The case of the Somerton Man is one of the most baffling cases in modern criminal history. In 1948 the body of a man was found on Somerton Park Beach just south of Adelaide in South Australia. Despite a global effort to identify the remains, we still do not know who the man was, why he was there, and how he died. Fiona Ellis-Jones is a reporter and producer for the ABC. She speaks to Jessie Stephens about the case which is currently explored on her podcast, The Somerton Man Mystery and will be t...
Oct 10, 2019•40 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Levi Bellfield has been charged and found guilty of the murder of Milly Dowler, Marsha McDonnell, Amelie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy. Women who were linked by nothing other than the man who chose to kill them. Bellfield’s murders were baffling in their lack of motive, hindering law enforcement from figuring out who was responsible. Geoffrey Wansell is a London based journalist and author who has written and researched extensively the crimes of Levi Bellfield - who the publ...
Oct 03, 2019•37 min•Season 1Ep. 16
The disappearance of The Beaumont Children is burned into the collective conscious of Australia. It’s one of the longest running cases in the nation’s history and has baffled law enforcement for more than half a century. Stuart Mullins grew up down the road from the Beaumont children in Adelaide. Over the years he has researched and co authored investigative writing into their disappearance. He walks us through the case, and why he believes he knows just who is responsible for the disappearance ...
Sep 26, 2019•55 min•Season 1Ep. 15
As the sun set over Uluru on August 17th, 1980, Lindy and Michael Chamberlain put their two month old baby Azaria to bed. What happened next is burnt into the collective consciousness of not just Australia but the world. This won’t be like most episodes of True Crime Conversations, mostly, because in this case there was no crime. Instead, it was one of the most significant and devastating miscarriages of justice Australia has ever seen. So impactful was the handling of this case that forensic sc...
Sep 18, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 14
It is speculated that Ivan Milat's days are numbered. Australia’s most notorious serial killer is. Milat is serving 7 concurrent life sentences for his horrific crimes. In this episode we take a look at the life of Ivan, to get inside the mind of one of our country’s worst serial killers. Mark Whittaker co-authored ‘Sins Of The Brother’, the most definitive work on the life and crimes of Ivan Milat. He joins Jessie Stephens to take us into the mind of one of the worst murderers in Australian cri...
Sep 11, 2019•50 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In 2014 Simon Gittany was found guilty of throwing his 30 year old fiancé Lisa Harnum from the balcony of their shared 15th floor apartment. Simon maintained his innocence, saying that Lisa climbed over the railing of the balcony and fell to her death. Amy Dale was a court reporter at the time of this case and has subsequently written a book titled The Fall about Lisa’s murder. Jessie Stephens sits down with Amy to take us through the case, from the infamous CCTV footage of Simon in the apartmen...
Sep 05, 2019•50 min•Season 1Ep. 12
UPDATE: Since recording this episode, murderer and serial paedophile, Michael Guider, the man responsible for Samantha's death, has been released from jail. When Tess Knight got home on a winter’s night in August of 1986 her nine-year-old daughter Samantha was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t until 14 years later in February 2001 that a man named Michael Guider pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of the young Bondi school girl. Guider, who was serving a sentence at the time for 60 child sex offence...
Aug 28, 2019•28 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Kathleen Pettingill had ten children. All of them are either incarcerated, in witness protection, or dead. So, how did Kathleen become the head of one of the most prolific and violent crime families in modern Australian history? Jessie speaks with author Adrian Tame about the life and crimes of Kathleen Pettingill - a woman who throughout his years profiling her he has come to count as a friend. You can buy Adrian Tame’s book The Matriarch online and at all good book stores. CREDITS GUEST: Adria...
Aug 21, 2019•49 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Christopher Wilder is the Australian serial killer responsible for the biggest man hunt in US history. Wilder lured his victims by posing as a talent agent and model scout and beauty pageants across America. His modus operandi of kidnapping, torture, sexual assault and ultimately murder, spoke so deeply of his utter hatred of women. In recent years it’s been speculated that Wilder is also responsible for one of the biggest cold cases in NSW criminal history; the Wanda Beach murders. Author Andre...
Aug 14, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Roger Rogerson is one of the only Australian killers with a badge. A fraudster, drug dealer, and killer, he was finally stopped in a murder plot now known as one of the most recorded murder cases in Australian history. How did a celebrated detective not check where CCTV cameras were before murdering Jamie Gao? Why did those who stood in his way start to “disappear”? Duncan McNab is a former police person turned author and journalist who quite literally wrote the book on Roger Rogerson. He joins ...
Aug 07, 2019•57 min•Season 1Ep. 8
When two-year old Khandalyce Pearce went missing police couldn’t understand why her mother wasn’t looking for her. But Khandalyce’s mother Karlie would never know her daughter was missing; Karlie's body was found in Belanglo State Forest eight years before her daughter’s name made national headlines. Author Ava Benny Morrison joins Jessie to step through the case of Karlie and Khandalyce and explain how law enforcement agencies around the country managed to solve the case of The Lost Girls . Joi...
Jul 31, 2019•54 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Danny Rolling would become one of the most violent serial killers in modern America’s history. His crimes, spree-like in nature, inspired the 1996 horror film Scream . Rolling’s hatred of women, violent and abusive upbringing, and idolatry of Ted Bundy were all just elements that would contribute to his horrific crimes. Author and pop-culture journalist Maria Lewis takes us through the case of Danny Rolling - who would be dubbed The Gainesville Ripper - and just how truly violent and despicable ...
Jul 24, 2019•45 min•Season 1Ep. 6
How did Marion Barter’s overseas holiday in 1997 become her last? Reporter Bryan Seymour, host of The Lady Vanishes podcast, takes Jessie through the case of missing person, Marion Barter. A beloved teacher and mum, Marion was living a happy and fulfilling life before she disappeared. So why did she sell her house and change her name before travelling overseas? And why did she return three weeks later only to drain her bank account of all savings? Or did she? Marion’s daughter Sally hasn’t heard...
Jul 17, 2019•41 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners should be advised that this episode contains the naming of deceased people, and the recounting of the circumstances leading to their deaths. Colleen Walker, Evelyn Greenup and Clinton Speedy-Duroux. These are the names of three children from the town of Bowraville who were murdered over five months across 1990 and 1991. There has only ever been one suspect in their murders but to this day they’ve never stood trial for those crimes. Author Dan Box c...
Jul 10, 2019•54 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Dulcie Markham, better known as The Angel Of Death, has been called Australia’s most beautiful bad woman. A key figure in the underworld gangs of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, Dulcie used her Hollywood good looks, rosy pink lips and whip smart mind to manipulate the most evil of mobsters. Author and historian Leigh Straw joins Jessie for this episode where she takes us through the life of Dulcie; how the 15-year-old started out in sex work in 1920s Wooloomooloo, rose to become one of the most ...
Jul 03, 2019•38 min•Season 1Ep. 3
On Monday 9th February 2004 Maura Murray vanished. She had crashed her car on a winding stretch of road in Woodsville New Hampshire USA. A local man named Butch Atwood witnessed the crash and called out to Maura asking if she needed him to call the police. She told him she’d already called car towing services and not to worry about it. But the problem was there was no phone service. Maura hadn’t called for help. Instead, in the 19 minutes it took for law enforcement to arrive, Maura’s car was lo...
Jun 26, 2019•39 min•Season 1Ep. 2
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. Driven to what felt like the middle of nowhere, Davine was convinced she was hours fro...
Jun 19, 2019•53 min•Season 1Ep. 1
