The face of Snowtown killer James Vlassakis has been revealed for the first time after South Australia’s highest court lifted a suppression order that had kept his image a secret for more than two decades.
Pictures show Vlassakis aged in his early 20s, sporting short, dark hair and a goatee beard.
Arrest and evidence
The photographs were taken following his arrest in the late 1990s over the infamous Snowtown “bodies in barrels murders”.
Vlassakis, now 46, killed four men, including Gary O’Dwyer. He agreed to give evidence against two of his co-accused, John Bunting and Robert Wagner, at trial.
“The public needs to know what he looks like, basically due to general public safety, and so that the public knows to stay away from him,” said Corey Cook, a cousin of one of the victims.
“Life should be life. What he got is not good enough.”
Current appearance
Vlassakis appeared via video link in court on Tuesday. His hair is receding and very grey, as is his goatee, and he now wears glasses.
The images show Vlassakis aged in his early 20, sporting short, dark hair and a goatee beard.
Parole and legal battle
Vlassakis, who was 18 when he became involved in the killings in 1998, was granted parole last year but that decision has been blocked. A decision on whether he will walk free is now in the hands of the state’s highest court. He will learn his fate in the coming months.
Bunting and Wagner are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The Snowtown murders
The bodies of eight victims were found dismembered in barrels inside a disused bank vault in Snowtown, north of Adelaide, in 1999.
Accomplice Mark Ray Haydon, 66, was convicted of helping to cover up several murder. He was released on parole in May 2024 under strict supervision.
