Unknown Passage

August, 1991. Care packages sent by the family of Australian expat in India Odette Houghton, 24, are returned to sender. Odette was always in contact with her family and friends at home, and suddenly disappeared a year into living in the northernmost reaches of India, near the Himalayas. 2021 will mark 30 years since the bubbly and adventurous Australian backpacker vanished in India, and since the...

March, 1989. Texas student Mark Kilroy, 21, vanishes from the streets of a Mexican border city he is visiting with friends on Spring Break. An unrelated police arrest would lead to a horrifying discovery on a ranch outside of Matamoros that would horrify the world, destroy the lives of Mark’s family and drive tourists away from the northern Mexican city. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley |...

March, 1989. Texas student Mark Kilroy, 21, vanishes from the streets of a Mexican border city he is visiting with friends on Spring Break. An unrelated police arrest would lead to a horrifying discovery on a ranch outside of Matamoros that would horrify the world, destroy the lives of Mark’s family and drive tourists away from the northern Mexican city. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley |...

September 24, 2002. Australian Dianne Brimble, 42, is found dead in a stranger’s room on board a cruise ship in the South Pacific. It wouldn’t be long before it became one of the biggest news stories in Australia, and eight men would become suspects in Dianne’s death. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com⁣...

June, 1982. Welsh nanny working in Canada Christine Prince, 25, vanishes while walking home after a night out. Christine’s drowned body would be found. Almost 40 years on, the mystery of what happened to Christine would become entwined with other unsolved murders of women in the busy Canadian city. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by ht...

December, 2018. Turkish-born Canadian professor Ramazan Gençay, 57, disappears from a bar in the notorious Colombian city of Medellin. Weeks later, his body is found in a remote area outside the city. What happened to Ramo? Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com⁣ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)⁣ h...

August, 1934. The body of an unidentified young woman is found off the side of a rural road in Australia, beaten, shot and set alight. She is wearing bohemian pyjamas, so the press nickname her “Pyjama Girl”. It would take 10 years for the identity of “Pyjama Girl” to be discovered. But many believe that this identification was an error and that she is still a Jane Doe. Who is “Pyjama Girl”? Theme...

On this bonus episode, guest Laura and I discuss some psychological disorders named after cities and why they are. Listen to Laura’s podcast The Serial Monogamist on major podcast platforms. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com⁣ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)⁣ https://creativecommons.org/licens...

Talking about British-born mother Caroline Crouch, 20, whose husband has now confessed that he was the one to kill her and the family dog in Greece. Rest easy, Caroline. Some further notes: Babis blamed Albanians only adding to further division. Caroline was 16 and Babis almost 30 when they got together, and 17 when she got married. She dropped out of university at his request and he moved her awa...

May, 1979. British nurse Helen Smith, 23, is found dead after a party at a colleagues home in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The notoriously strict kingdom sentences other guests for breaking Islamic law, and mark Helen’s death as an accident, but Helen’s father doesn’t accept the official narrative. Ron Smith would wage a decades-long fight in both Britain and Saudi Arabia to find the truth ab...

Mary Gregory. Hugh Nolan. Kieran Burke. Michal Krowczynski. David O’Sullivan. Five international tourists that disappeared of the nearly 80 million that visit the United States each year. Each received little media coverage and the details of their disappearances are scarce. Let’s take a look at these Irish, Polish and Canadian tourists missing in the USA. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley...

December, 2016. Japanese student, Narumi Kurosaki, 21, vanishes from her halls of residence in a small city in France, where she is studying. What happened to Narumi? Is her new boyfriend responsible for her disappearance? Her ex boyfriend in Japan? Or someone else? And did Narumi leave of her own accord, or did someone do something to Narumi? Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://sou...

July 26, 2019. American tourists Finnegan Elder, 19, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 18, commit a murder while staying in the Italian capital, Rome. The killing shook the ancient city, and followers of the case were torn on what the punishment should be and what the truth was. This month, the young men returned to court for sentencing. This is the story of Finnegan Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth. Them...

July 26, 2019. American tourists Finnegan Elder, 19, and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth, 18, commit a murder while staying in the Italian capital, Rome. The killing shook the ancient city, and followers of the case were torn on what the punishment should be and what the truth was. This month, the young men returned to court for sentencing. This is the story of Finnegan Elder and Gabriel Natale-Hjorth. Them...

October, 2011. German tourists, Stefan Ramin and his partner Heike Dorsch anchor off the coast of a remote French Polynesian island after three years at sea. Their time on the tranquil South Pacific island quickly becomes a nightmare when Stefan vanishes and Heike is attacked. The murder in paradise of Stefan Ramin lead to gory headlines across world news, but what is the truth? Theme music: ⁣ Und...

February, 2009. American woman in Puerto Rico, Sara Kuszak, 35, is kidnapped and murdered while on a jog. Sara was engaged and pregnant with her first child, and her hopes and dreams came to an end at the hands of a predator. Despite her ultimate death, Sara’s quick thinking would help find her murderer. This is the story of Sara Kuszak. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundclou...

December 4, 2005. The body of Swedish woman Annie Borjesson, 30, is found on a beach in Scotland. 15 years on, the mystery of Annie’s death and the many strange occurrences related to it still fascinate fans of true crime. Was Annie’s death a suicide, an accident or a murder? Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-mu...

A bonus episode this week, featuring travel movie recommendations.

2002. Vietnamese-Australian Van Tuong Nguyen is arrested for trafficking heroin into Singapore and the zero-tolerance Southeast Asian country sentences him to hang and he is held in Singapore’s notorious Changi prison. Despite the efforts of the Australian government and friends and family of Van, the 25 year old was executed in 2005. This is Van’s story. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley |...

2002. Vietnamese-Australian Van Tuong Nguyen is arrested for trafficking heroin into Singapore and the zero-tolerance Southeast Asian country sentences him to hang and Van is held in Singapore’s notorious Changi Prison . Despite the efforts of the Australian government and friends and family of Van, the 25 year old was executed in 2005. This is Van’s story. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley...

August, 2015. American teacher Dahlia Yehia, 25, disappears while volunteering in the aftermath of the major earthquake in Nepal. Her last known contact was a local who she connected with through the Couchsurfing platform, but does he have the key to what happened to Dahlia? Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-mus...

August, 2015. American teacher Dahlia Yehia, 25, disappears while volunteering in the aftermath of the major earthquake in Nepal. Her last known contact was a local who she connected with through the Couchsurfing platform, but does he have the key to what happened to Dahlia? Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-mus...

A light episode that will take us to The Vatican.

February, 2016. Italian doctoral student Giulio Regini, 28, is found tortured and murdered on the streets of Cairo, Egypt. 5 years on, those responsible for Giulio’s death have still not been bought to justice and similar cases continue to happen in Egypt under their authoritarian government. Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by https://...

September, 2019. An SD card is found on a busy street in Anchorage, Alaska. The woman who finds it takes it home and views its contents, and before long the police become involved. Has this killer killed before? And if so, where? Theme music: ⁣ Undertow by Scott Buckley | https://soundcloud.com/scottbuckley⁣ Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com⁣ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4...