IN THE days before he killed a teenager with a double-sided axe in the Belanglo State Forest, the relative of serial killer Ivan Milat began revealing parts of his murderous plan to friends.
At one stage he even asked his intended victim, David Auchterlonie, 17, if he knew where he could get his hands on a shotgun.
And just hours before the teenage relative of Milat, whom the Herald cannot name for legal reasons, set off on the half-hour drive south from the town of Bargo with David and two others, he confessed to a close friend what he was going to do.
He rubbed his hands together, court documents reveal, and boasted: ''We're going out to Belanglo and someone's going to die.''
''Don't be stupid. Stop joking. No, you're not,'' the friend responded.
He replied: ''I'm not joking.''
The next day, after he had struck David in the head with the axe and left his body in the same forest where his relative, Ivan, murdered seven backpackers during the 1990s, friends still did not believe he had done it.
He told them: ''You know me, you know my family … I did what they do. At one stage the axe got stuck, so I had to kick the back of his head to get it loose.''
Yesterday the teenager pleaded guilty in Campbelltown Children's Court to the murder on the night of November 20 last year.
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On the day of his murder, David had been celebrating his birthday with his grandparents, with whom he lived in Bargo. But that evening, he was lured to Belanglo to party with the Milat relative.
David was told they would ''have a few drinks and a bit of fun'', court documents showed.
But even before they set off, David told his long-time friend, Chase Day, who accompanied him on the trip, he had some reservations about going.
''I think they're going to do something to me. But then again, they probably won't,'' David said.
It was dark by the time the four boys reached Belanglo. They parked the car in the pine plantation and David sat in the front seat preparing joints for them to smoke.
The Milat relative jumped out of the car and walked around to the boot with the fourth boy and asked him: ''Can you feel the adrenalin?''
One of the boys then started recording on a mobile phone what would take place during the next 15 minutes. That audio became crucial evidence in the police case against the Milat relative.
While the other two boys sat in the car, David was called around to the back by the teenager who immediately struck David in the stomach with the axe.
David tried to run but the teenager caught him and told him to get on the ground. For the next 10 minutes the teenager stood over David as he begged for his life.
''You f---ing move and I'm going to kill you,'' the Milat relative told him. ''From what I've heard you're the one going around telling people about the money that I stole from my mum's house.''
''I swear to God I haven't,'' David said.
Their exchange went on, with the teenager angry that David had supposedly been badmouthing him around town.
''I warned you a while ago didn't I?'' the accused said. ''I warned you that I was a bit of a f---ing nut lately. You didn't f---ing listen.''
Moments later the sound of David being struck with the axe on the back of the skull and the air leaving his body is picked up on the recording which finishes almost immediately after.
On the journey home the fourth boy tells the Milat relative: ''I told you that you're going down the same path as [Ivan].''
Despite boasting to half a dozen friends what he had done, it was not until the next evening that Chase Day went to the police and told them what had happened and led detectives to the body.
Mr Day was initially charged with being an accessory after the fact but police dropped the charge last month.
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