Seven crime series The Hunters promises to blow Melbourne’s notorious ‘Mr Cruel’ abduction case wide open 

A new investigative crime series starring podcaster and crime journalist Adam Shand and “Human Lie Detector” Steve van Aperen, is sharing new information on Melbourne’s horrific “Mr Cruel” child abductions.

So-called by the press at the time in response to reports of an unidentified serial child rapist who abducted and attacked three girls in the suburbs of Melbourne in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr Cruel later became the prime suspect in the abduction and murder of 13-year-old Karmein Chan, whose body was discovered in April 1992, a year after she was snatched from her home.

The unsolved crimes, which abruptly stopped after the discovery of Chan’s body, form the basis for the first episode of the series, The Hunters, which sees Shand and van Aperen examine high-profile crime cases in an attempt to “crack them wide open”.

The episode sees Shand posit a bombshell theory that Mr Cruel was, in fact, more than one offender, revelations the journalist hopes could lead to the case being reopened by Victorian Police.

In the episode, he conducts an interview with a woman believed to have been Mr Cruel’s first victim, sharing new information, including new DNA evidence, he has uncovered.

It is the first time a victim has ever spoken publicly, and the interview was five years in the making.

“I’ve been working on this case for a long time — I’ve been speaking to former taskforce members who were just not happy with the way (the case) was handled,” Shand told The Sunday Times.

“I was able, through that process, to get some very key documents that began my research.

“Then, by luck, a mutual friend was a friend of one of the victims, and I got to talk to her.”

The Hunters is the first TV program to uncover DNA evidence that proves there were at least two offenders in the Mr Cruel cases.

As well as an interview with one of the victims, it also features former police investigators speaking publicly, some who are prepared to back up the multiple offender theory.

“It suddenly took us from being, ‘let’s look at information coming in — possibly new information,’ to, ‘the answers to this case could be in the files,’” Shand said.

“Databases back then were incredibly small, now they are incredibly large — with the added development of genealogical sites.

“People are now ticking the box that says (their information) can be used for law enforcement.”

Could the answer to one of Australia’s most notorious cold cases be hiding in plain sight?

“It relies on an enterprising detective to take the evidence and go forward . . . so it’s not without hope,” Shand says of his new findings, adding he hopes police “go back to the files, go back to the investigators, go back to the victims” and keep digging.

“Because I still think there are some grubs out there who can be brought to justice,” he explains.

“I think this can be a good example for state police forces to never, never give up.”

Shand, who has decades of experience working as a crime journalist, says he has enjoyed working with van Aperen, a retired detective who has worked on 87 homicide cases and two serial killer investigations.

Van Aperen, who authored the book The Truth About Lies, has trained with the FBI, LAPD and the US Secret Service, and is a renowned expert in the field of behavioural interviewing, reading body language and detecting deception, hence his nickname.

“He was tremendous, and just a really cool head,” Shand explains.

“He’s a very intelligent man, a tremendous investigator and he just tempered my normal sort of binary approach.”

Shand says he hopes what the team uncovered will kickstart renewed interest in solving the horrendous crimes.

“We owe it to the community, the police, but most importantly the victims who are sort of frozen in time, victims of Mr Cruel, when in fact that individual does not exist,” he says.

“It’s closure. Not just for the victims but for the victims’ families and the detectives who were working 18-hour days and are devastated there was no resolution.

“This had a ripple effect for so many people, and it’s now time for this to be reviewed, looked at and taken further.”

The Hunters: Mr Cruel premieres 7.30pm Monday on Channel 7 and 7plus