Hi everyone first time poster, long time lurker. I must say, as far as internet forums go, you should all be congratulated for the quality of discussion here; especially in light of the sensitivities to victims and the legal issues.
I was right in the middle of this in the 90s and like most people who were, its hard to drive past the corner of Bayview terrace and Stirling Hwy without thinking about those girls and their families.
Things have no-doubt changed since those days but I can remember the mini eras within the era where a certain pub would enjoy its time as the in place. There was the Brewery Ale House, Steves in Nedlands (for the Sunday sesh), The Seaview in Freo, The OBH and then The Cott these were some that I remember as being hot for a while and then going cold for whatever reason. I think the population of prospective punters in the Western and inner city suburbs was smaller than now and they tended to rove and cluster en masse. The crew in the Northern suburbs, south of the river and up in the hills seemed to be doing the same migratory pattern within their own areas.
The Conti, for an 18-24 month period, was most definitely the place to be. A mate and I went there what seemed like every Saturday night during that period because, of course, its where the girls were. He met his wife there and I met a lady or two. Ive read the theories about girls from these neighborhoods being more sheltered and naive and that doesnt gel 100% with my experience; although I did sense that they were more open and perhaps had less defences to starting a conversation with someone they didnt know it was a kind of confidence. I grew up in the bush and wasnt part of their little private school club by any means yet had less problems initiating conversations there than I would have somewhere in the outer suburbs. But all-in-all it was less of a meat-market environment than most pubs and nightclubs Id experienced.
The spooky thing for me, looking back, is how much I fit the profile. I was mostly single, drove a white car, about 184cm tall, solid build and with black hair. (Ive looked at the footage of MM and peered closely at the stills and am almost certain its not me
almost, which shows how crap the footage is if I cant be 100% about the back of my own scone) I dont recall meeting any of the victims, although CG has a very familiar face to me. I never crossed paths with the police so maybe I wasnt at the venue on the nights the girls went missing or perhaps my DNA was picked up in the fake breathalysers and I was excluded that way, who knows?
The scene seemed to come to a screeching halt after CG went missing. Up until then the disappearance of the first two girls didnt seem to alter peoples behavior too much. But I can remember going there after the last abduction and it felt like a ghost town.
Sorry if that reads like a ramble that adds nothing to the sleuthing but I figured some might like a more detailed background picture of the era.
I do have something to speculate on though. It relates to why the CSK appeared to stop. It seems that phone booths, in one way or another, were part of his MO. In the mid-late 90s everyone got mobile phones. So the need to go the phone booth to get a taxi would have declined sharply.
The other thing that strikes me from that era, was that there was one in every group. Every different group of friends I knew had this one guy, who was a bit creepy etc that we had our doubts about. We had one on the periphery of our group - just a bit off in the way he related to and talked about women. Assuming WAPOL are on the money this time, Im thankful it wasnt him.
