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Serial killer Ivan Milat dies from cancer in jail serving life term for killing 7 backpackers, takes remaining secrets to the grave

The 74-year-old Milat is also suspected of killing many others but has never confessed to the rest of his crimes. He reportedly died at 4.07 am on Sunday, October 27, morning in Sydney's Long Bay jail

Serial killer Ivan Milat, who had taken the lives of seven backpackers and hitchhikers between 1989 and 1992, has passed away in prison. 

The 74-year-old Milat is also suspected of killing many others but has never confessed to the rest of his crimes. He reportedly died at 4.07 am on Sunday, October 27, morning in Sydney's Long Bay jail.

Milat had been hospitalized in May as well as earlier this month after he battled stomach and throat cancer. 

He had a slow and painful death as the cancer spread to his liver, lung, bones, and lymph nodes. He also developed fluid in his heart.

His body will be transferred to the New South Wales Coroner who will make a decision on how the body will be disposed.  There will also be a small inquest into his death as is the case for all deaths in custody.

According to former detective Clive Small, who had led the investigations into the killings, there are at least three unsolved murders where Milat is a prime suspect. He also shared that getting Milat to confess to the killings was impossible. 

Small told the Today Show on Sunday morning, "The problem with Ivan is from the start, the very first moment you meet him, he wants to create the impression that he was in charge, he was the boss, he was in control."

"And as long as he had information that you wanted he saw himself as being in control," he said about Milat. Small added that Milat's refusal to confess to the crimes was pure evil, according to a report.

"I thought that if he had one ounce of decency in him he could have shown it before he died," he shared. In 1996, Milat was convicted for the murder of seven backpackers in the Belanglo State Forest, south of Sydney. 

Milat's victims included 21-year-old Caroline Clarke, 22-year-old Joanne Walters, 19-year-old Melbourne couple James Gibson, and Deborah Everist, German backpackers 20-year-old Simone Schmidl, 21-year-old Gabor Neugebauer and 20-year-old Anja Habschied.