Murder in the Land of Oz

Whoops we covered another cult. Coming for ya, Jo Thornely.Chantelle McDougall, her six-year-old daughter Leela, her partner Simon Kadwill, and their housemate Tony Popic went missing in July of 2007. Simon was the leader of an internet-based doomsday cult, who believed that through death, a chosen few would ascend to a new plane of reality and usher in the new Aquarian age of existence. So you know, normal stuff. They told friends and family they were moving to Brazil, but their was no activity on their passports. Their disappearance left police stumped. Had they committed group suicide, or had they gone even further into isolation and completely segregated themselves from society?Our main sources this week were the coronial inquest completed in 2017. You know we love an inquest document! https://www.coronerscourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Felton,%20G;%20McDougall,%20C%20J%20and%20L;%20Popic,%20A%20K%20%20finding.pdfNews articles about the case can be found here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-06/cult-leader-simon-kadwell-inquest-begins-into-missing-family/9205656 and here https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/cult-leader-simon-kadwell-inquest-hears-police-failed-to-investigate-report-of-dead-flesh-smell/news-story/b828be6ad139699e509c94ce62bc5292The website for Simon’s “work” can be accessed via the Wayback Machine here https://web.archive.org/web/20071103141354/http://www.thenewcall.org/book_sdp.htm Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Until we hit the ether on June 4, let us tell you a little about ourselves...Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.comwww.thatsnotcanonproductions.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 20, 2012, Gerard Baden-Clay phoned the police. His wife hadn’t come home from her morning walk, you see, and it wasn’t like her to be late. She had a big day ahead, and he didn’t want to cause a fuss, but he was getting worried. When the police arrived at the Baden-Clay household in Brookfield in Brisbane’s west, Gerard greeted the officers, gesturing apologetically at his face. “Cut myself shaving,” he said. He needn’t have pointed it out. Officers immediately noticed the long, ragged scratches on the side of Gerard’s face.And they knew they weren’t from shaving.The investigation into Allison’s disappearance would become one of the largest in Brisbane’s history, in man hours and in media coverage. The people demanded to know what happened to Allison, a much-loved mother, friend, and member of the community. People who had never met her joined a crowd of hundreds at the Brookfield Showgrounds to volunteer their time to search for Allison. Her husband Gerard was not amongst them.When Allison’s body was found, days later, dumped in a creek under a bridge, miles from her home, there was one person the police and the public were sure was responsible.Sources:The bulk of the information for this episode was taken from David Murray’s outstandingly excellent book, The Murder of Allison Baden-Clay, a fantastic addition to anyone’s true crime library.The Courier-Mail archives have a huge range of articles written by David Murray and other journalists which can be accessed here http://www.couriermail.com.au/?s=allison+baden-clay if you have a Courier-Mail subscription.Allison’s autopsy report can be found at https://aussiecriminals.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/autopsy-report1.pdf.The judge’s summary for the jury at Gerard’s trial can be found here https://archive.sclqld.org.au/qjudgment/2014/QSC14-154.pdfFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Part Two of our investigation into the murder of Allison Baden-Clay, ya girls discuss the absolute gall of a man who so obviously killed his wife to appeal that decision in the first place, the absolute legend that is Bevan Slattery, and we get a little serious to discuss domestic violence and the impact this case has had on Australia’s slow but steady change in the way we understand domestic and family violence.Gerard Baden-Clay was found guilty of Allison’s murder, but you know what they say: you can never keep a good Scout down. Or a very, very bad one.People were horrified when Gerard successfully appealed his murder conviction. Manslaughter didn’t seem to really apply to a guy who hid his wife’s body in a creek bed and then lied about it for two years. The people weren’t satisfied with the resolution, and they let their voiced be heard. Thousands gathered for a protest in Allison’s honour, a petition garnered tens of thousands of signatures, and the message went all the way up to future Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who, in a move that should have been an indication of his tenure of PM, did absolutely nothing.This episode is dedicated to Allison Baden-Clay and all the victims of domestic violence who have had their lives taken away. We hope that by keeping the conversation going, we can educate and inform others so that what happened to Allison never happens again.Sources:The bulk of the information for this episode was taken from David Murray’s outstandingly excellent book, The Murder of Allison Baden-Clay, a fantastic addition into anyone’s true crime library.The Courier-Mail archives have a huge range of articles written by David Murray and other journalists which can be accessed here http://www.couriermail.com.au/?s=allison+baden-clay if you have a Courier-Mail subscription.The judgement from Gerard’s appeal can be found here https://www.sclqld.org.au/caselaw/QCA/2015/265You can donate to the Allison Baden-Clay Foundation here https://www.allisonbadenclayfoundation.org.au/donate/Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A corrupt police force. A violent murder staged to look like a suicide. A wrongful conviction. And a suicide in custody. It’s not a Netflix series, it’s the new episode of Murder in the Land of Oz, and this week your girls are solving a mystery. Reg Brown was convicted for the 1947 murder of his typist, Bronia Armstrong. But was he really guilty, or were the notoriously corrupt Queensland Police feeling lazy that day and just decided to arrest the first bloke on the scene? For sixty years the conviction was unquestioned until Reg’s granddaughters decided to dig a little deeper and find out what really happened to the grandfather they never knew.In this episode, we blow a little dust off the photo album and take a look back into Brisbane’s past, from the post-war era right up to the seedy underbelly of the Fitzgerald Inquiry years. A lot has changed in this big country town, and an awful lot has stayed the same.Bronia Armstrong was nineteen years old when she was found murdered in Room 5 of the Brisbane Associated Friendly Society’s doctor’s surgery, in the Wallace Bishop arcade in Brisbane’s CBD. Police quickly zeroed in on her boss, Reg Brown, who had suspicious injuries on his hands. The police concocted an elaborate fantasy, wherein Reg was the older, sexually frustrated boss who controlled Bronia, and was driven mad with lust and forced to kill her. Brown was convicted for her murder and committed suicide in custody nine days later.There was no physical evidence. No forensics. No blood typing was done, despite blood from both the crime scene and the perpetrator being available. No one saw Brown and Bronia alone in the rooms together. There was no evidence that they had any relationship beyond fairly chummy boss and employee....but there’s also no evidence pointing to anyone else. Brown was allegedly attacked the night before, by two men and a woman, who bashed him and bit his fingers but didn’t rob him. There were no witnesses to this alleged attack, despite there being multiple people on the street at the time. So if the attack didn't occur... how did he get the injury on his hands?For sixty years, the conviction has gone untested, until Brown’s granddaughters wrote a book, Lingering Doubts, questioning their grandfather’s guilt. In the book, they uncover a wildly flawed police investigation, exacerbated by the key roles of police officers that would later be fingered by the Fitzgerald Inquiry played in the investigation.Sources:Our info this week was mostly taken from Lingering Doubts, by Deb Drummond and Jan Teunis, Reg Brown’s granddaughters. You can find the book here www.lingering-doubts.com/Articles from the time can be accessed from herehttps://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186693649The Fitzgerald Inquiry can be read in full herehttp://www.ccc.qld.gov.au/about-the-ccc/the-fitzgerald-inquiryMatthew Condon’s books can be found in the true crime section of literally every bookshop in Queensland, they’re very popular.Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Something a little different this week, friends.Your girls do like to talk about murders, but we are not excited when they happen. Twenty-two year old aspiring comedian Eurydice Dixon was brutally raped and murdered by a stranger walking home from a comedy gig in Melbourne in June 2018. Her death has sparked outrage nationwide, particularly after police superintendent David Clayton advised women to "take responsibility" for their own safety.We are tired of hearing about the deaths of so many wonderful women and even more tired of women being blamed when a man decides to cut their life short.This week we share our thoughts, our sadness and our anger in a little bonus episode. We will release a full-length episode on the tragically short life of Eurydice Dixon after the trial.You can read about Eurydice’s impact here https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jun/19/eurydice-dixon-death-male-rage-australia-women-men-attitudesYou can learn more about Destroy the Joint’s Counting Dead Women project on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/DestroyTheJointFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some towns become synonymous with the crimes that happen in them - Salem. Waco. Snowtown.In Queensland, we have Gatton. When the bodies of Michael, Ellen, and Norah Murphy were discovered in a field the day after Boxing Day, 1898, the little agricultural town would become forever linked to one of the most famous unsolved crimes in Australian history.For years the murders were considered by police to be a crime of opportunity - the act of a desperate man from out of town, wanting to rob the well-off siblings. Or perhaps some madman, killing for a thrill. But was the crime actually perpetrated by a member of the Murphy family? Or worse, was it committed by a conspiracy of townspeople, determined to get revenge upon the alleged seducer Michael Murphy?This week your hosts saddle up the horses and set out west to investigate this murder most foul. On this treacherous journey, we encounter suspicious swagmen, incompetent police work, the horrors of a 19th-century autopsy, and some good old-fashioned Catholic and Protestant religious tension.In 1898, in Gatton, west of Brisbane, the bodies of Michael, Ellen, and Norah Murphy, along with their horse, were discovered lying in a field. Michael had been shot through the head, while Ellen and Norah had been raped and bludgeoned to death. Suspects ranged from their brother in law William McNeil, to the butcher’s man Thomas Day, to a number of swagmen who were waltzing in and out of town.Due to the unfortunate state of telecommunications infrastructure in the late 19th century, no police officers from the CIB were sent out to investigate the crime until two days after the bodies were found. The chief inspector never even saw the bodies of the victims. And the investigation became hyperfocused on one particular suspect, who had an alibi for the time of the murder, leaving any number of potential suspects uninvestigated.The Gatton murders have captured the imaginations of Australians for the past hundred years. No one has ever been found guilty of the murders, although armchair sleuths in modern times come up with different suspects and different explanations for the crime every couple of years. In this episode, we consider each of the main suspects, as well as a new theory put forward by Stephanie Bennet in her book The Gatton Murders: A True Story of Lust, Revenge and Vile Retribution.Who do you think killed the Murphys? If you've got a theory or know of a suspect we didn’t mention, get in contact with us via our email, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!Our main source this week was the aforementioned The Gatton Murders: A True Story of Lust, Revenge and Vile Retribution, which can be purchased here https://www.amazon.com.au/Gatton-Murders-Story-Vengeance-Retribution-ebook/dp/B00GMSZOX2You can get all up in some great information and also revel in some peak Internet 1.0 web design at http://www.gattonmurders.com/If you want to delve deep into the Oxley-Gatton connection, you can read Neil Bradford’s book The Oxley-Gatton Murders: Exposing the Conspiracy which is out of print but can be found in a few libraries around Brisbane.Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Betty Shanks was twenty-two years old and walking home from work when she was attacked, beaten and left for dead. Could be the first line of any article in the Courier Mail today, unfortunately, but this attack happened in 1952, and her killer was never found.This week your girls talk exhaustively about Jess’s childhood, just how dirty motorbikes are, and just how unbelievably shitty it is to be a woman sometimes, regardless of what decade we’re in.In 1952, a young woman named Betty Shanks was walking home from work when she was attacked, beaten, and left to die on the side of the road.I have now told you literally everything there is to know about this case.There are no suspects, really, despite the fact that every couple of years someone pops out of the woodwork claiming they know who did it.There isn’t much information to be found out there about this case, due to the age and the unsolved nature of the crime. No one was ever brought to trial or even charged with ending the life of Betty.Our main source this week was I Know Who Killed Betty Shanks, by Ted Duhs, which can be found here https://www.amazon.com.au/Know-Who-Killed-Betty-Shanks-ebook/dp/B0732NTR3K, although fair warning, there’s some graphic imagery and also, we didn’t love it as a read.If you want to read another book about the case, you can’t cause it’s out of print, but the title to search the library for is Who Killed Betty Shanks? By Ken BlanchFor some lighter reading, we have the following news articleshttps://www.qt.com.au/news/author-to-name-former-cop-as-betty-shanks-killer/3043045/https://www.qt.com.au/news/betty-shanks-murder-case-cracked-by-lyle/2863230/https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/the-1952-unsolved-murder-of-betty-shanks-in-brisbane-sparks-battle-between-publishers-of-rival-books/news-story/23e072af565c0398f05b04efe5f6cbddAnd ya primary sources, if you’re doing a school essay https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101721302Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anyone who has roots in Brissie could probably ask ten different people what they know about the Mayne family and they’d get ten different answers. They’ve been called the Mad Maynes and the Murderous Maynes – but are they really as black as they’re painted? Does the family who helped establish most of Brisbane have literal skeletons in their closet?This week your girls jump into the time machine for one last whirl as they try to tackle a question that has haunted Brisbane for over a hundred years – was Patrick Mayne really a murderer? Or was he just a weird rich guy?Patrick Mayne was a rich businessman and city alderman in Brisbane in the mid nineteenth century. On his deathbed, he allegedly confessed to murdering a man named Robert Cox twenty years prior, stealing a sum of £300 and using the money to purchase a butcher’s shop on Queen Street. From this shop, Mayne amassed a great fortune, high status in society, and a reputation that has followed him throughout the centuries. Did Patrick Mayne really kill Robert Cox? Or was it a game of Chinese whispers, a bit of good old-fashioned Aussie tall poppy syndrome? This week we’re talking about a murder, but we are also talking about how rumours get started, and how they can have an impact hundreds of years later.Our mayne source (see what we did there) this week was The Mayne Inheritance by Rosamund Siemon, available herehttps://www.amazon.com.au/Mayne-Inheritance-Rosamond-Siemon-ebook/dp/B00O70R71YOur other sources this week include this fantastic article which debunked a fair amount of what Siemon wrote in The Mayne Inheritance, available herehttp://www.hearsay.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2006&Itemid=48If you wanna learn more about Mayne the man, go herehttp://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mayne-patrick-13088For another interesting debunking of some Mayne myths and legends, this two-parter on Haunts of Brisbane is a crackerhttp://hauntsofbrisbane.blogspot.com/2012/01/murderous-maynes-patrick-did-um-didnt.htmlhttp://hauntsofbrisbane.blogspot.com/2012/01/murderous-maynes-patrick-surely-didor.htmlFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tracey Wigginton was convicted of murdering Edward Baldock and trying to drink his blood. Tracey wasn’t just a regular old murderer, you see. She was a vampire, a night stalker, one of the Devil’s children, who needed to feed on the sweet nectar of life to sustain herself.At least, that’s what her vampire coven believed. And they believed in her enough to help her take another human life.On this episode of Murder in the Land of Oz, your girls talk about mind control, why men don’t think women can murder, and of course, our shameful teenage vampire phases. We renounce Twilight, but Buffy is still cool.On October 20, 1989, Edward Baldock was violently murdered. It was a tragedy, but the media had an absolute field day when it was discovered that his killers were a coven of wannabe vampire lesbians. Readers couldn’t get enough of the Lesbian Vampire Killers, and the story made international news. Some people were titillated, others were terrified. Were cults of lesbian vampires coming for you?Tracey Wigginton and three others were arrested for the murder. Tracey’s three accomplices quickly turned on her, saying they were compelled by Tracey to commit the crime. While Tracey got life imprisonment with a minimum of 13 years, her accomplices got barely more than a slap on the wrists. So were these women really compelled by Tracey to help her murder an innocent man? Or did the accomplices take advantage of the burgeoning Satanic Panic to make Tracey take the fall?Our main source this week was Great Crimes and Trials: Lesbian Vampires Killers, which you can partake of herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUvEzwFw4u0For more information, you can check out these news articleshttps://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/lesbian-vampire-killer-released-from-jail-20120111-1pvou.html​​​​​​​https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/new-book-reveals-six-personalities-of-vampire-lesbian-killer/news-story/d41b346be98738676f41b52717a3f721If you want to find out more, pro tip: turn on Safe Search before searching “Lesbian Vampire Killer”.Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seven backpackers disappeared hitchhiking off the Hume Highway in New South Wales from 1989 to 1992. For years, Australia was gripped by the mystery – was it the work of a serial killer, or just some more inexperienced tourists bested by the Australian outback?In the first episode of Season Two and our first case in New South Wales, your girls discuss the initial disappearances of the seven backpackers, Jess's fear of the outdoors, and how much Sydney sucks. Fuck you, Sydney.James Gibson, Deborah Everist, Joanne Walters, Caroline Clarke, Simone Schmidl, Gabor Neugebauer and Anja Habschied were the seven victims of the Backpacker Murderer. They were picked up by a mystery bloke, driven into the Belangalo State Forest, and viciously murdered. The police were baffled – what kind of a person would murder seven people so horrifically for their own sick pleasure?The Backpacker Murders are without a doubt the most famous serial killing case in Australian history. Even if you’ve never heard the true story, you’ve heard the fictional one – this case inspired the Wolf Creek movies. But, as cliché as it is to say, in this case, truth is definitely stranger than fiction.Our main source this week was the absolutely ripper Sins of the Brother, by Les Kennedy and Mark Whittaker. You can buy it for the very reasonable price of $22 here on Booktopia.com.au, or you can try before you buy and read an excerpt here https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/what-made-ivan-milat-a-serial-killer/news-story/3a54f7de7b63e494317ac98a99dcd8a5Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The murders of the seven backpackers had dominated headlines for years. The police, psychologists, scientists, and the international media were trying to work out exactly what went down in the Belangalo State Forest. The few leads the police had all seemed to point in one direction – towards a roadworker from Sydney with a passion for guns.In this episode, your girls dive into the background of Ivan Milat and how he became the Backpacker Murderer, Jess's continued love for Paul Onions, and the unfortunate Milat family legacy. We also dive into perhaps the most burning topic related to the case – did Milat work alone? We don’t know for sure, but that’s not gonna stop us from wildly speculating!Ivan Milat was born in New South Wales in 1944. The fifth child in a line of fourteen, he had a rough childhood, hanging out with his literal gang of brothers, causing trouble as a teen, and spending plenty of time in prison as an adult. Everyone who knew Ivan knew him to be a good guy, quick tempered, sure, and a bit of a fan of a firearm, but wouldn’t hurt a fly. Richard was the wildcard Milat, the one you needed to watch out for. But the evidence against Ivan was starting to pile up, piece by piece, until one day it all came crashing down.While we know for sure that Ivan Milat was responsible for the Backpacker Murders, there are still many lingering questions about the case. Firstly, did Ivan work alone? The police, forensic psychologists, and the usual collection of armchair detectives on the internet think it is very possible he had an accomplice. And were the bodies in Belangalo State Forest Ivan’s only victims? With so many missing people in Australia and with a guy as batshit as Milat, it’s hard to think he stopped at seven.Our main source this week was again the excellent Sins of the Brother. Please read it.You can find more information than you can poke a stick at online about this case but here’s some links to get you started.Firstly, read a slightly dry but very detailed sum up of the case in one of Ivan Milat’s appeal documents here http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/1998/795.html?context=1;query=ivan%20milat;mask_path=A very detailed exploration into the case with a convenient timeline and some Web 1.0 goodness can be found herehttp://www.geocities.ws/darragh_scully/ivan_millat.htmlRead about the trial and some info on R vs Milat: A Case Study in Cross Examination herehttps://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/the-prosecutors-question-that-was-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-serial-killer-ivan-milat/news-story/0cdc7bf3ae93319ab26d14bc732cc34bTo read one of the lead detectives and forensic psychologists in conversation about the case, go herehttp://medicolegal.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/The-belanglo-enigma.pdfFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Take a drink every time we tell a story about a young women murdered while walking home. And then keep drinking to help dull the pain.This week we cover the murder of beauty pageant queen, nurse, and all-around angel Anita Cobby, who’s life was tragically cut short by a gang of absolute sickos who pulled her into a car when she was walking home one evening. This episode is low on banter and high on absolute tragedy, so if you’re in a rough mood… maybe save this one for later.On Feburary 4th, 1986, the body of former beauty queen Anita Cobby was found lying in a paddock in western Sydney. She had been savagely beaten, raped and murdered. The alarm was raised and in one of the most effective investigations in New South Wales police history, her killers were found within a few short weeks.The people of Australia were outraged to hear about the level of violence inflicted on Anita, and were disgusted by the cavalier attitudes shown by the men who committed the crime, even though four out of the five perpetrators tried to put the blame onto one man, John Travers, who was a uniquely sick individual with a history of violent crime. The parents of Anita Cobby founded the Australian Homicide Victims Support Group, which you can visit here http://www.hvsgnsw.org.au/Our main source this week was the lush Anita Cobby: The Crime that Shocked The Nation by Alan J. Whitaker which you can read about herehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27542821-anita-cobby-the-crime-that-shocked-a-nationIf you’d like to hear the content of this podcast presented by a real professional who knows what he’s on about, you can listen to the beloved Casey Casefile’s episode on Anita Cobby herehttps://casefilepodcast.com/case-56-anita-cobby/If you prefer to read casefiles rather than listen to Casefile, you can find the original material herehttp://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/c.php?g=671792&p=4729433And just to keep our sources diverse, you can watch a doco for free on YouTube herehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUdNQkcxYkgFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two bodies lay thousands of kilometers apart – one, a two-year-old girl in a suitcase on the side of the highway in South Australia, the other, a twenty-year-old woman left lying next to a log in the Belanglo State Forest. No one was looking for them. No one even knew they were missing.When the body of the little girl was finally discovered, seven years after she was killed, police knew she must have a mother somewhere out there. They looked to the body found in Belanglo, and found the little girl’s mother. Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce Pearce had their names back, and now the police just had to discover who killed them – and who had spend the previous five years stealing thousands of dollars from Karlie’s bank account, and using her phone to pretend to her family that she was still alive.Please be warned that this episode contains descriptions of violence against children.When a body was found in the Belanglo State Forest on August 29, 2010, speculation was rife that the Backpacker Murderer Ivan Milat had more victims. Milat was ruled out, however, and the body of the young woman would lie in the morgue, unidentified, nicknamed the Belanglo Angel.Years later, the body of a child was found, over a thousand kilometers away in Wynarka, Western Australia. This poor little girl would also remain unidentified, until a tip from Crime Stoppers gave her her name back. She was Khandalyce Pearce, and police would uncover that she was the daughter of the Belanglo Angel, Karlie Pearce-Stevenson.Police were determined to bring to justice whatever lowlife had left a mother and a daughter to rot in the woods alone, a thousand miles apart from each other. They found Karlie’s ex-boyfriend, a man named Daniel James Holdom, who had stolen up to $100,000 of Karlie’s welfare benefits over a period of around five years, who also just happened to be a convicted child molester.This case is still ongoing, so please watch out for a future update.There is no book written about this case yet, so your best way of getting information is to read the archives of your favourite Australian newspaper. Here’s a few links to get you started.Websleuths is the world’s most popular true crime forum, and it is full of crazy housewives who have too much time on their hands, but they are great for information consolidation. You can find an amazing archive of news article to do with the case here https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/aus-khandalyce-kiara-pearce-wynarka-and-mum-karli-media-timeline-no-discussion.292447/#post12113814You can also read the threads on Karlie and Khandalyce here https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/aus-khandalyce-kiara-pearce-wynarka-and-mum-karlie-pearce-stevenson-belanglo-1.293028/#post12131123You can read every media release the South Australian police gave about the case here https://www.police.sa.gov.au/sa-police-news-assets/murray-mallee-local-service-area/task-force-mallee#.W6cIXvaubIXTo read a good overview of the case, up until the bodies were identified, this article here is good https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/little-girl-lost-trying-to-identify-the-nameless-victim-of-wynarkas-homicide-20150923-gjt1ah.html. Also the first article to put forward the link between the girl in the suitcase and the Belanglo Angel.To read about the identity theft aspect of the case, go here Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this Very Special Episode of Murder in the Land of Oz, the girls take you on an auditory tour of some of Australia’s most haunted locations. From the isolated cells of the Separate Prison in Tasmania’s Port Arthur to a row of poinciana trees in Darwin where a wraith waits to devour the guts of men (mood), we’re going around this great southern land to hear the spookiest tales of those who remain on Earth after death.We talk about death a lot on this show, but for some, death is just a footnote in the story of their time on Earth. Australia is full of places where humans have suffered terribly at the hands of their fellow man, and their impression can be felt. Whether it’s supernatural in nature or just human empathy depends on what you believe.PODCASTER’S NOTE – Hi guys, Ellen here. As mentioned in the episode, I emailed renowned paranormal investigator and historian Allen Tiller to fact check a few spurious claims that were presented in some blogs I read and that I repeated in the episode, and to my unbelievable surprise he responded – but not until after we recorded the episode.There is no record of any large-scale mining accident in Kapunda, and the body racks are a zesty but untrue tale put forward by a blogger eager for clicks. I would also like to clear the name of Dr Matthew Blood, who I can confirm never experimented on his patients, but Allen informed me he has indeed been sighted at the Kapunda Hotel on at least one occasion.Due to the incredibly large but incredibly low quality number of sources used for this episode, I’m just going to link one fairly non-spurious article per location. Further research is encouraged. I would like to also note that we drastically lowered our journalistic standards for this episode. Where you usually find books and case files, be warned: here be blogs.QUEENSLAND: Boggo Road Gaolhttps://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queensland-crime-ernest-austin-the-ghost-of-boggo-road-gaol/news-story/dcfa5cf55c15fa0103cce239144ef259NEW SOUTH WALES: Monte Cristo Homesteadhttps://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crawley-331VICTORIA: Beechworth Asylumhttp://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/07/28/2316655.htmTASMANIA: Port Arthurhttps://www.mamamia.com.au/port-arthur-ghosts/SOUTH AUSTRALIA: North Kapunda Hotelhttps://www.barossaherald.com.au/story/2697184/north-kapunda-hotel-among-the-worlds-most-haunted-bars/WESTERN AUSTRALIA: The Shipwreck of the Alkimoshttps://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/10/the-cursed-shipwreck-of-australia/NORTHERN TERRITORY: The Poinciana Womanhttps://blogs.crikey.com.au/northern/2017/12/22/poinciana-woman-darwins-east-point-roland-dyrting/Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Wanda Beach Murders are possibly Australia’s most well-known cold case. The 1965 murder of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock devastated the nation, and to this day police are still trying to piece together the circumstances of their deaths. In this episode, your girls discuss one of the most likely suspects, a serial killer who travelled across the US, luring girls to their deaths by posing as a photographer. In 1965 though, he was just another Aussie teenager… one who happened to match the description of the only other person seen at the beach when Marianne and Christine were murdered.On the 11 of January 1965, two fifteen year old girls, Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock, went down to spend the day at Wanda Beach in Sydney, and were never seen alive again. Their bodies were found lying on a deserted section of beach, brutally stabbed. The perpetrator has never been caught, and it remains New South Wales' oldest unsolved homicide case.As one of Australia’s most notorious cold cases, many potential suspects have been put forth, both by the police and by armchair detectives. One possible candidate is the Beauty Queen Killer, Christopher Wilder, who killed eight women in a six week long crime spree across the United States.It’s possible we’ll never know who killed Marianne and Christine. But the people of Australia will not let these two girls be forgotten.To read more about Christopher Wilder and his connection to Wanda Beach, go here https://www.theleader.com.au/story/5458975/australian-serial-killer-linked-to-wanda-beach-murders/?fbclid=IwAR0T0Qa1RsXBqdEhGGjWZkSPSE8SaT_GTEEh80Ee4KbxVRPb8N5GPHnKvZ4For some surprisingly good crime journalism considering it's from Mama Mia, go here https://www.mamamia.com.au/wanda-beach-murders/?fbclid=IwAR2Gw3sAqsIWACPxGLz1IhKQwXa1rXPwYtgFak5egauV1amZ4JwfqWDQv9oCatch the episode of Sunday Night here https://au.news.yahoo.com/wanda-beach-murders-part-1-214802595.html?fbclid=IwAR1AbB0caFA5GOQVOZhGEBeOp3Z_Yo1U4LhJsPAtFb7esWECeJ2uRkcwVgMListen to the dulcet tones of Casey Casefile discussing Wanda Beach here https://casefilepodcast.com/case-1-the-wanda-beach-murders/?fbclid=IwAR1wdGF9dEO9b6Fr8ZB_XW6PxsZwaoZhWW1l35CBy9HdFkDR-XmmHJoDQvkFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do you call a doctor that graduates at the bottom of his class? A doctor.What do you call a doctor that graduates at the bottom of his class, gets sanctioned for professional misconduct, gets their license revoked, manages to get a job as Director of Surgery at a large regional hospital, and causes the deaths of thirteen odd patients? Doctor Death.Doctor Jayant Patel worked at the Bundaberg Base Hospital in Queensland, Australia, from 2003 to 2005. In that two year span, the hospital received complaint after complaint about his unprofessional manner, his dangerous lack of hygiene – oh yeah, and his tendency to remove the wrong organ from patients. The unprecedented number of patients that died under Doctor Patel’s care led the media to label him Doctor Death – but unlike his American counterpart, Doctor Patel was not a cold blooded killer.He was just really, really shitty at his job.He was eventually tried for the death of three patients and the grievous bodily harm of another, but Doctor Patel’s reign of terror was allowed to rage on for far too long – possibly due to the fact that, due to his speed in conducting these surgeries, Bundaberg Base Hospital was receiving financial incentives from Queensland Health.Our main source this week was the official inquiry into Doctor Patel and the Bundaberg Base Hospital, known as the Davies Inquiry. If you’re a fan of reading government documents, this one’s a real killer. http://www.qphci.qld.gov.au/final_report/Final_Report.pdfThe High Court decision can be read here http://netk.net.au/Australia/Patel.aspAn overview of Doctor Patel’s record in New York and at Kaiser Permanente can be read here http://blog.oregonlive.com/oregonianextra/2009/02/_australia_ready_to_charge.html#1Feeling fancy? Even the New York Times wrote about Patel. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/world/asia/deaths-and-a-doctors-past-transfix-australians.htmlFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the early 90s, three children went missing from the same street over the course of four months. If it had happened in Sydney, we’d never hear the end of it, but because the kids were Indigenous, and lived in Bowraville, one of the state’s poorest towns, barely anyone has heard of the case. More than twenty years later, the white man responsible for the children’s murders has never been convicted. This week we look into the Bowraville murders, to try and figure out exactly why justice has never been granted to the families of Colleen Walker, Evelyn Greenup and Clinton Speedy-Duroux.On September 13, 1990, sixteen-year-old Colleen Walker went missing from The Mission, the Aboriginal part of the town of Bowraville in New South Wales. A month later, four-year-old Evelyn Greenup went missing from the same street. Four months after that, sixteen-year-old Clinton Speedy-Duroux went missing as well.Rather than assume a serial killer was on the loose, Bowraville police were apathetic, telling the families of the missing children that their kids had probably gone “walkabout”.When the bones of two of the children were found in the same stretch of forest, seven kilometres away from the town, it was clear that foul play was involved. What followed was a slapdash homicide investigation by inexperienced detectives, the creation of a task force, two trials, multiple inquiries and attempted government intervention – and a killer still walking free.Our main source this week was the government inquiry, released in 2014. Be warned, she’s a chunky read https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/2131/Bowraville%20-%20Final%20report.pdfThese are the submissions presented to the inquiry from the victims’ families. You may cry. https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/other/7740/2%20May%202014%20Redacted%20transcript.pdfFor some good investigative journalism, we present this article from the Monthly. https://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-malcolm-knox-mission-bowraville-murders-2786You can listen to the Bowraville podcast on your favourite podcast app, or listen to it on your browser if you’re old and haven’t quite worked out this whole podcast thing yet https://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/bowravilleFor some more insight into the legal issues of this case that we don’t fully understand ourselves, head here https://sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2018/09/20/how-the-law-failed-the-victims-of-the-bowraville-murder-case.htmlFind us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A brief update episode to discuss the new developments in the trial and sentencing of the murderer of Karlie Pearce-Stevenson and Khandalyce.If you like what we do please consider supporting us on PATREONSubscribe to the podcast on ITUNES, STITCHER, SPOTIFY or your podcatcher of choice.Find us on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM or EMAIL us on murderinthelandofoz@gmail.comwww.thatsnotcanonproductions.com Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jill Meagher was a 29 year old Irish woman living in Melbourne with her husband, Tom. She was a bright, funny, loving young woman, who worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. On the 21st of September 2012, Jill went to a bar on Sydney Road in Brunswick with some colleagues. She left around 1:30am, to walk the few blocks back to her home and her husband.She never made it home. When her husband awoke to find her missing, he immediately contacted the police.What followed was a fast and efficient investigation, helped along by the discovery of CCTV footage featuring Jill and a man in a blue sweatshirt on Sydney Road. The man in the blue sweatshirt was quickly identified as Adrian Ernest Bayley, a man who was on parole after serving time for a series of rapes.In this episode, we discuss Adrian Ernest Bayley’s shocking criminal history, the impact that Jill’s death has had on the Australian public, and also, Ellen cries. A lot.Jill Meagher was a young woman with her whole life ahead of her. The impact her violent and brutal murder had on her family and her husband Tom cannot be overstated. This case is one of the most well-known in Australia, and it inspired a wave of grief and anger in the Australian public. Thousands of people took to the streets to Reclaim the Night after Jill's murder. Jill's death demonstrated once again to Australian women that even if you do everything right, even if you're only a few blocks away from your house, even if you're talking to someone on the phone, you aren't safe. The community was enraged that someone with such a disturbing and violent criminal past could be released from prison, especially considering the miniscule sentence Bayley was served with for his past crimes.Jill’s husband Tom continues to speak out about violence against women and toxic masculinity. You can read his amazing article, The Danger of the Monster Myth, on the White Ribbon Ireland’s blog here https://whiteribbonblog.com/2014/04/17/the-danger-of-the-monster-myth/Youcan watch the documentary Conviction: The Jill Meagher Story on Netflix here https://www.netflix.com/title/80193756Read Tom Meagher’s letter to Jill here https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/i-carry-the-scars-of-jills-death-because-thats-how-i-remember-to-carry-her-light-inside-me/news-story/1dd1d132143a65a33a7387cbae153256The victim impact statements from the trial can be found here if you’re keen for a weep https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/jill-meagher-murder-the-victim-impact-statements-20130612-2o3ih.htmlTo read more about Adrian Ernest Bayley, go here https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/timeline-the-dark-past-of-adrian-bayley-20150320-1m3sda.htmlIf you like what we do please consider supporting us on PATREONSubscribe to the podcast on ITUNES, Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.