Secrets We Keep

A taxi driver who accepted a job at 2am, a man who saw a lone woman on the side of the road, and the missing minutes of the last time Sarah Spiers was ever seen. Three minutes was all it took for the 18-year-old to disappear. She called for a taxi at 2.03am on January 27, by the time the taxi arrived at 2.06am, she was gone. Day eight of WA's trial of the century tried to shed some light on that t...

It was massive day in court, with eight witnesses taking the stand, including the woman who was attacked from behind by the accused Claremont serial killer, Bradley Robert Edwards in 1990. She spoke about her ordeal publicly for the first time. He pleaded guilty and was convicted on common assault. As Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and Alison Fan discuss, her testimony was animated and detailed, and...

As a new week of evidence starts in the Claremont serial killings trial, the court takes on a different format for the day. While the court waited to hear from the man who impregnated Bradley Edwards' first wife, two former Telstra employees gave evidence, and they were asked  - very specifically - about uniforms. The West's legal affairs editor Tim Clarke explains why the specific colour of...

In what’s already been a week of bombshells, day five, despite being a shorter day, was no exception. Former friends of Bradley Edwards, a couple named Murray and Brigita Maria Cook took the stand. Mr Cook told of his annoyance when Edwards never showed up to a pre-planned holiday in Dawesville, an hour south of Perth, on March 14 1997 - the night Ciara Glennon disappeared. He said Edwards t...

Day four of the Claremont serial killings trial saw a parade of Bradley Edwards’ former lovers take the stand, with intimate details told to the court. Two of Edwards’ former lovers told of their brief relationships with him, one saying she was ‘fond’ of Edwards. Day four was also the first day Bradley Edwards appeared to show emotion, seeming to smile as home videos during...

The first witness is Bradley Edwards’ first wife. She took the stand on day three of the Claremont serial killings trial. Her name and identity have been suppressed. She revealed their bizarre living arrangements, as well as intimate details of their life as husband and wife, including an obsession with a computer, an affair and pregnancy that saw the end of their relationship. All while pro...

The defence’s opening statement may have only taken 25 minutes, but in that time, Bradley Robert Edwards' defence lawyer, Paul Yovich dropped a bombshell. He claimed crucial DNA samples - which the prosecution will use as evidence to prove Bradley Edwards is the Claremont serial killer - had been contaminated by lab scientists. Day two also heard the movie-like investigation of how Bradley E...

A never-before-heard phone call Sarah Spiers made in the hours before she disappeared. Descriptions of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon’s final movements. And gruesome evidence shown to a packed-out court on the first day of the accused Claremont Serial Killer, Bradley Robert Edwards’ trial. Join Natalie Bonjolo, Tim Clarke and legal experts, criminal defence lawyer Damien Cripps and...

As the trial of the century gets underway in Perth, Western Australia, Seven West Media journalists take you inside the courtroom. Two girls dead, one missing, presumed murdered. The Claremont serial killings, as they have come to be known, struck fear into West Australians for 23 years. Now, the man accused, Bradley Robert Edwards faces trial. Join us daily for an in-depth conversation with repor...

Years pass and with the public losing hope that the horrific mystery will ever be solved, a new suspect emerges.  Telecommunications technician Bradley Robert Edwards is arrested in a dawn raid. The 50-year-old pleads not guilty and will stand trial for three murders, rape and abduction. So what is the police case against him? And is it possible that police missed a link that could have led t...

As the hunt for a serial killer who has struck three times in Claremont continues, police train a laser focus on one very peculiar man who admits to driving the streets and picking up at least one woman. But the man’s mother says enough is enough. A TV reporter spends an hour with the suspect in his beachside apartment, quizzing him over the case. She concludes that detectives are pursuing t...

One woman missing, one woman murdered. A city gripped by fear. Then Ciara Glennon vanishes off the streets of Claremont. As her grieving father takes up the hunt, police launch the biggest murder taskforce in Australian history. But when their focus narrows on a suspect, the question is asked: have police got the wrong man? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's 1996 and a blonde teenager stands on the side of the road in the vibrant Perth suburb of Claremont and calls a taxi. By the time it arrives, Sarah Spiers is gone. A few months later and Jane Rimmer is out with friends in Claremont when she, too, disappears. Her body was found weeks later. As police desperately hunted a serial killer a third young woman, Ciara Glennon, was snatched and killed....

In episode six of Behind the White Line, with a dozen people pleading guilty following the cops’ audacious fake cocaine sting, instead of celebrating the success of Operation Beech the fallout between enforcement agencies is bitter, as an entirely new threat emerges along with the next wave of drugs bound for our shores. Read more of  The West Australian's coverage here: https://thewest...

In episode five of Behind the White Line, as governments wage an endless war on drugs, we meet a group of forty-something friends who are occasional coke users. While many are unaware of the risks with taking cocaine, our real-life users are equally shocked to learn about the brutal underbelly of the drug trade directly from a man who’s lived in the cartel’s shadow. Read more of The We...

In episode four of Behind the White Line, back in Western Australia, police continue to track the fake cocaine, as one by one, key players are caught red handed. More than half of Australia’s annual coke supply intercepted in one hit. But not everyone is happy. As two DEA agents are kicked out of Australia, a turf war breaks out between State and Australian Federal Police which will lead to...

In episode three of Behind the White Line, we talk to a West Australian Police operative who goes deep undercover, as part of a DEA sting to nab a big-time drug trafficker in Nairobi. Stakes are high as “Tommy” infiltrates the drug cartel. The dangerous operation is a precursor to an even more daring sting to intercept the biggest cocaine haul in Australian history. See omnystudio.com/...

In episode two of Behind the White Line, drones patrol the night sky as police drop 1.2 tonne of fake cocaine bricks into the Indian Ocean. It doesn’t take long for an unsuspecting crew to reel in their ‘catch’ but as the weather turns nasty, things go from bad to worse for the cocaine syndicate, as cops make their move. Read more of The West Australian's coverage here: https://t...

In episode one of Behind the White Line , Richard Baker gets suited and booted to attend the swanky Birdcage at Flemington, where racegoers make a beeline for the toilets to ‘rack up’. As the world’s highest users of cocaine per capita, Australia has become the number one target of Mexican cartels and crime syndicates. With a billion-dollar shipment headed Down Under, the US Drug...

An investigation into Australia’s cocaine binge, Behind the White Line, traces the trail of white powder, from narco to nostrils. The series goes inside a $1 billion shipment, exposing a police turf war between the United States' DEA, the AFP and WA cops over an audacious sting to outwit a Mexican cartel. With exclusive interviews of high-ranking detectives, undercover operatives, DEA agents...

An investigation into Australia’s cocaine binge, Behind the White Line, traces the trail of white powder, from narco to nostrils. The series goes inside a $1 billion shipment, exposing a police turf war between the United States' DEA, the AFP and WA cops over an audacious sting to outwit a Mexican cartel. With exclusive interviews of high-ranking detectives, undercover operatives, DEA agents...

Although Dezi Freeman is no longer a threat, the ideology he embraced continues to spread through Australia’s growing sovereign citizen movement. In this final episode, 7NEWS journalist Michael Usher and Crime Editor Cassie Zervos examine the question authorities are quietly asking: how many more people like Dezi Freeman are out there? To understand the scale of the movement (and why it attr...

He was known to the world as Dezi Freeman, but that wasn’t the name he was born with. In this episode, 7NEWS journalist Michael Usher and Crime Editor Cassie Zervos trace Dezi Freeman’s origin story, uncovering new details about his childhood, the influences around him, and the pivotal moments that shaped his worldview — revealing the reality of the man behind the myth, and how h...

In a case as high-profile as Dezi Freeman’s, the manhunt, his sovereign citizen beliefs, and the conspiracy theories surrounding his life (and death) have often overshadowed the human toll left behind. In this episode, 7NEWS journalist Michael Usher and Crime Editor Cassie Zervos shift the focus to the two Victoria Police officers killed by Freeman: Detective Leading Senior Constable Neil Th...

The hunt for Dezi Freeman wasn’t just a manhunt. It was a battle on hostile ground. Police moved into a community that didn’t trust them, didn’t want them there, and in some cases, openly opposed them. As tensions rose, investigators pushed on, determined not to lose their grip on the case. In this episode, 7NEWS journalist Michael Usher and Crime Editor Cassie Zervos reveal the...