CANBERRA, Australia: Ivan Milat, whose grisly serial killings of young backpackers horrified Australians in the early ‘90s, died in a Sydney prison on Sunday, prison authorities said. He was 74.
He had been in custody since 1994 and was diagnosed in early 2019 with esophageal and stomach cancer. Milat died in the medical wing of Long Bay Prison, New South Wales state Corrective Services said in a statement.
Milat murdered three German, two British, and two Australian backpackers after giving them rides while they were hitchhiking. The serial killings came to light when the mutilated corpses were found in a forest near Sydney over 14 months in 1992 and 1993.
The case set off a frenzy of attention that consumed Australians like few others. Police put a team of investigators on the case, a reward was offered and media intensely covered the hunt for the killer and the possibility of more victims.
In September 1992, two runners orienteering in the Belanglo State Forest southwest of Sydney discovered a concealed corpse. Police unearthed a second body nearby, and dental records confirmed the victims were Britons Caroline Clarke, 21, and Joanne Walters, 22, who’d been last seen in Sydney five months earlier.
Two more bodies were found in October 1993 by a man searching for firewood. Police identified them as Australian couple Deborah Everist and James Gibson, both 19, who’d gone missing in late 1989.
Police searches of the forest revealed the body of German Simone Schmidl, 21, and later in November the corpses of German couple Anja Habschied, 20, and Gabor Neugebauer, 21, who’d been missing since 1991.
Police in New South Wales established a 20-person team of detectives and analysts, posting a reward of AU$500,000 for information that would lead to the perpetrator.
Milat was arrested on May 22, 1994, following two months of surveillance. Police were aided by an identification of Milat by a British man, Paul Onions, who had accepted a ride from him while hitchhiking out of Sydney in 1990 and managed to escape the car, running down the road while Milat shot at him.
Clive Small, a former detective who led the murder investigation, said Onions’ identification enabled police to execute search warrants targeting Milat.
A search of Milat’s house found several weapons including parts of a rifle that matched one used in the murders, and the cameras of some of his victims.
“Ivan’s home was like an Aladdin’s cave in terms of the items that were found there,” Small told Nine Network television on Sunday, referring to a range of incriminating evidence including victim’s property as well as ropes and plastic ties that were used to bind victims.
When his trial ended in 1996, Milat was found guilty of seven murders and sentenced to serve seven consecutive life sentences.
Small said of Milat’s death: “A lot of people are going to be very satisfied with the current outcome and will be pleased that it’s over.”
“I had absolutely no respect for him at all. I thought that if he had one ounce of decency in him, he could have shown it before he died by admitting and clarifying a number of issues that are outstanding,” Small added.
Police still believe Milat may have been responsible for other murders, carried out with similar characteristics, including three people whose bodies were found in three other forests from as early as 1971 to 1991.
Ian Clarke, the Northumberland-based father of British victim Caroline Clarke, told Nine: “No matter how Christian one might be, you can’t help but be glad that this has happened.”
Milat was born on Dec. 27, 1944, one of 12 children of a Croatian immigrant father and an Australian-born mother and was a Sydney road worker.
In a television interview in 2019, an older brother summed up Milat’s infamy.
“He was going to kill somebody from the age of 10,” Boris Milat told Australia’s Channel 7 television network. “It was built into him. He had a different psyche. He’s a psychopath, and it just manifested itself with, ‘I can do anything, I can do anything.’“
Australian serial killer Ivan Milat dies in prison at 74
Australian serial killer Ivan Milat dies in prison at 74
- Milat murdered three German, two British, and two Australian backpackers after giving them rides while they were hitchhiking
Burkinabe teen behind viral French ‘coup’ video has no regrets
- “Coup d’etat in France,” declared the video, posted by the 17-year-old, showing what appeared to be journalists reporting on an ongoing takeover by an unidentified colonel
- Posted on December 9 on TikTok, then shortly afterwards on Facebook, the post went viral, garnering more than 12 million views and tens of thousands of “likes”
PARIS: A Burkinabe teenager who used artificial intelligence to post fake news of a French coup on Facebook got more than he bargained for.
As well as millions of views and tens of thousands of “likes,” he also acquired a certain notoriety — and French President Emmanuel Macron, for one, was not amused.
And what he had planned as a money-making scheme only netted him seven euros, he said. But he has no regrets.
“Coup d’etat in France,” declared the video, posted by the 17-year-old, showing what appeared to be journalists reporting on an ongoing takeover by an unidentified colonel.
In one shot, the Eiffel Tower and the blue lights from a police car flashed in the background.
“Demonstrators have gathered to support the colonel who seems to have taken power yesterday,” said the reporters.
It was all fake, of course: the product of his online training in the use of artificial intelligence.
Posted on December 9 on TikTok, then shortly afterwards on Facebook, the post went viral, garnering more than 12 million views and tens of thousands of “likes.”
Last Tuesday, when Macron was asked about the video during a visit to Marseille, he spoke of his frustration at not having been able to force Facebook to take it down.
They had told him that it did not violate their rules, he said.
Money-making goal
In the end, it was the creator himself who deleted it, shortly after the French news media started contacting him.
Speaking to AFP, he explained that he had got into creating AI-generated videos last year after finding a training course on YouTube. But he only really started producing in October 2025.
He was taken aback by his sudden celebrity and that the French media was reporting on and even interviewing him.
He laughed about all the fuss in a video posted to his Facebook page.
But the teenager, who preferred to remain anonymous, was clear that his real aim had been to make money from advertising attached to his posts.
Not that he was living in poverty, he added.
“I eat, I can get to school, my parents take good care of me, thank God,” he told AFP.
But he wanted more to gain “financial independence,” he added.
He had seen “loads of pages that get millions of views” and had heard that TikTok paid money to producers, so he jumped into social media to see what he could do.
After a bit of trial and error, he latched on to AI-generated fake news because it generated more online traffic.
“I haven’t yet made a lot of money that way,” he admitted.
His Facebook page was not yet monetised, though he had made a little money from TikTok.
Normally, Africa is not a region that is eligible for monetization on the platform but he said he had found a way around that.
While his viral video on the fake coup in France may not have been a moneyspinner, he has used it to promote an offer of online training in AI-generated content on Facebook.
“There are people who have got in touch with me after this video, at least five people since last week,” he said.
For one hour’s coaching, he makes 7,000 CFA francs (10 euros).
No regrets
France is frequently the target of disinformation, in particular from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) — Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Since a string of military coups there, all three countries have distanced themselves from France, the former colonial power, and moved instead toward Russia.
The Burkinabe junta in particular has become adept at AI-generated propaganda videos. They have included false clips of celebrities such as singer Beyonce or Pope Leo XIV singing the praises of Ibrahim Traore, the military government’s leader.
Burkina Faso also has a group of influential cyberactivists who promote the government’s propaganda online, known as the “Rapid-Intervention Communication Battalion.”
The teenager behind the fake French coup video told AFP he was not part of that group.
But while his main motivation was far from being political, he was happy to take a passing shot at France.
“I also created this video to scare people,” he said.
Some French media personalities and politicians do not present a fair view of what is going on in Africa’s Sahel region, instead broadcasting “fake news,” he said.
He cited recent reports that the Malian capital, Bamako, was on the point of falling to jihadist forces.
Informed sources agree that if the military government there was in difficulty recently from a jihadist blockage of supply routes, it has not so far been threatened to the point of losing power.
The French authorities “have no regrets about publishing false statements on the AES,” said the teenager.
“So I’m not going to regret publishing false things about them!“
