Motive & Method

In our first ever Q & A episode Tim and Xanthe are answering your questions about the inside world of true crime, forensics and criminal psychology. From the top personality traits of psychopaths, to why most serial killers are men, to the psychology behind mothers who murder. In this very special episode learn more about your favourite true crime hosts and the cases that have stuck with...

They were on opposite sides of the law -  one robbing banks, the other hunting him.  In this extraordinary interview, bank robber Steven Meyers and former FBI agent Shawn Johnson sit down with Tim & Xanthe to share their side of the case and the chase. In 1990s Seattle, Meyers was part of a crew that pulled off 19 bank heists alongside the elusive mastermind known as “Hollywood...

Was an innocent man sent to the gallows in Australia’s most infamous - and final - execution? On February 3, 1967, Ronald Ryan was hanged for the murder of a prison guard during a chaotic escape from Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison - an execution that shocked the nation and would ultimately help bring an end to capital punishment across Australia. Just over a year earlier, Ryan had escape...

Her death was ruled a suicide. But was crucial evidence missed that could point to foul play? When Nadine Haag was found dead in her Sydney apartment in 2009, police immediately treated her death as suicide. But her family refused to accept it and began their own investigation, uncovering evidence they say police had missed, including the words “He did it”. Four years later, a Coroner...

Australia is seeing a disturbing trend of teenagers engaging in extremely dangerous, and potentially fatal, sexual acts. After a 16-year-old girl reportedly died during a suspected sexual strangulation act, experts are warning how mainstream these practices have become. Research shows more than 50% of young Australians under 35 have engaged in the dangerous sexual practice of strangulation. In thi...

After 25 years, could forensic experts uncover new leads from the final clue in this case? In December 2001, Janine Vaughan was seen on CCTV getting into a red car outside a Bathurst nightclub - then she vanished.  In this episode, her brother Adam and sister Kylie reveal how missed witnesses, unexamined evidence and the destruction of a blood-and-hair-covered knife may have cost investigator...

Did Ivan Milat really act alone? And could lost documents link him to unsolved murders? The Crown prosecutor who put Ivan Milat behind bars believes the notorious serial killer may have had help with some of the murders. This episode, Tim and Xanthe take you inside the latest NSW parliamentary hearing into unsolved murders and missing persons where crucial questions were asked, and answered. The h...

She killed her three children. But was she in control of what she was doing? The Lindsay Clancy case has gripped the world - a mother accused of killing her three young children, and a trial that ended in a dramatic hung jury after weeks of conflicting evidence about postpartum psychosis, medication and criminal responsibility. In this episode, emergency physician and trauma expert Dr Josh McConke...

Two unidentified bodies were found years apart and thousands of kilometres away from eachother- Then came the chilling discovery that they were a mother and her young daughter. When the remains of a young woman were discovered in the notorious Belanglo State Forest, no one knew who she was. Her identity remained a mystery for five years, until the horrific discovery of a toddler's body on the side...

Leslie Ball didn't just disappear, someone went to extraordinary lengths to erase him. But a trail of forged signatures, fraud and burnt evidence couldn't keep this 33-year-old cold case buried forever. In this episode Xanthe and Tim are joined by News.com.au  investigative reporter Jo Townsend to untangle the mysterious 1993 disappearance of 71-year-old Leslie Ball. Townsend details her deep...

For years, Christopher Flannery AKA 'Mr Rent-a-Kill' was the man Australian mobsters hired to make people disappear - until he became a target and vanished into thin air himself. In 1985, after becoming a volatile liability who simply knew too much about corrupt police and syndicate bosses, the feared assassin vanished without a trace.  In this episode, Tim and Xanthe sit down with former det...

From unvetted science to coerced confessions, catastrophic failures in Australia's justice system have stolen decades from innocent people for crimes they didn't commit. In this episode Xanthe and Tim sit down with Walkley Award-winning investigative journalist Neil Mercer to discuss his new book,  Falsely Convicted . Mercer details how the Australian criminal justice system has catastrophica...

The Port Arthur massacre remains the deadliest mass shooting in Australian history - a tragedy that shattered lives and transformed the country’s gun laws. On a quiet Sunday afternoon in April 1996, 35 people were killed and dozens more wounded when a gunman opened fire at the tourist site and continued on an hours-long deadly rampage. In this episode, Tim and Xanthe discuss how the events o...

On a remote highway Peter Falconio vanished forever - His murder became every outback travellers worst nightmare. 25 years after one of Australia’s most infamous murders, the case is back in the spotlight with the release of never-before-seen police footage and investigation photos. In this episode, Xanthe and Tim retrace the events of that terrifying night and discuss the forensic evidence...

At the second hearing of the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into unsolved missing and murdered cases, Tim and Xanthe examine three more cases that expose troubling similarities in the experiences of families searching for answers. They discuss the unsolved murder of 16-year-old Lee Ellen Stace, the disappearance of Kylee-Ann Schaffer and the long-running mystery of Bronwyn Winfield, whose case has beco...

A teenager climbed into his red Datsun and drove off into the rain on Boxing Day 1985.   He was never seen again . Nearly 40 years later, what happened to 18-year-old Andrew Inglis remains a mystery. In this episode, Tim and Xanthe are joined by Andrew’s then-girlfriend, Joanne Greensill, who shares the heartbreak of losing her first love. Although she doesn't believe he met with foul p...

A 17-year-old disappeared in Thailand after meeting an Australian man. Less than a day later her body was found inside a suitcase abandoned near railway tracks.  In this episode Tim and Xanthe examine the evidence authorities allege they have against Australian man Simon Peter Carman, and how they say they tracked him through an extensive network of CCTV. Carman denies intentionally killing t...

Could an anonymous truck driver hold the key to solving this 50-year-old cold case? In this episode Tim & Xanthe sit down with Karen Cox, the sister of Narelle Cox, who vanished in 1977 while hitchhiking from Grafton to Noosa. She was just 21 years old and left a note saying she was visiting a friend for the weekend, but she never arrived and she never came home. Karen shares the devastating i...

No badge, no warrant and no official powers - yet she uncovered vital evidence in the search for missing schoolteacher Marion Barter. In this episode, we speak with citizen sleuth and social worker Joni Condos, whose relentless research from her own living room uncovered crucial evidence in the mysterious disappearance of Marion Barter. Joni reveals how she traced hidden identities, unearthed...

She secretly changed her name. Hundreds of thousands of dollars disappeared from her bank account. A convicted conman was questioned for days at a coronial inquest, yet nearly three decades later, no one knows what happened to Marion Barter. In this episode, Tim & Xanthe are joined by Marion’s daughter Sally Leydon. She reveals the extraordinary twists in her mother’s disappearance...

How a notorious criminal became a pop culture legend. Tim & Xanthe unpack the violent life and complicated mythology of Mark Brandon ‘Chopper’ Read -  the underworld figure immortalised in film, television, and true crime folklore. From prison violence and gangland crime to media fame and the cult success of 'Chopper', we examine how a brutal criminal transformed himself into...

In 2007, four people vanished from a remote town in Western Australia - leaving behind an abandoned home, a cryptic note and a trail of unanswered questions. At the centre of the mystery was a self-styled spiritual leader, who had built an online doomsday cult. Over the past 20 years, as desperate family, police and coroners examined theories ranging from suicide pacts to staged disappearances, th...

In this bonus episode, Tim and Xanthe sit down with MP Jeremy Buckingham, the driving force behind the parliamentary inquiry examining some of Australia’s most notorious unsolved murders and missing persons cases.  Buckingham reveals what sparked his decade-long push for answers, the systemic failures families say have left them abandoned and why he believes these cases deserve fresh sc...

A three-year-old disappears. A teenager confesses. Yet more than five decades later, Cheryl Grimmer’s family is still fighting for justice. Cheryl Grimmer vanished from a beach change room in 1970, and despite a detailed confession decades later, no one has ever been held accountable for her murder. In this powerful interview, Cheryl’s brothers, Paul Grimmer and Ricki Nash, share the d...

What if Ivan Milat’s first victim was killed more than two decades before the backpacker murders? Keren Rowland was 5 months pregnant when she was brutally murdered and hidden in a pine forest in 1971. In this episode, Tim & Xanthe sit down with Keren's brother Steve Rowland and former UK detective Hugh Hughes. They detail years of fighting for answers, alleging police ignored crucial le...