Fifteen-year-old Fiona Burns, a teenager from Langwarrin, Melbourne, Australia, had a turbulent start to 1990. After her parents’ separation, she lived with her aunt and uncle in Melbourne’s southeast before setting off for Adelaide on September 27th, 1990, likely traveling by train. Described by her mother, Linda Miaris, as a naive child eager to explore the world, Fiona was drawn to the freedom of life on the road. It was in Adelaide that she met John Lee, a fourteen-year-old who had been living on the streets for about two years. The two teenagers, often referred to as “street kids,” formed a connection and began hitchhiking together back toward Melbourne.
Between October 9th and 11th, 1990, Fiona and John were spotted multiple times hitchhiking along the Western Highway between Adelaide and Bordertown. Witnesses reported seeing Fiona interacting with truck drivers, including one instance where she asked a driver for a cigarette and a lift to Melbourne between ten p.m. and midnight on October 10, only to be refused. Another witness saw her speaking to a truck driver through an open passenger-side door. These sightings placed the pair at a truck stop in Bordertown, a small town just over the South Australian-Victorian border, approximately thirty minutes from Kaniva.
On October 11th, a canvas bag and various personal items belonging to Fiona were found discarded on the side of the Western Highway, a little over six miles east of the truck stop where their bodies would later be discovered. A week later, on October 18th, a husband and wife collecting gum nuts stumbled upon Fiona’s body in bushland near the truck stop rest area. Police were notified, and John’s body was found approximately 175 feet away. Post-mortem examinations revealed that both had been stabbed to death—Fiona with multiple wounds and John with a fatal chest wound.
The Victoria Police Homicide Squad launched an exhaustive investigation, but the case quickly proved challenging. The remote location of the crime scene, coupled with the transient nature of the truck stop, meant the killer or killers could have come from anywhere in Australia. Despite interviewing numerous individuals and following various leads over the years, no clear motive for the murders has been established, and no one has been charged.
In 2011, a promising lead emerged when an anonymous caller provided information about a vehicle believed to have been used by the perpetrator(s). Homicide Squad Detective Inspector John Potter urged the caller to come forward with more details, emphasizing that this was the most significant piece of information in two decades. However, the lead did not result in a breakthrough, and the caller’s identity and further details about the vehicle remain unknown. Police even suggested the possibility of immunity from the Office of Public Prosecutions for information leading to a conviction, but this, too, yielded no results.
In 2017, Victoria Police announced a $1 million reward for information leading to the resolution of the case, a sum that remains unclaimed. The case has been featured in multiple media outlets, including the Australian True Crime podcast hosted by Emily Webb and Meshel Laurie, as well as the Channel 7 series Million Dollar Cold Case. In 2021, Victoria Police launched a dedicated cold case website, highlighting the murders of Fiona and John among other unsolved cases, in an effort to leverage social media and reach a broader audience.
Crime Immemorial 