Australian True Crime

Michael McGurk was murdered with a single gunshot to the head outside his family home in Cremorne in 2009. He described himself as a businessman but others, including politicians and royalty said he was an extortionist, a fraudster and an arsonist. He confided in our guest, legendary journalist Kate McClymont about who he thought might kill him just 10 days before his death. Warning: please be adv...

11-year-old Joanne Ratcliffe was the kind of well-mannered, responsible girl often entrusted to care for younger children. She was no match though for a grown man who seized the opportunity to snatch her and her 4-year-old friend from Adelaide Oval in 1973. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 128: Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb With...

22-year-old Jack Nankervis was stabbed 70 times by a teenager he didn’t know. His girlfriend Stacey is still trying to put her life back together five years later and understand why it really happened and why no one else seems interested in finding out. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 127: Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb With tha...

Dianne Brimble died an unnecessary death in the company of strange, cruel men on a cruise she’d saved years for. She’s had no justice, but her ex-husband still fights for her dignity. Read the Inquest into the death of Dianne Brimble - Findings Only . Purchase Abandoned: The Sad Death of Dianne Brimble Warning: please be advised this episode contains accounts of sexual assault. Listene...

Narelle is back with a case that’s very close to her heart because it’s connected to her time working with her favourite boss Lorraine Blackwell at Broadmeadows CPS. Lorraine pioneered a victim-focussed approach to the investigation of sexual assault and her influence can still be seen in the Victorian Police force today. Warning: please be advised this episode contains accounts of sex...

Sexy gangster, porn star, part-time models. A letter bomb and a tv home shopping star having sex with another tv home shopping star in a police station before faking his own death and escaping Australia. How has there never been an Underbelly series about this True Crime story from Kings Cross in 1998?As NSW the Premier announces a rollback of the lockout laws, veteran Sydney journalist Mark Morri...

The Wettenhall Family murders rocked the small community of Barrabool in Victoria. The revelations that came to light in the aftermath however, reflected the sad state of affairs for so many living in regional Australia. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 123: Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb With thanks to Neal Drinnan and Bob Perry...

From Far North Queensland's Cape York comes the terrifying story of the Strubers of Palmerville Station who terrorised gold prospectors for years until they eventually turned to bloody murder. No, this story isn't from the 19th century, this is the story of the murder of Bruce Schuler in 2012. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 122:Your hosts a...

Dr Karen Owen designed the treatment program for sex offenders used by Corrections Victoria. She helps us understand what’s in store for Cardinal George Pell now that he’s leaving the Melbourne Assessment Prison and heading for more long term accommodation. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 121:Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emil...

Bradley John Murdoch isn't a good man, but did he murder Peter Falconio? That's the question posed by inimitable True Crime author Robin Bowles in her book DEAD CENTRE and she joins us to explain her exhaustive investigations. Most shocking of all, is the lack of evidence of any crime having been committed. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 12...

Karen MacKenzie and her three children were murdered in their Western Australian home in 1993. For her sister Evalyn, the nightmare never ends. She joins us to explain the many ways in which it’s impacted on her life and continues to do so, every day. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 119:Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb With...

The pain of living with loss and injustice. An extraordinarily intimate kitchen table conversation between the family of Bree Jones who died of a drug overdose at the age of 16, at a party in 1995. No one has ever been held responsible for her death despite the best efforts of her family, investigators and the NSW Coroner. Her sister and parents recorded their own episode of Australian True Crime....

Bob and June Meredith were living a simple but idyllic life with their teenage children in Albury in 1996, until a chance encounter with a stranger tore it apart. They join us to tell us about the murder of their daughter Kim. Later in the episode, former homicide detective and lead investigator Belinda Neil joins us to talk about how Kim’s murder investigation changed her life. Warning: ple...

One man’s mysterious disappearance has become a decade-long tragedy for two Tasmanian women, from different sides of the tracks. Author Robin Bowles has developed a close friendship with one of the women and joins us to talk about her new book on the case. Show notes for Episode 115:Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb With thanks to Robin BowelsRobin's book "Death on the Derwent" is...

It's easy to forget it takes a lot of courage to write stories about bad guys week after week. Andrew Rule has irritated some of the baddest in the business and every so often it gets a little bit scary. Andrew joined Meshel and Emily live on stage recently at Melbourne's Chapel off Chapel to talk about a case involving many twists and turns, and one of the scariest times in his reporting career....

Margaret Harrod and her twin brother Michael both dedicated their lives to God, she as a nun and he as a priest. Their family was the envy of their Catholic community, but there were many secrets inside their home and eventually Margaret found t he courage and the faith to call every one of them out. It continues to be a traumatic journey. Margaret's book, co written with journalist Sue Smethurst...

In 1981, a psychopathic New Zealand teenager came very close to assassinating Queen Elizabeth. Embarrassed police not only covered it up but sent him away to Australia, a free man. Why haven't we seen that on the Crown? Former high-ranking New Zealand Detective, now Gold Coast retiree Tom Lewis tried to tell the world and was driven out of his homeland. He and his granddaughter Maria join us to te...

Belinda Neil was settling in on her first day in the homicide squad when she took a phone call that would change the course of her career. An unassuming suburban mother and two of her three teenage children had been brutally murdered. Later that day Belinda and her colleagues would attend the most traumatising crime scene of their careers. One of her colleagues left the police force that day, neve...

From humble beginnings in suburban Melbourne to reincarnation as Jesus Christ, a cohort of devoted, well-heeled followers and an enviable real estate portfolio, Anne Hamilton Byrne who died in a nursing home last week really was the quintessential 20th Century cult leader. The only thing more shocking than the abuse she inflicted on dozens of children in her care throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s and 9...

When former Detective Lex De Man received a text reading simply, "The Witch is Dead!" he knew exactly what it meant. Since attending a school fire in the small Victorian town of Monbulk in 1987, Lex's life has been consumed with trying to bring about some justice for the people whose childhood's were stolen by Anne. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for E...

Homicide Detective Charlie Bezzina received a phone call about a man who'd been punched outside a popular St Kilda pub during an altercation with a bouncer. The man was clinging to life, but the prognosis wasn't good. The caller said there was one more detail Charlie needed to know, the victim was International Cricket legend and television commentator David Hookes. Warning: please be advised this...

Charlie Bezzina was lead investigator on the Frankston Serial Killer Case in which Carmel and Brian's daughter Natalie was the final victim. In this episode Charlie talks us through the investigation. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 107:Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb With thanks to Charlie BezzinaTo support Carmel and Brian plea...

The Frankston Serial Killer took their 17-year-old daughter Natalie in 1993, and Carmel and Brian have lived through many more challenges since then. Now they're looking at eviction from their home of 30 years and they're very reluctantly asking for help. Warning: please be advised this episode contains graphic content. Show notes for Episode 106:Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb With th...

Emily is joined by Sandra Charlton, the cousin of Vicki Arnold. Vicki was the woman accused of murdering her best friend Julie-Anne Leahey before killing herself in this week's episode of Australian True Crime. Sandra tells us what it's like to be thrust into the spotlight of a homicide investigation, and to have to clear a beloved relative's name. Warning: please be advised this episode contains...

BFFs to the end, Vicki and Julie-Anne died together on a lonely track in Far North QLD in 1991. The police quickly ruled it a murder suicide but the families, the community, the Australian public and relentless local journalist Robert Reid refused to give up on the many inconsistencies in the case, and the brutal death scene. Reid joins us to guide us through the many twists and turns of Vicki and...