Tracey Wigginton

Tracey Wigginton (born 1965), known as the "Lesbian Vampire Killer", is an Australian murderer who achieved notoriety for killing Edward Baldock in 1989, supposedly to drink his blood. This was described as "one of the most brutal and bizarre crimes Australia has ever seen".^[1]

Victim

Edward Baldock (47) was a council worker, and father of four, walking home after drinking with friends.

Murder

On the night of the murder, Wigginton (then aged 25), Lisa Ptaschinski (aged 24) and two other women, Kim Jervis (aged 23) and Tracy Waugh (aged 23), drove up to Baldock in their car, and led him to a park on the banks of the Brisbane River. There, Wigginton stabbed him 27 times, nearly severing his head.^[2] A few days after the murder, Wigginton told police that she ‘felt nothing’ while stabbing Baldock and that she sat down to smoke a cigarette while she watched him die.^[3]

Wigginton was the only one of the four co-accused who pleaded guilty to the charge of murder. Therefore, there was no trial and few details were disclosed to the court as to why this incident occurred by Wigginton; Ptaschinski (her then-girlfriend), Jervis, and Waugh stated that Wigginton had claimed to have vampiric tendencies. They said that the reason for the murder was to enable the drinking of the man's blood.^[4]

Verdict

In 1991 the jury convicted Wigginton of murder and she was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court of Queensland with a minimum of 13 years. Ptaschinski was also convicted of murder and Jervis of manslaughter. Waugh was cleared.

Aftermath

In 2006 Wigginton assaulted a fellow inmate and a prison guard.^[5] She made four unsuccessful parole applications until 2011 when the parole board granted her application.^[6]

The case still commands strong media interest and public reaction. In April 2008 it has been reported that Lisa Ptaschinski, one of the other killers, would be released from prison after nearly 22 years. Under the resettlement leave program, Ptaschinski would be given a maximum of 12 hours leave every two months for six months.^[7] However, it was later reported that the earlier reports of possible release were false.^[8]

Wigginton was released from prison on January 11, 2012 after a successful parole bid.^[9] This was Wigginton's second parole application.

References

External links