Freaky Friday Files: Is there a Serial Killer in Byron Bay?
- ashey9111
- Feb 28
- 6 min read
Disclaimer: This blog post discusses topics surrounding missing persons, murder, and potential serial killers. Reader's discretion is advised.
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Is there a Serial Killer in Byron Bay?
I don't even know how to start this post, but there has been a lot of "influencers" who have travelled to places such as Byron Bay in the past couple of years that have had some sort of terrifying experience while travelling there. AND, the amount of people who have gone missing from Byron Bay is absolutely terrifying. I'm obviously not a police officer or a bad a$$ Kill Bill type of lady but I do think bringing awareness to these crimes is SUPER important. Especially as we should be looking out for one another and keeping each other safe. And whether or not there is a serial killer out there, we all need to be aware of such events.
Byron Bay is a beachside town that is 772 km away from Sydney. As of the 2021 census, the population was 6330 people. It's a popular tourist destination. According to the Crime Map of Australia, there is a 1 in 28 chance of becoming a victim of violent crime and a 1 in 15 chance of becoming a victim of property crime in Byron Bay.
NSW politician Jeremy Buckingham believes that there is currently what we would call an "active" serial killer in Byron Bay that has been committing crimes since at least the 1960s. This perpetrator tends to target tourists. There have been at least 67 unsolved cases of either missing persons or victims of murder since the 1970s in Byron Bay. Buckingham believes there is a connection between these cases and has even claimed that this serial killer is Australia's worst serial killer of all time, noting that he thinks they have targeted even more people than Ivan Milat (the backpacker murderer). However, many authorities disagree with Buckingham's claims with a NSW Police Spokesperson saying that there is no evidence suggesting that there was a common offender in all of these cases.
So we have two views here: 1) The belief that there is an active serial killer in Byron Bay and; 2) The belief that there is no common offender in all 67 missing persons/murder cases and that they are looking for multiple offenders
I personally don't know where I stand and my theories would only be speculation anyway, but let's take a look at some of the experiences of influencers/celebs who have gone to Byron Bay.
Laura Clare (a former Big Brother contestant) claims that in 2008, she visited Byron Bay with a friend and was hitchhiking from Byron Bay to Suffolk Park. Laura and her friend were picked up by a man in a rusty van and on the front seat there was a knife. At first Laura just put the knife on the floor and the driver claimed he was a chef but was in between jobs. Laura felt uneasy with this claim as the knife wasn't in anything to keep in sanitary. Laura then asked to be let out of the van and he pulled over and let the two friends out.
Travel TikToker Bodhi Jako stayed at an AirBnB that belonged to two young women in Byron Bay. During the night he awoke at around 2am and he noticed a man peeking in the curtains. As soon as the man noticed Bodhi was awake, he retreated. Bodhi also claimed that the two women who owned this AirBnB and also lived there would received creepy notes and flowers dropped outside from an anonymous source. Creepy occurrences like this led to the women moving out.
Lifestyle TikToker heykayley (Kayley) stayed with a few friends in Suffolk Park near Byron Bay and she believes that she was nearly kidnapped as she was walking down to the beach. Her friends were ready to go before her and so she said "I'll catch up with you" as it was a 5 minute walk down the street from where she was staying. It was a Saturday afternoon so Kayley didn't feel unsafe. However, as a women, she explains that when she is by herself, she tends to be a bit more alert and aware of her surroundings (I can relate to that) and she notices a car pull up with a young couple, and the woman in the car is looking directly behind Kayley at something and has a terrified look on her face. So Kayley looks behind her and sees a man who isn't dressed for going to the beach, he's wearing gloves and Kayley believes that for the man to get that close, he had to run up really fast. Kayley made it safely to the beach but she wasn't able to shake the terrifying feeling she had. I believe Kayley went on to report the situation but I'm not sure what specifically happened with that. Kayley then started seeing more and more videos about similar experiences and even made a video where she mapped out where every victim had gone missing from in the Byron Bay area. Authorities have claimed that the all the cases were between 1977 and 2009 but some of the victims that Kayley found were as close as 2015. She believes that there is multiple perpetrators.
I am also someone who is under the impression that victims need to have a voice too, even if they can't specifically speak up for themselves so I'm just going to mention a few here:
Narelle Cox: Went missing at 21 in 1977, who was hitchhiking from Grafton to Noosa. The last person to have seen her alive was a truck driver who took her from Grafton to Brunswick Heads.
Susan Kiely: Susan was a mother of 2 and went missing in 1989. She was 33. She went missing from Bellingen. There is no other evidence. However, her ex-husband believes she died from a dr*g overdose and her friends buried her. Police have suspicion that said ex-husband may have been involved in her disappearance.
Rose Howell: In 2003, 18-year-old Rose Howell went missing on her way to see friends in Bellingen.
Jasmine Morris: A 19-year-old teenager who went missing in South Grafton in 2009.
And so many more.
It could potentially be dangerous to claim every single victim is a crime of a serial killer because it means that authorities wouldn't be investigating every single case and that's something that they need to do. It's also important to note that during the 1970s and 1980s, it was a lot more common for hitchhikers to be targets for criminals because there was less technology and police weren't able to track people as much as they do now. One thing is for sure though, people are scared. So is there an active serial killer out there? Are there multiple criminals out there? Or are the politicians and media trying to create a moral panic kind of vibe? Are police covering up crimes because one of them committed many of them? Are people trying to create a fear of Byron Bay so less tourists come and use it as an opportunity to create more fear? Are influencers just doing it for the views? Are people wanting to gatekeep Byron Bay? I think there are multiple possibilities and we have to consider each and every one equally.
In my opinion, it's not clear whether there is an active serial killer in Byron Bay or has been in the past. However, we can take a look at what things we know: serial killers are offenders who target 3 or more victims over a period of time and there is something that specifically links the crimes together such as the type of victims, how the serial killer m*rders their victims, or something left at each of the crime scenes. I think there's also potential for that commonality to be targeting the victims in the same area. So far the only thing that links the victims together are that they are all in Byron Bay and some were tourists so it's a bit of a jump. Mills (2025) says: "Naturally, these cases are not related to each other in any way. However, the volume of disappearances, coupled with the disturbing stories that accompany Byron Bay, leads one to wonder—could there be a psychopath serial killer among us? The blending together of weird tales, unresolved issues and the increasing anxiety of the public indicates that it could be larger than a multitude of single cases. For now, the question of whether a serial killer can be or has already been operating on the covers of Byron Bay is unanswered, and the mystery remains surrounding the bay.
I personally find it weird that a politician is the only one (and influencers) that have claimed there is a serial killer who has been/is active in Byron Bay. Does anyone else agree?
Unless one day these cold cases are all magically solved then I don't think we'll ever really know the answer. But for now, the suspense lives on, the fear lives on, the unknown lives on.
All I hope is that the families of every victim gets closure.
Stay safe,
Ash
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