A new documentary has established a potential connection between infamous serial killer Ivan Milat and the unsolved murder of Melbourne teenager Robin Hoinville-Bartram, alongside the mysterious disappearance of her friend Anita Cunningham. The two young women, both 18, went missing in 1972 while hitchhiking from Melbourne to Queensland.
In November 1972, railway workers discovered Hoinville-Bartram’s body under a bridge on the Flinders Highway, around 250 kilometres west of Townsville. She had been shot twice in the head and was found in a disturbing state. Cunningham, however, has never been located.
Milat, who died in 2019 while maintaining his innocence, was convicted for the murders of seven backpackers in New South Wales’ Belangalo State Forest. Authorities and detectives who investigated him believe he may have been responsible for many more killings.
Jeremy Buckingham, an MP advocating for further scrutiny into Milat’s crimes, suggests that Hoinville-Bartram and Cunningham could be among his earliest victims. He contends that understanding Milat’s movements and potential opportunities to commit crimes could corroborate these claims. Taskforce Air, established in 1993 after bodies were found in Belangalo, began examining other unsolved cases potentially linked to Milat.
Recent discussions have revealed a list of 58 names of suspected victims, including Hoinville-Bartram and Cunningham, obtained through Buckingham’s parliamentary work. At the time of their disappearance, Milat was in his late twenties. The circumstances surrounding the women’s case—specifically, their age and mode of travel, as well as the nature of Hoinville-Bartram’s murder—show unsettling parallels with Milat’s known patterns of behaviour.
Former Queensland detective Brendan Rook noted that Milat typically targeted couples, which further raises questions about Hoinville-Bartram and Cunningham’s fate. Notably, Milat had previously abducted two hitchhikers in 1971, suggesting a consistent modus operandi long before the well-known backpacker murders.
While Milat was primarily associated with crimes in New South Wales, he had been known to travel extensively for work, which could potentially tie him to murders across Australia. An eyewitness account featured in the documentary disclosed that a woman named Merle Whyte met Hoinville-Bartram and Cunningham at a hotel shortly before they vanished. She later identified Milat from a television interview, although her information was initially dismissed by police.
If Milat’s link to the Flinders Highway case is substantiated, it would enhance the road’s grim reputation, as at least eleven individuals have gone missing or been murdered along this remote 900-kilometre stretch since the 1970s. The documentary, titled Outback Murder Highway, delves into these unsolved cases and premieres tonight on Nine.