By EUGENE BINGHAM
Within three hours of raping and killing Teresa Cormack, Jules Mikus wandered into a Social Welfare office to pick up a cheque.
It was as if nothing had happened.
But the convicted serial sex offender's brazen attitude so soon after a crime that shocked the country does not surprise the policeman who arrested him.
"He would have started justifying it to himself the moment he started running back up from the beach [where Teresa's body was found]," said Detective Sergeant Brian Schaab.
"That's what these guys are like - they convince themselves it didn't happen or if it did it wasn't their fault."
Dr Devon Polaschek, a senior lecturer in criminal justice psychology at Victoria University, said she had interviewed serious offenders who would not have been able to act as coolly as Mikus did after the killing.
Dr Polaschek had no background knowledge about Mikus so she did not know if he was a psychopath, but said a psychopath would have been able to act the way he did that day.
"Emotionally they are not wired up the way that the rest of us are.
"Many of us experience enormous amounts of emotional distress in response to all sorts of behaviours but these psychopathic men don't show that kind of reactivity."
Mr Schaab and other investigators have tried to piece together the events of June 19, 1987, when Teresa vanished.
After turning away from school, Teresa probably played in an empty section nearby - it was known to be a favourite after-school playground of hers.
From there, she probably wandered towards Latham St - where she was last seen about 10.30am.
Mikus, meanwhile, had been at Social Welfare from 9.30am to 10am where he arranged an emergency benefit to pay his rent.
Mr Schaab believes Mikus headed down to the schools from around where Teresa disappeared.
"It looks like he's been prowling around the area at least a week that we know of," said Mr Schaab. A reported sighting of a man trying to lure a child the day before Teresa disappeared matched his description.
"Teresa would have stuck out to him so much. She would have been keeping her head down not wanting to get in trouble and sent back to school.
"He would have been a friendly adult who wasn't going to tell her off."
Evidence given at the trial showed Teresa had eaten a jube lolly an hour before she was killed - it was probably how he lured her away.
Mr Schaab believes Teresa was attacked at Whirinaki Beach where her body was found.
"Afterwards, he would have gone about his daily living.
"They [sexual predators] live a very secretive life anyway."
After picking up his welfare cheque, Mikus went home and spoke to his landlady, Michelle Cassidy.
His estranged wife moved back in soon after the murder but did not notice anything strange about his behaviour.
Dr Polaschek said that as a chronic serious offender, Mikus would have known that his best chance of not being caught was to keep his mouth shut.
Despite that, it may well have been something he regretted, although he would not have experienced the same emotional impact that such an event would have for a normal person.
This may be a result of his upbringing. People who had come from abusive backgrounds sometimes became immune to the suffering of others in adulthood, she said. Behaviour considered abhorrent by society was normalised.
Although Mikus has not been convicted of any sex crimes after Teresa's murder, Dr Polaschek said it was likely he could have committed other offences.
But she said it might be that his offending had curbed off.
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