{{Short description|Unidentified serial child rapist and suspected murderer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}} {{Use Australian English|date=January 2012}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Mr Cruel | image = Sketch by Nicola Lynas of attacker made by Victoria Police.jpg | image_size = 150px | caption = Tailored balaclava worn in Nicola Lynas attack – sketch by Victoria Police<ref>{{cite news|last1=Moor|first1=Keith|title=Mr Cruel: Unsolved child abduction and murder case|url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/crime-and-justice/mr-cruel-unsolved-child-abduction-and-murder-case/news-story/be127217126c9327002c9702a48dd2e3|accessdate=13 March 2017|work=The Courier Mail|date=4 May 2016}}</ref> | other_names = | criminal_charge = | years active = {{plainlist}} * 1987–1990: three attacks * 1991: suspected abduction and murder (Karmein Chan) {{endplainlist}} | country = Australia | states = Victoria | locations = Melbourne | known for = Being an unidentified serial rapist and suspected murderer | weapons = Knife and firearm | reward_amount = {{plainlist}} * A$200,000 for two abductions * A$1,000,000 for suspected abduction and murder {{endplainlist}} | capture_status = Not captured | wanted_since = 1987 | comments = }}
'''Mr Cruel''' is the moniker for an unidentified Australian serial child rapist who attacked three girls in the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is also the prime suspect in the 1991 abduction and murder of a fourth girl, Karmein Chan. His moniker came from a headline in the Melbourne newspaper ''The Sun''.
Mr Cruel has never been identified, and his three confirmed attacks and the suspected murder remain unsolved cold cases. There is a reward of A$200,000 for information that leads to the perpetrator's arrest and conviction for the two abductions. In April 2016, twenty-five years after the death of Chan, Victoria Police increased the reward for information that leads to the perpetrator's arrest and conviction, from A$100,000 to A$1,000,000.<ref name="AV">{{cite AV media|date=12 April 2016|title=Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana media briefing Karmein Chan reward|url=https://www.facebook.com/victoriapolice/videos/1080991978639604/|medium=Television production|work=Victoria Police Media Unit|publisher=Victoria Police|accessdate=14 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Koubaridis|first=Andrew |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/crime/child-abducting-murderer-mr-cruel-could-still-be-alive/news-story/b317a3e9f6971deacc3e60b56801707a|title=Child abducting murderer Mr Cruel could still 'be alive'|newspaper=News.com.au|date=13 April 2016|access-date=22 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=10 April 2016|title=Australian police to offer almost HK$6 million for information in case of HK couple's daughter who was abducted from their home in 1991|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1934953/australian-police-offer-almost-hk6-million-information-case|access-date=7 October 2021|website=South China Morning Post|language=en}}</ref>
Police describe Mr Cruel as highly intelligent. He meticulously planned each attack, conducted surveillance on the victims and their families, ensured he left no forensic traces, protected his identity by covering his face at all times and left red herrings to divert family and/or police attention. He was soft-spoken, and his behaviour was unhurried; during one attack he took a break in a victim's house to eat a meal. He threatened to injure his victims or their family members with a knife or a handgun.
==Crimes== On 22 August 1987 in Lower Plenty, a man wearing a balaclava broke into a family home at 4:00{{nbsp}}am, armed with a knife and a handgun.<ref name="HSApr2016"/> He tied the hands and feet of both parents, and locked them in a wardrobe. He then tied the son to a bed, and raped the 11-year-old daughter. He had cut the phone lines.<ref name="ABCNewSuspect">{{cite news|last1=O'Donnell|first1=Philippa|title=New suspect in decades old Mr Cruel investigation|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/12/14/3093126.htm|accessdate=29 October 2017|publisher=ABC Radio Melbourne|date=14 December 2010|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506194335/http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/12/14/3093126.htm|archivedate=6 May 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
On 27 December 1988 in Ringwood, he broke into a family home through the back door at about 5:20{{nbsp}}am, wearing a balaclava and armed with a handgun.<ref name="HSApr2016"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Conroy |first1=Paul |title=The crime that stirs passions and is solved by cool logic |work=The Age |page=2}}</ref> He bound and gagged the parents, and demanded money. He then grabbed their 10-year-old daughter, put tape over her eyes and a ball gag in her mouth, and abducted her. She was released eighteen hours later on the grounds of Bayswater High School.<ref name="ABCNewSuspect"/>
On 3 July 1990 in Canterbury, he broke into a family home at 11:30{{nbsp}}pm, armed with a knife and a gun, and wearing a balaclava.<ref name="HSApr2016"/> He tied and gagged 13-year-old Nicola Lynas, placed tape over her eyes, disabled the phones, and searched for money. He then drove her to another house and molested her for fifty hours before releasing her at a power sub-station in the suburb of Kew.<ref name="ABCNewSuspect"/>
===Suspected=== On 13 April 1991 in Templestowe, a man wearing a balaclava broke into a family home at about 8:40{{nbsp}}pm, armed with a knife. He abducted 13-year-old Karmein Chan, who went to the same school as the Canterbury victim.<ref name="HSApr2016"/><ref>{{cite news |last1=Daley |first1=Paul |last2=Catalano |first2=Antony |title=A man in dark shatters a happy family |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22072015/the_age/ |accessdate=22 July 2018 |work=The Sunday Age |publisher=Fairfax Media|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=21 April 1991 |page=5 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}}</ref> Chan's decomposed body, with three gunshot wounds to the head, was found a year later. Investigators believe Karmein may have been killed because she had either seen her abductor's face, or because he feared the child could identify him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Moor|first=Keith |date=6 April 2016 |title=Victoria Police Set to Increase Reward for Child Killer Mr Cruel |newspaper=Herald Sun |url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/victoria-police-set-to-increase-reward-for-child-killer-mr-cruel/news-story/a65fb33fa370d04d740a68b9f6410d2e |access-date=6 August 2023}}</ref> It has been reported that some detectives had doubts about whether this crime was committed by Mr Cruel.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|last1=Moor|first1=Keith|title=A cruel time on manhunt|newspaper=Herald Sun|publisher=News Corp Australia|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=2 April 2001}}</ref> Detective Chris O'Connor answered a journalist's question in 2013 about whether Mr Cruel was responsible, saying "we just don't know if it was Mr Cruel who murdered Karmein{{nbsp}}... we just can't be sure because there isn't enough evidence to make a value judgement about whether it was or wasn't him in the Karmein case."<ref name=":1">{{cite news|last1=Moor|first1=Keith|title=Retiring veteran detective Chris O'Connor says the unsolved Mr Cruel case still haunts him|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/retiring-veteran-detective-chris-oconnor-says-the-unsolved-mr-cruel-case-still-haunts-him/story-fni0ffnk-1226755057220|newspaper=Herald Sun|publisher=News Corp Australia|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=7 November 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321071816/https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/retiring-veteran-detective-chris-oconnor-says-the-unsolved-mr-cruel-case-still-haunts-him/story-fni0ffnk-1226755057220|archivedate=21 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Investigation== Mr Cruel is believed to have videotaped, or perhaps taken still photographs, of his attacks. Detectives believe that, if he is still alive, he will have kept the tapes and/or photos, and will still collect, and possibly swap, child pornography. They say he almost certainly continues to collect pornography through the internet, and may communicate with children using chat lines.<ref name=Silvester>{{cite news| url =https://www.theage.com.au/news/national/mr-cruel-filmed-his-victims-say-police/2006/04/07/1143916721667.html|title ='Mr Cruel' filmed his victims, say police|first = John|last = Silvester| work=The Age | publisher=Fairfax Media|location=Melbourne, Australia|date =8 April 2006| accessdate = 17 January 2008 }}</ref> Mr Cruel meticulously planned his crimes; for example, in one case, he abducted a girl and told her he would release her in exactly fifty hours, which he did.<ref name="HuntForMrCruel">{{cite news|last1=Silvester|first1=John|title=The hunt for Mr Cruel|url=https://www.theage.com.au/victoria/the-hunt-for-mr-cruel-20101214-18wtw.html|accessdate=29 October 2017|work=The Age|publisher=Fairfax Media|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=15 December 2010}}</ref> He bathed his victims carefully, with one victim describing the act as "like a mother washing a baby".<ref name=Silvester /> In two cases, he took a second set of clothes from the girls' homes to dress them before they were freed. The ''modus operandi'' was the same in each of the three attacks, and victim statements provided confirmation to police that it was the same offender.<ref name=":1" /> thumb|left|Spectrum Task Force reward poster for the abductions distributed in 1991.<ref name="Poster"/> Two of Mr Cruel's victims were able to provide police with details of the house where they had been kept. Both had been leashed to a bed. The same two victims told detectives that they had heard planes landing, leading police to believe the house was on one of the flight paths to Melbourne Airport.<ref name="HuntForMrCruel"/>
Police established the Spectrum Task Force in May 1991, dedicated to catching Mr Cruel.<ref name="MoorApril12">{{cite news |last1=Moor |first1=Keith |title=Mr Cruel was a meticulous, intelligent predator, say police |url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/mr-cruel-was-a-meticulous-intelligent-predator-say-police-investigators/story-fnat7jnn-1226320066350 |work=Herald Sun|publisher=News Corp Australia|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=10 April 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140511105510/http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/mr-cruel-was-a-meticulous-intelligent-predator-say-police-investigators/story-fnat7jnn-1226320066350 |archive-date=11 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Karmeinpolicenews">{{cite press release|title=Karmein Chan reward|url=https://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/rewards/3405-karmein-chan.html|publisher=Victoria Police|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409062638/https://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/rewards/3405-karmein-chan.html|archivedate=9 April 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> The task force searched 30,000 homes and interviewed 27,000 suspects over the attacks, at a cost of A$3.8 million.<ref name="MoorApril12"/><ref name="Karmeinpolicenews"/> There was a A$300,000 reward offered by the police for information that led to the conviction of Mr Cruel. A reward poster for the abductions was distributed in 1991 to all Victorian homes, and in certain areas in South Australia and New South Wales. Huge posters were placed in public places.<ref name="Poster">{{cite news|last1=Moor|first1=Keith|title=Monster's trail of fear|work=Herald Sun|publisher=News Corporation|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=4 August 2003|via=The Mercury|url=http://www.themercury.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,6861398,00.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030809105038/http://www.themercury.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,6861398,00.html|archivedate=9 August 2003 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The task force was disbanded in January 1994.<ref name="MoorApril12"/>
The task force investigated earlier sexual crimes from 1985 to 1987 with similar ''modus operandi'', but could not locate some witness statements and crime scene exhibits, including tape and rope used to tie victims.<ref name="MoorApril12"/><ref name="ACS2018"/> The head of the Spectrum Task Force, David Sprague, said that some exhibits had not ever been examined by forensics, and had either been lost or thrown out.<ref name="MoorApril12"/> The police established a Rape Squad in April 1989, with nine detectives dedicated to investigating serial rapists throughout Victoria, particularly in Melbourne.<ref name="Age1989">{{cite news |last1=Boreham |first1=Gareth |title=New police squad set up to hunt for serial rapists |work=The Age |date=27 April 1989 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79108565/new-rape-squad/|page=19|accessdate=22 January 2022|via=Newspapers.com}} {{free access}}</ref> The police established the unit after a review into the effectiveness of their rape investigations, by the Rape Investigation and Evaluation Group, found they needed a more coordinated and professional approach to investigations.<ref name="Age1989"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Fontana |first1=Assistant Commissioner Stephen |title=Statement of Stephen Fontana |url=https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/STAT.0623.001.0001.pdf |website=Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204122613/https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/STAT.0623.001.0001.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2019 |page=1 |date=7 August 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
On 14 December 2010, police announced that the Apollo Task Force had been established about eight months earlier, following substantial new intelligence. The new task force had been reviewing both the Spectrum Task Force investigation and some new leads that had surfaced in the last year or so.<ref>{{cite news|title=Police reopen Mr Cruel investigation|url=https://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s3093170.htm|accessdate=29 October 2017|work=PM|date=14 December 2010}}</ref><ref name="SMH Cruel">{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/new-clues-in-police-hunt-for-mr-cruel-20101214-18vna.html|title =New clues in police hunt for 'Mr Cruel'|agency = AAP|first1= Greg|last1=Roberts|first2= Edwina|last2=Scott|work=The Sydney Morning Herald |publisher=Fairfax Media|location=Sydney, Australia|date =14 December 2010| accessdate = 14 December 2010 }}</ref> The Apollo Task Force closed in June 2013 after finding the intelligence was not credible, ruling out the suspect.<ref name=":1"/>
Earlier in 2013, the ''Herald Sun'' reported that convicted serial child rapist Robert Keith Knight, who committed suicide in 2013, had been a person of interest.<ref name="HSMay2013">{{cite news |last1=Moor |first1=Keith |title=Robert Keith Knight was behind sick abduction and sex attacks on young girls and cannot be ruled out as Mr Cruel suspect |url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/robert-keith-knight-was-behind-sick-abduction-and-sex-attacks-on-young-girls-nad-cannot-be-ruled-out-as-mr-cruel-suspect/news-story/75cbef6c519a37f6bc6369e1f9c1f137 |access-date=2 April 2023 |work=Herald Sun |date=4 May 2013}}</ref> He had been convicted of two offences committed in 1980 and 1996.<ref name="HSMay2013"/> In Detective Chris O'Connor's opinion, Knight was not Mr Cruel.<ref name="HSMay2013"/>
On 9 April 2016, the ''Herald Sun'' newspaper published details of the Spectrum Task Force's dossiers on seven suspects, known as the Sierra Files, that were produced with the assistance of the US FBI. Detectives had been issued with an instruction in 1994 following the disbandment of the Spectrum Task Force that if another child was abducted, then all the Sierra Files suspects were to be arrested and questioned. The newspaper also published details of police witness statements from the victims and their families.<ref name="HSApr2016">{{cite news |last1=Moor |first1=Keith |title='My freedom is worth more than your life' |work=Herald Sun |date=9 April 2016 |page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Moor |first1=Keith |title=7 Mr Cruel suspects |work=Herald Sun |date=9 April 2016 |pages=1,4|url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=HSWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.heraldsun.com.au%2Fnews%2Flaw-order%2Fvictoria-police-and-fbi-dossier-on-shocking-mr-cruel-child-attacks%2Fnews-story%2F4aa009a7026f137965adf7ac43b0cedc&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-cold-test-noscore&V21spcbehaviour=append|access-date=21 January 2022|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Moor |first1=Keith |title=Terrorised by Intruder |work=Herald Sun |date=9 April 2016 |page=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Moor|first=Keith|title=Victoria Police unable to eliminate seven Mr Cruel suspects |url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/victoria-police-unable-to-eliminate-seven-mr-cruel-suspects/news-story/3fda868094c4204d87dc3dcfba744534|accessdate=9 April 2016|newspaper=Herald Sun|publisher=News Corp Australia|location=Melbourne, Australia|date=8 April 2016}}</ref>
On 13 April 2016, on the 25th anniversary of Karmein's abduction and murder, Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana announced that the reward for information leading to the identity and conviction of her murderer had increased from the original sum of A$100,000 to A$1,000,000.<ref name="AV"/><ref name="Chanreward">{{cite press release |title=$1 Million reward announced on 25th anniversary of abduction and murder of Karmein Chan |url=https://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/news/9701-%241-million-reward-announced-on-25th-anniversary-of-abduction-and-murder-of-karmein-chan.html |website=Victoria Police |archiveurl=https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20160415152600/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/148538/20160416-0126/www.vicpolicenews.com.au/news/9701-$1-million-reward-announced-on-25th-anniversary-of-abduction-and-murder-of-karmein-chan.html |archivedate=15 April 2016 |date=13 April 2016 |url-status=dead |access-date=14 July 2019 }}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> A separate A$200,000 reward for information on the two abductions committed by Mr Cruel that leads to his arrest and conviction also remains in existence.<ref>{{cite news|last=Tuffield |first=Rhiannon |title=Forensic Technology Links Mr Cruel Suspect to Melbourne Electrical Industry |url=https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/crime/forensic-technology-links-mr-cruel-suspect-to-melbourne-electrical-industry/news-story/318bc9381837cde0682077c84be75ca0 |work=News.com.au|date=17 March 2022|access-date=22 June 2024}}</ref>
==Earlier crimes== There had been varying reports by the media of suspected attacks prior to 1987.<ref name="HSApril2012"/><ref>{{cite news|title=The killing of Karmein|work=The Age|date=1 April 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Daley |first1=Paul |last2=Wilson |first2=Caroline |title=Child porn network linked to Mr Cruel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/120653574/ |accessdate=26 October 2019 |work=The Sunday Age |date=17 May 1992 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Unmasking Mr Cruel|work=Herald Sun|date=6 February 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Mr Cruel Alert|work=Herald Sun|date=30 August 1991}}</ref> The police have never released specific details of suspected attacks. Detective Stephen Fontana answered a journalist's question in 2001 on earlier attacks, saying "that there just wasn't enough known about him and [he] didn't want to speculate".<ref name=":0" />
In a 2019 television documentary, retired Detective Chris O'Connor said that there was "broadly speaking perhaps up to a dozen" victims for the investigation.<ref name="ACS2018">{{cite AV media|author1=Adam Shand (Presenter)|author2=The Full Box (Production company)|date=14 April 2019|title=Mr Cruel|work=Australian Crime Stories|id=Series 3 Episode 7|medium=Television production|publisher=Nine Network Australia|url=https://www.9now.com.au/australian-crime-stories/season-3/episode-7}}</ref> The first victim was a 14-year-old girl who was abducted from her home in Hampton in February 1985.<ref name="HSApril2012">{{cite news |last1=Moor |first1=Keith |title=Mr Cruel suspected of at least a dozen attacks on children |url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/mr-cruel-suspected-of-at-least-a-dozen-attacks-on-children/story-fnat7jnn-1226323143197 |newspaper=Herald Sun|publisher=News Corp Australia|location=Melbourne, Australia |date=11 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213012606/http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/mr-cruel-suspected-of-at-least-a-dozen-attacks-on-children/news-story/a9025019f12955de575702a7bd96c282 |archive-date=13 December 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Silvestor |first1=John |last2=Rule |first2=Andrew |title=Rats : crooks who got away with it : tails of true crime and mystery from the Underbelly archives |date=2008 |publisher=Floradale Productions : Sly Ink |location=Camberwell |isbn=9780977544004}}</ref> During her assault, the attacker told her, "My liberty, my freedom, is more important than your life".<ref name="ACS2018"/><ref name="HSApr2016"/> An intimate swab was taken from the victim.<ref name="ACS2018"/>
==Moniker== ''The Sun'' newspaper gave the perpetrator the moniker of "Mr Cruel" after police described a serial home invasion rapist in November 1987 as "super cool and super cruel".<ref name="The Sun">{{cite news|newspaper=The Sun|title=Police hunt for Mr. "Cruel"|date=19 November 1987}}</ref> The name was adopted by the rest of the media. At the time, police believed the same perpetrator was responsible for three rapes: the first in 1985 of a woman, the second in 1987 of a girl and the third also in 1987 of another woman.<ref name="The Sun"/>
==See also== {{Div col|colwidth=22em}} * Cold case * Crime in Victoria * Murder of Karmein Chan * List of kidnappings * List of solved missing person cases: 1950–1999 * List of unsolved murders (1980–1999) {{Div col end}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * 29 April 1991 [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122353745 ''news article''] pertaining to the abduction of Karmein Chan * Contemporary [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/132380001 ''news article''] pertaining to the funeral of Karmein Chan * 15 February 1993 [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22079109/the_age/ ''news article''] detailing the ongoing hunt for Mr Cruel * [https://melbinmarvels.com/2021/01/26/mr-cruel-serial-rapist-and-murderer-overview-of-case/ Melbourne Marvels Mr Cruel 1 – Overview of Case] * [https://casefilepodcast.com/case-41-mr-cruel/ Casefile True Crime Podcast - Case 41: Mr Cruel] - 7 January 2017 * [https://whoismrcruel.com/karmein-chan-murder/ ''Whoismrcruel.com'']: A website devoted to identifying the likely perpetrator of Karmein's abduction and murder
Category:1980s in Australia Category:1990s in Australia Category:1980s in Melbourne Category:1991 murders in Australia Category:Australian murderers of children Category:Australian rapists Category:Child abduction in Australia Category:Murder in Melbourne Category:Australian kidnappers Category:Criminals from Melbourne Category:Possibly living people Category:Unidentified rapists Category:Incidents of violence against girls Category:Unsolved crimes in Australia Category:Year of birth unknown