Survivor's Account: Teen Hitchhiker Says He Was Picked Up by Ivan Milat
"The only reason I am alive today is because police pulled Ivan over and had noted that he had two teenagers in his car." — Steven Clark
A man has told a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry that serial killer Ivan Milat once picked him up while he was hitchhiking as a teenager in the mid-1970s—and that his survival was due to a police speeding ticket.
The Hitchhiking Incident
In either 1974 or 1975, Steven Clark—then aged 14 or 15—and a friend missed their bus in Warilla, NSW, and decided to hitchhike toward Wollongong.
A two-door sedan soon pulled over. The driver offered them a lift and even volunteered to take them all the way to Sydney. Clark, however, insisted on being dropped in Wollongong.
During the drive, the driver asked unsettling questions—particularly, who knew that Clark and his friend were hitchhiking. The car was pulled over near Windang for speeding. When police approached, the driver identified Clark and his friend as hitchhikers.
From his vantage point in the car, Clark saw part of the driver’s name on the speeding ticket: "I, V." He did not see the rest.
After the police stop, the driver’s behavior changed. He drove calmly and dropped the two teenagers in Wollongong as originally agreed.
Later Recognition
Years later, while watching news coverage following Milat’s arrest in 1994, Clark immediately recognized the driver as Ivan Milat. He cited Milat’s distinctive protruding teeth and moustache as key identifiers.
Clark now attributes his survival entirely to that traffic stop, telling the inquiry: "The only reason I am alive today is because police pulled Ivan over and had noted that he had two teenagers in his car."
Context of the Inquiry
The parliamentary inquiry is examining unresolved missing persons cases and alleged historical links to Ivan Milat, who murdered seven people between 1989 and 1992 and died in prison in 2019.
Among the cases under review is that of Kay Docherty, a 15-year-old who disappeared from Warilla in 1979, possibly while hitchhiking. A 2013 inquest suggested Milat or another man, Graham Potter, may have been involved.
Kay’s twin brother, Kevin Docherty, has submitted to the inquiry, stating that his family was "let down by police and the judiciary."
The inquiry has also received numerous submissions from people reporting assaults or near-misses that were later linked to Milat. It is also reviewing the 1970 disappearance of Cheryl Grimmer from Wollongong, as well as broader concerns about missing women in NSW during that period.