Snowtown killer James Vlassakis has been approved for release from prison after serving almost three decades for the notorious Bodies in the Barrels murders.
The 45-year-old was the youngest member of the group responsible for the killings and pleaded guilty to four murders. He later became a key prosecution witness against ringleader John Bunting and Robert Wagner.
Vlassakis’ 26-year non-parole period expired in August 2025.
On Tuesday, the Parole Administrative Review Commissioner approved his release after more than a year of legal challenges and hearings involving victims’ families.
The commissioner found the Attorney-General had not established grounds to overturn the Parole Board’s decision.
Vlassakis first met Bunting when he was 14, with Bunting presenting the group’s crimes as vigilante action against alleged pedophiles while secretly taking victims’ welfare payments.
By the time Vlassakis was 18, he had become involved in the group’s violence.
Between 1992 and 1999, Bunting, Wagner, Vlassakis and Mark Haydon murdered multiple people and several of the victims’ bodies were placed in barrels and hidden inside a disused bank vault in Snowtown.
Vlassakis pleaded guilty to killing four people: his half-brother Troy Youde, 21, whom he alleged had sexually assaulted him as a child, as well as Frederick Brooks, Gary O’Dwyer and David Johnson.
He was the only member of the group to plead guilty and was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum 26-year term.
Bunting was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to life without parole, while Wagner was convicted of 10 murders and also sentenced to life without parole.
Haydon was convicted of assisting an offender and sentenced to a minimum 25 years in prison. He was later released on parole under strict extended supervision orders.
The decision to release Vlassakis is the first time a South Australian serial killer has been approved for release.
His parole conditions are expected to be extensive, but have not yet been made public.
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