What is the story of Stephanie Scott, the Australian school teacher murdered in 2015?

Warning: The following article mentions sexual assault and murder. Please read with caution.

In 2015, 26-year-old school Australian school teacher Stephanie Scott was brutally raped and murdered shortly before her wedding day. According to the authorities, Scott’s tragic death was the possible first strike of a serial killer, and her murder helped change policy around hiring staff at Australian schools.

Stephanie Scott died on her day off. On Easter Sunday, 2015, she was at the high school where she worked, preparing a lesson plan for a substitute teacher, set to take over while she was on her honeymoon, according to the Daily Mail. At that time, 24-year-old Vincent Stanford was a member of the cleaning staff at the school, who was working on that Sunday, too.

As Stanford later told the police, he harbored a dark secret throughout his life: a compulsion for violence he could no longer contain. On that Easter Sunday, Stanford grabbed Scott as she left the building and then beat, raped, and killed her. He then burned her body at a nearby national park and abandoned her car in the area.

Stanford was arrested

Not long after Stephanie Scott died, Vincent Stanford was identified as a person of interest in the case and arrested. He confessed to Scott’s murder. In the meantime, Vincent sent his twin brother Marcus Scott’s jewelry in the mail, which he later sold. Marcus spent time in jail as an accessory to Scott’s murder, while Vincent received a life sentence for his crime.

Before his conviction, Vincent spoke with a psychologist and reported thoughts of violence from his childhood, remaining with him into his adult life. Until Scott died, however, he had managed to repress those urges.

Speaking to the psychologist, Vincent said, “This is just the way I’m arranged,” and killing Scott, he added, “was something I had to do. I couldn’t stop myself” (via the Daily Mail).

Because of that fact, authorities believe that while it’s a tragedy that Scott died, once Vincent was behind bars, other killings were possibly prevented.

The Scott family civil settlement

Six years after Stephanie Scott’s murder, the Scott family reached a civil settlement with Australian schools, and Vincent Stanford’s employer contracted with the school to provide cleaning services, ABC reported. Based on that settlement, potential employees at public institutions are more carefully screened, affecting the hiring practices of companies contracted with institutions like schools.

According to a statement from the Australian Education Department, “The guidelines have been strengthened to support the health and safety of teachers and staff when working alone in workplaces.” Five years after Scott’s death, her former fiance, Aaron Leeson-Woolley, announced he was engaged again, the Daily Mail reported in 2020.

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