True Crime

True Crime Conversations

True Crime Conversations explores the world’s most notorious crimes by speaking to the people who know the most about them. Hosted by Gemma Bath.

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Murder On The West Gate Bridge: The Story Of Darcey Freeman Aug 09, 2023

Show notes

In January 2009, Darcey Freeman’s father, Arthur Freeman, was driving her to her first day of school when he acted out of revenge. He threw his four-year-old daughter off Melbourne’s 58-metre-high West Gate Bridge. Darcey’s mother, Peta Barnes never got the chance to say goodbye to her only daughter.

Today, we are joined by Megan Norris, the author of Look What You Made Me Do: Fathers Who Kill, to examine Peta’s story and how the system placed blame on everyone but the aggressive and abusive father.

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If you have any details about this case, you can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or on their website.

CREDITS

Guest: Megan Norris

You can find out more details about her book Look What You Made Me Do here.

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Assistant Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Madeline Joannou

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

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Fathers Who Kill: The Revenge Murder Of Kelly East Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

You can listen to our first-hand interview with Michelle Steck here.

In 1993, Michelle Steck lost her daughter Kelly at the hands of her former partner Kevin East. It was an horrific act classified as retaliatory filicide, when domestic violence perpetrators use their children to get back at their partners who dare to leave them.

Today we're joined by Megan Norris, the author of Look What You Made Me Do: Fathers Who Kill, to examine Michelle's story and the systemic failures that left a vulnerable little girl at the mercy of her violent and abusive father.

THE END BITS

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If you have any details about this case, you can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or on their website.

CREDITS

Guest: Megan Norris

You can find out more details about her book Look What You Made Me Do here.

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Assistant Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Madeline Joannou

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Cold Case Still Haunting Australia’s Cape York Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

When Bevin and Brad Simmons went missing off the coast of the Cape York Peninsula in 2003, a massive air, land and sea search was launched to find the pair.

The operation covered a huge area but in the days and weeks that followed, no evidence was found. Not their boat, not a body, not even a piece of fishing gear that may have floated away if they'd capsized.

To this day, the final resting place of Bevin and Brad is unknown. But the story uncovered during the investigation - of an ongoing turf war between two rival fishing families, that seemingly took a fatal turn - would eventually lead to charges being laid.

THE END BITS

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If you have any details about this case, you can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or on their website.

CREDITS

Guest: Justine A Rosenthal

You can watch the Stan original documentary, The Cape here.

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Assistant Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The McCulkin Murders Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

The notorious Whisky Au Go Go nightclub fire in Brisbane in 1973 left behind questions that remain unanswered to this day.

Who was really behind it, who was there that night, why did 15 people have to die and did it go beyond just criminal activity to include corrupt police too?

But the deaths of 15 people that night wouldn’t be the only ones linked to the blaze.

When the McCulkins, 34 year old Barbara, 13 year old Vicky and 11 year old Leanne went missing in 1974, the investigation into their disappearance would find very little.

But a confession from another criminal many years later, would send two men to jail and again cause the convictions around the Whiskey Au Go Go fire to be questioned.

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CREDITS

Guest: Matthew Condon

You can hear his podcast Ghost Gate Rd here.

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Assistant Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Murders In The Nightclub: Inside Queensland's Worst Firebombing Incident Jul 12, 2023

Show notes

The Whisky Au Go Go Fire is just as much a mystery today as it was in the hours after the tragedy that took the lives of 15 people in Fortitude Valley on March 8th 1973.

Police would start a major investigation that would drag in some of Brisbane’s most well known criminals, gangsters, bosses and violent offenders who had spent time together in jails over decades, creating networks and ties that spread down the coast into Sydney.

But the investigation would also expose police and political corruption, with a group of officers, who were on the take from those very criminals, potentially using this fire to help some club owners cash in.

Was it meant to escalate as it did? Were those 15 people meant to be victims or were they just in the wrong place at the wrong time with an arson attack that went far more successfully than the perpetrators planned?

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Matthew Condon

You can hear his podcast Ghost Gate Rd here.

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Assistant Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prison Guard Who Fell In Love With An Inmate Jul 05, 2023

Show notes

In 1992, career criminal Peter Gibb met prison guard Heather Parker while serving a 12-year sentence at the Melbourne Remand Centre. Heather claimed she didn’t notice Peter at first, but she quickly became smitten and their relationship developed from flirtatious to physical.

When their affair was exposed Heather was immediately transferred, with communication between the two forbidden. But they couldn’t be stopped, and with the help of another inmate acting as their middleman, the pair hatched a plan to break Peter out of prison. Their escape sparked one of Australia's largest criminal pursuits and saw Heather and Peter dubbed Australia’s Bonnie and Clyde.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Megan Norris

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Assistant Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Surviving The Butcher Of Bega Jun 28, 2023

Show notes

You can listen to our interview with a second victim or Dr Reeves here.

In the later months of 1995, 28-year-old Jayne Mansfield found herself in need of an obstetrician. She was pregnant with her first baby and, as most first-time mums do, she put her trust in the medical professional her GP had referred her to - a doctor named Graeme Reeves at The Hills Hospital in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills.

Throughout her pregnancy care, Jayne felt there was something not quite right about her doctor, but it wasn’t anything specific, nothing she could really put her finger on. And as far as she knew she was receiving expert care… who was she to question the methods of a doctor with the relevant qualifications and over a decade of experience?

In 1996, Jayne delivered her bouncing baby boy, and the unnerving memories of her obstetrician’s strange behaviours quickly disappeared in the busy haze of new parenthood. It would be years before she saw his face again, this time it was on the TV during the news, the words The Butcher Of Bega emblazoned under his image.

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CREDITS

Guest: Jayne Mansfield

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Guest Booking: Cassie Merritt

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Butcher Of Bega Jun 21, 2023

Show notes

Listen to our interview with a survivor of the Butcher Of Bega here.

In 2011 gynaecologist Graeme Stephen Reeves was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on one of his patients. A case that was just one of many allegations of heinous offences against his female patients, that dated back nearly two decades.

Claims of assaults, molestation and mutilation plagued his career from the 90s, and in 1997 the NSW medical board banning Reeves from practising obstetrics. Despite that, he took a job in 2001 as a specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist for the Greater Southern Area Health Service, working unregistered in Bega and Pambula.

When he was finally struck off the medical register in 2004, a trail of traumatised women were left in his wake, most too embarrassed or mortified to tell their stories. But the ones that did pushed for reform, so that no other women would ever go through what they had.

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CREDITS

Guest: Margaret Cunneen

Host: Claire Murphy

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Producer & Guest Booking: Cassie Merritt

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Abuse, Fraud & Control: Unravelling Hillsong Jun 14, 2023

Show notes

Pentecostalism has been practised in Australia since the 1920s. But it wasn’t until husband and wife team Brian and Bobby Houston launched Hillsong church in 1983 that Pentecostal Christianity really began to surge in popularity.

From its humble beginnings in Sydney’s Baulkham Hills, by 2018 Hillsong had 80 branches in 21 countries. But after a spectacular and meteoric rise to international popularity, over the last several years Hillsong has been dogged by controversy. Allegations of fraud, coercive control, and abuse eroding its stronghold on Pentecostal believers.

But what’s life actually like inside this megachurch? And what next for the followers who've been left disillusioned.

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CREDITS

Guest: Marc Fennell

You can watch his documentary The Kingdom on SBS On Demand.

Host & Producer: Emma Gillespie

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Madeline Joannou

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where Does Kathleen Folbigg Go From Here? Jun 07, 2023

Show notes

Earlier this week, in an historic decision, the NSW attorney general made the extraordinary announcement that Kathleen Folbigg had been granted a pardon after 20 years in prison.

In 2003, Kathleen was sentenced to thirty years for the murders of three of her children and the manslaughter of a fourth. And while she always maintained her innocence, it wasn’t until a second inquiry into Kathleen's convictions, that new scientific developments led to revelations that three of her children could have died of natural causes.

As the dust settles from this week’s announcement, attention has turned to understanding the failures that put her in jail, the scientific advancements that freed her, and quashing her convictions once and for all.

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CREDITS

Guest: DrXanthe Mallett

The latest episode of her podcast, Motive & Method, saw Xanthe and her cohost interview Kathleen's best friend Tracy Chapman. Listen here.

Host & Producer: Emma Gillespie

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Tegan Sadler

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

Join our closed Facebook community to discuss this episode. Just search True Crime Conversations on Facebook or follow this link https://bit.ly/tcc-group

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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