A Weekend Camping Trip Gone Wrong: The Bega Schoolgirl Murders
The popular camping grounds were considered “safe,” but is anywhere truly safe?
Malinda Fusco
Malinda Fusco
Mar 1 · 4 min read
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Lauren Barry (left) and Nichole Collins (right); Source: The North West Star News

In October of 1997, two schoolgirls were brutally killed less than two miles from home. Their murders remain two of the most notorious in Australia to this day.

This is the horrifying story of how a weekend camping trip in a “safe” area ended in a terrible fate for Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins.
A Birthday Weekend

On Labor Day weekend in 1997, 14-year-old Lauren Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Collins decided to spend the weekend at White Rock, near the Bega, in Australia. Not only was it a holiday weekend, thus giving the girls more time to spend at the campsite that was less than two miles from Nichole’s home, but it was also Lauren’s 15th birthday weekend.

To celebrate, Nichole’s father set up their campsite for Nichole and her best friend. The girls promised to check-in and go back to Nichole’s house for food and showers each day.

No one was concerned about the teenagers being at the campsite alone, as the area was considered “safe” by many parents and it was so close to Nichole’s home. Unfortunately, the close proximity to Nichole’s house didn’t protect them.
A Ride Gone Wrong

On October 5th, after 9 p.m., the teenagers walked from the campsite towards a nearby party. Sadly, they never reached the party.

A Ford Telstar with two men in their twenties offered the girls a ride to the nearby party. Once they got inside the car with 28-year-old Leslie Camilleri and 23-year-old Lindsay Beckett, the men held them at knifepoint and told them that if they complied and did what they said, they would be returned safely later.

The next twelve hours were horror-filled for the two teenagers. They were brought to multiple locations as the men drove all around the area and repeatedly raped at the locations and inside the vehicle, oftentimes as one of the men drove.

When the two girls asked if they would be murdered, apparently Leslie assured them they would still be released, all while muttering to Lindsay that “They can’t go back.”
The Murders

The following morning, at around 8 a.m., Leslie and Lindsay brought the two girls to Fiddler’s Green Creek.

Per Leslie’s instructions, the teenagers were bound and forced to walk deep into the wilderness near the creek. Once far enough away from civilization, Leslie forced the girls to take off their clothes and wash themselves in the creek to remove any evidence from the r****.

Leslie then ordered Lindsay to murder the two girls. When he refused, not wanting to kill them both as it was “unfair,” Leslie threatened him at knifepoint until the other man complied. While Leslie waited in the car, Lindsay brutally killed the two girls.

The court would later hear about how Lindsay had tried to drown Lauren Barry in the stream, and when he failed he angrily slashed her throat, also cutting his thumb in the process…and leaving behind more DNA evidence of the crime.

Nichole’s murder was far more brutal. After listening to her friend die, she allegedly asked Lindsay, “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

In response, he slashed her throat. When she didn’t immediately die and tried to scream for help, he brutally stabbed her in the neck and chest. When she still struggled, he confessed to kicking her in the head repeatedly.

Once both girls were dead, Lindsay returned to Leslie and the two men attempted to dispose of their bloody clothes and any evidence. They went as far as to deep clean the Ford Telstar at a car wash.

However, there was one piece of evidence from a different crime that turned police eyes to them.
A Stolen Car

Leslie Camilleri and Lindsay Beckett were career criminals. Before the murder of the teenage girls, Leslie already had 146 prior criminal convictions, including thefts, assaults, and s***** offenses against minors.

Lindsay and Leslie would often work together to steal cars and had known each other for about two years before the murder of Lauren and Nichole.

It was one such stolen car that led the police to the two men. Just weeks after the murders, on October 25th, police found a stolen car with maps of the Bega area (the area where they’d kidnapped the girls from) and Lindsay Beckett’s belongings stashed inside.

On October 27th, they arrested Lindsay for the car theft. On October 28th, they arrested Leslie as well.
A Confession

Originally, the two men denied any connection with the disappearance of Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins. However, after multiple interrogations, Lindsay Beckett finally caved to police pressure. He confessed to the murders and led police to the two bodies in Fiddler’s Green Creek.

The two men were immediately charged with abduction, assault, and murder.
The Trials and Verdicts

The two men were tried separately.

On June 26, 1998, Lindsay Beckett pled guilty to the murders in front of the Supreme Court of Victoria. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole for the first 35 years.

Leslie’s trial did not go as smoothly, as he claimed to have had no involvement in the abduction and murder.

On February 15, 1999, Leslie Camilleri’s trial began. There was a total of seventy witnesses, including Lindsay Beckett.

In addition to the testimonies against Leslie, police not only found the girls but also a trail of evidence from Lindsay’s confession. They found evidence at almost every place the teenagers were raped, including Leslie’s s****.

On April 27, 1999, Leslie was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole.

Sources: Supreme Court of Victoria, Court of Appeal, ABC News, ABC News Archive, The Bega Schoolgirls Murder, The North West Star News
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