True Crime Conversations

The Twelve Tribes are a Christian fundamentalist sect with followers all around the world, from Germany to America and even here in Australia. Their cafes in Katoomba and Picton have rave reviews but behind these storefronts is a community masked in secrecy and disturbing allegations. Journalist Tim Elliot has spent over a decade investigating their practices. He joins us on today's episode to dis...

Samuel Little is known as the 'most prolific serial killer in US history'. It's believed he murdered more than 90 women over the course of almost four decades before he was finally caught in 2005.  In today's episode, journalist Jillian Lauren takes us through Sam's crimes and victims, as well as the unconventional relationship they developed while she was researching his case. C REDITS Guest: Jil...

Kathleen Folbigg has been described as 'Australia’s worst female serial killer' and 'Australia’s most hated woman'... but what if she never actually committed the crimes she was convicted of.  In 2003 she was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of manslaughter over the deaths of her four children, but now over 150 world-renowned scientists are petitioning for Kathleen's release, w...

In the early hours of New Year’s Day, 1963, the body of a man and woman were discovered on the banks of Lane Cove River in Sydney. They were half naked and arranged bizarrely a few metres apart, but there was no obvious sign of injury. The pair were quickly identified as Dr Gilbert Bogle and Mrs Margaret Chandler, and while their deaths became front page news for years to come their cause of death...

On March 19, 2015, Ray and Jennie Kehlet went fossicking with their friend Graham in the goldfields outside Sandstone, WA. A week later when police came across their campsite they found half-empty coffee cups, dirty dishes, and clothes still hanging on a makeshift clothesline. But they couldn't find Ray & Jennie. The couple's disappearance sparked the biggest and most expensive search in WA hi...

In February 2009, 26-year-old Heather Strong went missing. She stopped turning up to her waitressing job at a diner in Florida and stopped contacting her family. Her estranged husband said she'd left the kids with him and was taking some time to herself to figure things out, but their abusive relationship left people questioning his version of events. And when police started to investigate, it was...

On an overcast January day in 1965, teenagers Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock went missing in the sand hills of Wanda Beach. What happened to them remains one of Australia’s most infamous unsolved murders, despite more than 14-thousand interviews, and 5-thousand suspects.  Today we're joined by author Alan J Whiticker to discuss how the case unfolded and the one suspect who hasn't been rul...

Iris Webber was no stranger to the inside of a police cell. Labelled a 1920s gangster and the ‘most violent woman in Sydney’ in the history books, she lived during a time in our history when male homosexuality was criminalised and lesbianism was admonished. Married to two men during her short life, Iris was also in relationships with women. Something the police were well aware of. Her rap sheet be...

In the early hours of Saturday, June 1st, 2019, 18-year-old backpacker Theo Hayez disappeared from the streets of Byron Bay.  He'd been in Australia for six and a half months and was due to head home to Belgium in a matter of days. But Theo never checked out of his hostel. This is a missing person case that stopped Australia in its tracks. One that attracted a $500, 000 reward for information. A s...

On Friday September 21, 2012, Jill Meagher went out for celebratory drinks with her colleagues at ABC Melbourne. That night she didn't make it home.  It's been 10 years and what happened to Jill continues to haunt the women of Australia, as they do something as simple, as walking home alone.  In this episode, Gemma Bath is joined by journalist and author Megan Norris to discuss the investigation t...

In the last week you might’ve seen the news that Sue Neil Fraser, who was found guilty of murdering her partner Bob Chappell aboard their yacht in Tasmania in 2009, has been granted parole. Sue’s expected to leave prison within weeks, after serving more than 13 years behind bars. Up until now, she’d always maintained her innocence and her supporters insisted she wouldn’t apply for parole. In light...

On the morning of June 20, 2001, Andrea Yates took the lives of her five children in her home in Houston, Texas. After struggling with mental illness throughout her life, it was the birth of Andrea's children that saw her pushed to breaking point. Today we explore how and why this unspeakable tragedy occurred. THE END BITS Subscribe to Mamamia C REDITS Guest: Dr Sohom Das You can hear more of his...

After 34 years in the police and 25 years in homicide, it was former Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin’s job to catch killers. He worked on some of the biggest criminal cases in Australia, including the Lindt Cafe siege, the Bowraville murders, and the gruesome killing of drug dealer Terry Falconer . But it was the case of William Tyrrell that would cost Gary his career. In 2020, he was convicted f...

In the late 1990s Brenden Abbott was notorious around Australia.  Known as 'The Postcard Bandit', he was the most wanted man in the country after escaping prison not once but twice. While on the run it's estimated he robbed up to 30 banks, making off with $5 million. Today Gemma Bath's joined by journalist Derek Pedley as well as Brenden's former lawyer Chris Nyst to discuss Abbott's life and crim...

In 1977, retirees Vera Hays and Florice Bessire were offered a trip of a lifetime. All they had to do was drive a motorhome from Germany to India for Vera's nephew. What they didn't know was that there'd be two tonnes of hashish hidden in the vehicle.  Journalist and author Sandi Logan joins Gemma this week to tell us how two American women who unwittingly became Australia's 'Drug Grannies'. THE E...

On March 27, 1986, Constable Angela Taylor was standing in front of the Russell Street Police Headquarters complex in Melbourne when a car bomb was detonated, injuring dozens of people.  She was the sole fatality from the attack and the first female police officer to be murdered in Australia in the line of duty, at the age of just 21.  It was a crime that terrified the country. An act of pure evil...

In the 1980s, up to $50 million of Argyle Pink Diamonds were smuggled out of one of the world’s most secure mines, seemingly without anyone noticing. The gems were dispersed from Western Australia around the world to Hong Kong, New York and Switzerland with only a few ever recovered.  Journalist Sinead Mangan joins Gemma Bath this week to discuss her investigation into this previously unsolved cas...

After 74 years, Australia’s most baffling mystery has finally been solved. When the body of a man was found slumped on Adelaide's Somerton Beach in 1948, with no clear identity and no clear cause of death, it set off an investigation that spawned curiosity, concern, and conspiracy theories. But after decades of following leads, The University of Adelaide’s professor Derek Abbott and US forensic ge...

From 1956 to 1959, Sydney's southern suburbs were terrorized by a knife-wielding menace known as The Kingsgrove Slasher. He made 18 attacks over that three-year period, with his victims ranging from grown women to a little girl only two years old. It's a case that over the decades has fallen through the cracks of history, until now. THE END BITS Subscribe to Mamamia C REDITS Guest: Glen Humphries,...

On the night of January 26, 2009, Bob Chappell disappeared from his yacht in Tasmania's Derwent Estuary. Police were alerted to trouble when the boat was seen sinking the next morning. When they examined the scene there were signs of foul play... but no sign of Bob. His partner Sue Neill-Fraser would soon become the prime suspect in Chappell's disappearance. But was her conviction sound? Crime aut...

In 1942, the streets of Melbourne were dim and eery. To assist with World War II efforts, the city was complying with a 'brownout' order, similar to a blackout but less severe. This low lighting was the backdrop for a series of murders committed by Edward Joseph Leonski, a 'smiling psychopath' who became known as The Brownout Strangler.  THE END BITS Subscribe to Mamamia C REDITS Guest: Ian W. Sha...

In 1986, 20-year-old Sharron Phillips disappeared from the side of the road in Wacol, Brisbane. She used a payphone to make two calls to a friend after running out of petrol, but by the time he arrived she was nowhere to be found. Those calls were the last time anyone ever heard from Sharron. And her disappearance remained a mystery for 30 years until a deathbed confession changed everything. THE...

On July 7, 1960, eight-year-old Graeme Thorne went missing from the corner store near his family's Bondi home.  It was five weeks after his parents, Bazil and Freda, had won a massive $100,000 in an Opera House lottery.  His disappearance was the country's first well-known kidnap for ransom, and would lead to the biggest manhunt in Australia’s history. In this episode, Gemma Bath is joined by Mark...

News has come through overnight that Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking. From 1994 to 2004, Ghislaine Maxwell conspired with her late partner Jeffrey Epstein to recruit, groom, and sexually assault underage girls.  In this episode, Gemma Bath takes you through the early years of Ghislaine Maxwell, the power that the men in her life held, and the trial th...

In November 2019, police conducted a welfare check on seven-year-old JJ Vallow. He hadn't been seen since September, and police will come to realise that neither had his teenage sister Tylee. They've stumbled onto a web of lies that are about to unravel. Affairs, mysterious deaths, a doomsday cult, and at the centre of it all two missing children. And a mother who isn’t trying to find them....