December 27, 1944: Ivan Robert Marko Milat is born in Sydney
December 30, 1989: Melbourne couple James Gibson and Deborah Everist, both 19, last seen in inner-Sydney with plans to hitchhike to Albury on the NSW/Victoria border.
January 25, 1990: British hitchhiker Paul Onions, 24, flees from a driver with a gun near Belanglo State Forest.
January 20, 1991: German backpacker Simone Schmidl, 20, vanishes while hitchhiking from Sydney to Melbourne.
December 26, 1991: German backpackers Gabor Neugebauer, 21, and Anja Habschied, 20, disappear from Kings Cross having planned to hitchhike from Sydney to Darwin.
April 18, 1992: British backpackers Caroline Clarke, 21, and Joanne Walters, 22, leave a Kings Cross hostel.
September 19-20, 1992: Ms Clarke and Ms Walters’ bodies are found in the Belanglo State Forest.
October 5, 1993: The skeletal remains of Mr Gibson and Ms Everist are found less than one kilometre from where the British women’s bodies were found.
October 7-8, 1993: Police launch an intensive search of the area, while not yet formally linking the four murders.
October 8, 1993: After forensic examinations, police say the four were probably murdered by the same person or persons. All had been stabbed. Task Force Air is set up, led by NSW Police Superintendent Clive Small.
November 1, 1993: Fifth body found in the forest about five kilometres from the others. Later identified as Ms Schmidl.
November 4, 1993: Bodies number six and seven, Mr Neugebauer and Ms Habschied, found 80 metres apart and about one kilometre to the east of where Ms Schmidl was discovered.
November 5, 1993: Reward increased from $100,000 to $500,000, matching the previous highest reward for information on major crimes in NSW.
May 22, 1994: Police raid Milat homes and charge Ivan Robert Marko Milat, 49, with the armed hold-up of British traveller Paul Onions.
May 31, 1994: Milat charged with the murders of the seven backpackers.
December 12, 1994: Milat committed for trial on eight charges after a 28-day hearing before a magistrate.
March 25, 1996: Supreme Court jury empanelled to hear trial, which starts the next day.
July 27, 1996 – Milat found guilty of seven murders and one kidnapping.
Sentenced to seven life sentences with no possibility of parole.
February 1998 – NSW Court of Criminal Appeal dismisses his challenge.
May 2004 – High Court application for special leave to appeal fails.
December 2006 – loses a bid for an inquiry into his convictions
January 2009 cuts off his little finger with a plastic knife.
October 27, 2019 – Milat, aged 74, dies in Long Bay Prison of oesophageal and stomach cancer.