Loading summary
Transcript155 lines
- [00:00]
Host
Before we begin today's episode of Australian True Crime, I want to tell you about a new project we've been working on behind the scenes. It's called she Matters. It's a new podcast from award winning journalist and femicide researcher Sherrelle Moody. Each week Sherrelle speaks with families of women and children killed in Australia, sharing who they were, the joy they brought, and the love they left behind. She Matters isn't a true crime podcast. It's about lives lived, lives loved and lives lost. She Matters is produced by Dash made Podcasts in association with bravecasting Media. She Matters is available wherever you get your podcasts. The following podcast contains accounts of child sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised.
- [00:47]
John Souter Linton
Is there any reason why you did it?
- [00:50]
Mark Valera
Why I killed David Owen?
- [00:55]
I was like, I don't know. Not really. Nah. I mean, I was angry that day. But.
- [01:02]
No particular reason? No.
- [01:06]
Host
Several weeks ago we published an episode about the 1998 murder of former Wollongong Mayor Frank Arkell. At the time of his death, the man once known as Mr. Wollongong stood accused of being a member of a pedophile ring. He was awaiting a court date when he was brutally murdered by 19 year old Mark Valera. It was Valera's second murder in as many weeks. He confessed to the murders, but he still fronted a judge two years later where his defence team offered what they claimed were mitigating circumstances that should be taken into account during sentencing. Valera, they claimed, had been subjected to many years of sexual abuse, as at the hands of his father, Jack Van Creville. This accusation set in motion an equally brutal second act. Author John Souter Linton investigated the story and wrote a book about it called Bound by Blood. He joins us on Australian True Crime to talk about it. This is Australian True Crime. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created, the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation.
- [02:19]
Progressive Insurance Advertiser
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [02:38]
American Red Cross Advertiser
This holiday season, millions of families will pack their bags, load up the car and head off for a family vacation. But not every trip is going to be somewhere fun. The American Red Cross responds to about 7,000 emergencies during the holiday season alone, from home fires to natural disasters, providing families a safe place to go when the unthinkable happens. But they can't do it without your support. Please donate@redcross.org Grief doesn't keep a calendar.
- [03:10]
Grow Therapy Advertiser
Anxiety doesn't clock out after five. Depression doesn't care if it's your busy season. But support can still fit into your life. With Grow, you can find a therapist who meets you where you are. They connect you with thousands of independent licensed therapists across the US offering both virtual and in person sessions. You can search by insurance provider, specialty treatment methods and more to find a therapist who works for you. And if it's not the right fit, switching is easy. There are no subscriptions, no long term commitments. You just pay per session. Find therapy on your time, evenings, weekends and Cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost. Whatever challenges you're facing, GrowTherapy is here to help. Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan. Visit growththerapy.com acast today to get started. That's growththerapy.com. growtherapy.com acast availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan Dear Career Ladder.
- [04:19]
Host
You'Ve had your moment. You're linear and one dimensional. Ambition doesn't just go up anymore. It zigs and zags and squiggles where CEOs, executives, founders, where advising companies, launching side hustles, taking breaks, defining our next act ambition on our terms. The possibilities are endless. Chief lead on join us@chief.com.
- [04:57]
John Souter Linton
Well with all my books I have a purpose to do them. I don't do them just for the sake of the story or to just give people some bloodlust. There's always an issue with the books I write in the sense that allegations are made, stories are told, events happen that become misconstrued, exaggerated.
- [05:20]
And so what I try and do is I try and clear the the murkiness of it all and try and get to what actually is the truth as much as I can. And and to find out what really happened in ways what were the motives behind trying to say something different? Or why was this being said? Why is this being thought of? So with the Valera story, there was a big issue, big contentious thing about the fact was there a pedophile ring? Was Valera really the victim in this? Was he trying to avenge what had happened to him, his sister? And so I was just trying to find out what exactly was the truth.
- [06:02]
Host
Because at least one of the families of his victims, the o' Hearn family, suffered terribly, didn't they from the insinuations that were made in the media because Frank Arkel, the former politician, had been named in a royal commission to do with a paedophile ring for more than three decades.
- [06:19]
Narrator/Reporter
Frank Arkel was one of Wollongong's most prominent civic leaders, serving concurrent terms as the city's lord mayor and its state member of parliament. But it was after he lost his seat in 1991 that allegations of paedophilia surfaced. Three witnesses at the royal commission claim to have had sex with Mr. Arkell when they were aged between 13 and 15. But the former MP denied the paedophilia allegations.
- [06:45]
John Souter Linton
It's a terrible thing to recall that. It's the worst thing in the world. Worse than leprosy, I'm sure.
- [06:52]
Host
So when it became clear that the same offender had murdered him and murdered shopkeeper David o', Hearn, who also happened to be gay, there were a lot of assumptions about David O'Hearn being involved in a paedophile ring. And worse than assumptions, there were news stories.
- [07:08]
John Souter Linton
That's right. I mean, the whole story was that basically people believed that o' Hearn and Akel knew each other and that they're all part of this massive pedophile ring that was allegedly going on in Wollongong at the time. And it was. For the o' Hearn family, it was incredibly.
- [07:26]
I can't even think of the words to describe it. It was. It was just horrendous.
- [07:30]
Host
No, distressing. Seems like an understatement.
- [07:32]
John Souter Linton
It was. It was, in fact. And I mean, David O'Hearn had been living in Tasmania for years, decades. Owned a kind of light electrical store there, selling goods and services to people, was doing fairly well, decided to move back because his mother was ill. He was from Wollongong originally, decided to move back, and he had brothers and sisters here, so he came back to Wollongong. Was only back for, like, probably months, like two, three months, as far as I can remember. And in that time, he was murdered by Mark Valera. He just happened to live around the corner. And in Valera's own words, to paraphrase, he had seen Ohan on occasions and then decided one day just to see O'Hearn arrive home, walked down the driveway, knocked on the front door and basically gave a sob story about needing some help. And O'Hearn invited him in. And while O'Hearn was attempting to make him a cup of tea, his life ended.
- [08:37]
Host
That's the Mark of o', Hearn, isn't it? That he is a Stranger knocks on his door. A young man knocks on his door and says to him, I need somewhere to stay. Do you have any room? Which is bizarre. And most of us would think that's weird and want them to leave straight away. He did not do that. He invited this young man in. He said, I don't have room, but maybe I can find room. He's, you know, offering to call shelters in the neighborhood and stuff. I mean, that's the mark of who this guy was.
- [09:07]
John Souter Linton
That's correct. And his family obviously, you know, thought David was wonderful and a lovely person. Everything else, as a shopkeeper, he was always very welcoming. He had hospitality running through his veins. He was just a very nice, very helpful person. And there's been no evidence, no evidence at all to show any connection, any likelihood that o' Hearn and Arkel knew each other? Not that that would have meant that O'Hearn was part of any pedophile ring either. Guild by association, doesn't say, you know, isn't the way to go, but irrespective. I mean, Valera as well, did the same thing with Frank. Arkel phoned him up, gave a sob story about being a lonely gay guy in Wollongong, wanting to know how to, you know, cope with things, blend into society. And Arkel, likewise to o', Hearn, agreed to meet him and to discuss his problems.
- [10:08]
Host
Because Arkel had finally been outed as gay along with everything else.
- [10:12]
John Souter Linton
Indeed. Yeah.
- [10:13]
Host
Yeah, it seemed plausible, I guess. But the other thing was that the nature of the crime, the nature of the murder of Ahern was so brutal. And it seemed to police and to the public, to anyone who started to hear whispers about what had happened in that house, it seemed like a crime of anger, fury, revenge, didn't it? It seemed impossible that a stranger could have committed this brutal attack on Ahern. I mean, we're talking about unbelievable violence, correct?
- [10:44]
John Souter Linton
I mean, it was. It was mutilation, really. It was a scene that I'd never encountered in all my years in the police.
- [10:54]
There was a body of a male lying on his back. He'd been decapitated. There was a hand sitting on a lounge, and it appeared that he'd been completely disemboweled and the intestines and that were laying on a silver tray that was alongside the body.
- [11:12]
Host
On one of the walls, there was.
- [11:13]
John Souter Linton
A pentagram with the word Satan beside it. Another wall had an inverted cross.
- [11:21]
And on a mirror above a side table.
- [11:23]
Host
The word Satan had been been written also.
- [11:27]
John Souter Linton
But it was also just a crime of Sadistic pleasure. Mark Valera had an incredible interest, fascination, obsession to call it with serial killers and had a book which was very poorly written, I might add, about American serial killers, listing them, I mean, going into brief detail about who they were, their crimes. And so it was totally written for reasons of gratification. The book dealt with all these serial killers from America. And in that book Valera had actually made lists of people, identities within Wollongong, people he knew at the back and through the book as to presumably who he would eventually go out and murder. And that was his quest, that was what he wanted to do. Frank Arkel was high profile. He was out there. Yes, he was outed, yes. He was being investigated for underage sex rather than the pedophile thing because there is a difference with the age. You have to be clear about that. Legally he was being looked at for underage sex. But of course we don't know what the end result would be. He died before any trial could happen.
- [12:39]
Narrator/Reporter
Early this morning, police were called to a home in North Wollongong by an elderly friend of Frank Arkel. Inside a flat at the back of the house they found the badly beaten body of the 67 year old man.
- [12:50]
John Souter Linton
He was found in casual clothing and suffering apparently from head injuries, possibly from a blunt object.
- [12:58]
Narrator/Reporter
The attack comes just weeks after the decapitation murder of another Wollongong man rumoured to be associated with a satanic cult. Police would not rule out a connection.
- [13:09]
Host
It's fascinating the way the police finally got around to Valera, isn't it, that they I guess heard on the grapevine, because they started saying that they thought they was some kind of satanic motivation in the murders, specifically Aherns murder, because there were pentagrams drawn on the wall in his blood and all these sorts of things. And someone came forward and said, oh, I know a young bloke who's into Satanism in the neighbourhood and that is Keith Schreiber. So they go around to visit Schreiber, he's not home, but his housemate Mark is home. So Mark Valera. So the police come to the door. But he's very cool, isn't he? Because they come to the door looking for his flatmates. So he invites them in and shows them around.
- [13:49]
John Souter Linton
Yeah, he had. I mean he's your typical sadistic killer really. I mean he can switch on and switch off very easily in the sense that if he could be murdering someone out the backyard and then if the door rings, he comes and, you know, brings people in and offers them A cup of tea without any sense of what's going on. No panic, no panic, total control, not a problem at all. Knows exactly what he's doing, very much in the moment and fully aware of everything that's going on. But it was. Was interesting because Schreiber was known to police. He'd been picked up for petty offences through his time. So he was. He was known to them, but Valera wasn't. He was a total unknown. What. What had happened was that police had identified Valera as a suspect, but they needed evidence. Now, the only piece that they were kind of missing was physical evidence, which in this case was a fingerprint, which they found, seen. And because Valera was unknown to them, they didn't have his prints. But they eventually were able to find some pieces that he'd handled and were able to get prints off that and then identified him as their suspect. He was staying at a kind of like a halfway house, I suppose you'd call it in Wollongong. Police went there to find out what his movements were, you know, what time he's normally expected back when he leaves, that type of thing, because they wanted to be. They wanted to know what his routine was to eventually go and arrest him. The manager of the hostel kind of picked up on what was going on, although police didn't exactly tell him, but did ask him not to say anything to Valera. Whether he did or didn't is unknown. But that evening, Valera decided to go back to his karate coach, who he admired and really was probably about the only person that had some positive influence on Valera in his life at that time, and spoke to him. And then he convinced Valero that probably he should go and talk to the police about what he'd done. So he did. He turned up at Wollongong Police Station, much to the surprise of all the police. Homicide. Then came down from Sydney across to Oxford, Joe Casser, and interviewed him. Russell Oxford was the primary mark. Admitted to everything. Again, very calmly, very straightforward. No hesitation, no sense of trying to hide what he'd done, which is, you know, pretty bizarre. Is there any reason why you did it?
- [16:15]
Mark Valera
Why I killed David Owen?
- [16:20]
I was like, not really, no. I mean, I was angry that day.
- [16:24]
Host
But.
- [16:27]
Mark Valera
No particular reason? No.
- [16:29]
John Souter Linton
Okay. Now, did you know Frank o' Kell prior to this?
- [16:32]
Mark Valera
I knew of him.
- [16:34]
Jonathan Fields
What did you know of him?
- [16:35]
Mark Valera
I knew that he was a convicted pedophile.
- [16:39]
John Souter Linton
And what made you decide to go to his house that afternoon?
- [16:42]
Mark Valera
I had in my mind that I wanted to kill him. Cause didn't like.
- [16:51]
John Souter Linton
No coating it in any way just to try and justify.
- [16:54]
Host
It or to try and get himself out of any trouble at all.
- [16:56]
John Souter Linton
Exactly. He was just straightforward, gave whole details as gruesome as they were.
- [17:01]
Host
He takes police through walkthroughs of the crime scenes and very matter of fact explains how he did what he did.
- [17:09]
Mark Valera
Found there was a hacksaw up here with a hammer and the knives were just in the drawers here.
- [17:18]
And I got a sharp knife and.
- [17:22]
Cut through his stomach.
- [17:25]
And.
- [17:32]
Like cut through his stomach and I cut his head off, I cut his hand off.
- [17:39]
Host
We always hear that, you know, it's unlikely that an offender will commit such a brutal crime as their first crime. It's, it's almost. That's an assumption we make that, oh, you don't do that first off. You work up to that. But it seems as though Valera did commit this brutal murder as his first murder, doesn't it?
- [17:55]
John Souter Linton
Yes, yes it does. I'm not a forensic psychologist, but I talk generally in a lot of cases with people who kill. Yes, it's true, they may not be as brutal or as, I mean, put it this way.
- [18:10]
It'S very sad to say, but a lot of time was spent with David. It wasn't like 10 minutes and then rush out the door and could get away quickly. A lot of time, sadly, you know, Valera spent in a sense torturing David and yeah, that's not something that you would expect from a first time offender.
- [18:31]
Host
And then mutilating the body. So absolutely not shocked or afraid of being caught. After Ahern was dead, he stayed in the house and, and mutilated the body for a long time.
- [18:43]
John Souter Linton
What you do find, and I don't know whether any history has really been revealed about Valera, but what you do find is there's a lot, lot of animal torture happens in early age and that helps you get beyond the being shocked by what you're doing because it's just, you know, you become very used to it, desensitized to that type of thing. But also you can sometimes be a witness to other crimes that are similar and just be a witness to them. Don't necessarily have to be partaking. And that also helps in desensitizing. But certainly, yes, it does appear that from nowhere, Mark Valera was able to walk into David o' Hearns house and commit an absolute horrendous crime without flinching.
- [19:30]
Host
No. And he says that it's essentially, again, I'm paraphrasing, but that it's a result of an extremely Traumatic childhood.
- [19:38]
John Souter Linton
Police the next day or two, took him through the walkthrough, as you, you mentioned. And during all this time, there was no mention about him being abused, about him having suffered abuse, about him having felt that he needed to attack these people because of what had happened to him. None of that came out. That did not come out until basically when he started to appear in court. And that was then his defense. So you have to ask yourself, if that was the case, why didn't he mention it a lot earlier? There was opportunity. It wasn't like police were, oh, quickly, tell us what you did. Okay, shut up now. They were like, okay, tell us what you did. You know why? Okay, you saw him, what happened? So there was plenty of opportunity for him to have told his story early.
- [20:28]
Host
In defence of his defence, though we know that, you know, many victims of childhood sexual abuse don't disclose, don't disclose for a very long time. He was clearly suffering psychological malaise. So perhaps it took a sympathetic defense team to help him understand the relationship between his past and his actions. I mean, I know, you know, there's further sort of corroborating evidence down the road that we'll talk about, but. Oh, God, it's. I suppose I struggle to believe that he could have done it for no reason. I suppose that's the hard thing.
- [21:03]
John Souter Linton
All right, well, I mean, there are a lot of sadistic serial killers out there, but not all have been abused as a child. Certainly their childhoods, probably not ideal, certainly. Nor was Valeris. I mean, Valeria was in a situation where his mother had walked out when he was a very young child, both him and his sister Belinda. He was brought up by his father, who was a. A builder, but of course was absent from the family a lot of the time because of his work. Had to leave early, come home late. He was in the care of very good friends of his father's. They looked after Valero for a very long time. They're his surrogate parents. And he blended into their family at the same time. To make up for his absence, Jack spoil the hell out of both Valera and his sister. Valera wanted to get into dirt trail bike riding. Other kids turned up with kind of secondhand gear, motley old bikes. The dads had kind of got going for them, you know, repairs with band aids, that type of thing. Valera had brand new everything. Jack went out, bought him a brand new bike, brand new leathers, helmet, the lot, the gear, everything.
- [22:22]
Host
I seem to recall that Jack bought himself a bike as well, so that they could do it together.
- [22:26]
John Souter Linton
Correct.
- [22:26]
Progressive Insurance Advertiser
Yeah.
- [22:26]
John Souter Linton
He was doing his best to be a dad given, you know, he wasn't always around and he had really no support other than these friends, you know, and, and the mother had, had walked out. But then she turned up once Valera was arrested and in court she turned up as the grieving mom kind of inserted herself back into both Mark and Belinda's life.
- [22:54]
Host
How did it go down in the trial when he started talking about childhood abuse as perhaps a mitigating factor?
- [23:01]
John Souter Linton
As far as the friends of Jack Van Creville went, they were horrified because they to them they'd spent the majority of the kids lives were with them, the friends, because Jack was always out working, earning money. So they were like puzzled, horrified. Not unlike the Ohans and in fact the same reaction as the Ohans. Really devastated by what they're hearing and could not believe any of it. Admittedly. Yes, okay, we can all say that the family and close friends are the first ones to, you know, come to your defense. But at the same time it was just they, they couldn't physically, they could not see how it could happen. And also the fact that, you know, Mark seemed to be quite doting on his dad when he was a lot younger. Belinda certainly she was very much daddy's.
- [23:54]
Host
Girl and Belinda was still living with her dad, wasn't she?
- [23:57]
John Souter Linton
Belinda and Mark lived with their father the whole time as, as children and as adults.
- [24:02]
Host
Though Belinda was an adult by this.
- [24:04]
John Souter Linton
Stage, as adults she still remained with her dad. In fact she became pregnant and had a child and dad took to well with the allegations.
- [24:13]
Host
As part of the whole trial, Mark Valera still was convicted of the two murders and in fact is one of the few people in New South Wales history, Australian history, who have been imprisoned for a life sentence without parole. In fact, he was the third youngest, I think who's ever been sentenced to life without parole.
- [24:41]
If you'd like to talk to someone about abuse that's taken place in your life, no matter how long ago it happened, your GP is always a good place to start. If that's not going to work for you, you can contact 1-800-Respect on 1-800-737-732 or via their website, 1-800respect.org au or you can call Lifeline's 24 hour phone counselling service on 13, 11, 14.
- [25:14]
John Souter Linton
Hey, you want to pay just 10 bucks for your phone service at Boost Mobile? Just 10 bucks for your phone service at Boost Mobile? Yeah, I totally do. I totally did. This holiday. The best gift is for you pay.
- [25:31]
Progressive Insurance Advertiser
Just $10 a month for the first.
- [25:32]
John Souter Linton
Two months, then $25 a month forever with unlimited data, talk and text offer.
- [25:37]
Progressive Insurance Advertiser
Valid@boostmobile.com after your first two months, you'll.
- [25:40]
John Souter Linton
Pay $25 a month unless you go.
- [25:41]
Progressive Insurance Advertiser
Online or call to cancel. Requires autopay this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [26:04]
Zyn Nicotine Pouches Advertiser
If you're a smoker or vaper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason. But with Zyn Nicotine Pouches, you'll discover many good reasons. Zynn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand. Plus Zynn offers a robust rewards program. There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zyn. Check out zyn.com find to find Zyn at a store near you.
- [26:29]
This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical Dog Owners.
- [26:34]
Progressive Insurance Advertiser
We love to spoil our pups and more than anything, we want them to live long, healthy, comfortable lives. But here's the thing a lot of us don't realize when our dogs are trying to tell us something's wrong. Constant paw licking, rubbing on the couch or obsessively eating grass can all be signs of allergies. Because 90% of a dog's immune system lives in the gut, supporting digestion is key. That's where Better Wild Allergy Relief Soft Chews come in. These veterinarian approved chews use an ancestral blend of wolf probiotics called Ancestral Advantage to strengthen your dog's natural defenses. Better Wild even offers chews for joint support, dental health and a digestive meal Topper all science backed solutions to help your dog feel their best. Right now, Better Wild is offering our listeners up to 40% off of your order@betterwild.com podcast that's betterwild.com podcast for up to 40% off your order. Betterwild.com podcast.
- [27:37]
Host
Did Belinda support his claims during the trial that he'd been molested by his dad in childhood? What was the dynamic going on there?
- [27:46]
John Souter Linton
At that time, Belinda did believe her brother, irrespective, although she didn't have any memory of anything that may have happened. Okay, she admitted to that later, but she did believe that Mark was telling the truth.
- [28:02]
Host
While the jury didn't buy it for Belinda, suddenly everything made sense. I know what happened. Why would a 19 year old kid boy get up in front of the whole world and say that his father had raped him every day of his life if it's not true? So he can what? Make a fool of himself and embarrass himself? No 19 year old boy's gonna say that he was facing life in prison. His defence team had to come up with something to diminish his responsibility. No. No. Is it possible you've convinced yourself of this because you don't want to accept that he's a psychopath? No, I don't need to. That he's a serial killer? No. I can understand why you want to believe him. He's your brother. It's not about understanding him to believe him.
- [28:49]
John Souter Linton
It happened likewise. Mark's best friend and Belinda's former boyfriend, Mark Schreiber also believed without doubt that what Mark Valera was saying was totally true. And in that instance, Belinda was still at school. In fact, when she asked just out loud, would anyone like to kill my father? Mark Schreiber, being Mark Valera's good friend and believing the whole story and being Belinda's ex boyfriend, decided, yes, I'll do the job. But apparently he didn't tell Belinda this directly, but he turned up one night, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, walked into Jack's bedroom and stabbed him to death.
- [29:37]
Host
I mean, clearly it would have taken the police long to realise that whomever committed this crime knew the layout of the house pretty well. Right, because he knew where the weapons were located around the house. He also grabbed a tomahawk from the back shed, grabbed a bucket from behind the house to climb up through a window. The offender clearly knew his way around the house.
- [29:57]
John Souter Linton
Of course he did. And in fact, it took police all of like five minutes to work out that it was Shriver.
- [30:03]
Host
I find it hard to believe that Belinda didn't know what was going to happen because Schreiber came into the house through Belinda's daughter's bedroom. But that night the daughter was in another bedroom with Belinda.
- [30:16]
John Souter Linton
She was with Belinda?
- [30:17]
Host
Yes. The window was left open. It seems very much like they'd worked this plan out together.
- [30:26]
John Souter Linton
Yes, that's certainly what it looks like. But police were only able to prove that Mark did it himself. There was no evidence to show any direct collusion between Mark Schreiber and Belinda. Which is why Belinda was eventually charged with soliciting to murder and not murder. Police could never prove whether she knew if anyone actually would like she didn't know any particular person.
- [30:50]
Host
She didn't know that someone had taken up the job.
- [30:52]
John Souter Linton
Correct. Yeah. And also again, police could not prove that Belinda knew Mark's intentions, Mark Schreiber's intentions, that he had would be around at the house on that day, that he would find all the implements, that he would commit the murder and then leave.
- [31:10]
Host
She and her toddler daughter heard the attack, certainly, didn't they? I mean, Jack didn't go down easily. He really fought for his life.
- [31:17]
John Souter Linton
Yeah, well, Jack was a, was a, was a big guy. He was bigger than Mark Schreiber and obviously being a builder, he was pretty solid. But I mean the whole thing was. Because it was, it was total act of surprise. Now Jack Van Creville was asleep, he was in a deep sleep and certainly Mark, you know, was able to commence the assault well before Jack could come to consciousness. And by that time he was probably, yeah, not in a fit state to really fight back in any proper way. She took herself to the police station and she, you know, in a kind of a frantic way said that something horrible has happened at her house, her dad's been killed, I believe. And yeah, just tried to get them there. Now what happened was the police went around there, found Jack's body and the beginnings of the investigation began. Joe Cassa, who was involved with the apprehension of Mark Valera along with Russell Oxford, who was also involved, got the call from Wollongong to say, Jack Van Creville's been killed, you better come down. And when Russell was talking to Joe over the phone, they both agreed immediately that it had to be Mark Schreiber because of the fact that, you know, Schreiber was in court. In fact, I think he may have even been asked to leave at one point because he was being obnoxious in court when Valera was giving his defense. And they both agreed it had to be Mark Schreiber. So calls went out to try and find Mark. Mark was eventually found at a train station near Wollongong, was apprehended there. I believe he still had the blood stained shirt that he was wearing and admitted to it straight away what he'd done and why he'd done it. Because he believed that Mark had been abused by his dad and Mark wouldn't be in prison if it wasn't for his dad. So, you know, his dad needed to die. I told him, this is for Mark. F. Pedophile bastard, you'll never molest another kid again. He made no contest, you know, not even an exception. To the contest. Like with Mark Valera, the reason he went to trial was because he had had a defence.
- [33:35]
So he was arguing, yes, I did all this. Yes, I admitted to doing all this, but it was for this reason. Whereas shroud is like, nah, I did it simple.
- [33:43]
Host
I just did it.
- [33:43]
John Souter Linton
Yep, I just did it. And, you know, I'm a bad guy and you can put me away. So I went straight pretty much to sentencing. There's no reason for a trial. He never said anything about, as far as I'm aware. Never said anything about Belinda asking for it to happen, but certainly said he did it for Mark.
- [34:02]
Host
And there's no suggestion that any money changed hands or anything like that, which is usually the case in a. When someone's soliciting for a murder.
- [34:08]
John Souter Linton
Belinda did offer money, she. Because she knew she would get an inheritance, and she also knew that her dad had a stash of cash under some floorboards in the. In the living area.
- [34:19]
Host
Oh, so once he was dead, she would be able to pay.
- [34:21]
John Souter Linton
She did. Correct. And that was part of her incentive for people to commit the murder, was that, if you do it, I've got a stash of cash that you can have.
- [34:30]
Host
We should point out, too, that this happened. The murder of Jack Van Creville happened, I think, less than two weeks after his son, Mark Valera was sentenced to that life sentence.
- [34:39]
John Souter Linton
It was very quick. Yes.
- [34:40]
Host
So there's a lot of emotion, obviously, around his friends and his sister Belinda. And so Schreiber has decided to take revenge as he saw it.
- [34:51]
John Souter Linton
Correct. Gosh.
- [34:54]
Host
Belinda Van Crevill, the sister, the former girlfriend who's in the middle of this whole story. Yeah, she's a character, I'll say that. In fact, she says that when she went to the police station to report the attack that had happened at her house, she said that the police sort of didn't take her seriously until she gave her name and then they realised who she was. So obviously the family was notorious around town by that stage. She ended up being sentenced to six years for soliciting a man to murder her father. Did she go to trial or did she plead guilty to that?
- [35:26]
John Souter Linton
No, she went to trial.
- [35:27]
Host
Okay.
- [35:28]
John Souter Linton
Yeah, she did go to trial because John Statin was trying to just defend her, to say that, you know, she didn't really intend to and everything else. And she. And also the interview with Mark Schreiber. That's the thing, too. That police interview of Mark Schreiber's was played at Belinda's trial because Schreiber, in that interview is doing his best to defend Belinda, to say that he didn't know whether she was serious or not. But he felt bad about Mark Valera and he felt, you know, really angry towards Jack because, again, as I said, you know, if it hadn't been for Jack, Mark wouldn't be in prison. That was his belief, so that's why he committed the murder.
- [36:12]
Host
So he was trying to say, look, I did it. I didn't do it because she wanted it done. I did it because I wanted it done.
- [36:16]
John Souter Linton
He was taking it all on his shoulders. He was carrying the whole weight. And what was interesting was, even though that was played to the court as part of Belinda's defence, the judge didn't believe a word of what Schreiber was saying. He felt that he was overplaying his part and that he was trying his best to deflect any guilt towards Belinda. And that's how she eventually was found to be guilty of soliciting.
- [36:40]
Host
And she copped six years for that. She did some time for that. I don't know if she did the full six, but she's had a few brushes with the law since then. In 2023, Belinda pled guilty to stabbing her partner. I'll go back to the way we started this conversation, when I asked you why. Why this case? What fascinated you? And you were saying, you know, that basically there's a human story here, and there's so many human stories here. We have the Ahern families, we have the Kell family, and of course, we have the Van Creville family. Once you put them all together, these families that probably never would have met under any other circumstances.
- [37:13]
John Souter Linton
No, definitely not.
- [37:15]
Host
It is a complex and fascinating story.
- [37:18]
John Souter Linton
It is indeed a complex story because not so much about what happened, but more because of the allegations that were made after everything had happened. That's what's complicated all of this. That's what's caused probably even more pain. It's definitely the salt in the wound situation. When I decided to write this book, I knew I couldn't write it without getting the help of the families. And my first stop were the o'. Hearns. And the o' Hearns were very, very skeptical because they'd been burnt so much by the media where they'd been told. Yes, you can tell your story. Come sit down with us. And they sat down. And next, you know, that whole thing's been twisted and it's like, you know, the big question still remains, was David O'Hearn in a part of a pedophile ring? You know, did he and Frank Arkel meet regularly when in fact, there was.
- [38:18]
Host
No question from investigators, from anyone who knew either of them.
- [38:22]
John Souter Linton
Exactly. But that doesn't make a good story.
- [38:25]
Host
Yeah.
- [38:25]
John Souter Linton
You know, nothing. Nothing was ever really said that said. Yes, there is this thing going on. It was all. Is it. There's all this question mark, enough to get your interest if you want to read that kind of thing. And that's what the O'Hearns were suffering. So I actually went down there on a very wet, windy, awful day, went down and met them, and I met with the brothers and sisters and their spouses and sat down and, yeah, we spoke for a very long time. And they just needed to be sure that what I would say, whether they liked it or not, would be the truth. Not every member of the family was happy or even knew that David was homosexual and certainly weren't happy that it had come out. And they were still hurting a lot. I mean, one sister, you know, just couldn't sleep. I mean, Wollongong isn't exactly. Well, you would not think it is a crime Mecca. And, you know, there are, you know, people who leave their front doors unlocked and have a very nice sleep and, you know, don't fear anything. But this poor woman, you know, was locking her door. She couldn't sleep at nights. The stress that happens to a family when a member of their family is. Is murdered is just incredible.
- [39:43]
Host
Yeah. People talk about it as a loss of innocence, don't they? You wrote in your book, you know, 80% of homicides are committed by a person known to the victim.
- [39:51]
John Souter Linton
Correct.
- [39:52]
Host
It's so rare that a stranger commits a homicide, let alone a brutal one like this one. So it must just shake up your understanding of the world around you forever when it's your brother.
- [40:03]
John Souter Linton
And. And. And if you look at the profile of what a victim could be, David O'Hearn is not in that category.
- [40:10]
Host
No, no, he was not living a risky lifestyle at all.
- [40:14]
John Souter Linton
Indeed. He was not working night shift.
- [40:16]
Host
He was not, you know, partying. He wasn't exactly.
- [40:19]
John Souter Linton
Yeah, he was not putting himself out there to be at any risk at all.
- [40:24]
Host
But even though it's not that long ago, and yet, as you say, the attitudes toward the gay brother in the family could still be really tense, really inhibitive, couldn't they? As you said, there were members of his family who still didn't know he was gay. One brother said, I just thought he was asexual. Obviously, he was just. Was not out and proud in any way, because it was still difficult for people to be that way, you know, obviously it was very difficult for the family to meet with you, let alone give you permission to write the story.
- [40:56]
John Souter Linton
And indeed.
- [40:57]
Host
And you wrote graphically about the crime committed against their family member, David? Yes, I believe in that personally. Cause I, and I've had victims, families say to me, yeah, they don't want it whitewashed, they don't want it cleaned up for public consumption. When something horrible happened to this member of their family was committed by another human, they want people to know.
- [41:18]
John Souter Linton
Correct. And the O'Hearns were very much like that. And I actually made sure that they were okay with it. Not all the members of the family read what I wrote but some did and those that did were okay with it. What happened, happened. Sadly they appreciated that I'd also put in David's history in there. The fact of this, you know, time in Wollongong, time in Tasmania, coming back, his closeness with his mum, you know, all of that was in, in there as well. It wasn't just oh, a victim and a name to it, to a victim. It was, it was a person, a real person. And with the Van Crevilles obviously I couldn't talk to any family members there but I did talk to the friends who looked after the kids and again, same situation there. They're happy for me to tell the story that, you know, we're concerned that I didn't exaggerate or anyway. But yeah, and again they're very helpful in giving me a good background on.
- [42:19]
Host
The two kids because without that, without their input it would have been a very one sided story indeed.
- [42:25]
John Souter Linton
The only family who didn't participate were the R. Kels.
- [42:28]
Host
Yeah, well they had a lot of issues going on.
- [42:31]
John Souter Linton
Correct. They did. A member of the family did actually reach out after I'd made contact and said to me that they weren't prepared to help me but at the same time they weren't going to stop me and that they were happy with, you know, kind of for me to go ahead and do it but they were concerned that I wasn't going to exaggerate, you know, glorify what had happened. Everything else been. And when I'd written what I'd written, obviously I couldn't give it to anyone to read because they didn't want to know about it. But what the Illawarra Mercury did, they printed an extract from my book and it just happened to be the graphic murder of Frank Arkel.
- [43:10]
Host
Well, of course he was the most.
- [43:12]
John Souter Linton
High profile victim of course. And they just happened to print the Murder, which was like really lovely. Thanks, guys. And not long after it was published, I got a phone call from an irate friend of Frank Arkels. Understandably, total understandable. And he called me and spent about 10 minutes venting about the piece in the paper. And once he had exhausted his vent, I sat down and explained to him about the rest of the book and what I'd written about Frank in context.
- [43:44]
Host
It was very even handed. And again, as you did with Ahern, you went to great lengths to talk about Frank the person, correct his achievements, all of those things to make him a three dimensional person.
- [43:53]
John Souter Linton
Yeah, I mean, and a lot had been written about Frank Arkel.
- [43:58]
Host
A lot. Well, thank you so much. It's a great book. Bound by Blood. It's a story that I couldn't find. Once I realized there was this whole side story to the Frank Kell story, murder, of course, I went looking everywhere and I struggled to find a lot of detail until I found your book. So I know it was published in 2004, I believe. Well, no one's bettered it, mate, I can tell you that, because it's still, it's still thoroughly researched and very humane. Telling of this story about people who all describe themselves as normal, that's another. Another fascinating aspect of your, of your book is just that, yeah, everyone says, oh, we're just a normal family. How could this happen to us? Everybody considers themselves that way.
- [44:41]
John Souter Linton
Exactly. You're not wrong.
- [44:44]
Host
Thank you to our guest today, John Souterlington. If you need support after listening to this podcast, you can call Lifeline on 131114 or contact 1-800-Respect on 1-800-737-732 or 1-800-Respect. Org au Indigenous Australians can contact 13Yarn on 139276 or 13yarn.org a.
- [45:19]
John Souter Linton
The producers of this podcast recognise the traditional owners of the land on which it's recorded.
- [45:28]
They pay respect to the Aboriginal elders past, present and those emerging.
- [45:38]
Jonathan Fields
Hi, this is Jonathan Fields from the Good Life Project and today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile. The holidays can feel like a blur with lists and plans and trying to make everyone happy. Simplicity can be its own kind of gift. Boost Mobile helps you keep things Easy with the $25 Unlimited plan that gives you unlimited talk, text and data for just $25 a month. No contracts, no trade ins, just the freedom to keep the phone you love and focus on what really matters. Because peace of mind is something we could all use a little more of. Visit boostmobile.com to start saving today. After 30 gigabytes customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.
- [46:21]
American Red Cross Advertiser
This holiday season, millions of families will pack their bags, load up the car and head off for a family vacation. But not every trip is going to be somewhere fun. The American Red Cross responds to about 7,000 emergencies during the holiday season alone, from home fires to natural disasters, providing families a safety safe place to go when the unthinkable happens. But they can't do it without your support. Please donate@redcross.org this episode is brought to.
- [46:52]
Progressive Insurance Advertiser
You by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [47:10]
Zyn Nicotine Pouches Advertiser
If you're a smoker or vaper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason. But with Zyn Nicotine Pouches, you'll discover many good reasons. Zynn is America's number one nicotine pouch brand, plus Zynn offers a robust rewards program. There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zyn. Check out zynn.com find to find Zynn at a store near you.
- [47:36]
This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.