Raymond EDMUNDS

AKA "Mr. Stinky" - "Dovale Rapist"

Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Serial rapist (100 +) - Paedophile
Number of victims: 2 +
Date of murders: February 10, 1966
Date of arrest: March 16, 1985
Date of birth: March 14, 1944
Victims profile: Garry Heywood, 18, and Abina Margaret Madill, 16
Method of murder: Shooting (.22 Mossberg self-loading rifle) - Bludgeoned to death
Location: Victoria, Australia
Status: Sentenced to life in prison

Name: Raymond Edmunds

Age: 64

State: VIC

Sentence: Edmunds is serving a life sentence for the 1966 murders of 2 Shepparton teenagers; also serving a 30yr term with a minimum of 16yrs and 8 months for a series of rapes and attempted rapes. In Oct 1998, was given another 10yrs jail for sexually abusing a young girl, from the age of 4yrs.

Offence/Other: Killer/Rapist/Paedophile. Called "Mr Stinky" because of his body odour.

Raymond Edmunds (aka Donvale Rapist, Mr. Stinky) was a multiple rapist and double murderer active in Victoria, Australia from the 1960s to the mid-1980s.

His offensive body odour led a sub-editor from Melbourne's Sunday Press newspaper to give him his infamous nickname Mr Stinky. He is responsible for the 1966 double murder of Shepparton teenagers Garry Heywood and Abina Madill.

A violent man who had raped and beaten his first wife and sexually abused his daughter, Edmunds was responsible for a series of rapes in the 1970's and early 80's that led the police to dub the then unknown offender "The Donvale Rapist".

Edmunds was also a suspect in the 1976 disappearance and presumed murder of Beaumaris 8-year old Eloise Worledge.

The police finally caught up with him when a young fingerprint expert matched a fingerprint found in a car connected with the Shepparton murders with one found at one of the "Donvale Rapist" crime scenes. Edmunds was subsequently apprehended for an unconnected offence in Albury, New South Wales.

Under New South Wales law, every offender must be fingerprinted, and both sets of fingerprints were matched. Edmunds is now serving life imprisonment.

The case of Edmunds has been used to advocate national biometric databases for Australia, as he was only caught by fingerprint evidence twenty years after the fact.

Raymond Edmunds, aka Donvale Rapist, Mr. Stinky, born 12 March 1944 at Queen Victoria Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, is a convicted rapist and double murderer who was active in Victoria, Australia from the 1960s to the mid-1980s.

Edmunds was dubbed "Mr Stinky" by a sub-editor from Melbourne's Sunday Press newspaper due to his offensive body odour which was believed to have been caused by a mixture of milk, manure and chemicals from his work as a share-cropping farmer on dairy properties.

Edmunds was convicted of the 1966 double murder and rape of 18-year-old panel beater Garry Charles Heywood and 16-year-old Abina Margaret Madill on 10 February 1966 at Shepparton, Victoria. Heywood was shot through the head with a .22 Mossberg self-loading rifle and Madill was raped and then bludgeoned to death.

Edmunds had allegedly previously raped and beaten his first wife and sexually abused his three-year-old daughter. Edmunds was also convicted of a series of rapes in the 1970s and early 80s that led the police to dub the then-unknown offender, "The Donvale Rapist".

Sergeant Andrew Wall, a Victoria Police fingerprint expert, matched two fingerprints found on the top of the FJ Holden motorcar owned by Heywood. This occurred before computerised processing of fingerprints was developed and fingerprint matching had to be done manually. The fingerprint evidence was deliberately kept quiet so as not to panic the offender or help him become more adept at hiding his prints. These fingerprints connected the Shepparton murders with one fingerprint found at the "Donvale Rapist" crime scene.

On 16 March 1985, Edmunds was arrested on unrelated charges of indecent exposure while parked in his station wagon in Albury, New South Wales. After his arrest, Edmunds was fingerprinted and the prints were matched with those found at the Shepparton crime scene. He was convicted and is now serving two life sentences with no minimum term for the murders and a total of 30 years for five rape convictions in Greensborough and Donvale.

It has been alleged that Edmunds committed other murders and more than 32 rapes, however, he has maintained his innocence. Police are seeking to utilise new legislation that allows them to compel convicted prisoners to provide a blood sample for DNA testing.

Admit Your Evil Deeds

Geoff Wilkinson - Herald Sun

July 27, 1998

A woman raped by convicted killer Raymond "Mr Stinky" Edmunds yesterday begged him to confess all his evil crimes.

The woman challenged the serial rapist to show he had "some sort of a soul and a conscience" by admitting his guilt and ending the suffering of other victims.

"If he's got any kind of conscience he could help ease the grief of so many families by telling what he knows," she said.

The woman is convinced Edmunds could have raped more than 100 women before he was finally arrested in 1985.

The Herald Sun revealed last Friday that Edmunds is being investigated for the brutal murder of Melbourne mother Elaine Jones, at Tocumwal in 1980.

New South Wales homicide squad detectives reopened the investigation after receiving new information linking Edmunds to the killing.

Edmunds, 54, is serving a life sentence with no minimum term for the murders of Shepparton teenagers Abina Madill and Garry Heywood in 1966.

But the woman believes Edmunds is responsible for many more crimes, including other murders.

A lot of his rape victims only came forward after he was arrested and we set up support groups," she said.

"Many of his victims felt ignored by the system because no charges were ever laid.

I'm convinced he did other murders, I honestly believe his murder victims could be in double figures.

"But he's got nothing to lose by telling what he knows, because he can't get a longer sentence. I'd plead with him to tell the police and clear up a lot of this stuff.

"It's not going to bring people back, but it could end the pain and agony for a lot of people," she said.

The woman said she hoped Edmunds' guilty plea last week to carnal knowledge charges indicated he might be finally feeling some remorse.

"He originally pleaded not guilty to my rape, but apparently changed his mind because he didn't want people to think he was a monster if the circumstances came out in court," she said.

Ms McDonald was threatened and raped by Edmunds in front of her five-year-old son.

Edmunds, 54, is suspected of at least 30 rapes in Melbourne's north-eastern, eastern and south-eastern suburbs during the 1970s and early 1880s.

He was convicted of three rapes and two attempted rapes. But limits on police detention time under legislation at the time of his arrest meant he was never questioned about many other offences.

A court order will soon be sought under new legislation, which can compel serving prisoners to provide a blood sample for DNA testing.

Police hope a DNA com- parison will link Edmunds to some of the unsolved rapes and other crimes.