Claremont serial killings: Locals react to case developments
Updated
Locals at the Claremont Hotel, the bar where two of the Claremont serial killer's victims were last been seen on the nights they vanished in the 1990s, spoke to ABC reporter Eliza Borrello about hearing the news of a man's arrest in connection to the murdered women.
The 48-year-old man has since been charged with the murders of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon.
Bret Christian, the editor of The Post, the suburban newspaper which covers the Claremont area, said when he heard the news police had picked someone up "a shiver went down my spine".
"As it did everybody else I've spoken to ... people have had a physical reaction to it," he said.
He said the murders captivated and horrified Perth.
"They happened in I guess a quiet suburban shopping centre, which had a couple of entertainment places," Christian said.
"And they were places where the victims had been with their mums shopping, and they felt safe."
John, a local having a drink at the Claremont Hotel, said every time he visited the pub he could not help but think about the three women.
"I just thought [when I heard the news] ... complete amazement, and then I thought that's a wonderful thing if they have caught someone."
Marissa Goodwin, now 29-years-old, was a young girl when the three murders virtually paralysed Perth.
"Knowing that they left from essentially this corner, or this area, it does, it does give you goosebumps," she said.
As an indication of just how ingrained the story has become in the city's psyche, Ms Goodwin knows the publicly released facts to the letter.
She said she hoped that the arrest would lead to some closure for the victims' families.
"Especially for Sarah Spiers family, if he could tell them where she is," Ms Goodwin said.
The three women disappeared from upmarket Claremont in Perth's leafy western suburbs between January 1996 and March 1997.
Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, crime, police, missing-person, community-and-society, law-crime-and-justice, claremont-6010, wa, australia
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