Australian True Crime Podcast

James Phelps is an author and journalist with a penchant for prisons.  He's written best sellers about men's jails, and in his new book, Green is the New Black, he shifts his focus to incarcerated women.  Kerry Tucker was one of those women for 7 years.  Their perspective are different, but many of the details are the same.

Dr Rodney Syme was Christened Australia's Oldest Outlaw in an episode of Andrew Denton's Podcast series Better Off Dead, because although he admits to consistently ignoring Australian law, he remains at large in the community.  Dr Syme helps terminally ill people to end their lives.  Also featured in this episode, Mitchell Short, whose father Peter took advantage of Dr Syme's services.  The new documentary Fade to Black depicts their campaign to change Australia's laws in the last months of Peter's life.

Brisbane mum Allison Baden Clay was reported missing by her husband Gerard on the morning of April 20, 2012.  When police arrived at the house, they found Gerard smartly dressed in his usual business attire, with 3 deep, raw scratches on his cheek.  

In February 2005, Melbourne woman Maria Korp was found clinging to life in the boot of her car.  The car had been abandoned near the War Memorial, a stone's throw from Melbourne's police headquarters on St Kilda Road, and Narelle Fraser was among the first on the scene when it was reported by a security guard.  What happened next changed the course of Narelle's life, and played a part in her leaving the force with PTSD.

Nina Funnell is a journalist, academic, activist and survivor of sexual assault.  She's cowritten a report on sexual assault on Australian University campuses and her findings are disturbing to say the least.  She also explains the dangers around the traditional warnings we give our daughters.

Doug O'Loughlin was a founding member of the Victorian Special Operations Group.  His job was to deal with sieges, hostage situations, terrorist attacks and everything in between.  Doug's son Heath has written a book about it and they both join us for a chat.

Sent on a simple errand to the local shops by her mother, six-year-old Kylie Maybury never made it home alive.  Her body was found the following day, discarded in a gutter, but the circumstances of her death, and the identity of her killer remained unknown for 33 years.  In the end, he was eerily close to home all along.  Veteran crime reporter Keith Moor talks us through the details of the case, and the strange twists and turns in Kylie's case.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Keith Moor. 

Emily Webb's book, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page

If you have any information on the cases covered by this podcast, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

This is part 2 of our conversation with Mary and Katie. If you haven't yet, go back and listen to part 1: My sister, the killer.  

The story of how Anna Horneshaw came to murder her housemate picks up with her family begging the mental health services for help. Even Anna herself pleaded, "I’m suicidal and homicidal, please admit me." With the risk of a violent outburst rising, the family was too terrified to call the police, because they shoot mentally ill people. Part 2 delves into why help never came, Anna's sentencing, and how the years in prison have changed her life.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Mary K. Pershall and Katie Horneshaw

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page​

"Melbourne woman murders man for cigarettes." It was one of the most salacious headlines to ever appear in an Australian newspaper. But in this episode, we're going behind the headline. That 'Melbourne woman' was Mary K. Pershall's daughter. And she was Katie Horneshaw's sister. Mary and Katie join us in this episode to discuss how their beautiful Anna turned into a murderer. How mental illness slowly stole away the girl they knew. And how they never stopped trying to save her. 

Look out for part two of this story next week. 

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Mary K. Pershall and Katie Horneshaw

This show is dedicated to the memory of Zvonimir Petrovski (Johnny)

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page​

Narelle Fraser spent 27 years in the police force investigating the most heinous crimes. She dedicated her life to helping victims of horrific sexual and violent crime, exposing herself to death and trauma on a daily basis. But eventually the terrible things she saw began to tear her apart. When she finally sought help, it took the psychiatrist 30 seconds to diagnose her with post-traumatic stress disorder. But Narelle found a coping mechanism. She made a list of 33 cases - the big ones that affected her and led her to this point. From the first dead body, to sifting through 1700 child pornography videos in two days and rating them on a scale of one to five, five being the absolute worst a person is capable of. In this harrowing podcast, Narelle shares the ordinary objects that trigger flashbacks and nightmares, the bonds she formed with victims and why she can't watch NCIS to this day. 

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Narelle Fraser

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page

Let's wind back to the glory days of print. In the '70s, Megan Norris was a cadet journalist who was told she wouldn't last until Christmas because the other 'token girl cadet' on the team was prettier. Today, Megan is a court reporter and bestselling author who has seen some of the most gruesome cases you could imagine. From reporting on battered women to covering high-profile cases such as the kidnapping and murder of Jaidyn Leskie, she says it's not a job that makes you popular. Nonetheless, the journalist shares her advice for aspiring true crime writers who want to hear the very worst things people are capable of, and report the greatest show on earth.   

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Megan Norris

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page​

Ron Iddles is widely known as Australia's greatest detective. After 42 years of eliciting confessions and nabbing murderers, he had a 99% conviction rate. Known as 'The Good Cop', Ron reflects on the cases that stuck with him. On being the only hope for the families of victims. Having to tell Jill Meagher’s husband his wife was dead, then accuse him of orchestrating it. And why he will never change his phone number. In conversation with Meshel Laurie, the retired Australian police detective shares how he gets inside the psyche of criminals, and the cases that stay with him deep into the night.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Ron Iddles. 

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Emily recommends The Society Murders: The True Story of the Wales-King Murders by Hilary Bonney. 

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Goulburn Prison houses some of Australia's most evil and depraved criminals.

Known for a time as "The Killing Fields", it's a place where plastic toothbrushes are filed down into weapons, where the springs had to be removed from bed mattresses because inmates would fashion them into weapons. Where prisoners are raped and slain in the showers, and where notorious backpacker killer Ivan Milat sawed his own finger off and tried to send it to the High Court of Australia.

Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb go behind the cyclone fencing to find out just how creative these prisoners can get when it comes to evil acts.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to James Phelps, author of Australia’s Most Murderous Prison

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page

Kath Pettingill has given birth to some of Australia's worst criminals. She had six sons, they all ended up with criminal records, and three of them ended up dead. From drugs to Mr. Death - this family has seen it all. But what do we really know about their matriarch? Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb find out about the Melbourne family who the movie Animal Kingdom was based on.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Susanna Lobez. 

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page​

Since the 1920s, a town built on rich farming soil around 500kms west of Sydney has been the epicentre of an organised crime network. Yep, there is Mafia in Griffith. But not just any Mafia, Calabrian Mafia. And they're alleged to be responsible for Australia's first political assassination. This week Emily and Meshel are joined by crime writer Keith Moor to talk about the Calabrian HQ here in Australia, the many disappearances that have occurred over the years, and what happened when Keith went into town to investigate.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Keith Moor, find his books Crims in Grass Castle & Busted here

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page​

Sallie-Anne Huckstepp had never intended to be a whistleblower, but when her drug-dealer boyfriend Warren Lanfranchi was shot and killed by crooked cop Roger Rogerson, she decided to speak out. A call that would eventually end her own life, but she took it regardless. 31 years on since her body was found floating in a duck pond in Sydney’s Centennial Park, her killer is still unknown. But those close to the case have a pretty good guess of who it might be….

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Duncan McNab and Debra Krivoshow

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page

What makes a victim? They say once you get to know the victim, you'll discover the perp. But this well-liked suburban mother Nanette Ellis was an unlikely victim. And yet she was stalked by a sinister stranger trying to run her off the road. Rocks were thrown at her car. Her windscreen smashed. A bucket of paint upended over it. Tyres slashed. And then she was murdered. Brutally stabbed to death in her own home in Boronia in Melbourne's east. 

Following the 30th anniversary of Nanette's death, Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb check in on her family, talking to her son Craig about the aftermath of the unexpected murder, how his younger brother coped with finding the body, plus another mystery that shook this family. 

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Craig Ellis 

Emily Webb's book, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page

If you have any information on the cases covered by this podcast, please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

It was Fathers Day, 2005. Robert Farquharson had just spent the day with his three sons, on an access visit. While returning them to their mother, his car veered off the road, and plunged into an icy dam. Robert escaped. But his three children, Jai, Tyler, and Bailey, all drowned. It made headline news around the country. Was it a freak accident? Or revenge murders? Farquharson maintained his innocence. His wife, Cindy Gambino, stood by his story. And then, something changed. 
This is one of the most controversial, high-profile and protracted legal cases in Australian criminal history.
Join Meshel Laurie, Emily Webb and Investigative journalist and author Megan Norris as they go beyond the news cycle to chronicle the seven-year case, and the devastating consequences of what happened next.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Megan Norris

On Fathers Day by Megan Norris is published by Five Mile Press

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page​

When Marie Greening Zidan's handbag was stolen by two boys, she called the police. She couldn't get to the station to report it, it was a Saturday, and the 73-year-old was caring for her disabled adult son. The police said to her "We can't get to you. We will come on Monday."  But Monday came too late. The boys, aged 15 and 16, came back the next day and raped, bashed and murdered the grandmother while her disabled son lay terrified in another room.

Just days after the horrifying home invasion, the killers called Marie's daughter and left her taunting phone messages.  They were eventually charged with manslaughter. And now, they walk free.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Janine Greening from the Forgetmenot foundation and Tiffany Overall, youth worker with Youth Law.

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page

Charlie Bezzina has been in confined spaces with some of the most monstrous people imaginable.  People who have committed crimes so terrible they would make your skin crawl. The former Detective was one of Victorias most successful and longest-serving Homicide squad detectives. So how did he do it, without losing self-control? What was the first thing he always did on a crime scene? And what is the one question he'd ask himself, every single time?

He tells Meshel Laurie how crime, and criminals, have gotten smarter in the last few decades. And why the police need the public's help more than ever.

Show notes:

Your hosts are Meshel Laurie and Emily Webb

With thanks to Charlie Bezzina

The Job by Charlie Bezzina is available on apple ibooks

Emily Webb's books, Suburban Nightmare is published by Echo

Murder in Suburbia and Angels of Death are available on Kindle

Contact us on the facebook page ​

A true crime podcast.