True Crime Conversations

It was Saturday morning, when a routine police patrol drove past a mostly empty car park in the remote Queensland town of Mount Isa. When police edged closer, they saw that it was the body of a young woman, who they’d later discovered was named Patricia Carlton. She’d been brutally beaten and sexually assaulted. The woman was rushed to hospital, but later that night Patricia would die...

In today’s episode of True Crime Conversations Jessie speaks with Julia Robson. Julia is a private investigator, who spent 7 years on the trail of a New Zealand con man, who goes by the name of ‘Charlie’, who was scamming women online, promising them a better life, coercing them into relationships and even having children with them.  In her seven-part podcast ‘Chasing...

When Jose Martinez’s sister was murdered, he got revenge by murdering her killers. This sparked what would end up being three dozen murders, he completed over more than three decades, many of them on behalf of drug cartels, as a hitman. Despite being a ruthless killer, Jose is described as a soft-spoken doting grandfather and complete family man. In today’s episode, Jessie speaks with...

In December 2017, Larrimah local Paddy Moriarty left his favourite pub and embarked on the two minute ride home, with his kelpie Kellie sitting beside him on his quad bike. And then, he disappeared into thin air. Along with Kellie. Larrimah is a small town in the Northern Territory located 431 kilometers from Darwin and the nearest grocery store is 90 kilometres away. This tiny town only has a pop...

In this episode, Jessie speaks with one of Queensland’s most highly regarded police officers, Keith Banks, about his experiences as an undercover operative in the 1980’s. At 16 years old Keith traveled from Townsville to study at Brisbane’s Police Academy and by the time he was 21, the young, straight-laced country boy was risking his life to infiltrate some of Australia’s...

Peter Foster is one of Australia's most prolific career criminals. From diet products to sports betting companies, this con man stops at nothing. His crimes have found him with links to Muhammad Ali and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. And he also appeared on Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope.  In this episode Jessie speaks with Justin Armsden, an award-winning journalist with over 30 years of e...

Tara Costigan was a hard working mum, friend, close with her family and liked by those who she met. She was also killed by her partner one week after giving birth to their daughter. In this episode we speak with Heidi Lemon, that author of The First Time He Hit Her: the shocking true story of the murder of Tara Costigan, the woman next door. Heidi spent the past few years devoted to writing the bo...

Kathleen Folbigg is thought to be one of the most infamous serial killing women in Australia. She was found guilty of the murder of her three infant children, Patrick aged eight months, Sarah aged 10 months and Laura aged 19 months, between 1989 and 1999. She was also convicted of the manslaughter of her first child Caleb in 1989. The main evidence used against Kathleen were her personal diary ent...

In the 1980s, a brochure was printed across the world, for an idyllic holiday resort called Arous. It was a diving resort on the Red Sea, in the Sudanese desert. The brochure featured pictures of chalets on a bright beach, the sea almost the same colour as the sky But what guests of the resort didn’t know was that Arous wasn’t really a holiday resort. At least not primarily. And the st...

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this episode contains the names of people who have passed away. In 1988 the death of Mark Haines just outside of Tamworth in regional NSW was barely investigated by local police. The 17-year-old’s body was found on train tracks outside of town, but law enforcement treated his death as less than suspicious. You have only to pu...

Jeffrey Epstein was a financier of global influence and moved in powerful social circles. He was also an alleged child sex trafficker, a convicted criminal who served time for soliciting a prostitute; an underage child in 2008. Epstein was arrested again in July of 2019 on charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. While he awaited trial he was found dead in his jail c...

Jim Jones was a charismatic pastor, preaching of salvation and a bountiful life for all those who followed him. He also was the man responsible for one of the largest incidences of loss of human life in modern American history. Author and podcaster Jo Thornely has researched Jim Jones and his cult of followers for her book Zealot. She joins us for this episode to explain Jones’ psychology, t...

In the second episode of our two part series on the life and crimes of serial killers David and Catherine Birnie, we examine the crimes the pair carried out. Journalist and author Andrew Byrne explores further the motivations and machinations of the Birnie’s utterly maniacal and evil crimes. As Andrew is still working on his book he asks that if you or anyone you know has any information on...

In November 1986, police visited a quiet residence on a suburban Perth street. The occupants of that house, lifelong lovers David and Catherine Birnie were arrested soon after. That house will be forever synonymous with five unimaginable crimes, known to history as the Moorhouse Murders. Catherine will never be released from jail. She is only the third woman in Australian history to be given this...

Dr Henry Howard Holmes was America’s first serial killer. The charismatic criminal lured his victims to his hotel dubbed “the murder castle” during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. The building was riddled with trap doors and booby traps, a crematorium and gas chambers. The rumours of his depravity were far reaching and propelled H. H. Holmes to infamy. However the man dubbed...

When Kirra McLoughlin died on a property on Beenham Valley Road near Gympie, Queensland, law enforcement and medical examiners were baffled. Kirra’s former partner would claim she went to sleep after a fight and simply didn’t wake up. Family said there had been a party at the property the night before, but neighbours disputed that. Kirra’s body had 105 signs of bruising, and ther...

On 17 April 2005, nine young Australians were arrested in Bali on charges of drug trafficking. Known as the 'Bali 9', some members received the death penalty for their crimes, while others are serving lengthy jail sentences.  It seemed like a case burnt into the Australian consciousness. However, more than 15 years later the same crimes are being carried out, with just as devastating effects....

The rise and fall of Keith Raniere and the now defunct NXIVM cult is one of the most disturbing scandals of our age. What began as a purported self-help group spiralled into a dark, secretive world of illicit sex, money laundering, and exploitation, all at the hands of founder Keith Raniere and his accomplices. Additionally, several women involved with the NXIVM founder died or disappeared under s...

When 26-year-old school teacher Stephanie Scott disappeared days before her wedding, her fiance immediately knew something was wrong. She wasn’t the type of person to vanish without a trace, or get cold feet. An immense manhunt was swiftly organised with locals of the small town of Leeton, where Stephanie lived. It would be a devastating four days until Stephanie’s fiance and family we...

It was November 1994 and Jan Balmain was confused. She was waiting for her 22-year-old daughter Revelle to get off the train from Sydney to Newcastle. Revelle was supposed to be visiting before heading off to Japan for a career changing modelling gig.  But Revelle never got off the train. Instead, hours earlier Revelle, who was working as a sex worker as well as a model, allegedly finished he...

It was the afternoon of April 15, 2003, when residents of Lorne, a seaside town on the shoreline of the Great Ocean Road, noticed something they’d never seen before.  It was a cargo ship. Of course, they saw big ships everyday but this was something different. The 106 metre long vessel came to within 500 metres of the rocks scattered along the coastline. What no one knew at the time, wa...

When a shark vomited up a tattooed arm in the Coogee Aquarium in 1935, onlookers were horrified. This arm would be the catalyst for exposing the seedy underbelly of Sydney’s grimy and cut throat crime scene. Phillip Roope and Kevin Meagher sit down with Jessie Stephens to explore the shark arm case. Together, the former high school history and english teachers collaborated on the book Shark...

Qandeel Baloch was dubbed Pakistan’s answer to Kim Kardashian but her story is very different. Her older brother murdered her for bringing dishonour to her family. Journalist and author Sanam Maher pieced together Qandeel’s life from her birth in rural Pakistan to her incarnation as a social media sensation; and she documents the public response to Qandeel’s shocking death, for h...

The Van Breda family appeared to be the perfect picture of success. So how did three of the five family members end up murdered in their family home on the De Zalze estate in South Africa?  Martin Van Breda was an entrepreneurial, hardworking and kind man. His wife Teresa was a loving mother, heavily invested in the lives of her three children; Marli, Henri and Rudi.   In 2014, the...

It was February 2016, dry and uncomfortably warm, when 23-year-old Brazilian backpacker Beatriz meets a German backpacker of the same age named Lena. The two travellers strike up a friendship and decide to head to Melbourne from Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road.  They put an ad on Gumtree asking for a lift and 59-year-old Roman Heinze replied. Little did the women know they had just accepted...