Joseph Schwab

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Joseph Schwab
Birth name:	Joseph Schwab
Died:	1987
Cause of death:	Shot to death by WA Tactical Response team
Killings
Number of victims:	5
Span of killings:	June, 1987 through July 22, 1987
Country:	Australia
State(s):	Western Australia and Northern Territory

Joseph Schwab was a German serial killer who murdered five tourists across the Northern Territory and Western Australia in 1987.

1 Background
2 Killings
3 Identity
4 Television series
5 References

[edit] Background

He murdered five people who included a father and son, a newly engaged couple and their friend.^[1] The killer was referred to in the press as the Kimberley Killer, after the region in which he committed the murders.

[edit] Killings

The gunman’s first victims were a father and son, who were shot dead while scouting for a fishing location on the banks of the isolated Victoria River in the Northern Territory.^[2] Roadblocks were set up but Schwab eluded police and escaped across the border into WA.

Far from being an isolated incident, days later three more tourists were gunned down in Kununurra in the far Northwest. The breakthrough came when an outback helicopter pilot spotted a camouflaged vehicle in bushland near Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region, where the townsfolk were preparing for the annual rodeo. As police approached the hidden vehicle, a gunman with an automatic weapon emerged firing at the police team.^[3]

[edit] Identity

The gunman was killed by a WA Police Tactical Response team, and later identified as Joseph Schwab, a German tourist. His motive for the random killings remains a mystery.

[edit] Television series

The first episode of a Channel 9 show, Crime Investigation Australia, hosted by Steve Liebmann, detailed the Kimberley Killer. Several police officers who were involved in the investigation were interviewed for the show. This show was broadcast on September 11, 2007.^[4]