Christine Mann, now 75, believes she encountered the prime suspect in the 1966 murder of Wilhelmina Kruger just weeks before the crime. At the time, she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl walking her German shepherd along Cleveland Road in Dapto.
On January 29, 1966, Mrs Kruger was killed in Wollongong's Piccadilly Arcade. The killer was never caught, but police released a drawing of a distinctive utility vehicle seen near the arcade on the morning of the murder. The ute was described as nearly 20 years old, hand-painted cream, with rust and a homemade wooden canopy.
Mrs Mann said she recognized the vehicle from the drawing in the Illawarra Mercury. She recalled the driver staring at her while parked near a creek. He followed her as she walked home, and she hid in the school grounds before running home. She wrote down the number plate, but the paper has since been lost.
She described the man as European-looking with dark skin, wearing a brown hat. A witness in the Kruger case had described him as having 'a horrible appearance.' Mrs Mann said, 'He just bore holes in me with his eyes.' She reported the encounter to a retired policeman but heard nothing further.
