Serial killer from Australia lived secretly in a zoo for 7 years, stealing fruit from animals

In Australia, the book The Counter ("Contractor"), written by zookeeper Mark Abernethy (Mark Abernethy), has been published. It tells about the attempts to catch serial killer Malcolm Naden (Malcolm Naden), who has been hiding for seven years on the territory of a huge nature reserve in the Australian state of New South Wales.

Australian cattle rancher Malcolm Naden was arrested in the early noughties, he was threatened with life imprisonment.

Naden was charged with the murder of his cousin and with indecent acts against a 15-year-old girl in 2004. He was also suspected of involvement in the disappearance of his other cousin, Latisha Nolan (pictured).

In 2005, Naden went on the run. For many years, he remained the most wanted criminal in Australia: he was hiding from justice for seven years, and a reward of 250 thousand Australian dollars was promised for his head.

The author of the book "Contractor" tells how he and his colleagues hunted for a long time an unknown homeless man hiding in a zoo. The fugitive managed to successfully hide until the guards began to find traces of his vital activity — food wrappers, fruit peel and even bones of birds and small animals.

One day, a local veterinarian saw an unknown person run out of an aviary with Galapagos turtles. It turned out that the intruder cut off the head of the largest of them and sucked the intestines of the animal.

Naden repeatedly got into the lenses of surveillance cameras that were placed around the reserve.

After some time, the inhabitant of the menagerie became bolder and began to get closer and closer to the houses where the reserve staff lived, and to litter more and more. The fugitive criminal slept on the roofs of bungalows, stole food from homes and even used the grills standing by the porch.

The staff noticed that bananas were regularly disappearing from the elephant house, the remains of which were then found in different parts of the zoo. In addition, the fugitive was constantly digging in the trash in search of food.

In 2011, Naden's location was established, but during the operation to capture him, he wounded a policeman and disappeared again. Since then, about 50 police officers have been searching for Naden.

The criminal was arrested on March 22, 2012 in an inconspicuous house in the vicinity of the city of Gloucester. In the den where Naden was hiding (pictured), the police found a semi-automatic rifle, but not a single shot was fired during the arrest operation.

This is how Naden looked at the time of his arrest: a thick beard, ragged, dirty clothes.

Naden, who escaped from the investigation, was tried: he received 36 years in prison for the double murder of his relatives.