Murder - For Profit !

It is chilling to think that deliberate murder may be part of an identity theft plot to milk ongoing welfare payments from the victim's bank account.  This was the theme of a grisly crime committed between 1992 and 1999 when the bodies of twelve men were found stuffed into barrels in the vault of an abandoned bank in Snowtown, South Australia.  Their bank accounts were systematically raided and because they were presumed to be still alive the welfare payments continued to roll in.

Police are horrified to discover a similar situation arising from the discovery of a murder victim in the Belanglo State forest in 2010, and years later the discovery of the body of a two year old child in a suitcase beside a highway in South Australia.  A DNA match revealed this was Karlie Pearce-Strevenson and her daughter Khandalyce.

The police investigation has revealed that elaborate machinations were carried out by a group of people to create the impression that Karlie was alive and living a pleasant life.  For at least three years after her death her phone was used to send her mother text messages - and persuade her to put money into her daughters bank account.

There were even impersonations. At one stage, a woman presented at a Centrelink office in South Australia claiming to be Karlie and attended a compulsory interview.   A woman in a wheelchair attended her Adelaide bank and convincingly assumed her identity.  Over a period of years a sum approaching a hundred thousand dollars was withdrawn from that account.

The police are closing in. Evidence is emerging that this money was spent at petrol stations, McDonalds and similar Adelaide stores and the hunt is on for video tapes.  Police are also tracking the whereabouts of a car that has since been resold, but which has a link to Karlie. Public announcements urge those involved in the account fraud to turn themselves in because they may otherwise face the more severe charge of accessory to murder.

Every year a vast number of people are reported missing in Australia.  The majority quickly reappear but there are many who have domestic reasons for not wanting to be found and a minority are never heard from again.   Both the Snowtown case and Karlie's murder bring a conclusion that it is quite possible that murder and identity theft for profit may be a growing crime in this country.

It should certainly result in a security upgrade at both Centrelink and the banking industry.   It is claimed that in both cases where an imposter impersonated Karlie that woman had personal papers in Karlie's name, but such agencies who deal with vast hordes of people are unlikely to remember faces and in this age of computers and printers creating counterfeits is easy.

The police are sure that Karlie and her daughters murder was separated by a wide time factor and dumping one body in the Belanglo State forest was intended to throw suspicion that it could have been one of Ivan Milat's victims.     The dumping of Khandalyce's body beside a South Australian highway has a strange resonance to those Snowtown murders.

If nothing else, this is a crime that will have future cases of those reported "missing " evaluated in a new light.   Now that the method has receives wide publicity -  and the rewards are known - it may stir opportunity thoughts in some evil minds !