bunting's neighbor. But Bunting, he gets his hooks in, manipulates him,
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  turns him into his well is right hand man for
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  these awful acts.
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  Speaker 1: And then there's Velocicus James Vlosakus, almost like a son
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  to Bunting, and he gets pulled into even ends up God,
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  even ends up killing his own family.
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  Speaker 2: It's the worst kind of betrayal. Bunting he knew how
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  to find people's weak points, how to twist what they
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  thought was right, use fear to get what he wanted.
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  And the worst part is it wasn't just them three.
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  Some people knew, even family, but they were too scared
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  to talk or God forbid, they agreed with it.
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  Speaker 1: It's almost too much to think about. And that whole
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  thing with the rock spider wall, I mean, that's just
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  straight out of a nightmare. Pictures info all about people
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  he suspected of pedophilia.
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  Speaker 2: Obsessive. Yeah, he didn't just want to hurt them, He
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  wanted to know everything about them, keep track and making
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  his victims call him God or master. It all points
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  to this need for power, for control over life and death.
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  Speaker 1: It's chilling, so calculated. And you said earlier, not all
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  the victims were strangers.
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  Speaker 2: No, some were just random It seems but a lot.
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  They were people of the group, knew friends, people they'd
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  run into around town, even their own families. Bunting used
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  those connections against them. Just awful.
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  Speaker 1: David Johnson, he's the one. He's the one they actually
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  killed in Snowtown, right, lured there thinking he was going
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  to meet a friend. It's heartbreaking. But how did they
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  hide it all for so long? The barrels, the fake identities,
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  It's also thought out.
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  Speaker 2: This wasn't random impulsive stuff. They planned it all out,
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  wanted to cause terror and stay hidden. The bodies and
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  barrels moved around, stashed in that old bank vault in Snowtown.
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  They even stole identities, collected benefits like their victims were
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  still alive.
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  Speaker 1: Some money was part of it then, Oh they got.
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  Speaker 2: A good chunk of change that way. Yeah. I don't
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  think it was ever just about the money, you know,
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  the violence, the control Bunting craved. It was something darker,
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  something much worse.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no kidding. That's what gets me about this whole thing.
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  It wasn't like a robbery gone wrong. This was personal.
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  But the truth always comes out right. What was it
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  like when this finally went to trial?
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  Speaker 2: Media circus full blown one of the longest trials ever
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  in Australia, almost a whole year. It went on the evidence.
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  Well you can imagine in the end Bunting got hit
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  with eleven life sentences, no parole.
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  Speaker 1: Eleven God, it's hard to even imagine a punishment that
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  would really fit that. What about the others, Wagner of Fleasakas.
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  Speaker 2: Ten life sentences for Wagner, no parole there either. And
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  you know what he said at the sentencing chilling? Really
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  he said pedophiles were doing terrible things to children. The
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  authorities didn't do anything about it. I decided to take action.
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  I took that action. Thank you, no remorse.
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  Speaker 1: It's like something out of a movie, you know, yeah,
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  except it's real. And that's God. That's what makes it
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  so much worse. What about the others, Lazakas, Hayden, did
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  they ever, you know, express any regret.
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  Speaker 2: Flasakas, he confessed to four murders his own half brother
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  included it's hard to even wrap your head around that.
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  He got four life sentences minimum twenty six years. Hayden,
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  you helped get rid of the body. He's got twenty
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  five years for that. Flasakkus, his testimony was huge in
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  putting Bunting and Wagner away and Hayden East City. Sorry,
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  I don't know how you ever really come back.
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  Speaker 1: From something like this, you know, yeah, yeah, no kidding.
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  It's one thing to read about it. But those families,
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  that town, Snowtown, it's a small place and they've been
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  tied to this whole thing. God only one murder even
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  happened there, right, It's.
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  Speaker 2: A tragedy all around. It reminds you how these things
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  they don't just end, you know, they leave a mark,
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  a scar on everyone and everything they touched.
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  Speaker 1: Did Snowtown become you know, like a tourist spot after
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  all this like a morbid thing?
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  Speaker 2: It did? Yeah, yeah, for a while there was this
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  dark tourism they call it. People wanted to see the bank,
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  those houses. But that kind of thing it fades. What's
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  left is the stigma, and that's a hard thing to shake.
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  Speaker 1: To have your town, your home, become known for something
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  so awful. I can't imagine just trying to rebuild, trying
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  to move on with that hanging over you.
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  Speaker 2: It's been a struggle, for sure. They talk about changing
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  the name, you know, calling it Rosetown, trying to distance themselves,
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  but a name change it can't erase what happened. The
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  real work, it's about helping the community, heal, providing support,
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  finding a way to remember without letting the darkness win.
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  Speaker 1: It makes you think about the bigger picture. You know,
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  it's not just the victims, the families. It's a whole
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  town that got caught up in.
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  Speaker 2: This exactly, and it's still going on in a way.
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  This year twenty twenty four, Mark Hayden, he got parole,
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  twenty five years he served. People are angry, confused, scared,
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  even he brings it all back. Yeah, h shows that
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  even when the trials are over, the story isn't really finished.
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  Speaker 1: It's like this wound that never really closes, and then
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  there's us talking about it, listening to it all these
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  true crime podcasts shows everything. Doesn't that have an effect
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  too on the victims, the families, the town.
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  Speaker 2: It's a double edged sword, that's for sure. Yeah, there's
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  value in trying to understand and looking at these cases,
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  the why, the how, but we can't forget the cost.
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  It's a balance we have to find.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, easy to get caught up in the story, right,
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  but these aren't characters in a book. These are real
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  people and their lives were shattered.
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  Speaker 2: By this, and those lives or of respect. Back during
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  the trials, they had over two hundred and fifty suppression
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  orders to protect people's identities keep the worst details out
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  of the news.
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  Speaker 1: But they lifted those, didn't They?
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  Speaker 2: Eventually they did twenty eleven, a judge decided to lift them.
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  The filmmakers behind that Snowtown movie they wanted to tell
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  the story, and they said the suppression orders were holding
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  them back.
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  Speaker 1: I can only imagine the families, the victims having to
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  relive it all again like that, and for what a movie.
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  Speaker 2: Gives a big decision, no doubt about it, art versus reality.
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  You know, how do you tell these stories without causing
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  more pain? Something we're still figuring out even today with
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  all these true crime documentaries and podcasts right right?
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  Speaker 1: Makes you think? You know, we talked about those houses,
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  the ones connected to everything. What happened to those places?
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  Did they tear them down?
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  Speaker 2: The one in Salisbury North where Bunting lived, where he
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  buried those first victims. Yeah, the housing Trust, they tore
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  it down like they were trying to erase it. You know,
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  I get that, I do trying to get rid of
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  that connection. The house in murray Bridge, one where they
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  kept some of those poor people. They sold that one eventually.
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  I can't imagine what it would be like to live there,
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  knowing heavy.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the bank, the bank where they found well.
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  Speaker 2: You know what happened to that. They tried to auction
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  it off back in twenty twelve, but nobody bit. I
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  guess it's a bit much, even for a fixer upper.
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  Someone bought it eventually though, a couple. They're living there now,
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  running a business out of it.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, that's that's something else. Takes a special kind of courage,
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  I think to walk into a place like that and
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  try to make it your own.
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  Speaker 2: They even talked about putting up a plaque for the
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  victims to remember them, you know, make it a place
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  of peace, not just horror.
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  Speaker 1: There's something kind of beautiful about that, you know, even
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  after all that darkness, someone choosing to bring in light.
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  Speaker 2: It's what we have to hold on to, right, even
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  in the face of pure evil, there's still good in
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  the world, people trying to make things right.
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  Speaker 1: That's a good note to end on. I think gives
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  me chills, but good chills. You know. It's heavy stuff.
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  This case. But it makes you think. It makes you
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  think about those victims, their families, the whole town of Snowtown,
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  and it makes you think about ourselves too.
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  Speaker 2: It does. How we look at these cases, how we
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  talk about them, it matters.
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  Speaker 1: It does well. On that note, we're gonna wrap up
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  this deep dive into the Snowtown murders. Thanks for joining
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  us for this one, folks, and remember, if you or
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  someone you know needs help, please reach out. There are
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  resources out there, people who care. Until next time, take
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  care of yourselves and each other