Girls Murdered near Sydney 1968 - Parramatta Jail escape - aka Russell "Mad Dog" Cox

In 1968 a prisoner allegedly escaped from Parramatta Prison in New South Wales by climbing over the wall, the entire city was on lock down as police scoured the region in a fruitless search, while the news media went on about how fit and agile he was..

That was about Wednesday, the following Saturday I was in an Army vehicle traveling from Liverpool to Scheyville along the Parramatta Richmond Road .. after passing two teenage girls riding bikes in the same direction, and then past a prison work gang slashing scrub on the left.

A beige Mazda sedan with a family of about four coming toward us from the other direction, was flagged down by a man who came out of the trees on the left side of the road, the Mazda stopped and presumably the driver told him there was no room in the car!

Our bus passed the Mazda going toward Parramatta, and when we drew level to where the man had been there was no sight of him .. later that day on the evening news was a report that two girls on bikes had been murdered on the same road.

We say the prisoner who had allegedly escaped had after remaining concealed inside the prison, had mingled with a work gang that was leaving for scrub clearing, who then absconded when the prison bus arrived at the site.

We say Schnitzerling / Cox was the prisoner who had allegedly escaped days before, that he was man at the side of the road and that he murdered both girls!