THE prime suspect in a brutal cold case killing of a 23-year-old woman whose body was found burned has mysteriously been found dead.
Alleged serial rapist and murderer Kevin Steven Correll, 69, was previously identified as the most likely person to have killed Rachelle Childs in 2001.
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The lead suspect in the cold case that continues to puzzle investigators more than 20 years on died while on holiday in Pa Tong, Thailand, last week.
Tragic Rachelle’s corpse was found dumped in bushland in Gerroa, just south of Sydney, Australia, about 100km from her home on June 8.
Her corpse had been partially burned – in what cops suspect was an attempt to destroy DNA evidence.
Unleaded petrol had been doused over her face and other parts of her body as part of the heinous attack that rocked the sleepy town of Gerroa.
She was also partially undressed – and police believe the depraved killer either smothered or strangled her to death.
Cops failed to charge anyone over her murder – following early investigation blunders which led to the case going cold for years.
Thai authorities said details surrounding the death of Correll are scarce – and his sudden passing remains a mystery.
A member of Correll’s family said police had already showed up at his son Mitchell’s house to inform them that an autopsy was already underway.
The family member told The Daily Telegraph: “Not sorry he’s gone just sorry that Rachelle’s family aren’t going to get the justice that they so deserve.”
And his estranged daughter, Jazz, said that she only heard of her dad’s death after speaking to her brother on Saturday.
She told the newspaper: “I feel sad for his many victims.”
The botched police investigation into Rachelle’s murder is widely believed to have been severely mishandled.
Local cops lost a crucial piece of CCTV evidence that was believed to show Rachelle with her killer at a petrol station on the night of her death.
Another police officer contaminated DNA found on a bedsheet, while others forgot to properly collect her phone records.
Correll worked as Rachelle’s boss at the used car dealership Camden Holden where they both worked at the time of her horrific killing.
He was voluntarily quizzed three separate times by police regarding her death – but detectives never managed to gather enough evidence to convict him.
This was despite the fact that his alibi for the night of Rachelle’s death could never been confirmed or corroborated.
Correll had previously been accused of rape.
In the 1980s, a woman was heard screaming by police – and after they rushed towards the sound they found Correll half undressed.
The woman told cops that she was being assaulted – and despite being charged, Correll was later found not guilty.
Three other woman also accused Correll of rape in three separate occasions – but he was found not guilty in court.
Correll was one of the last people to see Rachelle alive when she left work the day before her death.
Fellow employees reported Rachelle telling them she was going to meet up with someone at the Bargo Hotel that evening but she did not say who it was.
The hotel had no CCTV inside, and cops never questioned everyone who was there on the night.
After the hotel meeting, Rachelle called her sister on the phone for a short chat – the last time anybody ever heard from her.
A motorist who was driving on the road where Rachelle was found told police he had seen a 1978 Holden Commodore matching the description of the one she owned.
The car was parked off the highway and sitting about 200m away from where Rachelle was found the following day on the morning on June 8.
A separate witness recalled seeing the car later on with its boot mysteriously open in the same location at 11pm.
And they claimed that there had been one person standing up next to the vehicle with a second person lying on the ground.
Correll’s alibi was that he drove from Camden to Campbelltown to meet his partner on June 7.
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