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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The Kidnapping Of Eight-Year-Old Graeme Thorne Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

On July 7, 1960, eight-year-old Graeme Thorne went missing from the corner store near his family's Bondi home. It was five weeks after his parents, Bazil and Freda, had won a massive $100,000 in an Opera House lottery.

His disappearance was the country's first well-known kidnap for ransom, and would lead to the biggest manhunt in Australia’s history.

In this episode, Gemma Bath is joined by Mark Tedeschi QC to discuss how the case unfolded and why it's imprinted in the Australian psyche.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Mark Tedeschi QC

You can read more about his work on this case in his book Kidnapped.

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Rhiannon Mooney

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

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

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UPDATE: Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Crimes Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

News has come through overnight that Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking.

From 1994 to 2004, Ghislaine Maxwell conspired with her late partner Jeffrey Epstein to recruit, groom, and sexually assault underage girls.

In this episode, Gemma Bath takes you through the early years of Ghislaine Maxwell, the power that the men in her life held, and the trial that would convict her as a criminal.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Nigel Cawthorne

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Rhiannon Mooney

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.

A Doomsday Cult And Two Missing Kids Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

In November 2019, police conducted a welfare check on seven-year-old JJ Vallow. He hadn't been seen since September, and police will come to realise that neither had his teenage sister Tylee.

They've stumbled onto a web of lies that are about to unravel. Affairs, mysterious deaths, a doomsday cult, and at the centre of it all two missing children. And a mother who isn’t trying to find them.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Leah Sottile, author of When The Moon Turns To Blood

And host of the Two Minutes Past Nine and Bundyville podcasts.

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Rhiannon Mooney

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.

QLD’s Most Crooked Cops Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

From the late 1950s through to the late 80s, the streets of Queensland were dominated by a trio of crooked cops known as The Rat Pack. They ran a complex system of bribery and extortion as they pocketed the profits of local sex workers for decades.

In this episode, Gemma Bath is joined by investigative journalist Matt Condon to discuss their operation and the women who had the courage to bring them down.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Matt Condon, the host of DIG - Sirens Are Coming

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Leah Porges and Rhiannon Mooney

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 Family Court Murders Jun 08, 2022

Show notes

Want to hear more about the Family Court Bomber? Find our extra True Crime Conversations episode here.

From 1980 to 1985 Sydney was ravaged by a domestic terror crime spree that became known across Australia as The Family Court Murders.

All of the attacks - including four murders, two shootings, and five bombings - were carried out by a man who was motivated by a drawn-out custody battle with his ex-wife.

In this episode, investigative journalist Debi Marshall discusses how he managed to avoid prosecution for decades, and how he was eventually brought to justice.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Debi Marshall

You can watch Debi's four-part series on the Family Court Murders here.

And you can read her book The Family Court Murders here.

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Rhiannon Mooney

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.

A Day In The Life Of A Crime Scene Cleaner Jun 01, 2022

Show notes

Lee Iordanidis gets a phone call.

“Hi Darlin, how are you? How you feeling?”

She asks the person on the other end of the line.

It’s compassion first, always, and then she gets down to business.

She’s been flown to New Zealand, Germany, England. Not to mention right across Australia. There’s only four individuals with her expertise in this country and she’s in hot demand.

That’s because she’s doing a job most people would run away from. A job that has her brushing up against maggots, rats, flies and human decomposition that seeps its way through carpet, floorboards and down into the cement below.

Nothing ever shocks her. She’s seen it all.

But as Lee will tell you, you never get used to the smell of death - even, as a crime scene cleaner.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guest: Lee Iordanidis

You can watch The Cleaner - the TV show based loosely on Lee's line of work - exclusively on BritBox

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Rhiannon Mooney

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.

Ghislaine Maxwell: From Favourite Child To Child Trafficker May 25, 2022

Show notes

The name Ghislaine Maxwell is synonymous with one of the most notorious child trafficking crimes the world has ever known.

From 1994 to 2004, Ghislaine Maxwell conspired with her late partner Jeffrey Epstein to recruit, groom and sexually assault underage girls.

But how did the favourite child of 10 grow up to be someone the world knows as a monster?

Join Gemma Bath as she takes you through the early years for Ghislaine Maxwell, the power that the men in her life held and the trial that would convict her as a criminal.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guests: Nigel Cawthorne

Host: Gemma Bath

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.

The Assassination Of Robert Maxwell May 18, 2022

Show notes

It’s 4:45am on the 5th of November 1991 and English media mogul Robert Maxwell is aboard his $35 million dollar yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, cruising through water off the Canary Islands in Spain. He’s on the phone with a crew member.

"The temperature is now too cold. Turn the air-conditioning off," he says gruffly down the line from his luxurious master suite.

He’d only called 20 minutes earlier complaining it was too hot…and “could they turn the air-conditioning up??”

They’re the last conversations Maxwell - one of the richest men in the world at the time - is known to have had.

At 5:25pm later that day, the 68-year-old’s naked body is found floating in the Atlantic. And his family, employees, and the police are left to discover the hundreds of millions he’s been stealing from his own staff.

To this day, his death remains mysterious.

Did he kill himself, aware that his fraudulent finances would soon be revealed?

Was it just an awful accident? A slip off the side under the cover of darkness.

Or was it murder? A cold-blooded assassination to cover up a top-secret double life as a superspy for one of the largest espionage agencies in the Western world.

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guests: Martin Dillon

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producers: Rhiannon Mooney

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 Mosman Collar Bomb May 11, 2022

Show notes

It’s about 2pm on a crisp Wednesday afternoon in August 2011, and 18-year-old Madeleine Pulver is in her family’s three-story waterfront mansion in the glitzy Sydney suburb of Mosman. She’s studying for her HSC trials, the practice run before the final exams for Year 12s in the state of NSW.

The house is quiet today. Her two younger brothers are at school and her older brother is away. Her dad Bill, head of a multi-million-dollar global software company, is in his city office and her mum Belinda is out consulting with her landscape gardening company. Madeleine’s home alone.

Suddenly, the silence is broken by a man wearing a rainbow ski mask carrying a baseball bat, who bursts into the room.

“Sit down and no one needs to get hurt,” he tells her.

The masked man pulls out a black box that’s being held up by what looks like a bike chain, which he fastens around her throat.

After locking it, he places a lanyard holding a USB stick and two pages of demands around her neck. Then he walks away. But not before he tells a terrified Madeleine to count to 200.

“I’ll be back…” he warns. “If you move…. I can see you…. I’ll be right here.”

THE END BITS

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CREDITS

Guests: Gil Taylor &Mark Morri

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producers: Rhiannon Mooney

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 Widow Of Walcha May 04, 2022

Show notes

It’s just after 2am on an icy, winter morning in 2017. Frost glistens on the paddocks of Pandora, a sprawling property in country NSW owned by local grazier Mathew Dunbar.

The old homestead on the outskirts of the town of Walcha, five hours drive north of Sydney, sits on 1200 acres on Thunderbolts Way.

On this Wednesday morning, Mathew’s girlfriend Natasha Darcy is leaning over him in the bedroom, panicked, as a triple-zero operator guides her through chest compressions.

Distressed, Natasha tells the operator: “He’s warm.”

“Is he awake?” They ask.

“No.”

“Is he breathing?”

“No.”

“And you found him like that?”

“Yes.”

Blue and red lights flash through the windows as paramedics arrive, rush into the bedroom, and take over CPR.

By 2:44am, 42-year-old Mathew is declared dead. And it doesn’t take long for police to declare the homestead a crime scene.

CREDITS

Guest: Journalist Emma Partridge, author of The Widow Of Walcha

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producers: Rhiannon Mooney

CONTACT US

Tell us what you think of the show via email 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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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