One Of Australias Strangest Cases - Rack Man
This True Crime Case Takes Place In Australia
In the 90’s a team of fishermen were out on a river near Sydney. When all of a sudden, they pulled something from the river that left the country of Australia disturbed and confused.
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This True Crime Case Takes Place In Australia
In the 90’s a team of fishermen were out on a river near Sydney. When all of a sudden, they pulled something from the river that left the country of Australia disturbed and confused.
Follow our telegram group to get the latest movie updates
https://t.me/seriestoponlineUSA
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Short filmTranscript
00:00If you don't subscribe to me, I'll come over and do it for you.
00:10This case takes place in Sydney, Australia in the 1990s.
00:15The story I'm about to tell you sounds like something out of a fictional crime story, but it's all true.
00:21It's a story known around Australia as the Mystery of the Rackman.
00:26On the 11th of August 1994, a local fisherman named Mark Peterson and his crew were out on their boat on the waters of the Hawkesbury River.
00:36This river is located just north of Sydney.
00:39The day, at least at the start, was normal.
00:43Around midday, the crew began pulling in the net, but they realised that the load appeared to be unusually heavy.
00:51The crew looked at each other, puzzled and intrigued as to what they managed to catch.
00:56Perhaps it would be a big payday.
00:59But this wasn't the case.
01:01The fishing net was not full of fish.
01:03It was something much heavier, and something that would haunt the crew for many years.
01:09As they hauled the catch on deck, they saw a large and rusted steel frame tangled in the net.
01:16This metal frame was about the size of a human being, and eerily shaped like a cross.
01:22The fishermen noticed black plastic garbage bags wrapped around parts of the makeshift cross.
01:27Of course, this would be enough to arouse suspicion.
01:30The crew inspected the cross further, and that's when they noticed what appeared to be human bone protruding from the torn plastic.
01:39They had pulled up a human body, or at least what was left of it, and it was tied to that steel frame resembling a crucifix.
01:48As you can imagine, the shock and dread that fell over the boat consumed the crew along with Mark Peterson.
01:55This is quite possibly the most haunting thing one could expect to pull from a body of water.
02:01Upon realising the gravity of the situation, Mark Peterson went over to his radio,
02:06and began radioing in for some assistance from the authorities in the area.
02:10He explained that he and his men had pulled up a human body from the river.
02:16Officers were quickly dispatched to the location.
02:19The Broken Bay Water police examined the scene, and confirmed the worst.
02:24Right away, they could tell that what they had found were human remains.
02:28They escorted the fishing boat along with the metal crucifix to a safer location,
02:34where the authorities carefully examined the finding.
02:37The plastic bags were removed, and inside they found the human corpse.
02:42The body was badly decomposed after a prolonged amount of time under the water.
02:47The way the body was secured to the metal rack was clearly deliberate, almost like some underwater crucifixion.
02:55And with this, a murder investigation began.
02:58Detectives began the task of trying to identify the victim, and to figure out exactly what had happened.
03:05The unknown victim quickly earned the nickname, Rack Man in the media, due to the bizarre steel rack that he was strapped to.
03:13So, who was this man? How did he end up bound to a metal cross and sunk in a river? How long was he there for? Who did this?
03:22These questions would haunt investigators for years.
03:25First, the forensic team gathered as many clues as possible from the body and the makeshift crucifix.
03:31Due to being under the water for a period of time, there was limited information.
03:36But they were able to determine that the victim was a male, that he had likely been in the water for months, perhaps close to a year.
03:43The metal frame was custom-built for this purpose, and matched the size of the man's body almost perfectly.
03:50The crucifix was also extremely heavy, far too heavy for one person to easily lift and toss overboard,
03:57which implied that there was more than one suspect, and that whoever had done this might have had some help,
04:04or potentially used equipment to get the weighted body into the river.
04:08The frame of the cross was welded metal bars, with wires and robes tightly tying the victim's wrists, torso, and neck to it.
04:16And it had been made by someone who had experience in welding.
04:20The identification of the victim became increasingly difficult.
04:24There were no usable fingerprints. His face and skin were long gone, reduced to just skull and bones.
04:31But the forensics team were able to reveal some physical characteristics.
04:35Some hair was found inside the plastic bags.
04:39They estimated that he was 5'3", or around 160cm.
04:44He was around his early twenties, or mid-forties.
04:47He had dark hair, and his teeth were mostly intact, with no fillings, apart from one missing molar, which had been removed years earlier.
04:56He wasn't carrying a wallet or any form of identification on his body.
05:01It seemed that the killer had made sure that there was no easy hints to the man's identity.
05:07The pathologist determined that the cause of death was likely severe blunt force trauma to the head.
05:13Someone had used a heavy object to repeatedly smash this man's head in with enough force to cause serious damage to his skull and brain.
05:21It couldn't be determined for sure if he was tied to the frame before or after he was killed, or whether or not he had gone into the water alive.
05:31But either way, this was a brutal death.
05:34It seemed, at least to the investigators, that this wasn't just about a killing.
05:39It was about making a victim disappear without a trace.
05:43The killers likely suspected that the body would go unnoticed for longer.
05:47Or maybe, they were sending some kind of message.
05:50News of this disturbing case spread quickly, likely due to the nature of the crime.
05:56The police acquired help to try and figure out just who Rachman was.
06:00This was 1994 however, so forensic DNA analysis was limited, and Australia's DNA database was also somewhat primitive.
06:09The police turned to other forensic methods in hopes of catching the killer or killers.
06:15They had a forensic artist create a facial reconstruction of the victim, sculpting a face onto a replica of his skull to show what he might have looked like.
06:25The recreation of the man's face was shared widely, newspapers ran headlines, and TV anchors spoke of the horror uncovered in the river.
06:35They hoped that someone, somewhere, would recognize the face.
06:40The Australian public were captivated and horrified by the tale of the unknown Rachman.
06:45People spoke amongst each other, and came up with all kinds of wild theories as to what could have happened to him.
06:52The case was wrapped up in so much mystery, that it intrigued so many people.
06:57Some people speculated that the crucifix steel frame suggested a religiously motivated murder, or maybe, a cult murder.
07:06But this theory was dismissed, as the police claimed they found no supporting evidence of this to be true.
07:12And then, there was the gangland theory.
07:15The way the murder was carried out, led detectives to believe that this was a professional hit carried out by the criminal underworld.
07:22At the time, Sydney, along with the other large cities in Australia, had a brutal underworld, where murder was common.
07:30Some believed that the Rachman was involved in some kind of informant role, and maybe he was caught.
07:37Or maybe he was someone who upset a powerful mob boss, and that this was a warning.
07:43Tips and leads flooded in, as people tried their best to solve the case.
07:48The case then gained even more attention, as the New South Wales government even posted a $100,000 reward for any information that would lead to the capture of the victim's killer.
08:00Over the years that followed, a few names emerged as potential matches.
08:04One early lead was a man named Joe Biviano, a convicted drug dealer who had disappeared from the Sydney area in 1993.
08:13Joe fit the description, he was around the same height and age, and he had criminal ties.
08:18However, DNA from his family didn't match the remains, so he was ruled out.
08:24Another possible identity was Peter Mitris.
08:27Peter was a Greek-Australian businessman who disappeared.
08:31It was rumoured at the time that he had been murdered by a criminal organisation, and was dumped at sea.
08:38However, when the police looked into this, they found that Peter was much taller than the unknown victim,
08:43and his dental records didn't match up, so again he was ruled out.
08:48Then, the police turned their attention to Christopher Flannery, otherwise known as Mr. Rentakill.
08:55As the name goes, he was a notorious hitman who seemingly disappeared without a trace in 1985.
09:03Some Aussies who were around at the time may have even heard of him.
09:07At one point, he was a potential match for the Rackman.
09:11Christopher was an infamous criminal in the Sydney underworld, and was responsible for many disappearances.
09:18Meaning there were many people who would have wanted revenge against him, but he was eventually ruled out too.
09:25There were other potential people who the police believed Rackman could be.
09:29These leads were investigated, but one by one, these possibilities were ruled out.
09:35Over time, the case that once gripped the country fell into obscurity.
09:40People forgot, and just moved on with their lives.
09:43He became just another unsolved case, like many, many other victims.
09:49By the early 2000s, the case had gone completely cold. Or at least, so it seemed.
09:56For nearly 24 years, the Rackman remained unidentified.
10:00The remains of the mysterious man sat in a police evidence storage unit, without a real name, referred to as the eerie nickname he was given by the media who covered the story.
10:11Meaning that, tragically, his killers evaded justice.
10:15But then, finally, in 2018, revolutionary technology was created.
10:21Advances in DNA profiling and forensics gave the police the opportunity they had long waited for.
10:28They once again looked at the remains of Rackman, which had been preserved for all this time.
10:33More DNA tests were conducted, and in August of 2018, there was an announcement.
10:39The New South Wales police had a major breakthrough.
10:42At last, they had identified the Rackman.
10:46The victim's name was Max Tanchewski.
10:49Max was 37 years old at the time of his death, and he had once lived in the suburb of Newtown in Sydney.
10:56Max had actually been on the police's list of possible matches back in the 90s.
11:01But earlier DNA tests were inconclusive, and for the most part, he was ruled out.
11:07But now, there was no doubt.
11:09Rackman was Max.
11:11By all accounts, or as far as the police can tell, Max wasn't a criminal or some kind of gangster.
11:17He was just an ordinary guy.
11:20However, there was one thing.
11:22He did have a huge issue with gambling.
11:25Friends and family who knew Max said that he was a man who loved to gamble.
11:30To the point that his love for gambling was becoming a problem.
11:34He would carry large amounts of cash with him, and sometimes disappear for days on end.
11:39During these disappearances, he would go off on gambling sprees.
11:43He would usually eventually come back home to Sydney.
11:46He was known to do this somewhat frequently, and when he would disappear, his friends and family would worry, but not too much.
11:53But it was in January of 1993 that Max went on a gambling trip and went missing for good.
12:00He was reported missing, but of course nothing ever came of it.
12:04When he went missing, he had withdrawn around 1,800 Aussie dollars in cash, which is around 4,000 in today's money, and said goodbye to his girlfriend in Newtown on the 11th of January.
12:17It is believed that he was to head north to the Gold Coast, which was his usual gambling location.
12:23But he never arrived.
12:25As far as I can tell, there were never any known issues in the past when he would go off on these trips.
12:31Whatever happened to Max likely happened very shortly after he left his home in Newtown.
12:37His body turned up in the Hawkesbury River, which is still in the Sydney region.
12:43This river is located hundreds of kilometres south of the Gold Coast.
12:48Investigators believe that Max never made it to his destination, and that instead, he was attacked somewhere around Sydney, where he met a gruesome end.
12:59Max's family found some closure to at least know what became of him, but not too much, as they still want to find those responsible.
13:09Discovering his identity also refocused the investigation onto the question that had always loomed.
13:16Who killed Max, the Rackman, and why did they do it?
13:20Naturally, some more theories have been created and contemplated over the years since he was identified.
13:26Who killed Max, and what was their motives?
13:29Of course, people went right to what you're likely thinking right now. Gambling.
13:35The most widely held theory is that Max pissed off the wrong people with gambling debt.
13:40That he couldn't repay a loan shark, or to some criminal organisation.
13:44They believe that whoever did this thought that killing him and disposing of his body in such a weirdly cruel way would have sent a message to others.
13:53An organised crime gang would have the resources to do this kind of thing, and they would have a motive to send a message.
14:00If other people owed this organisation money, they probably would have paid up quickly after hearing the news.
14:06But no specific mafia group or gang has ever been directly tied to Max's murder.
14:12If it was a mob killing, the perpetrators have kept the gruesome murderer secret well for all of these years.
14:18But it's possible, and highly likely, that someone would have said something at some point.
14:24The case is incredibly unique, and a lot of people have a hard time not bragging about such crimes.
14:31Yet nothing has been heard.
14:33And if the idea was to send a message, why would they dispose him in such a way?
14:37Surely they would want him to have been found.
14:40But clearly, they didn't.
14:42Or maybe he was tied to the metal cross and threatened by a mob who he owed money to,
14:47and then they accidentally killed him.
14:50Which is why they disposed of his body in such a way.
14:53This is still just a theory.
14:56Another theory is a personal motive.
14:58The way in which he was killed certainly would be perceived as personal.
15:02Perhaps there was an unknown love triangle, an unknown affair, or some kind of serious betrayal.
15:09However, murdering someone and then sticking them to a welded custom frame to dispose of the body
15:15is not typical of a crime of passion, and would certainly be seen as overkill.
15:21That being said, if he did cross the wrong person,
15:24then someone could be more than capable of doing such a thing over something like an affair.
15:29This theory is considered to be plausible.
15:31And if it was personal, the person had to plan it out meticulously and get the help of other people.
15:37Meaning that someone, somewhere, would know something.
15:41As of right now, investigators haven't publicly identified any friend or associate of Max who stood out as having a strong motive.
15:49But the police are keeping this open as a line of inquiry.
15:53It's possible that Max led a double life.
15:55But as of yet, nothing is known.
15:58Another theory is that Max might have just come across a twisted serial killer who wanted to kill someone at random in a strange and disturbing way.
16:08Someone who had nothing to do with his gambling or personal life, but just wanted to kill someone at random,
16:14and that Max just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
16:18These things do indeed happen from time to time.
16:21However, this theory is not the leading one, as no similar cases have ever been connected.
16:27And typically, serial killers have a unique method of killing,
16:31like how Jeffrey Dahmer's killings had a similar style and followed a similar pattern.
16:36If this was indeed the work of a serial killer, then surely the police would have come across a similar style of murder.
16:43But then again, if it wasn't for that fishing net, the Rackman may never have been found.
16:49So it's possible that this potential serial killer is extremely good at hiding their crimes.
16:55And maybe there are more missing people tied to metal at the bottom of Aussie rivers.
17:01And of course, a popular theory that still lingers is the cult theory.
17:06Some people pointed to cults operating in Australia at the time, like the Family, or the Order of St. Charbel.
17:15However, it's said that there is no real evidence to support this,
17:19and this just remains a fringe theory that the police are not taking too seriously.
17:24The case of the Rackman has faced some serious criticism,
17:28and led to speculation that the police didn't solve the murder intentionally, and that they helped to cover it up.
17:35Some people think this because the metal frame was custom made, meaning that it likely came from a workshop or an industrial site.
17:44But the police never identified where it came from, or who built it.
17:48Some people have speculated that a deeper forensic analysis of the steel could have led to a suspect, but no such link was made public.
17:56The police also faced criticism for another reason.
18:00The net that caught the Rackman was dragging the river for fish, suggesting that other bodies could be hidden in the same way.
18:07Despite this clearly being a possibility, no large-scale search was ever conducted by the authorities.
18:14Max also had plenty of friends and family, but not a single person had answers on his last movements,
18:21leading to speculation that witnesses may have been intimidated into silence.
18:26And finally, his remains were unidentified until 2018, yet there was DNA technology in the early 2000s that could have identified him.
18:36This is despite the authorities having his name in their missing persons database, and with Max also being a person of interest as to the identity of Rackman.
18:45Yet allegedly, this was never carried out properly, and if it was, it could have been solved much sooner.
18:52This also fuelled speculation that the police covered it up.
18:56The mysterious case of the Rackman is just beyond strange, and it remains as one of Australia's biggest mysteries,
19:04although now it seems to have been somewhat forgotten.
19:08I myself was rather surprised that I had never come across it before, and I do research a lot of Australian cases.
19:15The Rackman now has a face, but there are no suspects, no motives, no witnesses, nothing.
19:22Who went through all of this trouble to kill him in this way, and what were they trying to achieve?
19:28It is a case that will likely make no real sense until the killer or killers are found.
19:34But sadly, the case of the Rackman will likely remain a mystery forever.
19:39The Rackman will likely remain a mystery forever.