The Frankston Serial Killer

by Vikki Petraitis

  Paul had a stab wound to his leg and a slash across his hand tended to at the hospital. Indignant about the attack, he told Steve he hoped the police would catch the guys responsible and charge them. Paul described walking across the car park when a couple of guys jumped him from behind and stabbed him.

  Steve vowed to try to find the people responsible for the attack on his brother. He believed Paul's story - he had no reason not to. Steve was later angry that the police had done nothing in relation to the stabbing. He had no idea that Paul had stopped the investigation before it had begun.

  When Melissa Denyer fell pregnant, she remembered the Denyer family being pleased. The baby would be the first grandchild and niece or nephew in the family. Paul, however, reacted strangely. Melissa vividly remembers a fleeting but powerful look of disgust crossing his face when they told him the news. The look quickly faded, but nonetheless, it bothered her. Paul was uninterested in the pregnancy and when Melissa was hospitalised with high blood pressure a month before the baby was due, she was surprised when Paul arrived at the hospital to visit her. He carried a bunch of flowers and chatted happily with his sister-in-law.

  In many respects, the whole family was pleased with the way Paul was shaping up. He lost weight and began to read self-help books in the vein of How to Win Friends and Influence People. For the first time, he was finally dressing well and seemed to be getting his life in order.

  Nonetheless, Paul went through a number of jobs, all ending in his being sacked for dishonesty or laziness. He worked for Safeway at Karingal Hub but was sacked from the job for ramming a customer with a stack of empty shopping trolleys. It was at Safeway, that Paul met Sharon Johnson and the two became close. Before long, he moved out of home to live with her.

  The young woman with round doe eyes and a little-girl voice, quickly established a control over Paul that made many who knew him uncomfortable. His brothers recalled times when Paul would come around for a visit and minutes later, Sharon would be on the phone demanding to know if Paul was there, telling him to come home again. To outsiders, it seemed as if Sharon had Paul well and truly under the thumb. Paul didn't seem to mind. He loved her.

  The new couple mainly stayed at home watching television and Paul quickly regained all the weight he had lost. Around the time that Paul moved in with Sharon's family, he became increasingly remote with his own.

  One day, Paul telephoned his mother and told her that Sharon's mother, Pauline, had put her hand on his heart and had a vision. She had 'seen' that Paul, Steve and Richard had been sexually abused by their older brother David.

  Maureen told Paul that it was nonsense. She discussed the claim with the rest of the family, and they all decided that Pauline was trying to break Paul's ties with his own family; knowing that they wouldn't believe him.

  Little things continued to happen that drove the wedge further. Paul could be easily led and soon he began to side with Sharon. After they moved into the flat, Richard stayed with Paul and Sharon for a couple of weeks.

  One night, Melissa and Steve visited Richard when he was home alone. Sitting on their old green couch, Melissa absent-mindedly put her hand between the cushions and felt something. She pulled out Sharon's watch and, having experienced Sharon's odd behaviour before, drew her husband's attention to the watch.

  'It's Sharon's,' she said. 'Watch me put it back, I don't want her to accuse me of stealing it.' She replaced the watch where she had found it.

  Sure enough, when Steve visited Richard at the flat, a few days later, Richard told him that Sharon had accused him of stealing her watch. When Steve returned home, Melissa reminded him that the watch was down the side of the couch. Steve drove back to the flat, walked over to the couch and retrieved the watch, much to Sharon's embarrassment. Meanwhile, the fact that she had accused Richard of stealing her watch rankled the family.

  Then came the christening. Melissa and Steve had their baby baptised at a local church and Paul and Sharon went along. At the party back at their house, one of the visitors told Melissa that Sharon had complained loudly throughout the service that Melissa wasn't a true Christian and that the baby's christening was a farce. Melissa was furious but not surprised. In the short time she had known Sharon, she had found her to be opinionated and often rude.

  The christening was marred by ill-feeling and two days later, Paul broke into a neighbour's flat and slashed her photographs, cutting the woman's throat in all the pictures and carving what newspapers later described as 'a message designed to offend her Christian beliefs' into a bureau. He had spoken occasionally to the attractive young neighbour, and had earlier challenged her beliefs after seeing a Christian sticker on her car. Nobody connected Paul to the break-in until after his arrest for the three murders.

  Early in 1993, Paul applied to join the police force but was knocked back. Being around 30 kilograms overweight, he failed to pass the physical. To his family, it seemed to be no big deal to Paul. The police force had never been a life-long ambition, it was just something he talked about a few months before he applied. He didn't seem to be very disappointed when he didn't make it.

  In February, Paul began his final job, with the boat building company Pro Marine in Seaford. He only lasted a couple of months, during which he found the time to make the knives that he planned to use in his attacks, and to melt the soles of his runners with the welding torch. Paul Denyer was preparing himself.

  With Paul unemployed and Sharon working two jobs, she was away from the flat from early morning until around 9pm, leaving him to his own devices. Paul tinkered with cars, visited his family and Sharon's mother, and plotted to kill women.

  He had wanted to kill since he was 14, and days and days of free time allowed him to stalk women and make reconnaissance missions to find locations to dump their bodies. He continued to make weapons and practised firing the glove gun he made by connecting the finger of a rubber glove to some aluminium pipe. He would load a ball bearing into the rubber finger, pull it back tight then let it go, sending the missile shooting through the pipe towards a target. It worked like a sling shot.

  Sometimes Richard would call in to visit and Paul would usually answer the door to him. Sometimes, however, he'd be home, and Richard would know he was there, but he wouldn't answer the door. Richard wondered why.

  Paul also began to collect things he could use to strangle women. When his binocular strap broke, he kept it and when the cord came out of his tracksuit pants, he kept that too. His solitary pursuits became devoted to planning the murders he would commit. Living in Langwarrin and then Frankston, Paul knew the areas well from his walks and later drives around the streets and parks. He spent a lot of time at Lloyd Park and at the Flora and Fauna Reserve, mapping out suitable locations for his crimes.

  On 19 February 1993, Paul broke into the flat in Claude Street, Seaford to kill Donna Vanes; choosing someone he knew. When he found the flat empty, he killed Donna's cat and two kittens, and with their blood wrote 'Donna you're dead' on the wall.

  Paul Denyer the killer had begun his work.

  In April, the Denyer family gathered for Paul's 21st birthday. Because Paul had no friends, it was just the family and Sharon who celebrated the occasion with dinner at a local club. As they sat toasting his coming of age, the Denyer family had no idea that the silent alarm inside him had triggered and was urging him to act out his lethal fantasies.

  On the night of 11 June, Paul visited Sharon's mother's at her home, and it was from there he left to walk through the rain to murder Elizabeth Stevens. He later described how all the blood washed off him in the rain on his walk back to the house, and that Pauline hadn't noticed anything odd when he returned. Sharon arrived not long after and they all sat around and ate dinner.

  A week later, on 17 June, Richard Denyer celebrated his birthday at Maureen's house. After the party, Maureen drove Paul and Sharon back to their flat and Richard and Natalie came along for the ride. Sharon actually told everyone that Paul could be a suspect in the murder of
Elizabeth Stevens because he was in Langwarrin on the night.

  Questioned further, both Paul and Sharon laughed about it. Paul told his family that he had a couple of drinks at Sharon's mum's house and that he had walked to his mother's to check a battery and then back to Pauline's. Natalie remembered the night and said that she was home and she didn't recall him coming around. Paul said that he didn't make it known he was there.

  The day Debbie Fream died, Steve and Richard visited Paul at his flat. Richard returned alone later to collect 20 dollars that Paul owed him, and intended driving on to Steve's house. Paul wanted to come along for the ride. But, unsure whether Steve wanted Paul to visit because of the tension involving Sharon, Richard refused.

  Steve and Melissa had moved to a house in Cannons Creek and they hadn't seen much of Paul for a couple of months. Neither of them thought much of Sharon or of the way Paul seemed to have changed since he had known her and, without knowing why, Melissa had become nervous around her brother-in-law. Somehow, she didn't trust him any more. One day Paul had telephoned Melissa at Cannons Creek and asked if Steve was there. Melissa experienced an uneasy feeling and she lied and told Paul that Steve was in the shower. Paul rang twice more until Melissa finally said that Steve had just left to visit Richard.

  Not long afterwards, Melissa glanced out the front window and saw Paul's yellow car turn into their street. He cruised past searching for their car so he could find their house. She was nervous. Why was Paul coming around if he knew Steve wasn't home? He didn't know their exact address and, while Sharon was being so difficult, Melissa didn't want him to. She kept the curtains drawn and Paul eventually drove away.

  Once a happy-go-lucky sort of person, Paul had changed and Melissa was disturbed. She remembered Natalie Denyer telling her how Paul had recently hit her over the head with a broom handle when she asked him to help clean up.

  So, when Richard told Paul that he couldn't come to Steve's, Paul was angry and asked to go to Richard's house instead. Richard dropped him there and drove on to Steve's house.

  After Paul's arrest, Richard recalled that, although he could not be sure of the exact day, it was around this time that Paul had brought a home-made knife to his house and asked if he had a file to sharpen it with. Richard had told him to put the knife away.

  On the Sunday morning of Paul's arrest, Melissa Denyer was awakened by the telephone ringing at 9am. Sleepily, she heard her father's voice on the other end of the line.

  'It's Paul,' he said. 'They have arrested Paul for the Frankston murders.'

  In a split second, her uneasy feelings about Paul over the past couple of months suddenly took on a terrible meaning. She put the phone down in shock, the words, It's Paul echoing in her mind.

  Steve lay in a peaceful sleep that Sunday morning and Melissa, tears in her eyes, painfully realised that what she had to tell her husband would ruin his life forever. It would taint all his memories and it would take away the brother that he had loved and protected for over two decades. She shook him gently awake and told him that his brother was a murderer.

  While Steve drove to Langwarrin trying to figure out how to break the news to his mother, Melissa went to stay with her family. As soon as she got there, she began to cry uncontrollably. She cried for the women her brother-in-law had killed and she cried out of guilt. Was there any way they could have known? Were there any signs they could have picked up on?

  Most of all though, she cried for Garry Blair. She'd seen him on television, and noted the striking resemblance between Garry and her own husband Steve. And she was the same age as Debbie Fream. She had a baby too.

  The enormity of Paul's arrest began to hit Melissa Denyer within hours of her seeking refuge at her parents' home. She walked around to the local chemist to get a prescription filled for her baby and she heard people talking. 'Did you hear they caught that Frankston killer? Paul Denyer.'

  Melissa and Steve stayed away from home for three days. They couldn't face anyone, and wanted to avoid the media. When they finally returned home, they waited until 11pm. Even so the phone was ringing. It was Sharon.

  Melissa gently asked how she was going but Sharon immediately burst into an angry tirade. It was all their fault, she screamed, they hadn't believed him when he told them about the sexual abuse. It was all their fault.

  In shock, Melissa handed the phone to Steve while Sharon continued her outburst. She yelled into the phone that the family never loved Paul or cared about him and it was because of this that he had done what he'd done. When Steve tried to tell her that the family had always stood by Paul and taken care of him, Sharon hung up in his ear.

  Two days later, the restraining orders arrived. Sharon had issued them against the entire family.

  The news of Paul's arrest fractured the Denyer family. They kept away from each other and tried not to watch television because every news bulletin featured the same footage of Paul being led from the prison van. It went on for months. When he finally went to trial, every news bulletin was headed: 'The Denyer Trial' or 'The Denyer Tapes'.

  The Denyers felt as if they had no control over their lives.

  Every one of them suffered and many people kept away. Melissa and Steve wanted to move but they found that when they left their name at real estate agents, nothing would be available. Eventually, they changed their names.

  Melissa and Steve clung to each other and their baby but pushed other people away. They couldn't talk to anyone, and just wanted to be alone. It would take them 18 months to begin to emerge from the shock and open up to people again.

  By that time, the family slowly began to pull together again. They all agreed that it would have been easier for them if Paul had died in an accident or something, anything other than this. He nearly destroyed them all. Their love for Paul turned to hatred and loathing for what he had done.

  Because Maureen didn't want to go alone, Steve accompanied her to visit Paul in Pentridge days after his arrest. They had to ask him why.

  Paul shrugged and said in a soft voice, 'I don't know.'

  Melissa didn't go to the prison, but the burning questions she would have liked to put to her brother-in-law was: Was it worth it, Paul? Was it worth ruining so many lives to satisfy your sick, perverted fantasies? Was it worth ruining your own life too?

  Natalie Denyer wanted to visit her brother, so Maureen took her to Pentridge. Natalie was pretty and slightly built and only 16 years old. She was still in shock over what her brother had done and needed to see him.

  At the prison, they ran into Sharon. Natalie smiled at her but Sharon didn't return the gesture. Instead, she glared at the girl and turned to Maureen and said coldly, 'It's good to see you acting like a mother for a change.'

  Maureen was hurt. After years of struggle looking after her six children alone, it seemed that Sharon was trying to lay the blame at her feet.

  Maureen said, 'One day, when you have kids, you'll know.'

  Sharon told Natalie that she was only allowed to visit for 20 minutes and that she was lucky to be going in at all because she wasn't on the visitors list. Maureen had just checked at the guard station and she knew Sharon was lying. Sharon ignored Natalie after that and waited silently until Paul was brought to the visiting area. Then Sharon rushed over to Natalie and put her arm around the girl. Natalie couldn't believe the change.

  Tears rolled uncontrollably down her cheeks as she saw her brother. But she hardly had time to speak to him before Sharon began telling Paul that she had been fighting with his family and that they had been making trouble. Natalie knew it was a lie; there had been no contact with Sharon.

  Natalie tried to change the subject by talking about her recent debutante ball. She held out her arm to show her brother the bracelet she had received from her partner. Sharon quickly thrust out her left hand to show a ring from Paul. It had been her own grandmother's but they were regarding it as an engagement ring. She had been wearing it since Paul's arrest.

  Like the families of the victims, the
Denyer family will never fully recover from the shock of what Paul did. But unlike the families of the victims, very few people offered the Denyer family any sympathy.

  They were tainted with Paul's crimes.

  It didn't help that people who 'knew' them had rushed to the media with stories about the family, some dating back a decade and a half. The Denyers felt they were depicted as strange, and the children as wild. But they were no different from anybody else. This could have happened to anyone. They felt that while Paul had done some strange things in his life, he was perfectly normal most of the time. They couldn't have known.

  Slowly though, things began to make sense, but only with the wisdom of hindsight. Paul's daydreams weren't innocent, neither were his long walks at night, nor his interest in making knives. But they still couldn't have known.

  They realised they had to rethink all their memories of Paul. Nothing was real. They never knew him. It was all a lie. Steve used to share a bedroom with his brother. They used to talk together, laugh together. It was all a lie. And it would never end.

  After the trial, Steve and Melissa found a Melway street directory at her mother's house. Flicking through it, they noticed strange markings and a penis sketched at the top of the page featuring the streets of Frankston. Puzzled, they flicked to the front page and saw Paul's signature. It was his.

  They realised they must have accidentally picked it up, perhaps when they borrowed Maureen's car a couple of months after Paul's arrest. They returned their attention to the Frankston pages. Lloyd Park was marked with the exact location of Elizabeth's murder. Kananook railway station, where Sarah McDiarmid went missing from, was marked; so too were the sand quarries behind Lloyd Park, and the Flora and Fauna Reserve. They didn't know if it meant anything, but they handed the Melways to homicide detectives - just in case.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  The killer's appeal