Joseph Schwab

Joseph Thomas Schwab, also known as Josef Schwab (25 November 1960 – 19 June 1987) was a serial or spree killer, who murdered five people in the Top End region of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia during June 1987. Schwab, a German citizen, was visiting Australia on a tourist visa; the media dubbed him The Kimberley Killer.

Joseph Schwab
Born
Joseph Thomas Schwab[1]

25 November 1960
Starnberg, West Germany
Died19 June 1987[2] (age 26)
Fitzroy Crossing, Australia
Cause of deathShot to death by Western Australia Police Tactical Response Group
Other namesThe Kimberley Killer
MotiveUnknown
Details
Victims5
Span of crimes
9 June 1987[2]–14 June 1987[3]
CountryAustralia
State(s)Northern Territory, Western Australia

Killings

The gunman’s first known victims were Marcus and Lance Bullen, a father and son, who were shot dead with a semi-automatic rifle on June 9, while scouting for a fishing location on the banks of the Victoria River. Their burned out vehicle was found after they were reported missing, and their bodies were discovered nearby in poorly disguised shallow graves.[4][5] Police investigations were unable uncover a motive for the killings, and the killer evaded capture despite roadblocks being set up across the area.[6]

Just five days later three locals who went fishing overnight– Phillip Charles Walkemeyer, his fiancée Julie Anne Warren, and their friend Terry Kent Bolt – were shot dead hundreds of kilometres away in neighbouring Western Australia in similar circumstances at a campsite at the Pentecost River Crossing near Wyndham.[7][3] As in the previous incident, Schwab stripped the victims, put their possessions in their vehicle and then drove it a short distance away from the scene and set it on fire. The killer was suspected to be driving a white Toyota 4Runner[8] with conspicuous red side stripes after a truck driver saw a vehicle with this description leaving the area of the vehicle fire.

A seven-member team of police officers from the Tactical Response Group and an officer from the forensic division were rushed by chartered jet from Perth to Kununurra to assist Kimberley police with the apprehension of the suspect.[9][2] Forensics identified the weapon used in the murders as a Ruger Mini-14 .223 semi-automatic rifle.

An intensive police search and network of roadblocks was unable to locate the suspect vehicle. However an outback livestock mustering helicopter pilot, Peter Leutenegger, from Napier Downs station,[10] raised the alarm after fortuitously spotting a camouflaged vehicle in bushland near Fitzroy Crossing.[6][9] Tactical police, unsure if the hidden vehicle belonged to the gunman they were looking for, approached it cautiously on the ground and then called on a police aircraft to fly over the site in an attempt to flush the occupant out into the open. A man dressed in military trousers and armed with a semi-automatic weapon emerged from the camouflaged camp and opened fire on the Cessna 182 aircraft. Police on the ground identified themselves, whereupon the gunman opened fire on them too. Police returned fire, eventually killing the gunman after a protracted firefight.[6]

Police later identified the gunman as Joseph Schwab, a 26-year-old German tourist. A security guard in his native country,[8] his motive for the killings is unknown.[6]. He had hired the vehicle in Brisbane before buying three rifles (.223-caliber Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle, a .308 SAKO bolt-action rifle & .22-caliber Brno bolt-action rifle) and a Winchester 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and driving to the Northern Territory. He had previously travelled to Australia and lived in South Australia for a while.

Victims

Names of victims:

  • Marcus Bullen
  • Lance Bullen
  • Phillip Walkemeyer
  • Julie Warren
  • Terry Bolt

Media

The crime was featured in series 1 (2007), episode 10 of Crime Investigation Australia entitled The Kimberley Killer.[11]

The crime was also featured on Casefile True Crime Podcast, case 70.

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References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Not our son, say parents of 'Top-End' gunman". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney. 18 December 1987. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  3. Skehan, Peter. "Josef Schwab – The Kimberley Killer – 1987". policewahistory.org.au. Western Australia Police Historical Society Inc. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  4. "The Kimberley Killer - Episode 10". Discovery Channel. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  5. "Episodes in Western Australia's Policing History" (PDF). police.wa.gov.au. Western Australia Police – Media and Public Affairs. 2006. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  6. "The Kimberley Killer - Tuesday 11 September". PerthNow. 5 March 2007. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  7. Morton, James; Lobez, Susanna (2009). Dangerous To Know: An Australasian Crime Compendium. Melbourne: Melbourne University Publishing. ISBN 9780522859447. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  8. Dennis, Anthony; Perry, Michael (22 June 1987). "Outback terror ends in morgue". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  9. "The Northern Territory Police Museum and Historical Society Inc". sites.google.com/site/ntpmhsociety. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  10. McCorry, Sheryl (1 July 2008). Diamonds and Dust: A Sheryl McCorry Memoir 1. Pan Macmillan Australia. p. 227. ISBN 9781741981087. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  11. "Film on killer finished". Kimberley Echo. 1 February 2007. Retrieved 17 February 2008.
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