The daughter of the Salt Creek monster has spoken out for the first time and revealed that she will always love him despite his terrifying crimes.
Beatriz, from Brazil, and Lena, from Germany, were 24 years old in 2016, when they accepted a ride from Roman Heinze.
But hours into the road trip from Adelaide to Melbourne, the group set up camp in the isolated Salt Creek dunes in South Australia’s Coorong National Park, and the women’s nightmare began.
Heinze tied Beatriz with a rope and sexually assaulted her before hitting Lena in the head with a hammer several times and ramming her repeatedly with his 4×4.
He was sentenced to 22 years in prison and the disturbing case shocked Australia and drew comparisons to the 2005 Australian horror film Wolf Creek.
Heinze’s daughter Kendehl, 36, spoke about her mixed feelings toward her father when she appeared on 60 Minutes Sunday night.
“Yes, I love my dad, but I hate the fact that he’s there (in jail),” she said.
‘That he is not here for my children. He’s missing out a lot.’
Kendehl (pictured in the middle) with his father Roman Heinze (top right) has mixed feelings about his father
Kendehl (pictured) told 60 Minutes Sunday night, despite his mixed emotions, that he doesn’t want to have any more contact with his father.
When asked if she hates her father for what he did to the two women, she responded with an emphatic “yes,” but went on to explain why she still loves him.
‘He’s my dad. I learned a lot from him. Everyone, yes, deserves a second chance,’ he stated.
“So I’ve learned to forgive him for what he’s done and I don’t forgive that easily.”
Despite Kendehl’s complicated feelings, she has promised to cut off contact with him because he has threatened her from prison.
“I’m really afraid that dad will come for me when he gets out,” she said.
‘Yes, I love my dad. But sadly, I don’t feel like I want to have anything to do with him again because he’s scared me too much.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Kim Dilati said it’s “natural” for children to want to believe the best of their parents.
“Most children want to believe that their parents are good people, regardless of what they have done,” he said.
“I think the fact that she holds on to this belief that she loves her father and that there are parts of him that are still redeemable is a natural thing for children and adults.”
Roman Heinze (pictured), tricked two backpackers into the sand dunes, where he attacked them
The two backpackers were lucky to escape with their lives (pictured above)
The two young women narrowly survived the ordeal.
Lena yelled at Heinze to free her friend in the middle of the attack and madly ran to her car to call for help.
He followed him and told Lena she could get her purse, but when the woman reached into his car, he hit her over the head with a hammer, causing blood to gush from her skull.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s it, he’s going to bury me in the sand,'” she said in 2017.
“I thought ‘that’s the end’ because the blow was so strong.”
Lena was hit three more times before she managed to escape, beginning a frantic race for her life that would last for hours.
Managing to find Beatriz in the sand before Heinze reached the couple, he untied his friend and the couple went their separate ways.
Petrified by the thought of her attacker returning, Beatriz sat in the thick bushes while Lena fled from Heinze, who was chasing her in his 4×4.
When she got tired, Heinze started hitting her with his crash bar, making her fall, but each time, she got up and kept running.
“I was so determined that I didn’t want to die. Not here, not now,” he said.
In the end, tired, Lena made a drastic decision that saved her life. She ran towards the car, launching herself onto the hood before climbing onto the roof.
After stopping a car, police were called to the scene in Salt Creek and arrested Roman Heinze (pictured).
“I thought, I’m safe on the roof, he can’t get on the roof,” she said.
“I felt a little bit like I was in a movie, like James Bond.”
Heinze desperately tried to get Lena off the roof of his car. She kicked him in the face while he tried to hit her with the hammer again and again.
Heinze then returned to his car and began driving erratically in an attempt to throw her off while she clung to her with all her might.
Meanwhile, a car approached Beatriz, who took the opportunity to return the favor to her friend and save Lena from her attacker.
She ran to the car, completely naked, screaming for help. Inside the car, a group of men called a nearby bar, who notified the police.
Beatriz begged the men not to take her back to the secluded beach entrance, but instead asked them to help her find Lena, who was still on the roof of Heinze’s car.
The man eventually lured her away, throwing away his weapons in the process. Now barely conscious of her, Lena sat in her front seat and the pair began to travel down the beach, passing directly past Beatriz and the men who rescued her from her.
Salt Creek camp where the attack took place.
Although she was on the brink of consciousness, Lena jumped out of Heinze’s car and ran towards the men, who then revealed that they could not tell if she was a man or a woman, such was the severity of her injuries.
The police, together with the owner of the bar, began searching for Heinze who had escaped.
They found him bogged down in the sand of the dunes, with his hands on the steering wheel of the car.
He was arrested and did not resist.
Heinze later confessed to assaulting another female backpacker in September 2014, having contacted 13 other backpackers and having pornographic videos found on his phone.
He was imprisoned for 22 years.
