Stewart Murray Wilson is known as the Beast of Blenheim, but he was born and raised in Timaru, spent part of his 20s in Sydney, and now lives in Wanganui.
But at least one thing has remained constant - his tendency to be "cruel'' and "creepy'', according to an old schoolyard acquaintance who remembers the family well and saw Wilson set a cat on fire.
Wilson was the eldest child in his family, with two brothers and a sister. The family home was in Essex St, Timaru and the children attended Marchwiel Primary School. His parents divorced in the 1970s. His elderly mother and one brother are still alive, his sister now lives in California, but his youngest brother was killed in a car crash aged 14, and his father died soon after Wilson's 1996 sentencing for two decades of horrific sexual offending. Wilson was living in Sydney at the time of his brother's death.
The Herald on Sunday has spoken to close family members, but they decline to comment. One family member said he would only talk to the newspaper if we were planning to "put a bullet'' in Wilson's head. It's understood some in the family were subject to a backlash as the Corrections Department prepares to release Wilson, 65, to a house on the grounds of Whanganui Prison.
Although Wilson's adult life has been well documented, including rapes, abuse and bestiality, little has been revealed of his early years.