Chapter 1: What events led to the emergence of the Frankston Serial Killer?
As Casefile continues into its tenth year, we're currently taking a very short break from new episodes. Brand new cases will be returning on May 23 for premium subscribers and May 30 for the regular feed.
But in the meantime, we're continuing our special bonus series, Casefile Archives, a collection of releases revisiting the earliest years of the show along with previously unreleased premium episodes.
Over the next three weeks we'll be releasing two fully re-recorded episodes from our first year of production, along with one episode that was previously only available to Patreon and Premium subscribers. Rest assured that these are additional bonus releases and will not replace our standard schedule. We will still be delivering the same number of new episodes this year as we did last year.
Casefile Archives is simply a way to mark the tenth year, revisit some older episodes, and share stories that newer listeners may not have heard before. For the re-release episodes, we've fully edited, polished, re-recorded, and freshly produced them from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites.
Our aim isn't to reshape the cases or alter the original storytelling, but to preserve them as they were first told while bringing them up to the level of production the show has today. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure remains faithful to the originals. Because of this, these episodes may sound a little different to our recent work.
Today's re-release is The Frankston Serial Killer, originally released as Case 23 in June 2016. The case was first presented as a two-part series, with Part 1 released on June 19, followed by Part 2 the following week. Thank you to everyone who has listened and supported us over the years. Now, here is the next episode from Casefile Archives, The Frankston Serial Killer.
Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website.
Frankston City is a local government area in Victoria, located 40 kilometres southeast of Melbourne. At the time of this episode's initial release, it had a population of about 135,000 people. Frankston City incorporates many different suburbs, including Frankston, Langwarren, Frankston North, Seaford and others.
All of the places you will hear about in this episode are part of the Frankston City area. Our story begins in February 1993 on Claude Street in Seaford, where a local resident by the name of Donna Vaines was growing nervous. She lived in a unit there with her boyfriend Les and her young infant, but lately Donna's home life had been disrupted by a series of prank phone calls.
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Chapter 2: How did the initial break-in impact Donna Vaines' life?
Although it was part of the Frankston area, it seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. That afternoon, Fred was driving around checking his fence line to make sure there were no holes or other damage that livestock could escape through. Underneath a couple of large fern leaves by his fence line along Taylor's Road, Fred saw what he thought was a pile of dumped rubbish.
As he drew closer, he started smirking. It was a mannequin. One of his neighbours was playing a trick on him. Good one, he thought. As he got closer still, he froze. Just that morning, Fred had read a newspaper article about the disappearance of Debbie Freem. In that moment, Fred knew that he'd found her. Police arrived and set up a crime scene.
The case was very similar to that of Elizabeth Stevens. Debbie had been the victim of a frenzied knife attack. There were no signs of sexual assault and a post-mortem would reveal she had been strangled as well. Debbie had numerous defensive wounds on her arms and hands. And just as with the Elizabeth Stevens scene, not a shred of forensic evidence was found. Casefile will be back shortly.
Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. The media ran wild with the story and the Frankston area was gripped by fear. The recent attacks were linked to the unsolved murders of two other women that had previously occurred in the area.
The first was Sarah McDermott who went missing from Cannonook train station three years earlier in 1990. Bloodstains were found next to her vehicle as well as drag marks. To this day, Sarah's body has never been found, however, a coroner ruled she met with foul play. A $1 million reward has been offered for information that helps solve her case.
You can listen to our Case File Presents series about Sarah's case, titled Searching for Sarah McDermott. The other victim was Michelle Brown, who was found murdered in Frankston in 1992. There's also a million dollar reward on offer for her case, which is now believed to have no connection to the Frankston serial killer. To avoid confusion, I won't mention these two cases again.
Their inclusion here is to give an idea of what was happening at the time and what the media was reporting. Despite the uncertainty as to whether Sarah and Michelle's cases were linked to the 1993 attacks, whispers about a murderer in Frankston were no longer whispers. There was a serial killer on the loose who had killed at least two women and tried to kill a third.
Newspapers ran panicked headlines. Police warned women to avoid travelling solo or going to their vehicles alone, especially at night and in quiet spots. Detectives conducted a search for anyone in the Frankston area with a history of violent attacks against women. 500 names were spat out of the computer. That list was eventually narrowed down to 30 who were checked out more thoroughly.
All were eventually cleared. Detectives also sought the help of a fellow officer who had spent 14 months training in criminal profiling at the FBI Academy in Quantico. He put together a profile which suggested that the killer was a male who had acted out on a strong fantasy that had been building up inside him for years.
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Chapter 3: Who were the victims of the Frankston Serial Killer?
On the night that Debbie Freed disappeared, you walked over to Kennedy Railway Station, missed the train and walked back. And on the night Elizabeth Stevens disappeared, you walked... in a very close proximity to Lloyd Park, on your way to pick up this battery. Do you think that's fairly coincidental? Yeah, it is. In all the circumstances? Yeah.
Are you responsible for the deaths of any of these women?
No. When detectives asked specifically about Natalie Russell's murder, Dania denied any involvement, but he said he was aware of what happened because he'd driven past the scene.
Are you aware that the girl was found murdered in Frankston? Yeah. today being Saturday. When did you first become aware of that?
Well, I saw some police cars and everything when I was driving up Sky Road this morning and SES workers.
So you saw SES workers and all that in Sky Road?
Yeah.
And I had some white tape across the walkway and I saw you.
You saw me? Yeah, I saw you and I saw the other guy.
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Chapter 4: What were the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth Stevens' disappearance?
I was just going to drag her in the park and kill her. That's all. He went on to say that after Rosa ran away, he caught the train one stop from Seaford to Cannanook. Not long after getting off the train, he saw Debbie Freem exiting her car at the shop. What caused you to select her at that time?
Just that gay feeling.
Dania then described killing Debbie before detailing what happened after.
I dragged her about a metre into the trees and where she was lying against the fence. And I broke off two branches off the nearest tree and threw them over the boat. And I hopped back in the car again and I adjusted the seat to match my height because she was a lot smaller than me. And headed back to Madden Street. Why to Madden Street? Wasn't too close, wasn't too far from home.
He buried Debbie Freem's purse along the bike track where he later attacked Natalie Russell. Dania later dug up the purse for police when they did a walkthrough of the crime scenes. When asked why he killed Debbie Freem, his reply was, I just wanted to. Dania then detailed the murder of Natalie Russell.
What is one killer for?
Same reason as before. I've always wanted to kill. Since when? Since I was about 14. I've been stalking women for a few years in Frankston. Just waiting for that opportunity. Waiting for the sign.
After the murder, Dania walked back down the track towards his car and saw the police there checking it out. He casually continued out of the track and headed down Sky Road, away from the police. As you can hear from the interviews, Dania displayed zero emotion and zero remorse. That never changed and he never said he was sorry.
Denya just repeated that he had always wanted to kill and was waiting for the right opportunity. While the interview was taking place, other police officers were searching Denya's unit. They found a hat with blood on it, a large homemade knife and a long cord with two knots tied at each end. The cord looked as though it had hair on it.
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Chapter 5: How did the police respond to the missing person reports?
Paul Denyer was sentenced in Melbourne's Supreme Court on Monday December 20 1993. He was given three life sentences with no parole period. The judge described Denyer as a danger to society for which nothing could be done. Denyer showed no remorse and his only regret appeared to be the fact he was arrested.
Eleven days later, Paul Denyer lodged an appeal against his sentence on the grounds that it was excessive. He argued that the sentencing judge should have given him a minimum term of imprisonment. The appeal was heard in the Supreme Court in July 1994. Three judges came to a majority verdict of 2 to 1, overruling the trial judge's decision not to issue a minimum term.
They granted Paul Denyer a non-parole period of 30 years, meaning he could have been released in 2023 when he was 51 years old. When given this minimum term, Denyer said, "'I will become a better person and I will not re-offend. That's my promise to God as well as to the people of Melbourne.'"
While in prison, Denya began saying that he now identified as a woman and began going by the name Paula instead of Paul. He claimed that his gender dysphoria had led him to hate women and ultimately resulted in him committing crimes against them. He applied to have access to makeup and other beauty products as well as hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery.
All of those requests were denied. Prison authorities, victims' families, and transgender advocates have all expressed doubts about the sincerity of Denya's claims. One prison officer said Denya's supposed transition was sudden and merely a ruse to gain access to certain benefits. By 2022, Denya had reverted back to using the name Paul and identifying as male.
In 2023, seven years after this episode was originally released, crime author Vicky Petratis released an 11-part podcast series titled The Frankston Murders with Casefile Presents.
The series uncovered new material about the infamous case and featured interviews with other women who were stalked by Paul Dania, as well as victims' family members, prison guards, and detectives who worked on the case. That same year, Paul Dania became eligible for parole. He submitted an application to the Adult Parole Board of Victoria, which was rejected.
When Natalie Russell's father, Brian, received the news, he felt a sense of relief, telling the ABC, it was a terrific outcome as far as I'm concerned." Debbie Freem's son, Jake, who was just 12 days old when his mother was murdered, told the Age newspaper that Dania was not someone who should ever be released. Quote, He has done nothing to deserve it.
He will never change, and they must keep him inside. Despite his initial parole application being rejected, Dania remained eligible to apply again and again. Each time, the victim's families would be forced to prepare submissions, relive the trauma, and face the possibility that he could one day be released.
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