At age 22, Bunting worked at an abattoir and reportedly "bragged about slaughtering the animals, saying that's what he enjoyed the most".[14]: 1 Bunting moved to a house in Salisbury North, South Australia in 1991 and befriended his neighbours Mark Haydon and Robert Wagner. Wagner's romantic partner, Vanessa Lane (formerly Barry Lane), was a transgender woman with a history of paedophilia (their relationship began when Wagner was 14).[15]