The Toolbox Murders: Queensland's most gruesome crime
The Toolbox MurdersIn January 2016, one of Queensland’s most despicable double murders took place. On the edge of the Australian outback, Corey Breton and Iuliana Triscaru were brutally killed in a manner that defied belief.
Their bodies were found stuffed inside a metal toolbox and dumped into a murky creek. The box was sealed shut. Weighted down. Left to sink into the dark waters of Scrubby Creek, Gympie, in the south of Brisbane.
Want to explore how a tangled web of drugs, paranoia and deadly vengeance is uncovered? Or see a justice system determined to make sure those responsible would never walk free again? All of this (and more) is followed in the new Crime+Investigation two-parter, The Toolbox Murders, available from Sunday, 17th August.
Reported missing
Corey and Iuliana weren’t strangers to risk. They moved in circles clouded with drugs and danger – both reportedly involved in the drug trade, both with reputations that didn’t go unnoticed in the underground scene around Logan, Queesland.
In late January 2016, both Corey and Iuliana vanished. No warnings. No goodbyes. Just silence.
Their families were frantic. Corey was a father, and Iuliana was a mother to three children. Days turned into weeks, and as police dug deeper into their connections, a grim picture began to form.
An ‘innocent’ exchange
You might wonder how one innocent conversation could lead to murder. But this is exactly what happened to Corey and Iuliana. Less than a week after speaking with a local convenience store owner, the victims were led to a Kingston property for a 'chat'.
It was later discovered that the convenience store owner showed Corey a photo from his CCTV. The owner wanted him to identify the drug dealer and later, murderer, Stou Daniels.
This simple conversation soon turned sinister.
Torture and murder
On the night of 24th January 2016, Corey and Iuliana were lured to the Kingston property under the guise of a meeting.
But instead of a conversation, they were ambushed.
Over the next several hours, the pair were held captive, tied up, gagged and tortured by a group of individuals who suspected Corey of being a snitch. The paranoia was palpable. Someone believed he was working with the police. That was all it took.
The details of what happened in that house are too grotesque to fully comprehend. Witnesses later testified to hearing screams. Of beatings. Of unspeakable cruelty.
Iuliana was sadly at the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong person.
The toolbox
Eventually, both victims were forced into a large metal toolbox – alive.
The lid was bolted shut; the box loaded into a ute and driven nearly 20 kilometres to Scrubby Creek. There, under the cover of night, the toolbox was tossed into the water. It would be nearly three weeks before divers retrieved the box.
The mastermind
In the labyrinth of betrayal and violence that became known as The Toolbox Murders, one name loomed larger than the rest. He wasn’t just involved. He orchestrated the horror.
Described by the judge as the 'ringleader' and 'conductor of the events', Daniels was the driving force behind the torture and murders of Cory Breton and Iuliana Triscaru — two people who, tragically, found themselves at the centre of Daniels’ escalating paranoia.
Arrests and trials
When his retrial began in February 2025, Daniels maintained his innocence. He denied any role in the murders or the torture. But after a lengthy and harrowing trial, a jury found him guilty on all charges.
He was sentenced to life in prison, with a non-parole period of 30 years — the harshest punishment available under Queensland law for multiple murders.
The jury in Brisbane also found Trent Thrupp and Davy Taiao guilty of two counts of murder and two counts of torture. They were each handed life sentences for murder and lengthy additional terms for torture.
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