Episodes
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Trigger warnings: murder, sexual violence, assault.
Lynette Daley was a 31-year-old Aboriginal woman who lived in the Clarence Valley, northern NSW. She was a mother of seven and a beloved daughter who had fallen on hard times and was experiencing homelessness. In 2011, on Australia Day, two local lowlifes asked her to accompany them on a camping trip to the isolated Ten Mile Beach, north of Iluka. They kept Lynette drinking throughout the day, and at night, while Lynette was too drunk to fight back, they performed a violent sex act that left Lynette with internal lacerations so severe that she bled to death. Despite a colossal amount of evidence against the two men who committed this heinous crime, the Department of Public Prosecutions repeatedly declined to prosecute the case.
This lack of care from the government led Lynette’s family to wonder: if a white woman was left to die at the hands of two black men, would they have been allowed to go free?
Lynette Daley’s case did a lot to expose the biases that are inherent within our court system. While no official ever came out and said that Lynette was treated differently due to being Indigenous, many of the nation’s top legal minds were on hand to point out the bloody obvious. Lynette’s family had to endure years of torment and anguish as the men who killed their daughter in a such a violent and degrading manner were allowed to walk free.
If you’re in Australia, you can watch the episode of Four Corners entitled Callous Disregard which covers Lynette’s case here https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/callous-disregard-promo/7388056
You can read more about the case and the inquest here https://countingthewomen.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/norma-45-2011/
You can read an excellent piece by Professor Marcia Langton, who is an absolute queen and massive advocate for Lynette and all Indigenous people, here https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2016/july/1467295200/marcia-langton/two-victims-no-justice#mtr
To read more about Adrian Attwater and Paul Maris’ trial and sentencing, go here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-08/lynette-daley-justice-with-attwater-and-maris-sentenced-to-jail/9239312
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As the final installment of our First Nation's themed season, we are talking about January 26th.
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Missing episodes?
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We are back after a (what turned into a much bigger than intended) break!
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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.pdf
News 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/b828be6ad139699e509c94ce62bc5292
The 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
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Okay, yes, every show and their dog (or podcast cat) have covered this case. But we just had to jump on the bandwagon.
You may be familiar with the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard from the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, or the hit TV show now on Hulu The Act, or just generally from having an internet connection at any point in time over the past four years. The internet is obsessed with this case, and for good reason – the horrific murder of Dee Dee Blanchard shocked the world, not because of the brutality of the crime – but because of the scale of the abuse that Dee Dee afflicted on Gypsy, her daughter, who she had raised to believe was sick with a whole medical textbook of illnesses. Once Dee Dee was dead, the truth came out – nothing was wrong with Gypsy. She was a victim of Munchausen by Proxy, and was horribly abused by the person who was meant to care for her most.
EPISODE NOTES:
Friends and neighbours looked at Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard as a perfect mother-daughter pair. Dee Dee was dedicated to her sick daughter, and Gypsy was in turn loving and devoted to her mother. When Dee Dee was murdered in 2015, people were horrified. Who was going to take care of poor Gypsy now? But as the truth came out, and Gypsy – along with her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn – was charged with her death, people were horrified to discover that Dee Dee was not what she seemed – and neither was Gypsy.
Gypsy had every disease under the sun, from cancer to muscular dystrophy. She was confined to a wheelchair, had tubes all over her body, and had no hair and barely any teeth. She never properly attended school and was in and out of hospital constantly. But none of her ailments were real. Dee Dee was forcing Gypsy to be sick, lying to her about her real age, and physically and mentally abusing her to keep up the sickness routine, so that Dee Dee could keep reaping the benefits of having a sick child.
While Gypsy and Nicholas Godejohn were both ultimately convicted of Dee Dee’s murder, many people believe that Gypsy acted in self-defence, and did what she had to do to escape from one of the most horrific situations of abuse conceivable.
Read Michelle Dean's incredible longform article on the case here https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michelledean/dee-dee-wanted-her-daughter-to-be-sick-gypsy-wanted-her-mom
More info about the case can be found here https://www.yourtango.com/2019322839/who-nick-godejohn-new-details-gypsy-roses-boyfriend-man-murdered-dee-dee-blanchard?fbclid=IwAR0c95is1g2caWJ1wSQX9CobuA8rK30l_Z5BDjfW4AAdf-CpbE2IlcVH7kA
Information about the case and also Munchausen by Proxy can be found here https://www.yourtango.com/2019322870/what-munchausen-syndrome-by-proxy-story-gypsy-rose-blanchard?fbclid=IwAR28fu87X_aWdA9iOnfoLHevQ_bfIyiMeabBSbHo-T2YajOWh8ey3vd7YKI
For some info on Hulu's stunning new show The Act (this is not a sponsored episode but also – sponsor us, Hulu?) head here https://www.marieclaire.com.au/the-act-tv?fbclid=IwAR2Ohe3PFiupYeS2rfTO3Ux9LoluGAiYbzWQMNMiQJz8RCg5iwvChcyUMHM
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Fred and Rosemary West were coooooooked, mates. This episode was a request from our beloved patron Lily and let me tell ya, we don’t trust her any more! Massive listener warnings for murder, torture, rape, sexual assault, and child abuse. We could barely get through telling this story, we understand if you can’t get through listening to it.
Fred and Rose West committed at least twelve murders, possibly more. The West abducted women and subjected them to hours of sexual torture before murdering them; they killed people who stayed in their lodging house, including a heavily pregnant woman and her unborn baby; and they even killed their own children. Fred and Rose subjected most of their many children to heinous, prolonged incest and sexual assault, and joked about them staying in line lest they end up ‘under the patio’ like their sister, Heather. Heather had told her classmates about the physical and sexual abuse that she had suffered from her parents. She was trying as hard as she could to get a job that would take her out of the house. When her siblings returned home one day, Heather was missing, and they were told she’d accepted a job as a chalet cleaner in Torquay.
But Fred and Rose’s conflicting stories about Heather’s disappearance made neighbours and estranged family members suspicious. The police were contacted, and they would eventually search the West’s home. There, they found Heather’s dismembered body buried under the patio, as well as the remains of eight other women and girls that Fred and Rose had killed, after subjecting them to horrific torture for their own sadistic sexual gratification.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/horrifying-threat-killer-fred-west-18331879
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/fred-and-rosemary-wests-daughter-describes-what-it-was-like-growing-up-with-serial-killer-parents/news-story/542a41fbae1dd47b20367fe49cdedecc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary_West
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_West
https://www.amazon.com.au/Love-Always-Mum-xxx-surviving-ebook/dp/B07GRDSC6G
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Aunty Tanya Day was a 55 year old Yorta Yorta woman who died while in police custody after being arrested for public intoxication while on a train. Tanya was drunk and asleep on a VLine train headed to Melbourne when a ticket inspector decided she was unruly and called the police. Tanya was taken to Castlemaine Police Station, where she was left in a cell and check on for a total of less than thirty seconds in the four hours she was held there. Tanya sustained a serious head injury that caused a cerebral bleed and her eventual death. #JusticeForTanyaDay
EPISODE NOTES:
If the recommendations put forth thirty years earlier during the Royal Commission, and thirty years after Tanya’s own uncle Harrison Day died in similar circumstances while in police custody, Tanya Day would still be alive right now. Thirty years after the Commissioner recommended that the “crime” of public intoxication be removed from the Criminal Code, yet another Aboriginal woman died in custody, with her only crime having a drunken kip on the train.
You can read more about the case and view the CCTV footage of Tanya here, but please be warned, it’s not an easy watch https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-06/cctv-footage-of-tanya-day-released-by-coroner/11471018
You can read the finding from the Coroner’s Court here https://www.coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-04/Finding%20-%20Tanya%20Day-%20COR%202017%206424%20-%20AMENDED%2017042020.pdf
The Department of Public Prosecutions decided not to proceed with a criminal case. You can read more about that decision here https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/no-charges-to-be-laid-against-police-after-death-of-indigenous-woman-tanya-day-20200826-p55pj8.html
The Facebook and Instagram accounts for #JusticeForTanyaDay can be found here https://www.facebook.com/Justicefortanyaday/ and here https://www.instagram.com/justicefortanyaday/?hl=en
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Over three hundred Frontier Wars were fought in Australia as the Indigenous people of this land tried valiantly to resist the invasion of British Colonialists. The Bathurst War was one such war, fought by the Wiradjuri nation in what is now known as Bathurst, led by the Aboriginal resistance leader Windradyne.
In the mid-1820s, the slow erosion of the Wiradjuri's sovereignty by the colonisers was rapidly increased by Sir Thomas Brisbane, who authorised a large number of land grants in the Wiradjuri nation. With this influx of white settlers, the Wiradjuri’s land was being degraded, their sacred sites were torn up, and their natural resources were vanishing. After a violent encounter with a potato farmer over a "misunderstanding" resulted in the deaths of several Wiradjuri people, one of the survivors, Windradyne, decided that enough was enough. The Wiradjuri formed a resistance movement and lead a series of guerrilla-style attacks against the invaders, which escalated until martial law was declared, giving the invaders legal sanction to hunt and kill Aboriginals.
The Bathurst War was only one of several hundred Frontier Wars fought by the Indigenous people of this land. And in many ways, these wars continue – sovereignty of this land has never been ceded, and the Indigenous people of Australia have been systematically slaughtered and made to watch as an invading force has stolen and destroyed their land.
We applaud in movies like Star Wars when the Resistance fights off the evil Empire. So why are we so quick to sweep the Frontier Wars under the rug and pretend that our white ancestors were the good guys? (insert youknowwhy.gif here).
You can find out more about Wiradjuri resistance leader Windradyne here https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/631655491867/windradyne?fbclid=IwAR1yaEpos2JcYOM2joJUkC_3Hdyp-6_ZhB6VRhxgReHquBCV2MJLw-c6MQw
To find out more about the Frontier Wars and view the map, go here https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/04/the-killing-times-the-massacres-of-aboriginal-people-australia-must-confront?fbclid=IwAR1yaEpos2JcYOM2joJUkC_3Hdyp-6_ZhB6VRhxgReHquBCV2MJLw-c6MQw
Watch the video of Windradyne’s descendants marking the anniversary of the declaration of martial law here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jux_MKtfObw&t=326s&fbclid=IwAR1yaEpos2JcYOM2joJUkC_3Hdyp-6_ZhB6VRhxgReHquBCV2MJLw-c6MQw
We’ll probably never know the total death count of the Frontier Wars. Find out why that matters here http://www.maristfamily.com.au/resourcedownloads/why_indigenous_deaths_matters.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1yaEpos2JcYOM2joJUkC_3Hdyp-6_ZhB6VRhxgReHquBCV2MJLw-c6MQw
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This episode discusses Aboriginal people who have died.
In this episode, we discuss the police’s attempt to cover up the finding of John Pat’s body, the subsequent investigation, trial, and the eventual Royal Commission into John Pat’s death.
EPISODE NOTES:
Much to the despair of John Pat’s friends and loved ones, no really satisfying conclusion into his death was reached. And the Royal Commission didn’t really change too much, either. Aboriginal people are still imprisoned at a rate far greater than non-Indigenous Australians, and Aboriginal deaths in custody is still a massive issue in Australia.
You can read the entire commission into John Pat’s death here http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/individual/brm_jpp/
You can also read a very excellent and necessary critique of the Commission into John Pat’s death here http://netk.net.au/Aboriginal/Aboriginal62.asp
You can listen to an episode of The Signal discussing Indigenous deaths in custody here https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/the-signal/how-deaths-in-custody-happen/12341864
And support the movement to #RaiseTheAge here https://www.raisetheage.org.au/
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WARNING: This episode discusses Aboriginal people who have died.
In 1983, a sixteen-year-old Yindjibarndi boy named John Pat died in police custody after sustaining injuries in the course of a fistfight with the police. His death was one of several Indigenous deaths in custody that caused an uproar amongst Indigenous Australia who believed, quite rightly, that the police were unfairly targeting, using excessive force, and ultimately causing the deaths of a disproportionate number of Indigenous people in police custody. John Pat’s death was one of several deaths of Aboriginal people in custody that caused sufficient outrage to spark a Royal Commission
EPISODE NOTES:
With the Black Lives Matter movement gaining more ground than ever, it’s important to remember that police brutality doesn’t only happen in America. Australia has a long, dark history of heinous treatment of Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal deaths in custody is sadly only a part of the institutional racism that Indigenous Australians face. The death of John Pat, and of other Indigenous people we’ll be discussing in this season, was tragic, unnecessary, and was allowed to occur due to the systemic violence against Aboriginal people that has occurred virtually unchecked since colonisation.
You can read the Commissioner’s report into John Pat’s death here http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/rciadic/individual/brm_jpp/
This article discusses John Pat’s death within the larger context of Aboriginal deaths in custody and the Royal Commission here https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/john-pats-death-in-custody-the-impetus-for-the-royal-commission/
30 years after John Pat’s death, not much has changed. Read more here https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/09/26/3856987.htm
To learn about the Raise the Age movement, go here https://www.raisetheage.org.au/
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WARNING: This episode discusses violence against children.
12-year-old Leanne Holland went missing in September of 1991. When her horribly mutilated body was found in bushland three days later, suspicions immediately turned to one of the last people to see her alive: her older sister's boyfriend, 28-year-old Graham Stafford.
While Graham denied committing the brutal crime, the evidence seemed to be overwhelming. Blood matching Leanne's rare blood type was found in his vehicle, as was a long blonde curly hair. A hammer that Graham always had by his bedside was conveniently missing. And tire tracks that were a “perfect match” to his vehicle were found at the site where Leanne’s body was dumped. The forensic evidence was a slam dunk for the jury, and Graham was imprisoned for Leanne’s murder.
It was an open and shut case… until it was revealed that those perfect tire tracks weren’t so perfect, the hair ‘found’ in his car was actually contamination from the forensic lab, and Graham had an alibi for the time of the murder.
EPISODE NOTES:
Graham Stafford appealed his conviction, which was overturned in 2009. Leanne’s murder remains unsolved, and serious questions still remain about her death. If Graham wasn’t responsible, who on Earth else could it have been?
There is an ongoing push for a coronial inquiry into Leanne’s death, which you can read all about here https://whokilledleanneholland.com/
You can find more information about Graham’s quest for innocence here https://7news.com.au/news/crime/graham-stafford-a-step-closer-to-accessing-leanne-holland-forensic-review-c-516575
You can watch the Murder Uncovered episode about the case here https://7plus.com.au/murder-uncovered?episode-id=MUNC01-005&fbclid=IwAR1sSxC5SWWaeuw5TB-tcHCO_mozD5FtFs9-A4Buyl0x3_6o85XHIgQ7eQY
And you can find the Australian Story episode on the case for free on a certain video sharing site that we will not link due to illegality reasons!
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Cattle stations. The vast nothingness of the Central Australian bush. The past. A potential wrong conviction. Police corruption. This case TRULY has all the trappings of an #EllenEpisode.
In 1958, Thyra Bowman, Wendy Bowman, and Thomas Whelan were murdered after they stopped to camp at the deserted Sundown Station just past the South Australia-Northern Territory border. All three victims had been beaten and shot. The police were on the lookout for an American-style vehicle towing a caravan that had been seen in the area on the day of the murders. In Mt Isa, Detective Glen Hallahan zeroed in on the vehicle of one Raymond John Bailey, an itinerant worker who had been seen in the area and who was carrying an unregistered rifle and driving a car that he obtained with questionable measures.
Bailey was tried and convicted for the murder of Thyra Bowman, but decades and one very in-depth police corruption inquiry later, questions have risen about whether Bailey actually committed the crime, or whether he was one of the many people who were coerced into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit by the corrupt Queensland police.
EPISODE NOTES:
Whether you believe that Bailey committed the crimes or not, there are a lot of discrepancies and unanswered questions in the case that may have given pause to a modern jury, particularly a jury that may be a bit more well-versed on the rights of people in police custody. This episode only dipped a toe into the extent of police corruption in Australia, and you can read more about Queensland in particular by searching the ‘Fitzgerald inquiry’ or reading any of Matthew Condon’s excellent books. You can also learn more about police treatment of Indigenous people here https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jun/11/deaths-inside-how-we-track-indigenous-deaths-in-custody-and-why-we-do-it and here https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/aboriginal-police-relations
To find out more about the Sundown Murders, please put on your reading glasses and head to Trove.nla.gov.au, your premier source for strongly-titled old-timey news articles! Some selected gems:
SUNDOWN MYSTERY: ARMED MEN READY https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EtBYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yOQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5219,5301003&dq=whelan&hl=en
OUTBURST FROM GALLERY AT SUNDOWN TRIAL https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/91250781?searchTerm=%22raymond%20bailey%22&searchLimits=notWords|||requestHandler|||anyWords|||exactPhrase=raymond+bailey+|||dateTo=1958-06-30|||dateFrom=1958-01-01|||sortby=dateAsc
BAILEY FOUND GUILTY OF SUNDOWN MURDER
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/91250953?searchTerm=%22raymond%20bailey%22&searchLimits=notWords|||requestHandler|||anyWords|||exactPhrase=raymond+bailey+|||dateTo=1958-06-30|||dateFrom=1958-01-01|||sortby=dateAsc
You can read more about Stephen Bishop and his petition to get Bailey posthumously pardoned here
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Between May 1980 and November 1981, the bodies of six women were found hidden in dense scrubland in south-east Melbourne. The murders mystified police – the circumstances of their disappearances were similar, but not exactly the same. Their ages were quite different. There wasn’t a strong physical resemblance. But the bodies were all found in the same fairly small geographic area. Was there one killer with no particular preference for the type of woman he killed? Or were there two or more killers who happened to dispose of their victims in the same convenient section of bush? The case remains unsolved to this day.
EPISODE NOTES:
We covered a fair swathe of topics in this episode, so there are a few links for you to parse. Allison Rooke, Joy Summers, Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, Ann-Marie Sargent, and Narumol Stephenson were taken away from us by an unknown person or persons, their bodies left to decay in the bush, sometimes hidden only metres away from other victims. You can find out more about the murders, and view a timeline of the disappearances and a rather excellent map of the important locations here http://frankston-tynong.com/?fbclid=IwAR3AV6Ml92fFQZSOHTFxFtVtCM3rOQR4To-lQ36GWQ-BiZyvPDSqOk6O250#victims.
You can find out more about the case here https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/help-crack-a-cold-case/news-story/3f137cf3c0736e4d19c8848d3449cc46?fbclid=IwAR3xau62HX8l2KPPzr48X4tQR6gpHjL680FgXpY0deB-rHtE_HTnXfVetLo and if you know anything, please contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
We also talked a lot about psychics, and how they are fine for hearing fun stories about when you're gonna meet your future husband, but bad for solving crimes. If you're so inclined, you can find the websites for the psychics who participated in the Sensing Murder episode about this case here http://debwebber.com.au/?fbclid=IwAR3j5x-uWDZEjLXNmWZoqbmkzbgUZ8vzkp5uv4bU3yY7d6DQeGmpRgdN3e4 and here https://scottrussellhill.com.au/?fbclid=IwAR3TbMZR4s07snl_VesI-JfVjttpApGKTMewBhUJIuJjOUp66fqOHdzdDso.
We also discussed the Black Lives Matter movement, and about how we, as white true crime podcasters, truly the most privileged group on God’s earth, don’t need to be at the forefront of the conversation right now. We’ve mentioned a couple of times about Australia’s absolutely shithouse record with the Indigenous people of this land, and how the police have failed Indigenous people repeatedly through the multitude of Indigenous deaths in custody and the simple fact that the death or disappearance of an Indigenous person in this country is very rarely given the attention or resources that we afford to non-Indigenous people. But talking about it isn’t enough. There is so much more we need to be doing. If you want to educate yourselves more about the Black Lives Matter movement, please make sure you’re listening to the voices of Black and Indigenous people, not two white girls who went to private school who whine on a podcast for 50 minutes a fortnight.
You can listen to the GREAT podcast Bobo and Flex discuss the BLM movement here
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A 26-year-old German tourist named Nancy Grundwalt disappeared from Scamander, Tasmania in 1993, while cycling down the Tasman Highway. No trace of her has ever been found. Two years later, a 20-year-old Italian tourist named Victoria Cafasso was violently murdered on Beaumaris Beach, only a few kilometres away from where Nancy was last seen. Her killer has also never been found. Two mysteries in two tiny towns on Tasmania’s East Coast, that almost thirty years later are no closer to being solved. What happened to Nancy and Victoria?
EPISODE NOTES:
Although police don’t believe there is a connection between the two cases, the odds of two young female tourists being murdered two years apart in the same area is a bit much to take as a coincidence for some people. Rumours still fly around the East Coast about who could have done it, and everyone has a friend’s father’s cousin’s neighbour who was interviewed by police at the time.
But after extensive investigations, two inquests, and twenty years, there is still no indication about what happened to Nancy and Victoria. Was Nancy murdered, or was she the victim of a hit-and-run? Was Victoria killed as a case of mistaken identity? Or were she and Nancy the victims of the same opportunistic killer?
If you have any information about either of these cases, they are both still open investigations, and you can contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000
The Coroner’s findings for Nancy Grundwalt can be found here https://www.magistratescourt.tas.gov.au/about_us/coroners/coronialfindings/g/182_of_2004
Read more about retired detective Bob Coad’s belief that Nancy was killed in a hit-and-run here https://www.examiner.com.au/story/475468/death-of-nancy-grunwaldt-an-accident/
A call for information twenty years after Nancy’s disappearance can be found here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-12/family-marks-missing-tourist27s-anniversary-of-missing-woman/4566734
The Coroner’s findings for Victoria Cafasso can be found here https://www.magistratescourt.tas.gov.au/about_us/coroners/coronialfindings/c/2005_tascd_125_-_cafasso,_victoria_anna_elizabeth
An excellent long read can be found here https://www.smh.com.au/national/who-killed-victoria-cafasso-20151008-gk41h0.html
A summary of several Tasmanian cold cases, including Victoria and Nancy, can be found here https://www.themercury.com.au/news/scales-of-justice/rewards-still-on-offer-for-vital-case-clues-in-states-cold-cases/news-story/8091182d9c7abaef4a9ce736363a3f04
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When the body of Scott Johnson was found at the bottom of a cliff in North Head, Sydney, with his clothes folded neatly at the top of the cliff with a pen resting on top, the police easily ruled it a suicide. That was the direction in which the evidence was pointing, and there was no need to investigate any further.
Scott’s brother, Steve, could never accept that Scott would kill himself. Scott was almost finished his PhD. He had moved to Australia from America only two years prior to live with his partner. But he was also an out gay man in the 1980s, a time when homophobic violence was rampant, particularly in Sydney. Steve was determined to investigate his brother’s death, properly and thoroughly, and with the help of a dedicated journalist, the eventual backing of the NSW police, a couple of million dollars, two coronial inquests, and almost 32 years of waiting, a man named Scott Phillip White was finally arrested for the murder of Scott Johnson, on May 12, 2020.
EPISODE NOTES:
Scott Johnson was sadly one of the many gay men who were overlooked or discounted by the NSW Police in the late 1980s. It was well known that gangs of young men would rove around “gay beats” – areas where gay men would frequent for hook ups – in search of victims to bash. Many men were beaten, many were killed, but homophobia and the AIDS panic were at fever pitch. Many of gay men just felt like the police weren’t interested in protecting them.
Over the years, many inquests, investigations, and reviews have been held into the murders of gay men in Sydney. In 2005, it was found that two other young men who had died after ‘falling’ of a cliff top were victims of a gay hate crime. Scott Johnson’s former partner forwarded the story to Steve Johnson, questioning whether or not that could have been what happened to Scott, too. Neither man ever really believe Scott had killed himself. Steve pushed for a new investigation, put literally millions of dollars and years of his own life into finding out the truth about what happened to his brother. Finally, in 2020, there has been an arrest – an arrest which has prompted investigations in to four other potential gay hate crimes from around the same era. Justice has come late for Scott Johnson, and for his family and friends. But hopefully, finally, there will be some closure in this case, and the right thing will finally be done by all the victims of hate crimes who have gone without a voice for so long.
You can watch the episode of Australian Story about Scott and Steve Johnson here https://www.abc.net.au/austory/on-the-precipice/9170140?fbclid=IwAR2VBUsu7dznI--ylDQ1-i8uC-TvJN02hm0aAzxFiTwcJvaQYQY3Txn2ur0 (if you’re in Australia).
A longform article about the case can be found here https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-moment-that-inspired-steve-johnson-to-find-his-brother-s-killer-20200512-p54sbr.html?fbclid=IwAR1VKHJdQbIbeE38WnwmHqY5ZS5uYR6wy7ogrhW0gVn_o2b0Bjfh56wteHA
A timeline of Scott’s life can be found here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-16/scott-johnson-saga-from-the-80s-to-now/8120902?nw=0&fbclid=IwAR1CVhzFlQW2Z-L6gKhkB9kkZaeMDKcBUoI2HtgokQGMMQ-WLgmjk0UAMWs
Information about the arrest can be found here
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Aussie mania swept the globe in the late 80s after a little film called Crocodile Dundee showed the world the magic of Australia’s last frontier. Audiences were charmed by the rugged bushman Mick Dundee, and laughed as the outback larrikin tried to make his way around NYC.
The film was inspired by a real person, Rod Ansell, who had spent 56 days surviving alone in the Outback after his fishing boat was capsized by a crocodile. Rod never saw any money from the film, and his life eventually spiraled into meth-fuelled paranoia and delusion that culminated in him murdering a police officer and dying in a shootout with police.
EPISODE NOTES:
Rod had an uncomplicated but tough life working as a cattle hunter in the NT. He loved the bush, the outdoors, and the freedom his lifestyle oriented. He didn’t make a big thing out of his 56-day ordeal, as that was just how it was in the Outback. Initially, he found it funny that Paul Hogan was inspired to make a film about him, and didn’t mind so much that he wasn’t given anything in return.
But bad luck wouldn’t stop following Rod. He lost his home, his income, and his wife after a series of misfortune. He fell into drug use, using massive amounts of meth. He and his new girlfriend Cherie ended up in a folie a deux, where they believed that they were being persecuted by Freemasons. He set out one night to ‘rescue’ his sons who he believed had been kidnapped by Freemasons. As he searched for his sons, he fell deeper and deeper into the delusion, until he eventually snapped, shooting and killing Sergeant Glen Huitson at a police roadblock, before being shot himself.
You can read the (very well written) inquest document here https://justice.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/206703/glen-huitson-rodney-ansell.pdf
Read an interview with Rod just after Crocodile Dundee came out here https://people.com/archive/meet-rod-ansell-a-daring-real-life-dundee-vol-29-no-23/
Find out more about the case here https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/the-day-the-real-crocodile-dundee-rod-ansell-was-shot-dead/news-story/b282e2a78ef1a2091db3d739b7b819f8
You can read more about the victim, Glen Huitson, here https://www.australianpolice.com.au/glen-anthony-huitson/
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Claremont, like Snowtown, is one of those places that you only know the name of because of a heinous crime.
In the mid 90s, three young women went missing after spending nights out on the town. The body of Sarah Spiers was never found, but the bodies of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon would eventually be found, discarded in the bush. The similarities between the three victims and the circumstances of their disappearances led police to believe that a serial killer was preying on young women in the affluent Perth suburb.
EPISODE NOTES:
The investigation into the Claremont killings is WA’s longest-running and most expensive criminal investigation. Although the police led an extensive investigation, they missed the target and ended up focusing resources on a suspect who was found to not be involved. After years of uncertainty, there might finally be some closure for the families of the missing women, as Bradley Robert Edward was arrested and committed to be tried for the murders in November of 2019.
The trial is ongoing, and never-before-heard evidence is coming out every day. For the families of the victims, a conclusion to the decades-long investigation would be a release. But there is an additional pain for the family of Sarah Spiers – her body has never been found. Whether or not Edwards will reveal the location of her body – or even if he will be found guilty – is still very much in question.
You can watch a timeline of the case here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlLni1tbWug&fbclid=IwAR0uUWgObjB2fxrGPXim5LD9MKYjhnKi82UWk5bI_ebOwb9a5u5LC9RtzoY
To read more about the trial, go here https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/25/accused-claremont-serial-killer-bradley-edwards-pleads-not-guilty-as-trial-begins-in-wa?fbclid=IwAR2C_rFgehSY9TqtvGENQ1JVzXnG_Oc4sVDEP0hxpSZ9bWHxzsX9SRm7ops
To find out about Bradley Robert Edwards, go here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-28/claremont-serial-killer-trial-who-is-bradley-robert-edwards/11743666?fbclid=IwAR2Lr7AWzYD5h6FOO29zfkOOyW04SqQ5gPVpyl7vwV-29Tq-StrL3qXHFI8
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Rodney Marks was an astrophysicist who tragically died while overwintering in Antarctica in 2000. His cause of death was unknown, and his body stayed in Antarctica for five months after his death, as the below-freezing temperatures prevented his body from being flown back to be examined. When an autopsy was conducted, it was shockingly revealed that Rodney had died, not from natural causes as suspected, but from methanol poisoning. The 32-year-old was a genius scientist, working a dream job in a place he adored, who was talking about marrying his girlfriend.
Suicide seemed unlikely, but to the fifty people living on the Admunsen-Scott South Pole Station, murder seemed impossible.
EPISODE NOTES:
Rodney Marks has become known, not for his scientific discoveries, but for being the first possible murder victim in Antarctica.
Rodney Marks did more in his 32 years on this planet than I, personally, could ever achieve in five million lifetimes. He was beyond smart, was friendly, quirky, and well-liked by his colleagues in Antarctica. In his short time on Earth, he helped work on project that have both answered and asked more questions about our universe.
The explanation for Rodney’s death has never been uncovered. For decades, the options have floated before investigators and those in Rodney’s life who still wonder – suicide, homicide, or accidental death? So many things have hampered the answering of these questions, from the complicated jurisdictional legalities at play in Antarctica, to inadequate medical care, to the possibly intentional suppression of the investigation by American organisations.
Articles about Rodney litter the internet, here’s a small sample of those we used for this episode:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/579732/mysterious-death-rodney-marks-scientist-who-was-poisoned-antarctica
http://www.igpp.ucla.edu/public/mkivelso/refs/PUBLICATIONS/polar%20death.pdf
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10561811
https://www.mensjournal.com/features/a-mysterious-death-at-the-south-pole-20131125/
And this is the CARA memorial page: https://www.southpolestation.com/trivia/blueflash/comments.html
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Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz.
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If you haven't watched Law & Order SVU now is your MOMENT huns. We rate the characters from a level of Olivia Benson to DUN DUN.
For reference on our stand out episodes please review
Authority: season 9 episode 17
Stranger: season 10 episode 11
Zebras: season 10 episode 22
and all the other ones we mentioned... SARRY, I am tired (Jess XD)
Make sure you check us out on instagram @murderinthelandofoz
Send us an email at [email protected]
AND BECOME A PATREON AT https://www.patreon.com/murderinthelandofoz
If you like what we do please consider supporting us on PATREON
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www.thatsnotcanonproductions.com
Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz.
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In this episode, we discuss the many trials and tribulations of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, as they were accused of murdering their daughter Azaria. We go through the inquests, the trials, the evidence, the fuck-ups, the acquittal, the inquests again, that took place over the thirty plus years from when Azaria went missing to when finally, finally, a judge officially decided that yes, in fact, a dingo did take the baby.
YOU GUYS. This is our last episode (of this series)! We’ve gone around Australia with you, telling the best and worst stories of Aussie murders, and we’ve loved every shriek-filled second of it. We’re going on a short break, but you’ll still get some juicy MITLOO content. Keep your eye out for a few minisodes before we’re back with our full-length episodes soon!
EPISODE NOTES:
Lindy Chamberlain spent four years wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of her daughter, Azaria. It took a dedicated effort from her supports, her defence team, the witnesses to the attack, and a community of scientists dedicated to uncovering the truth for her conviction to be overturned.
One after the other, pieces of evidence were proven to be incorrect. The blood in the car was sound-deadening spray. The haemoglobin tests were inaccurate. Dingoes were more than capable of carrying babies in their mouths. And, most importantly, Azaria Chamberlain had been wearing a white matinee jacket when she died – which was found five years after her death, when the police were examining the area for the body of another person who met their end at Uluru.
Although Lindy was released from prison, it would take until 2012 for her to truly be considered innocent – and for the dingo to truly be considered guilty, I guess.
Our main source this week was Evil Angels, by John Bryson. This book is lousy with praise, and was the inspiration for the Meryl Streep film A Cry in the Dark. You can find it here https://www.bookdepository.com/Evil-Angels-John-Bryson/9781504049474
You can read a shorter overview of the case here https://famous-trials.com/dingo/457-home
The Royal Commission can be found in full here https://justice.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/209057/azaria-hamberlain-appendix-av-web.pdf
You can find a lot of the key photos from the case, including shots of THE matinee jacket, here https://murderpedia.org/female.C/c/chamberlain-lindy-photos-2.htm
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