Last week, 33-year-old nurse Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven newborns, and attempting to kill six others who were under her care in 2015 and 2016. During her time in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwestern England, her colleagues noticed a significant rise in the number of babies dying and suffering serious collapses in the unit. Police and medical experts were called in for a large-scale investigation and discovered one common factor linking these oc...
Aug 30, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 92
Karen Bell met Gary Poxon in 1993. She was 17, he was 29. By 2008, the pair were living in an isolated farmhouse in Pericoe with their three children - Maddie, Jack and Bon. Their 15 year long relationship was filled with emotional and physical abuse, with multiple AVOs taken out against Gary to protect Karen. He faced charges more than once for assaulting her, but he'd never once hurt their kids. They were his trump card. Every time Karen tried to leave Gary he would withhold them. 'You can go,...
Aug 23, 2023•48 min•Season 3Ep. 91
What little kid doesn’t want their Dad to take them to the shop and get them a kinder surprise? That’s what Ramazan Acar told his ex partner Rachelle D’Argent in November 2010, when he turned up at her Melbourne home, breaking yet another intervention order that she had taken out against him. He just wanted to take his daughter to the little shop down the road and get her a treat. But Yazmina Acar would never return from that trip with her dad. Angry and upset over his perception that he was bei...
Aug 16, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 90
In January 2009, Darcey Freeman’s father, Arthur Freeman, was driving her to her first day of school when he acted out of revenge. He threw his four-year-old daughter off Melbourne’s 58-metre-high West Gate Bridge. Darcey’s mother, Peta Barnes never got the chance to say goodbye to her only daughter. Today, we are joined by Megan Norris, the author of Look What You Made Me Do: Fathers Who Kill, to examine Peta’s story and how the system placed blame on everyone but the aggressive and abusive fat...
Aug 09, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 89
You can listen to our first-hand interview with Michelle Steck here . In 1993, Michelle Steck lost her daughter Kelly at the hands of her former partner Kevin East. It was an horrific act classified as retaliatory filicide, when domestic violence perpetrators use their children to get back at their partners who dare to leave them. Today we're joined by Megan Norris, the author of Look What You Made Me Do: Fathers Who Kill, to examine Michelle's story and the systemic failures that left a vulnera...
Aug 02, 2023•54 min•Season 3Ep. 87
When Bevin and Brad Simmons went missing off the coast of the Cape York Peninsula in 2003, a massive air, land and sea search was launched to find the pair. The operation covered a huge area but in the days and weeks that followed, no evidence was found. Not their boat, not a body, not even a piece of fishing gear that may have floated away if they'd capsized. To this day, the final resting place of Bevin and Brad is unknown. But the story uncovered during the investigation - of an ongoing turf ...
Jul 26, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 86
The notorious Whisky Au Go Go nightclub fire in Brisbane in 1973 left behind questions that remain unanswered to this day. Who was really behind it, who was there that night, why did 15 people have to die and did it go beyond just criminal activity to include corrupt police too? But the deaths of 15 people that night wouldn’t be the only ones linked to the blaze. When the McCulkins, 34 year old Barbara, 13 year old Vicky and 11 year old Leanne went missing in 1974, the investigation into their d...
Jul 19, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 85
The Whisky Au Go Go Fire is just as much a mystery today as it was in the hours after the tragedy that took the lives of 15 people in Fortitude Valley on March 8th 1973. Police would start a major investigation that would drag in some of Brisbane’s most well known criminals, gangsters, bosses and violent offenders who had spent time together in jails over decades, creating networks and ties that spread down the coast into Sydney. But the investigation would also expose police and political corru...
Jul 12, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 84
In 1992, career criminal Peter Gibb met prison guard Heather Parker while serving a 12-year sentence at the Melbourne Remand Centre. Heather claimed she didn’t notice Peter at first, but she quickly became smitten and their relationship developed from flirtatious to physical. When their affair was exposed Heather was immediately transferred, with communication between the two forbidden. But they couldn’t be stopped, and with the help of another inmate acting as their middleman, the pair hatched ...
Jul 05, 2023•40 min•Season 3Ep. 83
You can listen to our interview with a second victim or Dr Reeves here. In the later months of 1995, 28-year-old Jayne Mansfield found herself in need of an obstetrician. She was pregnant with her first baby and, as most first-time mums do, she put her trust in the medical professional her GP had referred her to - a doctor named Graeme Reeves at The Hills Hospital in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills. Throughout her pregnancy care, Jayne felt there was something not quite right about her doctor, but it wa...
Jun 28, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 82
Listen to our interview with a survivor of the Butcher Of Bega here . In 2011 gynaecologist Graeme Stephen Reeves was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on one of his patients. A case that was just one of many allegations of heinous offences against his female patients, that dated back nearly two decades. Claims of assaults, molestation and mutilation plagued his career from the 90s, and in 1997 the NSW medical board banning Reeves from practising ob...
Jun 21, 2023•38 min•Season 3Ep. 81
Pentecostalism has been practised in Australia since the 1920s. But it wasn’t until husband and wife team Brian and Bobby Houston launched Hillsong church in 1983 that Pentecostal Christianity really began to surge in popularity. From its humble beginnings in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills, by 2018 Hillsong had 80 branches in 21 countries. But after a spectacular and meteoric rise to international popularity, over the last several years Hillsong has been dogged by controversy. Allegations of fraud, coe...
Jun 14, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 80
Earlier this week, in an historic decision, the NSW attorney general made the extraordinary announcement that Kathleen Folbigg had been granted a pardon after 20 years in prison. In 2003, Kathleen was sentenced to thirty years for the murders of three of her children and the manslaughter of a fourth. And while she always maintained her innocence, it wasn’t until a second inquiry into Kathleen's convictions, that new scientific developments led to revelations that three of her children could have...
Jun 07, 2023•42 min•Season 3Ep. 79
After 20 years behind bars, Kathleen Folbigg has been pardoned, and released from prison. A landmark inquiry saw NSW’s top prosecutor accept there was reasonable doubt about her convictions over the deaths of her four children. If you’re not aware or Kathleen’s story, you’re about to hear our episode with investigative journalist Jane Hansen who unpacked the forensic evidence that was to be examined in the inquiry. The evidence that has now led to Kathleen Folbigg’s freedom... Become a Mamamia s...
Jun 05, 2023•42 min•Season 3Ep. 78
In November, 1994, 16-year-old Gordana Kotevski was abducted while walking home from a local shopping centre in the Newcastle suburb of Charlestown. Gordana was just moments from her aunt's front door when she was dragged into a white Toyota Hilux by two men, and never seen again. Her loved ones have spent years since her kidnapping in an unrelenting search for answers. But despite wide scale police searches and multiple eye-witness accounts, as well as ongoing public appeals and rewards, Gordan...
May 31, 2023•48 min•Season 3Ep. 77
Listen to part two of this conversation with Nino, here. In the mid 90s, the Stoccos seemed like any other Aussie family. A mum and dad, Connie and Gino, and their two teenage kids, Mark and Christina. But in 1997, the breakdown of this seemingly happy family marked the beginning of a dark new chapter for Gino of crime and violence. It was a path he wouldn’t walk alone though, as little by little, Gino’s son Mark, would join him in his offending. What started as stolen groceries or a fall out wi...
May 24, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 76
The murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in June 1970 were labelled the death of innocence in New Zealand, and would go on to become one of the country’s most infamous cold cases. In the immediate aftermath, a man named Arthur Allan Thomas was found guilty of the crime. His fate sealed by a piece of evidence so compelling that a jury had no doubt he was the killer. A piece of evidence that years later would be revealed to have been planted. Thomas was granted a royal pardon after serving nine y...
May 17, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 75
The phenomenon of stalking is as prolific as it is insidious. The breadth of quiet suffering perpetrators calculate and inflict on their subjects often leads to victims being completely unable to identify what’s happening to them, and to seek help. Journalist Nicole Madigan was stalked by a woman she barely knew for three years. Her experience led her to investigate the power, fixation and control that drives stalkers, and the havoc they wreak on the lives of their victims. THE END BITS Subscrib...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 74
Michelle Burgess is one of Australia’s most infamous ‘black widows’ - a term given to female psychopaths who either kill or organise other men to kill other men. In 2001, Michelle plotted two murders. The targets were her husband Darren, and a woman named Carolyn Matthews - a mother of three whose husband Kevin had become involved in an affair with Michelle. While Michelle & Kevin would only see through one half of this twisted plan before they were stopped, they would eventually be served w...
May 03, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 73
In 2010, 52-year-old Des Campbell was found guilty of murdering his wife Janet Fisicaro. The pair had only been married six months when they embarked on a camping trip in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney. A trip that sadly only Des would survive. Initially he would tell police that Janet had fallen from a 50-metre cliff, but investigators would soon come to realise that the 49-year-old hadn’t fallen at all… she’d been pushed. THE END BITS Subscribe to Mamamia CREDITS Guest: Ian W. Shaw Y...
Apr 26, 2023•59 min•Season 3Ep. 72
In January 2016, 49-year-old Karen Chetcuti was viscously attacked on her property in Whorouly, a rural town in north-eastern Victoria. What happened to Karen at the hands of her neighbour, Michael Cardamone, was described as so unfeeling, so excessive and sadistically executed that those prosecuting him worked to make sure that Michael would never walk freely amongst the community again. The Chetcuti family’s lawyer, John Suta, joins us today to discuss the investigation and legal proceedings t...
Apr 19, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 71
In the early 1990s, 21-year-old Paul Denyer terrorised the Victorian suburb of Frankston. He preyed on the local women; stalking, abducting and eventually murdering three young victims. Their names were Elizabeth Stevens, Deborah Fream and Natalie Russell. But after three decades behind bars, a parole board in Victoria must now consider an application to free the man behind what became known as the Frankston Murders. THE END BITS Subscribe to Mamamia CREDITS Guest: Vikki Petraitis You can listen...
Apr 12, 2023•57 min•Season 3Ep. 70
In 1951, the discovery of a petrified female body in the raging floodwaters of the Murray River triggered an investigation that spanned multiple Australian states. And while evidence suggested foul play, the truth of her identity and what really happened to her would remain a mystery, with the death of a vital witness in the aftermath of the discovery leaving the case cold. But seven decades on, investigative documentary filmmaker and author Peter Butt believes he’s uncovered new information. An...
Apr 05, 2023•51 min•Season 3Ep. 69
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 29, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 68
In April 1990, a 21-year-old woman was found dead on the side of a highway in Oklahoma City. The investigation into her death, which initially seemed like a straight forward hit-and-run, would lead police to uncover a violent trail of lies, abuse, false identities, kidnapping and murder, spanning multiple decades. Journalist Matt Birkbeck, our guest today, spent two decades researching this case and played an integral role in uncovering the woman's true identity. THE END BITS Subscribe to Mamami...
Mar 22, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 67
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, impoverished populations within urban areas were struggling to keep up with the rising number of abandoned children. And with little support or infrastructure in the way of social and government services, the responsibility to house these children fell largely on local parishes. The image of these grand manors, large estates surrounded by manicured lawns, of a safe space for innocent children could not have been further from the truth of what was occurring...
Mar 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 66
On the 23rd of September 2002, Dianne Brimble stepped aboard what should have been a ten-day cruise through New Caledonia and Vanuatu with her family. But within less than 24 hours, Dianne was found unconscious, in a strangers room. The cabin belonged to four men, travelling as part of a bigger group of eight. The Adelaide Eight, as they’d soon become known. A group of young men ready to indulge in the vices of the infamous party cruise industry. The death of Dianne Brimble exposed a dangerous c...
Mar 08, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 65
William Kamm is the self-proclaimed Messiah behind Australia’s biggest doomsday cult. After the inception of The Order of St Charbel in the late 1980s, Kamm spun of web of lies, peddling end of the world prophecies to coerce his trusted flock into subservience, with the promise of salvation. But when a young girl’s diary surfaced, the true horrors of life inside the community were revealed. A life of strict hierarchy, coercive control, and abuse. All hidden from the outside world. THE END BITS S...
Mar 01, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 3Ep. 64
In September 2007, after a night out on Sydney’s iconic Oxford Street, 20-year-old Matthew Leveson went missing. Although police investigated his disappearance at the time, it would be a decade before they finally uncovered his body. His 43-year-old boyfriend, Michael Atkins, was the last person to see Matt alive. His aversion to telling the truth about that night would torment Mathew’s family, see a murder acquittal, a coronial inquisition, and an historic immunity deal. CREDITS Guest: Grace To...
Feb 22, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 63
Today’s episode is about one of Victoria’s most disturbing cases of familicide. The death of Anna Kemp & her daughter Gracie at the hands of John Sharpe, the husband and father who’s crimes would see him branded ‘The Mornington Monster’. Our guest, Narelle Fraser, is a former Victorian Police officer, whose discoveries were instrumental in solving the case and bringing John to justice. She joins us to discuss this shocking case, and her role in finding out what happened to Anna & Gracie....
Feb 15, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 62
