Coffee and Crime AU | Australian True Crime

In September 1934, a farmer walking near Albury made a discovery that would become one of Australia's most enduring unsolved mysteries. Hidden inside a roadside culvert was the burned body of a young woman wearing distinctive yellow silk pyjamas decorated with a Chinese dragon. With no identification and few forensic tools available, police launched an investigation that captivated the nation....

For years, Ivan Milat was just another man living an ordinary life in suburban Sydney. A neighbour. A husband. A father. A man who went to work, came home, and blended into the community around him. But in 1992, seven young travellers disappeared — and the discovery of their bodies in Belanglo State Forest would expose one of the darkest chapters in Australian criminal history. In Part Two of Ivan...

In 1992, a discovery inside Belanglo State Forest changed Australia forever. What began as a search for missing travellers became one of the largest homicide investigations in Australian history. Seven young backpackers had disappeared. Their families had spent years searching for answers. And hidden among the trees was the evidence that would reveal one of Australia’s most notorious criminal case...

Bob Chappell stepped onto his yacht on the River Derwent… and was never seen again. No confirmed witness. No body. No clear explanation of what happened that night. What followed was one of Australia’s most debated missing person investigations — a case built on circumstance, interpretation, and contested evidence. In this episode, we break down the disappearance of Bob Chappell, the investigation...

In November 1962, a foul smell drifting through a quiet Sydney street led police to a discovery that would quietly conceal one of Australia’s most disturbing serial killers. What they found beneath the floorboards of a small delicatessen seemed straightforward at first. A dead man. A closed case. A name on the paperwork: Alan Brennan. But there was one problem. Alan Brennan didn’t exist. He was an...

In January 1982, Lynette Dawson vanished from Sydney's Northern Beaches. There was no violent crime scene. No body. No confession. Just a husband who claimed she had walked away and a family who never believed she would abandon her children. For decades, Lynette's disappearance remained one of Australia's most infamous unsolved mysteries. Behind the image of the perfect suburban family...

In 2015, a suitcase discovered beside a remote South Australian highway revealed one of Australia’s most haunting unsolved mysteries. Inside were the remains of a small child. Years earlier, unidentified remains had already been found deep inside Belanglo State Forest in New South Wales. Investigators would eventually discover the two victims were connected — mother and daughter Karlie Pearce-Stev...

In 1997, 14-month-old Jaidyn Leskie vanished from a home in regional Victoria while in the care of his mother’s boyfriend, Greg Domaszewicz. What followed was one of Australia’s most disturbing and divisive investigations — a vandalised house, conflicting timelines, a body discovered months later in Blue Rock Dam, and a murder trial that ended in acquittal. But the case didn’t end there. Years lat...

On a quiet winter morning in Epping, five members of the same family were found murdered inside their home. The Lin family murders shocked Australia — not just for the brutality of the crime, but for how long the truth stayed hidden inside one family. In this episode, we unpack what happened inside the house that night, the timeline investigators pieced together, and how suspicion turned toward on...

What started as a routine warrant in a quiet alpine town turned into one of the most shocking police shootings in Victoria’s recent history. In August 2025, officers arrived at a property in Porepunkah expecting compliance. Instead, they walked into a situation that would escalate fast—and turn deadly. This episode breaks down the full timeline, from the initial police approach to the moment every...

Some nights don’t end when the sun comes up. In Albury, March 1996, nineteen-year-old Kim Meredith finished work like any other night—clocking out, meeting friends, and walking through familiar streets she had walked a hundred times before. She never made it to the next stop. This episode reconstructs the final hours of her life, the movements through the Commercial Hotel and the Terminus Hotel, a...

For years, Kathleen Folbigg was known as one of Australia’s worst child killers—a mother accused of murdering her four children. There were no witnesses. No clear cause. No confession. What prosecutors had instead was something far more dangerous: pattern, assumption… and a set of personal diaries that would be interpreted as guilt. In this episode, we unravel how grief was reframed as suspicion,...

In January 1969, 8-year-old Victoria Barton vanished without a trace in the quiet town of Lawson, nestled in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. One moment, she was standing near a roadside… the next, she was gone. What followed was a desperate search, a nationwide alert, and thousands of calls from people claiming to have seen her. But nothing led to answers. Years later, a chilling confession...

There are places where silence feels different. In this episode of Coffee and Crime AU, we explore the Greenough Family Massacre — a case that remains one of the most confronting in Australian criminal history. Set in rural Western Australia, this episode takes a slow, detailed look at the timeline of events, from the early hours of the crime to the discovery, investigation, and court proceedings...

In the late 1970s, in Sydney’s south-west, a series of child deaths left families devastated and searching for answers. At first, they were called tragedies. Cot deaths. Unexplained. But there was a pattern no one saw. Each child had been left in the care of a teenage babysitter. Helen Patricia Moore What followed would become one of Australia’s most confronting child murder cases—revealing a patt...

On October 25, 2023, 21-year-old Lilie James was killed inside St Andrew’s Cathedral School in Sydney. The man responsible was Paul Thijssen — someone she had briefly dated. Hours later he would die after going over the cliffs at Diamond Bay Reserve. A coronial inquest would later reveal stalking, manipulation and warning signs in the days leading up to the murder. This episode examines the timeli...

On February 2, 1986, 26-year-old nurse Anita Cobby finished work in Sydney and caught the train home to Blacktown. When she arrived at the station that night, the phone she normally used to call her father for a lift was out of order. With no taxis available, Anita began the short walk home. She was abducted from Newton Road by five men driving a stolen car. Two days later, her body was discovered...

Melbourne in the late 1980s and early 1990s was rocked by a series of abductions that would terrify entire suburbs. Known only as Mr. Cruel, this predator was meticulous, intelligent, and terrifyingly patient. He struck while families slept, restraining parents, and abducted children—sometimes releasing them, sometimes escalating to murder. Join us as we uncover the chilling story of a predator wh...

On a January afternoon in 2009, four-year-old Darcey Iris Freeman was killed by her father on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge. The act shocked the nation — not only because of its brutality, but because it unfolded in public, in full view of passing traffic, and in front of Darcey’s siblings. In this episode of Coffee And Crime AU, we tell Darcey’s story with care and restraint, keeping the focus whe...

On the morning of 19 February 2020, Hannah Clarke was leaving home to take her three children to school. She never made it. In this episode of Coffee And Crime AU, we carefully trace what happened that morning — from the moment Hannah was forced into driving, to her attempt to get help, the actions of bystanders who ran toward danger, and what the coronial inquest later revealed about warning sign...

A confronting, non-graphic examination of the Snowtown murders, focusing on coercive control, psychological manipulation, and the exploitation of vulnerable people. This episode centres the victims — twelve lives taken quietly over years — and the failures that allowed it to happen. Listener discretion strongly advised.

On April 19th, 2012, Allison Baden-Clay, a 43-year-old mother of three, was reported missing from her suburban home in Brisbane. What began as a search filled with hope quickly unravelled into one of Australia’s most confronting domestic homicide cases. In this episode of Coffee And Crime AU, we slow the story down — focusing not just on the investigation and trial, but on Allison as a person. We...

In October 1986, 9-year-old Samantha Knight disappeared in Bondi, New South Wales. Years later, new evidence led to the arrest and conviction of her murderer. This podcast explores the investigation, trial, and legacy of Samantha Knight, highlighting child safety and the importance of persistence in solving cold cases. 💬 Share your thoughts respectfully in the comments. 🔔 Subscribe for more Aust...

On September 22, 2012, Jill Meagher disappeared while walking home in Melbourne. Her killer, Adrian Bayley, was later arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. This podcast explores the investigation, trial, and legacy of Jill Meagher’s tragic case. 💬 Share your thoughts respectfully in the comments. 🔔 Subscribe for more Australian true crime stories told carefully and factuall...

In September 2014, three-year-old William Tyrrell disappeared from a quiet street in Kendall, New South Wales. He was wearing his Spider-Man costume. He was playing outside. And within minutes — he was gone. No witnesses. No clear evidence. No confirmed suspect. This video carefully examines the timeline, investigation, and theories surrounding one of Australia’s most haunting unsolved cases. This...