Australia seems so fun-loving to Americans, but it was home to the murderers that inspired the Wolf Creek franchise as well as the serial killer who stalked the nightclubs of Perth’s swanky Claremont suburb. Catching that killer required a long, drawn-out investigation—a full twenty-five years. Mistakes were definitely made, but that is where much of the drama comes from in the two-part The Claremont Murders, which premieres tomorrow on Acorn TV.
The case started with the disappearance of Sarah Spiers and intensified with the disappearance of Jane Rimmer. It became a three-alarm media fire when Ciara Glennon was also killed. The bodies of Rimmer and Glennon were soon discovered, but, tragically, Spiers’ has yet to be recovered. However, Don and Carol Spiers savvily channeled their grief and desperation into media outreach, especially with Alison Fan, an anchor for Australia’s Channel 7, who maybe not coincidentally produced The Claremont Murders.
It was all hand on deck for the Western Australia Police, so Det. Gavin Wyatt and Det. Bobbi McAllister were temporarily assigned to the investigation. McAllister rightly suspects a cold rape case might be a precursor crime, but the senior officers are skeptical (and dismissive). Instead, they focus on Lance Williams, a socially awkward man with a record of mental health issues, who was in the habit of cruising or “patrolling” the Claremont area. Ironically, McAllister helps bring Williams in as part of an undercover sting operation, but even after a solid decade of surveillance, no evidence connects Williams to the murders.
Roughly twenty years later, McAllister has moved on and left the force, but Wyatt remains haunted by the Claremont killings. In fact, he talks his way onto a small team trying to reopen the old case. Unlike the previous investigation, his new colleagues are well-versed in forensic science. Although he has trouble letting go of Williams as their prime suspect, they soon convince him to focus on a new suspect, who previously avoided attention through a combination of bad luck and bureaucratic incompetence.
Screenwriters Justin Monjo and Michaeley O’Brien take a just-the-facts approach, mostly focusing on the step-by-step progress of the investigation, relegating the detectives’ private lives to the far margins. Most of the personal drama is reserved for the grieving Spiers, portrayed with dignity and restraint by Erik Thomson and Kate Ritchie. It is impossible to not feel for them, acutely.
Given its honesty and respectfulness, The Claremont Murders is not a lot of fun, but given its subject matter, it probably shouldn’t be. It is a gripping story that will only make viewers even less inclined to like lawyers and non-profit administrators (who helped sweep one of the perpetrator’s violent assaults under the rug). Recommended for true crime fans, The Claremont Murders starts streaming tomorrow (1/29) on Acorn TV.
