We can’t show you his face. But here’s what we know about James Vlassakis

3 months ago 22

After 26 years behind bars for his role in four murders – including the torture and killing of his half-brother and his stepbrother – James Vlassakis has been granted parole.

The 45-year-old, who was 19 when he committed the crimes that became known as the “bodies in the barrels” serial killings, was sentenced to life with a non-parole period of 26 years in 2002. The trial of “Australia’s worst serial killers” was considered one of the country’s longest and most publicised.

On Tuesday, the South Australian Parole Board approved Vlassakis’ application to serve the remainder of his sentence under conditions in the community, with chair Frances Nelson KC saying Vlassakis “does not represent a risk to the community”.

Who is James Vlassakis?

Born on Christmas Eve in 1979, James Spyridon Vlassakis, along with his mother, Elizabeth Harvey, and his half-brother, Troy Youde, lived with John Justin Bunting, who was the ringleader of the Snowtown murders.

Vlassakis was gradually drawn in to help Bunting and Robert Joe Wagner with the murders, pleading guilty to four of the 12 killings that occurred between August 1992 and May 1999. Most of the victims’ bodies were found in barrels in an abandoned bank vault in Snowtown, a South Australian town approximately 145 kilometres north of Adelaide.

Eleven of the 12 murders occurred in or around Adelaide, with 24-year-old David Johnson, the final victim, the only one to have been killed in Snowtown itself.

Johnson, who was Vlassakis’ stepbrother, had been lured to Snowtown by Vlassakis on May 9, 1999, under the premise of buying a cheap computer. As soon as Johnson entered the building, he was overpowered, strangled with his own belt by Bunting, then cut up and put in barrels.

Vlassakis told police in a confidential interview that Bunting and Wagner took a sliver of flesh from Johnson’s right thigh, heated a frying pan, cooked the flesh and ate it.

Youde was 21 and asleep at home when Vlassakis, Bunting and Wagner hit him with planks and jack handles. They dragged Youde to the bathroom, handcuffed and gagged him, and squeezed his toes with pliers. Wagner stood on Youde’s chest to ensure he was dead after he was strangled. Before his death, Youde was forced to apologise for sexually abusing Vlassakis when Vlassakis was 13.

Vlassakis – the youngest of the perpetrators – provided testimony in exchange for a lesser sentence. He confessed to four murders in 2001, including that of Johnson and Youde, and became a key witness for the Crown, which helped convict Bunting and Wagner of 11 and 10 murders respectively. A high level of secrecy has accompanied his imprisonment, and the location of where in South Australia he was jailed has never been revealed.

A police officer carrying a body bag enters the excavation site at the rear of a Housing Trust home at Salisbury North as part of the Snowtown murders investigation in 1999.

How did James Vlassakis get parole?

Although Vlassakis was sentenced to life, because he assisted authorities and was a key witness for the Crown against Bunting and Wagner, he was given a non-parole period of 26 years.

The South Australian Parole Board announced its decision to grant Vlassakis’ parole request on Tuesday afternoon at its monthly meeting, with the board’s chair Frances Nelson KC saying she believed Vlassakis was a suitable candidate for parole and was “genuinely remorseful”.

“We’ve had a look at the legislative criteria and, in our view, he meets the criteria,” Nelson said. “We have to look at whether or not he presents a risk to the community and in our assessment he does not. His institutional behaviour has been excellent.”

Nelson said on Tuesday that Vlassakis has “done it hard in prison” because he provided evidence against his accomplices, and that Vlassakis had spent his “formative adult years in a very structured environment”.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Nelson said, Vlassakis had not been informed of the South Australian Parole Board’s decision. South Australia’s Commissioner for Victims’ Rights, Sarah Quick, first needed to contact the victims.

Who else was involved in the Snowtown murders?

Several perpetrators were involved in the murders, with Bunting, 58, found to be the ringleader. Both Bunting and Wagner, 53, are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. Nelson said in 2024 that Bunting and Wagner were “obviously very unpleasant people” and had not shown any shame for their crimes.

“I don’t get the impression that either of them is particularly remorseful for what they did,” Nelson said at the time.

Vlassakis’ mother Elizabeth Harvey knew about the murders, and assisted one of them with Bunting’s encouragement. Wagner and Harvey, with Bunting present, strangled 26-year-old Ray Davies, who lived in a caravan in the backyard of fellow victim Suzanne Allen, who was Bunting’s ex-girlfriend.

Allen’s grandsons alleged Davies had made sexual advances towards them, which saw Davies and Allen’s sexual relationship come to an end, though the two remained friends. Harvey died from cancer in 2001.

Accomplice Mark Ray Haydon, 66, was released into the community last year after serving a 25-year sentence. He had been convicted for helping cover up the deaths of seven victims, though he was not found guilty of any of the murders. Haydon’s wife, 37-year-old Elizabeth Haydon, was killed by Bunting and Wagner in November 1998.

Elizabeth Haydon’s sister, Jodie Elliott, was engaged to Bunting, and pretended to be Allen to receive her social security income. Elliott’s 18-year-old son, Frederick Brooks, was tortured and killed by Vlassakis, Wagner and Bunting in September 1998. Brooks’ voice had been recorded on tape to help cover up his disappearance.

Officers remove items from a former bank building at Snowtown in May 1999.

What has been the reaction from the Snowtown victims’ families?

Quick said on Tuesday that the parole board’s decision to grant Vlassakis’ request would “understandably bring fresh pain and anger” for friends and family of the victims, who she said “have already suffered beyond measure”.

“These individuals are not only worn down by their trauma, but also by the ongoing criminal justice processes,” Quick said.

“The prospect of Mr Vlassakis re-entering the community is a difficult reality for the victims and will require a significant emotional adjustment, adding to an already unbearable burden.

“We must never forget that – for the friends, family and loved ones of murder victims – the impact of the killing does not end simply because a prison term has ended. It is something they live with every day for the rest of their lives.”

Nelson, meanwhile, said she was sure the victims’ loved ones would feel Vlassakis had been insufficiently punished, noting it’s “quite common for victims to feel that way, but that’s not our role”.

“Sentencing and punishment is a matter for a judge, not for a parole board, and the legislation prevents us from imposing our own view on sentence, so our role is simply to assess whether he fulfils the legislative criteria for parole,” Nelson said.

Ray Davies’ sister Karen Davies opposed Vlassakis’ release, saying, per 9News: “No. I don’t think he deserves to come out.

“I can’t see my brother again, so why is it fair for him to come out and live his life as if nothing’s happened?”

Ronald Lane, who is the nephew of victim Vanessa Lane (formerly Barry Lane), told the ABC in May that Vlassakis’ parole bid was a “slap in the face”.

“I really disagree with it, the matter of fact that he’s done a lot of murders,” Lane said shortly after Vlassakis’ release was publicly confirmed. “I find it very disturbing and very uncomfortable … I don’t think it’s going to be safe for everyone here.”

Lane also said he felt “shaken” when Haydon was released into the community in 2024, and does not feel safe going out in public as a result.

What happens now?

Nelson said on Tuesday that Vlassakis will be moved to a pre-release centre in Adelaide for up to 12 months “provided there is no request to review our decision”.

“There is a 60-day period which would enable either the attorney-general or the commissioner for victims’ rights or the police commissioner to apply for a review,” Nelson said.

She said Vlassakis has “family support” but “will need a period of reintegration and re-socialisation and that will take some time”.

A suppression order on images of Vlassakis, now in his mid-40s, remains in effect. Nelson said Vlassakis would need the chief of the Department of Correctional Services’ permission to change his name, of which she said: “I very much doubt he would get that permission.”

Vlassakis would be required to adhere to restrictions, including a curfew and geographic exclusion zone, and would be assisted with adjusting to modern life and put in contact with an employment agency. There would also be a condition that Vlassakis can’t contact any of the victims, not that Nelson thinks “for a moment that he would, but that does give them some reassurance”.

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