Karmein Chan

Karmein Chan was a 13-year-old Australian girl who was abducted from her home in Templestowe, Victoria, during the night of 13 April 1991 and was subsequently murdered. "Mr Cruel" is the prime suspect. Kidnapping: Chan was at home babysitting her two younger sisters while both her parents worked at a Chinese restaurant they owned in the nearby Melbourne suburb of Eltham. Chan and her sisters were confronted by a man in a balaclava with a knife. He forced Chan's sisters into a wardrobe before fleeing with Chan. Before leaving, he spray painted "Asian drug deal", "payback" and "more to come" on a vehicle in their front yard. Police suspect this was a ruse to distract them from the killer's real motive. Chan's mother made an emotional plea on television for Chan's return. Related events: There had been several abductions of girls in Melbourne prior to the abduction of Chan by an offender known in the media as Mr Cruel. Victoria Police had started scaling down Operation Challenge the day before Chan's abduction that had been established to investigate two abductions in which the victim was raped and an earlier home invasion also involving rape. Detectives believed that Chan would be released the same as previous girls abducted. Investigation: On 6 May 1991, 23 days after Chan's abduction, Victoria Police formed the Spectrum Taskforce to investigate Chan's abduction and to continue Operation Challenge investigations. A reward of $100,000 was offered for information on her abduction. On 9 April 1992, Chan's remains were found nearly a year later in a landfill area at Edgars Creek in the suburb of Thomastown. The skull had three bullet holes in the back of the head. The body had probably been there for 12 months. On 31 January 1994, the Spectrum Taskforce was disbanded. The offender was never brought to justice. A few detectives had doubts whether Chan was a Mr Cruel victim. Outcome: An inquest was held in 1997 with the coroner finding that she met her death through foul play, but it was not possible to identify the person or people responsible. The case has remained open with cold case detectives regularly reviewing the investigation. On the 25th anniversary of her abduction the reward was increased from $100,000 to $1,000,000.