Child killer Derek Ernest Percy may have taken the secrets of some of Australia's most notorious child deaths to the grave but the family of one victim has been given some closure.
A coroner has declared Percy killed seven-year-old Linda Stilwell, who vanished from the St Kilda foreshore in 1968, making her his second confirmed victim.
Percy has been linked to child deaths in four states but only admitted to one, the 1969 killing of 12-year-old Yvonne Tuohy, which resulted in him being jailed indefinitely but found not guilty on the grounds of insanity.
Deputy state coroner Iain West on Thursday said the killing of Yvonne showed Percy had a capacity to commit a heinous act and his writings showed an intent to torture and kill children.
Percy was in the St Kilda foreshore area when Linda vanished and a forensic psychologist said Yvonne's death was unlikely to have been the first attack by a man with a very rare and serious form of sadistic paraphilia.
Linda's family said the finding gave them closure.
Percy was a suspect in the deaths and disappearances of nine children in four states in the mid to late 1960s, including those of the three Beaumont children.
The Victorian detective who led the Stilwell cold case review, Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne Newman, identified similarities between the cases in the nature of the victims' injuries, the modus operandi, geographical comparisons and identikit comparisons.
Percy was Victoria's longest serving prisoner when he died in July last year aged 64.
"There is no doubt in my mind had Percy been released over those years he would have gone on to kill again," Det Sen Sgt Newman said.
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