Paul Denyer: The Frankston Serial Killer

Confession: Elizabeth Stevens

Just before 4 o'clock on the morning of August 1, 1993, Paul Denyer began his confession to the murders of Elizabeth Stevens, Debbie Fream and Natalie Russell, and the attack on Roszsa Toth. He told them that at around 7 p.m. on the bleak, rainy evening of June 11, 1993, Elizabeth Stevens got off a bus on Cranbourne Road, Langwarrin, to walk the short distance to her home. Paul Denyer was waiting - not for Elizabeth in particular. Anyone. Just someone to kill. Elizabeth Stevens just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The homemade knife Denyer used as a fake gun

Denyer followed the young student along the street in the dense rain and grabbed her from behind, telling her that he had a gun and that if she screamed or tried to run away he would kill her. He told detectives that the "gun" he held in her back was in fact a piece of aluminum piping with a wooden handle. At "gunpoint," Denyer marched the terrified girl to nearby Lloyd Park.

Denyer's statement said in part: "Walked in a bit of bushland beside the main track in Lloyd Park. Sat there, you know, stood in the bushes for a while just - I can't remember, just standing there I suppose. I held the 'gun' to the back of her neck, walked across the track over towards the other small sandhill or something. And on the other side of that hill, she asked me if she could, you know - go to the toilet, so to speak. So I respected her privacy. So I turned around and everything while she did it and everything. When she finished we just walked down towards where the goal posts are and we turned right and headed towards the area where she was found. I got to that area there and I started choking her with my hands and she passed out after a while. You know, the oxygen got cut off to her head and she just stopped. And then I pulled out the knife ... and stabbed her many times in the throat. And she was still alive. And then she stood up and then we walked around and all that, just walking around a few steps, and then I threw her on the ground and stuck my foot over her neck to finish her off."

The manner in which Denyer gave his confession chilled the detectives to the bone. It was devoid of emotion or remorse — almost flippant. When the detectives asked questions they were answered in an almost condescending manner, as if Denyer was in complete control of the situation because he was the only one who knew what had actually happened.

Denyer described, matter-of-factly, and demonstrated how he had pushed his thumb into Elizabeth Stevens's throat and strangled her. He made a stabbing motion, showing how he stabbed and slashed her throat. Then, to the astonishment of the detectives, he demonstrated for the video camera how Elizabeth Stevens's body had begun shaking and shuddering as she went through the death rattles before finally dying.

Denyer then told police how he had dragged Elizabeth Stevens's body to the drain and left it, where it was eventually found. He explained that the blade of the homemade knife he had used to stab Elizabeth Stevens had bent during the assault and had broken away from the handle. He dumped the pieces beside the road as he made his way from the murder scene.

When asked why he had killed Elizabeth Stevens, Denyer replied: "Just wanted ... just wanted to kill. Just wanted to take a life because I felt my life had been taken many times."