true crime

17 years after Ivan Milat's last murder, his nephew killed someone in Belanglo State Forest.

 

Warning: The content in this article might be distressing for some readers.

Seventeen years after Ivan Milat’s seventh and final murder in 1993, his nephew Matthew Milat returned to the scene of his uncle’s crimes to kill his friend with an axe.

On November 10, 2010, Matthew, 18, and Cohen Klein, 19, lured their 17-year-old friend David Auchterlonie into the Belanglo State Forest, south of Sydney, to murder him.

It’s the same place Ivan Milat murdered and buried seven young backpackers aged between 19 and 22.

Here is the trailer for Catching Milat. Post continues after video.

His victims were from Australia, Germany and Britain, and his gruesome and chilling crimes between 1989 and 1993 made him Australia’s most notorious serial killer.

He received seven life sentences for the murders and will die in Australia’s prison system. He has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Ivan Milat Belanglo Ghost Tour
Ivan Milat is serving life in prison for the murder of seven backpackers.Image: Getty.
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It was David's 17th birthday the day he followed his friends into the forest.

He'd spent the morning with his family in the town of Bargo, and his grandmother had given him $20 to spend that day.

The teenager joined his friends on the promise of a day of drinking and smoking cannabis, but when they arrived at a road junction in the forest, Matthew turned and struck him with a two-headed-axe.

A 15-minute mobile recording made by Cohen was played in court. Matthew can be heard tormenting David verbally, while intermittently striking him with the axe.

''See this now, this is nothing, you wanna see what I'm f---ing capable of?'' he told him.

Matthew accused David of having dobbed him in for stealing, which the 17-year-old denied.

BELANGLO MURDER DAVID AUCHTERLONIE
David Auchterlonie was murdered in Belanglo State Forest in 2010. Image: AAP.
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"I'm being dead set Auchto, you wanna f---ing die man? You wanna f---ing get in my business?''

"You keep looking at me and I'll cut your head off. Look at the ground c---. Tell me. Is it true you have been going around telling people my affairs?" Matthew asked his terrified, sobbing friend.

David was forced to lie face down in the dirt where he repeatedly denied doing anything before the transcript recorded the sound of an axe hitting him on the head.

They covered David's body with leaves and branches and drove back to Bargo.

A third friend, Chase Day, had been with the group, but had remained in the car while the murder was carried out.

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When they all returned home to their respective houses, he cracked and told his father everything.

The next day Matthew and Cohen were charged with David's murder.

The court heard Milat "gloated" about the killing the next day, and said "You know me, you know my family. You know the last name Milat, I did what they do".

The pair were sentenced to 43 years and 32 years for their crimes.

MILAT COHEN MURDER COURT
Cohen Klein. Image: AAP/Paul Miller.

In handing down the sentence, the judge said the "deliberate and premeditated crime was done for personal enjoyment".

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"It clearly falls in the worst category for the case of murder," he told the court.

During the court case, the prosecution presented the judge with various poems Matthew wrote while in custody.

One labelled Cold Life read: "Lifeless corpse, motionless and drained/Another street has been blood stained/heart and soul I do not own/and there is no place I can call home.''

''They didn't just kill him, they terrorised and tormented him,'' David's grandfather, David Auchterlonie snr, said in a victim impact statement read to the court.

''The love I have for him, and the hatred I have for those animals who took him - they deserve no mercy.''

His father recalled the tragic symmetry of seeing his son wrapped in a white sheet at the same hospital where he had cradled him in a white blanket as a baby.

Dressed in suits, and separated by a prison officer, neither Matthew or Cohen showed any emotion as they were sentenced.

Matthew who is now in his late 20s, has been in prison for seven years and is eligible for parole in 2040.

Just last year it was reported that Matthew was seen as "popular, charming and a hero" behind bars.

A prison file obtained by News Corpshows he's been manipulating other prisoners and staff to gain privileges in prison.

Prison psychologists also reported that he was making "inappropriate references to his offence" and that his popularity was due to his status as a 'murderer'.