Personal Details
Reward: $300,000.
Status: Murder Unsolved
When Last Seen: on the 13th of April in 1991.
Occupation: Student
Age: 13
Gender: Female
Year of birth: 1979
Height:
Build:
Eyes:
Racial Appearance: Asian Australian
Circumstances: While Karmein's parents worked at their restaurant in Eltham, an individual abducted Karmein from their family home in Templestowe. During the kidnapping the abductor locked Karmein's sisters in another room. Before leaving, he spray painted anti-Asian slogans on a vehicle in their front yard. Police suspect that the purpose of the graffiti was to detract from the killer's real motive. Karmein's mother made an emotional plea on television for Karmein's return. Her badly decomposed body was found a year later in Melbourne's northern outskirts in Edgars Creek, Thomastown.
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Mother marks 20 years since Karmein Chan's murder13 Apr 11 @ 07:00am by Shaun Turton - Morningham Leader
- Phyllis Lam
- Karmein Chan
IN the absence of answers about her daughter’s murder, Phyllis Lam says faith, family and friends have provided the strength to carry on.
It has been 20 years since 13-year-old Karmein Chan was abducted while babysitting her two younger sisters at their Templestowe home.
Karmein is thought to have been the last of four girls serial child rapist Mr Cruel abducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Karmein, whose body was found in Thomastown, was the only one murdered. She had been shot in the head.
Ms Lam said her eldest daughter was smart, caring and funny.
“She had a soft heart, a sense of humour and was slim, tall and pretty,” Ms Lam said.
“She was intelligent, well that’s what her mother says, but anyway she was very honest.”
Opening up about what has kept her going all these years, Ms Lam said she still longed to find out what happened at her Serpells Rd home on April 13, 1991, but her faith in God had taught her patience and given her comfort.
“I want to know what happened 20 years ago in my family’s life. I’m still waiting” Ms Lam told the Leader.
“But I have faith and accept that God has different plans for different people.
“If you trust you have hope and if you have hope, you have peace.”
Ms Lam said her conversion from Buddhism to Christianity began when an old pastor came knocking after her daughter’s funeral.
She turned him away on that occasion, and every subsequent visit, until finally Ms Lam relented one cold and rainy night when the persistent priest arrived at her doorstep dripping wet.
“I told him ‘you can come in because of your old age but if you talk about Jesus I will kick you out’,” Ms Lam said.
Ms Lam said the pastor, Bill McFarlane, now Ms Lam’s godfather, earned the family’s trust.
And when the time came, he helped her confront the question looming since the tragedy struck.
“(I asked) why would Jesus take an innocent girl?” Ms Lam said.
“He said ‘why don’t you bring the girls to church on Sunday and find out for yourself’?”
Ms Lam has also drawn support from the customers of her restaurant in Eltham, her “second family in Australia”.
Her eccentric nature and food “cooked with love” has earned her a base of support in the community.
Pictures on her restaurant’s walls drawn by younger customers refer to Ms Lam as “paw paw” which is Chinese for grandmother.
When customers arrive to eat, she addresses them like lifelong friends. And in most cases they are.
Such is the case with Glenda Long, who has known Ms Lam since before Karmein was taken.
Mrs Long said Ms Lam was considered family by many customers.
“When my kids come in she loves them and when the grandchildren come in she’s all over them too,” Mrs Long said.
“She has built a family around herself here.
“She feels she can trust the people she has known for a long time.”
New suspects
POLICE announced in December that new suspects had been identified in their search for Mr Cruel.
The new leads were discovered as they reviewed information gathered during the original investigation which identified 27,000 suspects, received 10,000 tip-offs and checked 30,000 houses.
In December, Supt Doug Fryer said an arrest was not close but detectives would not stop until the “vile crime” had been solved.
There is still a $300,000 for information leading to a conviction.
Ms Lam said the police had not told her what the new information was but had assured her that the investigation would continue.
“They still contact me and don’t stop,” Ms Lam said.
“They care about the case.”
Fundraiser to honour dream
PHYLLIS Lam hopes to raise $20,000 at a fundraising lunch on Good Friday for the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Ms Lam said the event would honour her daughter Karmein’s dreams of becoming a doctor
The lunch, at Yings Restaurant in Eltham, follows more than a decade of Good Friday Appeal fundraising by Ms Lam.
Ms Lam has established the Karmein Chan Scholarship, which pays for doctors, nurses and health workers to undertake further training.
She said Karmein, who was treated for asthma at the children’s hospital, wanted to help isolated people by becoming a mobile doctor.
“Children are the future; they are the most important,” Ms Lam said.
Bookings: 9431 0088 or 9431 0188.
It has been 20 years since 13-year-old Karmein Chan was abducted while babysitting her two younger sisters at their Templestowe home.
Karmein is thought to have been the last of four girls serial child rapist Mr Cruel abducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Karmein, whose body was found in Thomastown, was the only one murdered. She had been shot in the head.
Ms Lam said her eldest daughter was smart, caring and funny.
“She had a soft heart, a sense of humour and was slim, tall and pretty,” Ms Lam said.
“She was intelligent, well that’s what her mother says, but anyway she was very honest.”
Opening up about what has kept her going all these years, Ms Lam said she still longed to find out what happened at her Serpells Rd home on April 13, 1991, but her faith in God had taught her patience and given her comfort.
“I want to know what happened 20 years ago in my family’s life. I’m still waiting” Ms Lam told the Leader.
“But I have faith and accept that God has different plans for different people.
“If you trust you have hope and if you have hope, you have peace.”
Ms Lam said her conversion from Buddhism to Christianity began when an old pastor came knocking after her daughter’s funeral.
She turned him away on that occasion, and every subsequent visit, until finally Ms Lam relented one cold and rainy night when the persistent priest arrived at her doorstep dripping wet.
“I told him ‘you can come in because of your old age but if you talk about Jesus I will kick you out’,” Ms Lam said.
Ms Lam said the pastor, Bill McFarlane, now Ms Lam’s godfather, earned the family’s trust.
And when the time came, he helped her confront the question looming since the tragedy struck.
“(I asked) why would Jesus take an innocent girl?” Ms Lam said.
“He said ‘why don’t you bring the girls to church on Sunday and find out for yourself’?”
Ms Lam has also drawn support from the customers of her restaurant in Eltham, her “second family in Australia”.
Her eccentric nature and food “cooked with love” has earned her a base of support in the community.
Pictures on her restaurant’s walls drawn by younger customers refer to Ms Lam as “paw paw” which is Chinese for grandmother.
When customers arrive to eat, she addresses them like lifelong friends. And in most cases they are.
Such is the case with Glenda Long, who has known Ms Lam since before Karmein was taken.
Mrs Long said Ms Lam was considered family by many customers.
“When my kids come in she loves them and when the grandchildren come in she’s all over them too,” Mrs Long said.
“She has built a family around herself here.
“She feels she can trust the people she has known for a long time.”
New suspects
POLICE announced in December that new suspects had been identified in their search for Mr Cruel.
The new leads were discovered as they reviewed information gathered during the original investigation which identified 27,000 suspects, received 10,000 tip-offs and checked 30,000 houses.
In December, Supt Doug Fryer said an arrest was not close but detectives would not stop until the “vile crime” had been solved.
There is still a $300,000 for information leading to a conviction.
Ms Lam said the police had not told her what the new information was but had assured her that the investigation would continue.
“They still contact me and don’t stop,” Ms Lam said.
“They care about the case.”
Fundraiser to honour dream
PHYLLIS Lam hopes to raise $20,000 at a fundraising lunch on Good Friday for the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Ms Lam said the event would honour her daughter Karmein’s dreams of becoming a doctor
The lunch, at Yings Restaurant in Eltham, follows more than a decade of Good Friday Appeal fundraising by Ms Lam.
Ms Lam has established the Karmein Chan Scholarship, which pays for doctors, nurses and health workers to undertake further training.
She said Karmein, who was treated for asthma at the children’s hospital, wanted to help isolated people by becoming a mobile doctor.
“Children are the future; they are the most important,” Ms Lam said.
Bookings: 9431 0088 or 9431 0188.
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New clues in police hunt for 'Mr Cruel'
Greg Roberts and Edwina Scott SMH.com.au December 14, 2010
The man dubbed Mr Cruel who murdered a 13-year-old schoolgirl in 1991 would have associated with people who could help, finally, to lock him up now, say police.
Victoria Police announced on Tuesday that new suspects had emerged this year and a fresh covert task force codenamed Apollo was established eight months ago to track down the Melbourne child killer, pedophile and rapist.
Mr Cruel struck fear into the hearts of families in Melbourne's suburbs and was believed to be responsible for at least four child kidnappings and sexual assaults from 1988 to 1991, including the murder of Karmein Chan in 1991.
"There are members in our society that hold a key for us solving this investigation and certainly we would hope that they would come forward and provide that information," Superintendent Doug Fryer told reporters.
Detectives built a profile of a man aged between 35 and late 40s, slightly built, with sandy or ginger-coloured hair, clean shaven, softly spoken and "quite caring in his own monstrous way".
"The person who committed these crimes is in amongst our society or was at the time of them; he was associating with people and more than likely held a job down.
"So, there is someone out there who has got information we think that hasn't passed on as yet; there is also a $300,000 reward to assist in solving these horrific crimes.
"I don't think Victoria is ever going to forget this series of crimes; they were that horrendous."
Children who are believed to have all been victims of Mr Cruel told police he used terms such as "bozo", "worry wart" and "missy" before releasing them.
Victims reported hearing planes overhead during their abductions, which was matched up with flight paths around the suburb of Pascoe Vale and neighbouring areas in Melbourne's north.
Retired detective Colin McLaren, who led the original Spectrum task force investigation into Mr Cruel, said the case was the one that still lingered two decades later.
"He was very much like a man in the street, that was the most difficult thing about it," Mr McLaren said.
"We weren't looking for someone who was six foot six or someone who perhaps had a peculiar smell about him.
"He was just very normal.
"I probably don't know of any other more important case that I've worked on that still is unsolved."
About 15,000 people were interviewed as part of the first investigation.
Supt Fryer said more than 12,000 separate pieces of information had been reviewed and cross-referenced with new details as part of the investigation.
Police have not ruled out the possibility Mr Cruel had since fled the country, died or committed suicide.
Mr Cruel struck fear into the hearts of families in Melbourne's suburbs and was believed to be responsible for at least four child kidnappings and sexual assaults from 1988 to 1991, including the murder of Karmein Chan in 1991.
Karmein, 13, was kidnapped from her home while babysitting her sisters on April 13, 1991. Her body was found with shotgun wounds to the head in Thomastown a year later.
Mr Cruel may have been a monster but did not necessarily look like one, police believe."There are members in our society that hold a key for us solving this investigation and certainly we would hope that they would come forward and provide that information," Superintendent Doug Fryer told reporters.
Detectives built a profile of a man aged between 35 and late 40s, slightly built, with sandy or ginger-coloured hair, clean shaven, softly spoken and "quite caring in his own monstrous way".
"The person who committed these crimes is in amongst our society or was at the time of them; he was associating with people and more than likely held a job down.
"So, there is someone out there who has got information we think that hasn't passed on as yet; there is also a $300,000 reward to assist in solving these horrific crimes.
"I don't think Victoria is ever going to forget this series of crimes; they were that horrendous."
Children who are believed to have all been victims of Mr Cruel told police he used terms such as "bozo", "worry wart" and "missy" before releasing them.
Victims reported hearing planes overhead during their abductions, which was matched up with flight paths around the suburb of Pascoe Vale and neighbouring areas in Melbourne's north.
Retired detective Colin McLaren, who led the original Spectrum task force investigation into Mr Cruel, said the case was the one that still lingered two decades later.
"He was very much like a man in the street, that was the most difficult thing about it," Mr McLaren said.
"We weren't looking for someone who was six foot six or someone who perhaps had a peculiar smell about him.
"He was just very normal.
"I probably don't know of any other more important case that I've worked on that still is unsolved."
About 15,000 people were interviewed as part of the first investigation.
Supt Fryer said more than 12,000 separate pieces of information had been reviewed and cross-referenced with new details as part of the investigation.
Police have not ruled out the possibility Mr Cruel had since fled the country, died or committed suicide.
© 2011 AAP
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Karmein Chan Reward $100,000
1991 KARMEIN CHAN |   |
$100,000 Reward |
1991 Victoria Police
A reward is on offer for information about the abduction and murder of 13-year-old Karmein Chan in 1991. Karmein was abducted from her home in Templestowe on April 13, 1991 about 9.15pm.
While her parents were at work at a Chinese restaurant in Eltham, Karmein and her two younger sisters were confronted by a man in a balaclava.He forced Karmein's sisters into a wardrobe before fleeing with Karmein.
Karmein's body was found at Edgars Creek, Thomastown, on April 9, 1992.
An autopsy revealed she had been shot.
Despite an exhaustive investigation led by detectives of the Spectrum Taskforce, no-one has been identified as Karmein's murderer - though her killer has been dubbed "Mr Cruel" by the media.
Police have checked more than 10,000 public tips, searched 30,000 homes and interviewed 27,000 people in relation to the Karmein Chan case and are hopeful someone in the community will have the essential piece of the puzzle which will help solve this crime.
Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Stephen Clark said this unsolved murder has been extremely devastating on the Chan family.
"We're hoping someone with that vital piece of information will come forward and help solve the Karmein Chan murder and give closure to the Chan family," Detective Inspector Clark said.
"We urge them to contact police," he said.
Anyone with information in regards to the Karmein Chan murder is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit
