Chilling murder details exposed as sealed files are opened

The first victim Ivy Violet McLeod, 40, was found dead in Albert Park, on May 3. She had been beaten,  strangled and stripped half-naked, but because she still had her purse with her, police felt robbery was not the motive.

Six days later Pauline Thompson,31, was strangled after a night out. She was last seen in the company of a young man who was described as having an American accent.

The third victim was Gladys Hosking, 40, murdered on May 18 while walking home from work at the Chemistry Library at Melbourne University. A witness reported seeing, a disheveled American man seemingly out of breath and covered with mud.

Soon after the police arrested 24-year-old US soldier Eddie Leonski.

Leonski, a private in the 52nd Signal Battalion stationed in Melbourne, was charged with murder. He became known as the Brownout Strangler as Melbourne was using low lighting because of its wartime status and fear of enemy bombings. 

Leonski confessed and claimed he killed the women to "get at their voices". He was tried under US military law and hanged at Pentridge on November 9, 1942.

The case of Leonski and those of two other murderers Norman Morris Searle and Charles MIlls – who narrowly escaped their death sentences – are among hundreds of state archives which were made public on January 1 as part of the Public Record Office Victoria’s annual Section 9 record openings.

Under Section 9 of the Public Records Act 1973 files of a personal or private nature are closed to prevent the violation of personal privacy. These historic records, which as of January 1 have passed their assigned closure period, are of particular interest to family historians waiting on files that mention members of their family tree.

Also among this year’s openings are mental health records, divorce cases, prison registers and other criminal case files of 1943, including an infamous Brighton murder that took place outside the old Coffee Palace, as well as Victorian Railway Records of 1962-63.

The records will help researchers, historians, writers and genealogists paint a fuller picture of Melbourne during those periods, said Director and Keeper of Public Records, Justine Heazlewood.

“These historic records will be invaluable to researchers as they provide not only information about individuals but also a glimpse into the time in which they were written. For instance if your ancestor spent time in an asylum in the 1940s, you can get a sense of what that experience may have been like by looking through some of these records.”

A full list of this year’s opened records are available on the Public Records Victoria website.