Snowtown killer James Vlassakis has been granted parole after serving 26 years in prison.
Vlassakis was jailed for life after admitting to four murders but has been granted parole at the earliest possible opportunity.
At his sentencing, he was given the chance to apply for parole after serving 26 years because he had helped authorities and became a key prosecution witness.
The decision was announced on Tuesday August 5 by the South Australian Parole Board, but there will now be a 60-day period where the SA attorney-general, the Commissioner for Victims’ Rights and the police commissioner could ask that the decision be reviewed.
The board said it had found Vlassakis, the youngest of the three men convicted of murder in connection to the Snowtown cases, to be ‘genuinely remorseful.’
Ronald Lane, nephew of Snowtown victim Barry Lane, who was also known as Vanessa, said he was angered by the decision.
He told ABC News, ‘I’m feeling absolutely disgusted – I’m mad and upset about the whole thing.’
He added the move felt like a ‘kick in the face.’
What were the Snowtown murders?
In May 1999 police in Snowtown, South Australia, made a gruesome discovery.
Inside a disused bank vault, they uncovered eight human bodies decaying in barrels of acid.
The horrific scene was the work of John Bunting, Robert Wagner, James Vlassakis (Bunting’s stepson) and Mark Haydon who between late 1992 to May 1999 preyed on friends and family, and people Bunting believed, or imagined, to be gay or sex offenders.
Others were killed because of Bunting’s prejudicial hatred of overweight people and those who took drugs.
The case dubbed the men Australia’s prolific serial killers.
Bunting, then 37 and a former abattoir worker, Wagner, 31, and Vlassakis, 23, tortured their victims, cut their bodies into pieces and kept them in barrels of hydrochloric acid.
Other victims were buried. Haydon, 41, helped cover up the crimes.
Detective Steve McCoy was a key witness at the $15 million Snowtown trial.
‘The stench was unbearable,’ he recalled in court.
‘It was putrid. It permeated your hair, clothing, everything. It was horrific,’ he added.
Bunting is serving life without parole. Wagner was given 10 life sentences, and Vlassakis was jailed for 26 years. Haydon received a 25-year sentence.
Now, Vlassakis, who was 19 at the time of the murders, could be freed this month following a parole application.
It comes after Haydon’s release in 2024 after serving 25 years in prison.
His 26-year non-parole period expired in August 2025 and, according to authorities, Vlassakis’ good behaviour in prison had already seen him transferred to a low-security prison.
For loved ones of the victims it’s tough news to take. Ronald Lane, the nephew of Barry Lane (also known as Vanessa), who was killed by the men, told the ABC ahead of the decision that the parole bid was a ‘slap in the face’.
‘I find it very disturbing and very uncomfortable,’ he said.
‘If I had it my way none of them should ever be released, they should rot in there until they die.’
If his parole is granted, the killer will not be immediately released. The police commissioner, attorney-general and victims’ rights commissioner have a 60-day period to launch a review.
A timeline of the case
1992-1997: Snowtown murders begin
- August 1992 – Clinton Trezise, 22, is killed. He is believed to be the first victim. His body was found in 1994 in a shallow grave near Lower Light, SA.
- December 1995 – Ray Davies, 26, an intellectually disabled man, is killed. His body is buried in a backyard.
- September 1997 – Michael Gardiner, 19, another intellectually disabled man, is murdered.
- October 1997 – Barry Lane, 42, is killed. He was associated with Bunting.
- Late 1997 – Thomas Trevilyan, 18, is found hanged. Police initially consider it suicide.
1998-1999: The Snowtown connection
- April 1998 – Gavin Porter, 29, is killed by John Bunting and others.
- August 1998 – Troy Youde, half-brother of James Vlassakis, is murdered.
- September 1998 – Frederick Brooks is tortured and murdered.
- October 1998 – Gary O’Dwyer, a man with disabilities, is murdered.
- November 1998 – Elizabeth Haydon disappears. Sister of victim Mark Haydon.
- May 1999 – David Johnson is lured to Snowtown and murdered.
- May 1999 – Suzanne Allen is found buried at Bunting’s house. Her body has been dismembered. Murder charges were later dropped, as Bunting and Wagner said she had died of a heart attack.
- May 20, 1999 – Police discover eight dismembered bodies in plastic barrels in an unused bank vault in Snowtown. They are discovered to be Michael Gardiner, Barry Lane, Gavin Porter, Troy Youde, Frederick Brooks, Gary O’Dwyer, Elizabeth Haydon, and David Johnson.
May and June 1999: Arrests
- May and June 1999 – Four men are arrested: Abattoir worker John Bunting, later found to be the ringleader, Robert Wagner, who participated in several murders, teenager James Vlassakis, an accomplice who became a witness, and Mark Haydon, who assisted in body disposal and fraud,
- 2001–2003 – Pre-trial hearings. Suppression orders limit public knowledge. Vlassakis agrees to testify in exchange for a reduced sentence.
- 2003 – Bunting and Wagner trial begins, lasts 11 months—at the time, the longest trial in Australian history.
- September 2003 – Vlassakis pleads guilty to four murders. Receives four life sentences with 26-year non-parole period.
- September 2003 – Mark Ray Haydon is found not guilty of murder, but convicted for assisting with disposal of bodies and fraud.
- December 2003 – John Justin Bunting is convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to 11 consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole. Robert Joe Wagner is convicted of ten murders, having plead guilty to three of those. He is sentenced to ten life sentences, with no chance of parole.
- February 2024 – Mark Haydon is granted parole, with his behaviour behind bars described as ‘excellent.’ He was a free man in May 2024.
- August 2025 – James Vlassakis is granted parole after 26 years in prison. Authorities have 60 days to appeal his release.
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