When Heather let “Jace” into her Toronto condo to fix a kitchen cabinet, she had no idea she was opening the door to one of Canada’s most prolific romance scammers. Charming, confident, and seemingly genuine, Jason Porter, using yet another alias, had already conned dozens of women across the country. But this time, he picked the wrong target. In this episode, Claire Murphy speaks with Heather, the woman who uncovered his lies, exposed his scam network, and helped take him down. You can watch mo...
Jul 09, 2025•50 min
When 24-year-old Belgian backpacker Davine Arckens reached out to a man on Gumtree about working on his farm, she was excited. The 88 days of labour would mean she could stay in Australia on a tourist visa for an extra year. She couldn’t wait to spend more time in a country she thought was safe and full of nice people. When Davine met the man, it didn’t take long for her to realise she’d made a terrible mistake. What followed was two harrowing days where she was held against her will and an esca...
Jul 05, 2025•56 min
At just 20 years old, Sef Gonzales murdered his entire family, his father Teodoro, mother Mary Loiva, and 18-year-old sister Clodine, in their Sydney home in 2001. Struggling with an identity crisis, failing his medical exams, and facing rejection from his parents, who planned to disown him and cut off his inheritance, Sef devised a chilling plan. He brutally killed them and tried to stage the scene as a racially motivated hate crime. But the truth soon unravelled. Nick Kaldas, then head of the ...
Jul 02, 2025•49 min
Felicia Djamirze has lived many lives—counsellor, women’s justice advocate, three-time Miss Australia titleholder, and convicted drug dealer. Raised in a tough Sydney neighbourhood where crime and addiction were part of daily life, Felicia grew up believing survival was the best she could hope for. When her looks opened doors, she stepped through, even when they led into dangerous territory. In her memoir Accessory , she shares her raw and unfiltered story: a childhood shaped by chaos, a youth s...
Jun 25, 2025•59 min
Ever since the mysterious death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe on a snowy night in 2022, the town where he died has been deeply divided. Was he killed in a house full of law enforcement and the crime covered up, or did his girlfriend, Karen Read, strike him with her car and leave him to die? The high-profile case gripped true crime fans worldwide, especially after Read claimed she was the victim of a corrupt cover-up. The first trial in 2024 ended in a mistrial. In the 2025 retrial, after...
Jun 20, 2025•50 min
In 2015, Lauren Trevan’s husband was interviewed by police about messages he had sent to a teenage girl. He claimed they were harmless. They weren’t. As the investigation unfolded, Lauren learned the full extent of his actions — and how much had been hidden. At the same time, she was navigating a controlling and emotionally abusive relationship herself. In this episode, Claire Murphy speaks with Lauren about the intersection between coercive control and grooming behaviour — two forms of abuse th...
Jun 18, 2025•52 min
Nearly 30 years have passed since the Port Arthur massacre — one of the darkest and most devastating events in Australia's history. On April 28, 1996, a lone gunman, Martin Bryant, carried out the country’s deadliest mass shooting, killing 35 people and injuring 23 others in and around the historic Port Arthur site in Tasmania. For decades, the question of why he did it has haunted survivors, investigators, and the nation. Now, new insights are finally beginning to shed light on what may have dr...
Jun 16, 2025•25 min
Kaitlyn Braun spun an elaborate web of lies, convincing over 50 doulas she was pregnant after a traumatic assault. Her deception confused and shattered trust in the doula community, leaving many unsure if they could continue their work. Journalist Sarah Treleaven spent over eighteen months investigating Kaitlyn’s unusual story and the motives behind it. She brought these stories to life in her podcast, The Con: Kaitlyn’s Baby , where she details speaking to the doulas who were tricked, lied to a...
Jun 11, 2025•57 min
After 20 years in prison, Kathleen Folbig, once labelled Australia’s worst female serial killer, was released in just 56 minutes. New genetic evidence cleared her of killing her four children, flipping one of the country’s most infamous cases on its head. Kathleen’s story is one of loss and a justice system that got it badly wrong. But her fight isn't over. In this episode, investigative journalist Quentin McDermott, author of Meadow’s Law , joins us to unpack how a flawed theory about SIDS help...
Jun 04, 2025•1 hr 3 min
She was young, poor, and alone in a harsh, unforgiving Icelandic landscape — and then she was sentenced to die. In 1830, Agnes Magnúsdóttir became the last person executed in Iceland, beheaded by axe for the murder of a powerful man. Nearly 200 years later, her story still lingers. Was she a cold-blooded killer, or a woman trapped by circumstance? In this episode, we speak to author Hannah Kent, whose bestselling novel Burial Rites reimagines Agnes’s final days. We explore how one woman’s life —...
May 28, 2025•50 min
He was three years old, dressed in a Spider-Man suit, playing in his foster grandmother’s yard — and then he was gone. Nearly a decade later, the disappearance of William Tyrrell remains one of Australia’s most haunting mysteries. For years, this case has been clouded in secrecy. With a high number of registered sex offenders living in the area where William vanished, investigators have long questioned whether he was deliberately targeted — and if so, by whom? Now, nearly 11 years later, the tea...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 3 min
Kat Torres had it all—famous friends, a jet-setting modelling career and a social media feed that painted the picture of a woman who had truly made it. But behind the flawless photos and inspirational captions lurked a far darker reality. Torres wasn’t just living the influencer dream; she was building something far more dangerous. What began as a pursuit of fame spiralled into a cult-like following, where influence became control, and admiration, exploitation. So, how does someone with a face a...
May 14, 2025•40 min
At just 18 months old, Ben Shenton was handed over to a woman who claimed she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. That woman was Anne Hamilton-Byrne, the leader of a secretive doomsday cult called The Family . For 14 years, Ben lived cut off from the outside world—beaten, starved, drugged, and taught to stay “unseen, unheard, unknown.” The cult twisted Christianity into a tool of fear and control. Ben was finally rescued at age 15 during a police raid. Today, he’s an advocate for survivors an...
May 07, 2025•53 min
"Dirty John" Meehan, a serial con artist and violent criminal, was Terra Newell's stepfather. He had married her mother and spent years manipulating and abusing her until she finally left him. Enraged by her departure, he sought revenge. One day, after finishing her shift at work, Terra was walking to her car when John suddenly grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arm around her waist and trying to abduct her. In a desperate attempt to escape, she bit him. But his response was brutal—he began s...
Apr 30, 2025•52 min
Heston Russell has lived a life most of us couldn’t imagine. A former special forces commander, he’s been shot at, dropped out of helicopters, and led troops through the chaos of Afghanistan and Iraq. But it wasn’t until he came home that he faced his toughest fight yet — not against an enemy overseas, but against his own country. Heston and his men were accused of war crimes, and suddenly, he was battling to defend their names against the weight of national headlines and public judgment. In thi...
Apr 23, 2025•1 hr
Laura McConnell grew up in a fundamentalist sect with no name. Along with no official title, the group also claims to have no registration around the world, no formal hierarchy, and no official places of worship. According to Laura, it's this secrecy and denial that has allowed abuse to flourish within the community. She joins us today to expose what she witnessed and experienced inside the group she calls The Truth. CREDITS Guest: Laura McConnell Host: Gemma Bath Executive Producer : Gia Moylan...
Apr 19, 2025•52 min
In 1993, a teenage girl vanished on her way to school in a quiet town in Ontario, Canada. That morning, she’d argued with her mother, Mary Ann—nothing serious, just one of those everyday fights about going to school. It would be the last time they ever spoke. Her name was Christine Harron. She never made it to class. The case went cold for years—until filmmaker and podcast host David Ridgen started asking questions. He dug into old leads, uncovered long-buried secrets, and eventually helped brin...
Apr 16, 2025•33 min
Stephanie Scott was just days away from marrying her long-time partner when she went into her empty high school on Easter Sunday to prepare lesson plans for the substitute teacher. That morning, she was tragically murdered. Vincent Stanford, the school janitor, was arrested after police found evidence linking him to the crime—scratches on his body, bloodstains in his car, and disturbing photos of Stephanie’s body on his phone. He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison witho...
Apr 09, 2025•39 min
Hello, True Crime Conversations listeners! If your sharp investigative minds haven't already guessed, we're excited to share that our very own host, Gemma Bath, has been expecting her second child over the past nine months. However, her little girl made an early arrival, which brings us to an exciting update... it's time to introduce the new host of True Crime Conversations! CREDITS Host: Welcome, Claire Murphy ! Producer: Tahli Blackman Audio Producer: Jacob Round GET IN TOUCH Email us at truec...
Apr 06, 2025•2 min
Carita Ridgeway from Australia and Lucie Blackman from England arrived in Japan eight years apart, both working as hostesses, earning $150-$400 a night while entertaining wealthy businessmen. At 21, both planned to make money for world travel but encountered Joji Obara, a sadistic criminal mastermind. While there were hundreds of victims assaulted by Obara, they were the only ones known to have lost their lives. Clare Campbell’s book Tokyo Hostess: Inside the Shocking World of Tokyo Nightclub Ho...
Apr 02, 2025•50 min
On a Friday afternoon in 1972, in the small town of Faraday, Victoria, 10-year-old Robyn Howarth was playing musical chairs with her classmates when something unexpected caught her eye. She turned to the classroom door and saw two men standing there—one wearing a black mask, the other with dark sunglasses and a hat. The taller man raised an enormous gun, aiming it at Robyn, her five classmates, and their 20-year-old teacher, Mary Gibbs. As Mary desperately pleaded with them, the men ordered ever...
Mar 26, 2025•1 hr 10 min
In 2010, 18-year-old Jason Downie became obsessed with Chantelle Rowe, his friend’s girlfriend, after she rejected him. On the night of November 8th, in the quiet town of Kapunda, South Australia, Jason, consumed by jealousy, brutally took the lives of Chantelle, her father Andrew, and her mother Rose in their own home. Chantelle’s older brother, Chris Rowe, was on holiday in the Gold Coast at the time. When he heard rumours of a major incident back home, he logged onto Facebook to find out more...
Mar 19, 2025•51 min
In the remote outback of Victoria in 1993, Ralph Vollmer believed his wife, Joan, was possessed. Ralph enlisted members of his local religious community to perform an exorcism, hoping to rid Joan of the ten demons they believed controlled her. What followed was a horrific four-day ordeal that ended in Joan’s death. Margaret Thanos is the director of Furious Mattress , a play based on Joan Vollmer’s tragic story. It raises the question: what are the ethics of turning a real-life tragedy into ente...
Mar 12, 2025•46 min
Hamish McLaren is a serial fraudster. Remember the podcast Who the Hell Is Hamish? He defrauded victims of their money for more than 30 years before he finally saw the inside of a prison cell. Tracy Hall was his last victim, losing over $317,000 of her life savings to Hamish while in a relationship with him for 18 months. Hamish didn’t just financially manipulate Tracy; he emotionally destroyed her. It’s taken her years to recover from that kind of deceit. She processed it by writing a book, The...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 9 min
In August 2021, Gabby Petito went missing while on holiday with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. The pair were six weeks into a four month trip across the United States. They'd been living out of Gabby's specially decked out van, documenting and filming every adventure so she could share it on her growing social media platforms. But when the 22-year-old suddenly stopped posting, her family began to fear the worst. Gabby's high-profile disappearance sparked an unprecedented social media movement to fi...
Mar 02, 2025•50 min
To some, he’s the mysterious voice behind their favourite true crime podcast (besides True Crime Conversations, of course). Others know him as ‘Casey.’ But who is Casefile's anonymous host, really? Today, we get a chance to find out a little more about him. In this exclusive chat, ‘Casey’ and Gemma talk about why he’s kept his identity a secret, how Casefile got started, the creative process behind the show, and the cases that have had the biggest impact on him. He might not tell us his real nam...
Feb 26, 2025•46 min
In 2015, Australian con woman Belle Gibson was living the dream. Her app The Whole Pantry was hugely popular and she was about to launch a book of the same name. With hundreds of thousands of followers online, Belle had become a celebrated wellness influencer who'd overcome terminal cancer and had cured herself with healthy eating and holistic therapies. But it was all a lie. The truth came to light when her friend, Chanelle McAuliffe, noticed gaps in Belle's story. The moment she exposed her de...
Feb 19, 2025•51 min
Maria Korp, a 50-year-old mother of two from Melbourne, went missing in February 2005. She was discovered four days later in the boot of her car barely alive, after being strangled and left for dead. Police first suspected her husband, Joe, but it was more complicated than that. As his mistress revealed, he was the one who provided her with the weapon telling her it was the "only way they could be together." Former detective Narelle Fraser was the one who discovered Maria’s body in the boot that...
Feb 12, 2025•53 min
On June 23rd, 2000, just after midnight, Robert Paul Long set fire to the Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel in Queensland. He had recently been evicted for not paying his rent and in his anger, he sparked a tragedy. There were 84 travellers in the hostel that night. They woke up gasping for air and choking on smoke in the pitch-black darkness. 15 people lost their lives, making this one of the deadliest fires in Australian history. Our guest, journalist Paul Cochrane, interviewed the survivors....
Feb 05, 2025•55 min
What started as a typical sleepover in Wisconsin in 2014 turned into one of the most chilling true crime stories in America. Twelve-year-olds Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier lured their friend, Payton "Bella" Leutner, into the woods with a plan to kill her as a sacrifice to Slender Man, the creepy internet figure. Both girls were charged as adults in a case that stunned the world. Now, with Morgan’s 2025 release from psychiatric care, the case is back in the spotlight, except this time we’re havi...
Jan 29, 2025•1 hr 10 min
