SA Police hunt killer after gruesome ‘ambush’ murder in Adelaide

A manhunt is under way after a 19-year-old teen was stabbed to death in a brutal “ambush” killing.

The alleged murder happened in the northern Adelaide suburb of Seaton on Tuesday night, the police said, with emergency services rushing to a Carey Ave address about 10.20pm.

Paramedics treated the victim Scot Phillips but he died at the scene.

Superintendent Doc Bray, speaking on Wednesday morning, called the alleged murder an “ambush”, stating the killer had intentionally cut off power at the address to coax out the 19-year-old and then unleashed a “furious attack” on him in the front yard.

“I think it’s fair to say this was a pre-planned attack,” he said.

“It was an ambush in the sense that switching the power off lured him outside.

“The person was armed, he was waiting and he unleashed a furious attack on the victim.”

He said the police knew “at least one person was responsible” for the stabbing but would not rule out if others may have been involved in some way.

“There is CCTV but the CCTV is not capable of identifying anybody at all,” he said.

The police are now building a picture of Mr Phillips’ life to see if he had “any conflicts with anyone”.

On Wednesday morning, the family released three photos of the young man via the police.

There were several people at the house at the time of the incident, Superintendent Bray said, and all of them were now co-operating with the police.

“He was stabbed multiple times and it was clear from the wounds he suffered it was a deliberate attempt to kill him,” Superintendent Bray said.

“The knife was obviously something quite large.

“We know that from the injuries.”

The victim is from the address and the police said they believed it was not a random incident.