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Crime Investigation Australia: The Predator

The next case on CIA includes a twist when one of the supposedly murdered victims was found hiding in the cupboard of her boyfriend.

The next episode of Crime Investigation Australia looks at the crimes of a repeat offender, whose rapes and killings of women date back to 1974. Following his releases, Leonard John Fraser continued to re-offend, leading to his last conviction in 2003.

This story also includes a murder trial which took a sensational turn when police found one of the women he was accused of murdering hiding in a cupboard at the home of her boyfriend.

Once again it features re-enactments, interviews with key figures, secretly recorded confessions in prison, and never before seen footage of Fraser taking police to the hidden bodies of his victims.

It airs on the CI Network Thursday, October 30 at 7.30pm.

Press Release:

FOXTEL’s locally-produced hit series CRIME INVESTIGATION AUSTRALIA, will revisit the horrific crimes of one of Australia’s most brutal and notorious serial rapists and killers in CIA: THE PREDATOR – LEONARD JOHN FRASER airing on Thursday, October 30 at 7.30pm.

Leonard John Fraser was finally sent to prison for life in September 2000 for the abduction, rape and murder of nine-year-old Keyra Steinhardt. This senseless crime, and the murders of three other women around the same time, was the culmination of a life of crime during which Fraser had spent almost 20 of the preceding 22 years behind bars for a series of brutal rapes.

Hosted by Steve Liebmann, CIA: THE PREDATOR – LEONARD JOHN FRASER features detailed re-enactments along with interviews with key figures including homicide detectives, family members of his victims and prison guards who knew Fraser, including the one who ultimately led to his capture after the murder of Keyra.

This spine-chilling episode also features audio of Fraser’s secretly recorded confessions in prison, and never before seen footage of him taking police to the hidden bodies of his victims.

The second youngest of four children, Leonard Fraser was born in north Queensland in 1951 and was six when his family moved to Sydney’s outer-west. By the time he was 21 Fraser had a long criminal history including violence and in 1972 he was given five years for a string of robberies.

Out in 1974, Fraser sexually assaulted three women over ten days in Sydney’s west. He was arrested after he left his wallet at the scene of the last assault. Fraser confessed to all of the rapes and also to the horrendous broad-daylight sexual assault two years earlier of a 37-year-old French tourist as she strolled through Sydney’s Botanical Gardens.

Fraser was sent to prison for 22 years. Released in 1981, he relocated to Mackay in Queensland. In 1982 he sexually assaulted a woman in her house.

In late 1985, Fraser brutally sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman and was sentenced to 12 years in Rockhampton’s Etna Creek Prison. Released in January 1997, Fraser moved to Mount Morgan, a mining town near Rockhampton.

On 22 April 1999, nine-year-old Keyra Steinhardt disappeared on her way home from school. Two weeks later Fraser confessed to Keyra’s murder and took authorities to where he had dumped her naked body. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to an indefinite life sentence.

Police believed that Fraser had also murdered another schoolgirl, 14-year-old Natasha Ryan, on 2 September 1998. They also believed that Fraser knew about the disappearances of three other women who had gone missing between September 1998 and April 1999 – Julie Dawn Turner, 39, Beverly Doreen Leggo, 36, and Sylvia Maria Benedetti, 19. But police had no evidence. Then Fraser started talking to his cell mate, who eventually convinced him to lead police to the remains of three women.

During the subsequent murder trial in April 2003, the case took a sensational turn when police found Natasha Ryan, one of the women Fraser was accused of murdering and who by now was 18, hiding in a cupboard at the home of her boyfriend, 26-year-old Scott Black.

On 9 May 2003, the jury convicted Leonard John Fraser of the murders of Sylvia Benedetti and Beverly Leggo and the manslaughter of Julie Turner and he was sentenced to three indefinite life terms. The judge described him as an ‘untreatable psychopath’ who should never be released. In January 2006 Fraser died from a heart attack.

CRIME INVESTIGATION AUSTRALIA: THE PREDATOR – LEONARD JOHN FRASER airs on Crime & Investigation Network on Thursday, October 30 at 7.30pm AEST.

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