Dead Girl Walking

Book excerpt: Sadistic serial killer couple David and Catherine Birnie claimed the lives of four young Perth women in a brutal rape and murder spree. But there was a fifth victim - a young woman whose unlikely escape from the killers' lair brought their reign of terror to an end, and who has remained silent about her ordeal for thirty years since. This is her story. Kate Moir was a bright and pretty eighteen-year-old when she was snatched off the street by David and Catherine Birnie, a cold, callous and deadly husband and wife team who had viciously raped and murdered at least four other women in Perth. But Kate wasn't going to go without a fight. Taken to their home, raped and held at knifepoint, Kate never stopped calculating the odds of her survival and doing everything she could to ensure she left evidence at the house. She escaped the following morning. It is extremely rare, almost unheard of, for a person to escape from the clutches of a serial killers once they have been marked for death. Serial killers are rarely caught and often their crimes remain unsolved or, alternately, are only discovered after their death. Having remained silent about being 'the fifth woman' for thirty years, and with the possibility of release for Catherine Birnie looming, Kate Moir is finally ready to tell her story.