Killer In The Family

In this episode we are joined by Laura Richards, host of Crime Analyst podcast and criminal behavioural analyst. Laura is also an advocate and campaigner who worked for a decade at New Scotland Yard. Laura's previous roles include former Head of the Homicide Prevention Unit as well as former Violence Adviser to the National Police Chief's Council and the Home Office.  Laur...

In March 1974 39 year old Pamela Panes and her three children Graham aged 7, Angela aged 6 and Adrian aged 4 were killed by husband and father Roger Panes in Hampshire in the UK. Roger then took his own life.   The Panes family belonged to the Plymouth Brethren religion. Before the murders, Roger had been forcibly “shut up” — or shunned from the religious community he’d grown up in. His own w...

In June 1994 Im Pun (Sylvia) Zakrzewski and her two children Edward and Anna were brutally killed by husband and father Edward Zakrzewski. Sylvia was planning on leaving Zakrzewski. As soon as he found that out – he planned the murders.   Nearly 30 years after he killed his whole family, on 31 July this year, Zakrzewski was executed by the State of Florida by lethal injection. His execution s...

On Christmas Day in 1929 37 year old Fannie Manring and six of her seven children – Marie, Carrie, Maybell, James, Raymond and Mary-Lou were killed by husband and father Charles Lawson in North Carolina. Her eldest child Arthur was spared.   In a seemingly premeditated familicide Charles took his family to have a family portrait taken the day before he killed them all – apart from his son Art...

  In November 1983, in the town of Bloomington, Illinois, 30-year-old Susan Hendricks and her three children — 9-year-old Rebekah, 7-year-old Grace, and 5-year-old Benjamin — were found brutally murdered in their family home.   Their husband and father, David Hendricks, was away on a business trip at the time. But when calls home went unanswered, he rushed back — only to find his entire...

In the early hours of June 20, 1994, police in Dunedin, on New Zealand’s South Island, responded to a horrifying call - a family had been murdered. Inside the Bain home, officers discovered a scene of devastation: 58-year-old Robin Bain, his wife Margaret, 50, and their children Arawa, 19, Laniet, 18, and Stephen, 14 had all been shot dead.   Only one member of the family was still alive. The...

In September 2021 56 year old Eileen O’ Sullivan and her 24 year old son Jamie were killed by partner and father Mossie O’ Sullivan. He then took his own life.   A familicide that left a rural Irish community reeling – there are still no definitive answers to why Mossie O’Sullivan did what he did.   This is the story of the O’Sullivan Family.   Information and support ·  &...

On 10 August 1996 22 year old Liana Duke and her 5 year old son Erik died in an apparent accidental fall off a cliff near Green River in Wyoming. Their deaths were ruled accidental and husband and father Robert Bob Duke walked away not only a widower but also the beneficiary of his wife’s life insurance.   For two years, that’s where the story ended.   Until Bob’s childhood friend, Roger...

In May 2002, 24-year-old Evelyn Hernandez vanished from San Francisco along with her 5-year-old son, Alex. Evelyn was eight and a half months pregnant — just weeks away from giving birth to a much wanted baby boy. Two months later, Evelyn’s body was pulled from the San Francisco Bay. Her unborn baby was gone. Alex was gone. Neither has ever been found.   Seven months later, in the same city,...

On 12 November 1976, 36-year-old Renee MacRae and her 3-year-old son Andrew vanished near Inverness. That night, her BMW was found burning in a layby on the A9. Blood in the car pointed to murder — but no bodies were ever found.   For over 40 years, it was one of the UK’s most haunting cold cases. Then, in 2019, police arrested William MacDowell — Renee’s secret lover and Andrew’s biological...

On 12 November 1976, 36-year-old Renee MacRae and her 3-year-old son Andrew vanished near Inverness. That night, her BMW was found burning in a layby on the A9. Blood in the car pointed to murder — but no bodies were ever found.   For over 40 years, it was one of the UK’s most haunting cold cases. Then, in 2019, police arrested William MacDowell — Renee’s secret lover and Andrew’s biological...

In July 2013, 53-year-old Marie-Josée Benitez and her 19-year-old daughter Allison vanished without a trace from their home in Southern France. The last person to see them alive was Francisco Benitez — Marie-Josée’s estranged husband and Allison’s father. He claimed they’d left for a trip to Toulouse. They never came back.    What followed was a chilling chain of revelations. Francisco w...

Send us a text In July 2010, just days after returning from a family holiday, 31-year-old Vicki Case and her two baby daughters — 2-year-old Phoebe and 1-year-old Nereya — were brutally murdered in their own home. The man who killed them was the person who should have loved and protected them the most: husband and father, Andrew Case.   After taking their lives, Case then took his own life. He lef...

Send us a text In March 2004, in a quiet suburb of Melbourne, Australia, Anna Kemp and her 20-month-old daughter Gracie were brutally murdered by the very person who should have loved and protected them the most — husband and father, John Sharpe. Armed with a speargun, he shot Anna and Gracie multiple times, killing them in cold blood. Anna was also pregnant with their second child who she had nam...

Send us a text In February 1995, the quiet town of Springfield, Missouri was devastated by a brutal familicide. Cheryl Feeney and her two young children — 6-year-old Tyler and 18-month-old Jennifer — were found savagely murdered in their own home. The crime scene was bizarre, chilling, and left more questions than answers.   Husband and father Jon Feeney was away at a teacher’s conference when the...

Send us a text In December 1987, over the course of a single week, Ronald Gene Simmons brutally killed 14 members of his own family. They included wife Becky, his children Gene Jr, Loretta, Eddy, Marianne, Becky, Billy, and Sheila, his grandchildren Barbara, Trae, Sylvia, and Michael, his daughter-in-law Renate, and his son-in-law Dennis.    Not content with slaughtering his family, Simmons then m...

Send us a text In February 2018, in the quiet town of Derrylin, Northern Ireland, a fire tore through a remote bungalow. Inside were the bodies of four family members — Denise Gossett, 45, her children Sabrina, 19, and Roman, 16, and Sabrina’s baby daughter, 15-month-old Morgana. The only survivor was Denise’s partner, 33-year-old Daniel Allen — the man responsible for their murders.   Allen was a...

Send us a text Kim Davis co-hosts the Slaycation podcast alongside husband Adam Davis and friend Jerry Kolber. The podcast – which I absolutely love – explores cases of murder, mysterious deaths and disappearances while on vacation – or holiday as well call it in the UK. I highly recommend that you check it out and add it to your podcast list.    Kim is a trained social worker specialising in dome...

Send us a text On the first day of school at Wild Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland in September 2017, beloved social studies teacher Laura Wallen didn’t turn up and had vanished without a trace. Just days later, her body was discovered in a shallow grave — shot dead. Laura was four months pregnant which a wanted child called Reid. The man accused of killing her was her boyfriend and the fath...

Send us a text In January 1993, a house fire tore through the Romand family home in Prévessin-Moëns, near the French-Swiss border. Inside, Florence Romand and her two young children, Antoine and Caroline, were dead. Jean-Claude Romand — husband, father, and apparent survivor — was clinging to life. But what first looked like a devastating accident quickly unravelled into something far darker: the...

Send us a text In 2005 25 year old Janet Abaroa was found dead by her husband Raven – she was pregnant at the time and also had a six month old son who was unharmed. Although Janet’s murder is still technically unsolved her family always suspected that it was Raven who killed her and his unborn child. In 2014 he entered an Alford Plea acknowledging that there was enough evidence to convict him but...

Send us a text In November 2007 29 year old Lorraine McGovern and her five children – Caroline, Sean, Bellina, Clodagh and James - were killed in a fire in their home in Omagh, Northern Ireland. The fire was set deliberately by Lorraine’s partner Arthur McElhill who also died in the fire. McElhill was a convicted sex offender who groomed and abused many teenage girls including his partner Lorraine...

Send us a text This bonus episode is my analysis of the Netflix show Adolescence. A drama by Stephen Graham which follows the story of Jamie – a 13 year old boy – who is arrested for the murder of a classmate – Katie. It explores incel culture and misogyny amongst young people and apparently the Prime Minister has committed to showing it in all schools as part of relationships and sex education. ...

Send us a text VOTE for Killer in the family in this year’s True Crime Awards Listener’s Choice category – it only takes 2 minutes – thank you! True Crime Awards 2025 - Listeners' Choice   In July 2000 31 year old Claire Quinn and her two children – 8 year old Kieran and 7 year old Jade were killed by husband and father Phillip Austin in Northamptonshire in the UK. He also killed the family’s two...

Send us a text In July 2024, just last year, Carol Hunt was at her home in Bushey near Watford with two of her three daughters – Hannah aged 28 years old and Louise aged 25 years old. Kyle Clifford – Louise’ ex-boyfriend came to the house and murdered all three women. A violent man with a history of control, he was convicted of the murders in January this year and has just been convicted of raping...