Australian authorities have announced the death of the famous Australian serial killer Ivan Millat, who killed seven European travelers in the early 1990s, after suffering from cancer.
The New South Wales Correctional Service statement said that Melat, 74, died in the medical ward of Long Bay Prison.
Mellat was diagnosed with esophageal and stomach cancer in May and has since undergone chemotherapy. He was transferred from Goulburn Supermax prison where he was held in solitary confinement for treatment.
The former road worker was convicted and sentenced to seven consecutive life terms in 1996 for the murder of three Germans, two Britons and two Australian travelers after he was offered to drive them by autostop.
The bodies of severely mutilated young travelers were found in makeshift graves in the Pelangelo Forest, 152 kilometers south of Sydney, in the early 1990s, where deaths occurred between 1989 and 1992.
Two victims were shot in the head several times, and one of the victims was beheaded. Court documents also showed that six of the victims were "sexually abused, either before or after death."
Speaking to local media, New South Wales Reform Minister Anthony Roberts said: "He can rot in hell." He showed no regrets. He was sentenced to remain in prison for life. He was executed and died in prison. ''
Mellat was arrested in May 1994 after a British traveler fled an attempt to kidnap him in January 1990, who informed police. Millat did not confess to his crimes.
Milat's death leaves many other disappearances unresolved, with investigators predicting that Milat is linked to more murders in the area.
Former NSW investigator Clive Small, who led the team that arrested Mellat in the past, said Mellat was suspected of having committed at least three more murders. The bodies were found in three other forests, in addition to possible rape.
"A lot of people will be very satisfied with the current result and they will be happy to end it," Small said in an interview with Australian Channel 9 television after news of Melat's death.