Elmer Kyle Crawford was born in May 1930 in Ireland and emigrated to Australia in 1951. By 1970, Crawford was working as an employee of the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) and living in Glenroy, Victoria, with his wife, Therese Crawford, and their three young children, Katherine Jane (12), James William (8), and Karen Jean (6). Therese was pregnant with their fourth child at the time of the killings.

Crawford’s marriage appeared troubled. Investigations later suggested that financial pressures and Therese’s reported mental health struggles may have contributed to tension in the household. Two weeks before the murders, both Elmer and Therese drafted new wills that, if Therese and the children died, would leave a considerable inheritance to Elmer. At the same time, there were allegations that Crawford was involved in theft from his employer, which may have been another source of stress.

Despite appearing to lead a normal suburban family life, these underlying issues, combined with Therese’s pregnancy, may have pushed Crawford toward a violent breaking point.

In late June or early July 1970, at the family home on Cardinal Road in Glenroy, Victoria, Elmer Crawford allegedly murdered his pregnant wife and three children. Investigators later determined that Crawford had constructed a homemade electrocution device using a 15-meter electrical lead and alligator clips. While Therese slept, he attached the clips to her ears and electrocuted her. He then allegedly killed his youngest daughter, Karen Jean, by bludgeoning her with a hammer. The two remaining children, Katherine and James, were also electrocuted.

Crawford wrapped each body in blankets and placed them in the family’s Holden FE sedan along with a motorbike, fuel cans, a rifle, and a hose. He drove approximately 200 kilometers to Port Campbell on Victoria’s coast. At Loch Ard Gorge, Crawford attempted to stage the deaths as a murder-suicide. He connected a hose from the exhaust to the car’s interior, intending to suggest Therese killed herself and the children. He then pushed the car off a cliff. On 2 July 1970, authorities discovered the crashed vehicle with the bodies still inside.

The inquest in July 1971 concluded that Elmer Crawford had murdered his family. He was last seen in his driveway the day the car was found and has been missing ever since. Over the years, there have been reported sightings, including one in Western Australia in 1994. In 2008, Victorian police offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his capture. In 2010, police, working with the FBI, investigated a man who died in 2005 in San Angelo, Texas, suspected to be Crawford. DNA testing later confirmed it was not him.

To this day, Elmer Kyle Crawford remains one of Australia’s most notorious fugitives, having eluded capture for over five decades.