April 28, 2026 • 9 mins
A true crime podcast has been credited with helping crack a decades-old cold case, leading to four men being charged over the killing of a teenage girl.
This case has prompted discussion and debate over the role of true crime podcasts - and why so many people seem to be fascinated with them.
NZ Herald crime and justice reporter Anna Leask joined the Afternoons team to discuss further.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed Be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Analysk has been a senior crime and justice reporter for
The New Zealand Hero for more than a decade. She's
also behind the very popular Moment in Crime podcast, where
she takes listeners inside some of our most fame, infamous incidents,
notorious offenders, and behind the scenes of Hope Profile I
should say, trials and events to show you what's really
happening in our own backyard. And Analysk is on the
(00:38):
phone right now. Anna afternoon to you.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hi. How's it going?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Very good? If you don't mind, we'll start off in
a philosophical manner. Why do you think we're so fascinated
with true crime?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Look, I think that a very few of us will
go to prison or have anything to do with crime
and criminal offending in New Zealand, and I think it's
just it's what you don't have in your normal life
really piques your interest. I think with such a small
country tool we have had some really unusual crimes over
the years, and I think that it's so far from
(01:11):
normal life that people are just obsessed with it and
just can't get enough. They want to know more, and
they want to know all the details. They want to
revisit the details over the years, particularly some of our
more high profile cases.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
How is New Zealand crime different from crimes from around
the world. Is there, for the want of a better word,
is there a flavor to New Zealand's these horrible New
Zealand crimes?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Look, I think we get a good a good mix
of you know what the rest of the world has. Obviously,
we don't have sort of some of the bigger scale
of you know, victim numbers and that sort of thing,
although we have had a terror attacks and mass murders here.
I just think that it's, as I said, we're a
small population or a friendly little country, and so when
we do have some of those more violent, you know,
(01:57):
awful crimes, that really sort of does shock us a
lot more. I think New Zealand has a horrific rate
of domestic violence, crimes against women and child abuse crimes.
Will be the sort of the more top end ones
that we have here, which I think just you know,
always make people really upset.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
So do you do you follow Global True Crime podcast?
Is Are You?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Are You?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
A fan of the genre as well as being a successful,
you know, maker of the genre. For you haven't destroyed
that very well, but.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
You know, yeah, I've loved listening to crime stories reading
crime stories since I was a kid. You know. I
used to remember sitting around with my dad. There was
a shows called Autopsy and you know the flights investigation,
you know, flight crash investigation things that we used to
watch all that sort of thing growing up with dad.
(02:50):
So I've definitely had an interest in it. I think
one of the first chapter books I was ever caught
readings that I shouldn't have been was the Outhur Allen
Thomas book Back in the day. I'm literally under my
covers with the torch looking at all of the quite
awful I'm seeing photos in that book. So I definitely
had an interest in it, and I try to listen
to keep up to that. With all of the podcasts
(03:12):
and things out there, I do love, you know, the
ones that the ones that take one crime and break
it up into a whole bunch of episodes. That was
really really interesting to me. So and of course documentaries
I do really enjoy and find that really fascinating content.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, what do you reckon the episode is that you've
you've produced and created and that you've got the most
feedback on.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh, I mean everyone in New Zealand has something to
say about you know, Bain Lundy, Scott Watson. So there
are always cases that I've covered all of those in
a moment in crime, there are all ones that there's
been a lot of feedback on. But I think some
more recent ones. I covered the case of Bromin Warwick,
who is a woman who murdered someone in the nineties
(03:58):
and has sort of you know what led to that
and what led to her life of crime sort of
before and after that murder, and it was really interesting
and you know, and to being her over the course
of a year and you know, finding out what happened
in her life to put her where she is now.
So that was a really really fascinating one for me.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Have we had a New Zealand serial killer? We have?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I think there's been a couple. There was one actually
I wrote about it at the Weekend. A woman called
Lisa Turner who killed three babies, sort of made it
out to look like cot death, but when the third
little boy was killed, the police sort of thought something's
not right here and looked further into her. She's gonna
be covering her in an upcoming episode of the podcast,
(04:45):
so that'll be really interesting.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
But yeah, there have been many, many, many many Dean.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
What was the many Dean stories? And many Dean out of.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Money Dean was back in the day she was collecting
I guess well, she was a baby farmers what they
described her as. She was taking on kids, you know,
mum might need a break, or kids that don't have
anywhere to be, and she was taking those on in
a care role and some of them disappeared and whenever
seen again. So yeah, Mini Dean was probably the first
(05:18):
serial killer that we had in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
What about the unsolved cases that you've done in it,
because you know, is there a double sword there that
one you want to provide the information that the public
don't want to know about, but in the back of
your mind, perhaps you're hoping that the sparks something out
there that provides police worth more witnesses, a bit more
information to maybe solvent I.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Always hope whenever I'm writing about a case it's unsolved,
I always hope that this is the story or this
is the podcast episode that the person with the ounces
here and you know we'll be able to crack the case.
I always hope in the case is I am Belie
Crookshank who went missing down a lake Tepo at Kingston,
which was a little two year old girl just vanished
(06:01):
into sin are you know? The Kirsty Bentley murder. No
has ever been arrested to that, and the Ashburton teenager.
So there's every time I write about or speak about
those cases, I think, I hopefully this is the day
that someone who has information will hear this and decide
to come forward. So it's always you know, as you said,
while people sometimes don't want to hear the glory details
(06:23):
of a crime, I think it is important to keep
a lot of them at the forefront of their minds
when they're not solved or when there's lessons to be learned.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
How different is it covering a more recent case as
opposed to an older case. We're just talking before about
you know, the amount of CCTV footage. There just is
a lot more media from a new case. Right when
I say media, I don't mean writing, I mean, you know,
visual is audio. There's a whole lot more to look
at and investigate, if I know.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yeah, and podcasting tubes. There's definitely more audio options out there,
so you can build an episode around, you know, in
court sentencing, comments from judges and interviews. We record most
of our interviews now either on video or audio, so
people are getting to hear from the witnesses and the
victims firsthand, where some of the older cases I sort
(07:13):
of have to turn to voice actors and you know,
reading judges long long sentencing notes myself to get those
stories told. So it is very different. I mean there's
a lot of information out there about some of our
historic crimes, but not necessarily in a way that you
can be shared other than reading it. So yeah, it's
really interesting covering the more recent cases because you can,
(07:35):
as I said, you know, access those interviews and that
in court and police press conferences and that sort of thing.
It's all sort of there for you to use.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Here's a text has just come through that I'd like
to share with you. Hi to Anna, I love a
moment in crime. It's so informative and entertaining while being
mature and respectful. Keep it up, Anna thumbs up.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Oh, thank you great feedback, and I thank you very much.
For having a chat with us. Ahally one final question,
is there any case that you've covered that gave you
nightmares that stuck with you a lot more than the others?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
But I always think of when people ask me, this
is a christ which case we caught it the House
of Horrors. It was a case of Jason Somerville who
his wife. He went to police and said, my wife's
gone missing, and a couple of days later he admitted
that he had killed her and put her in under
the house, a very awful, awful situation for that poor woman.
(08:29):
And then as he was being interviewed by police, he said, oh,
you know, there's another one under there. And his neighbor,
Tesha Lowry, who had been missing for over a year,
he'd also killed her and buried her in under the house.
So that was just shocking to cover to write about.
You know. We accessed his police interviews which were absolutely fascinating,
(08:51):
and then there was a Nigel Latter special on him
on Beyond the Dark Lands, which was in a phenomenal
television show about the Keller's background and how he became
who he was, and just everything about that case is
just the stuff of nightmares. It's just awful and sad,
and so I often think of that one, think about
some of the worst things I've done.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
There was a gruesome case that one, and I thank
you very much for having a chat with us. Great
to catch up and we'll check again soon hopefully.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Thanks guys anytime.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
That is analyst, senior crime and justice reporter for The
New Zealand Herald and also behind a Moment in Crime podcast,
which you can find where evy I listen to your
podcast for more from News
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Talk st B, listen live on air or online, and
keep our shows with you wherever you go with our
podcasts on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed Be
follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Analysk has been a senior crime and justice reporter for
The New Zealand Hero for more than a decade. She's
also behind the very popular Moment in Crime podcast, where
she takes listeners inside some of our most fame, infamous incidents,
notorious offenders, and behind the scenes of Hope Profile I
should say, trials and events to show you what's really
happening in our own backyard. And Analysk is on the
(00:38):
phone right now. Anna afternoon to you.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hi. How's it going?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Very good? If you don't mind, we'll start off in
a philosophical manner. Why do you think we're so fascinated
with true crime?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Look, I think that a very few of us will
go to prison or have anything to do with crime
and criminal offending in New Zealand, and I think it's
just it's what you don't have in your normal life
really piques your interest. I think with such a small
country tool we have had some really unusual crimes over
the years, and I think that it's so far from
(01:11):
normal life that people are just obsessed with it and
just can't get enough. They want to know more, and
they want to know all the details. They want to
revisit the details over the years, particularly some of our
more high profile cases.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
How is New Zealand crime different from crimes from around
the world. Is there, for the want of a better word,
is there a flavor to New Zealand's these horrible New
Zealand crimes?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Look, I think we get a good a good mix
of you know what the rest of the world has. Obviously,
we don't have sort of some of the bigger scale
of you know, victim numbers and that sort of thing,
although we have had a terror attacks and mass murders here.
I just think that it's, as I said, we're a
small population or a friendly little country, and so when
we do have some of those more violent, you know,
(01:57):
awful crimes, that really sort of does shock us a
lot more. I think New Zealand has a horrific rate
of domestic violence, crimes against women and child abuse crimes.
Will be the sort of the more top end ones
that we have here, which I think just you know,
always make people really upset.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
So do you do you follow Global True Crime podcast?
Is Are You?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Are You?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
A fan of the genre as well as being a successful,
you know, maker of the genre. For you haven't destroyed
that very well, but.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
You know, yeah, I've loved listening to crime stories reading
crime stories since I was a kid. You know. I
used to remember sitting around with my dad. There was
a shows called Autopsy and you know the flights investigation,
you know, flight crash investigation things that we used to
watch all that sort of thing growing up with dad.
(02:50):
So I've definitely had an interest in it. I think
one of the first chapter books I was ever caught
readings that I shouldn't have been was the Outhur Allen
Thomas book Back in the day. I'm literally under my
covers with the torch looking at all of the quite
awful I'm seeing photos in that book. So I definitely
had an interest in it, and I try to listen
to keep up to that. With all of the podcasts
(03:12):
and things out there, I do love, you know, the
ones that the ones that take one crime and break
it up into a whole bunch of episodes. That was
really really interesting to me. So and of course documentaries
I do really enjoy and find that really fascinating content.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, what do you reckon the episode is that you've
you've produced and created and that you've got the most
feedback on.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh, I mean everyone in New Zealand has something to
say about you know, Bain Lundy, Scott Watson. So there
are always cases that I've covered all of those in
a moment in crime, there are all ones that there's
been a lot of feedback on. But I think some
more recent ones. I covered the case of Bromin Warwick,
who is a woman who murdered someone in the nineties
(03:58):
and has sort of you know what led to that
and what led to her life of crime sort of
before and after that murder, and it was really interesting
and you know, and to being her over the course
of a year and you know, finding out what happened
in her life to put her where she is now.
So that was a really really fascinating one for me.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Have we had a New Zealand serial killer? We have?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I think there's been a couple. There was one actually
I wrote about it at the Weekend. A woman called
Lisa Turner who killed three babies, sort of made it
out to look like cot death, but when the third
little boy was killed, the police sort of thought something's
not right here and looked further into her. She's gonna
be covering her in an upcoming episode of the podcast,
(04:45):
so that'll be really interesting.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
But yeah, there have been many, many, many many Dean.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
What was the many Dean stories? And many Dean out of.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Money Dean was back in the day she was collecting
I guess well, she was a baby farmers what they
described her as. She was taking on kids, you know,
mum might need a break, or kids that don't have
anywhere to be, and she was taking those on in
a care role and some of them disappeared and whenever
seen again. So yeah, Mini Dean was probably the first
(05:18):
serial killer that we had in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
What about the unsolved cases that you've done in it,
because you know, is there a double sword there that
one you want to provide the information that the public
don't want to know about, but in the back of
your mind, perhaps you're hoping that the sparks something out
there that provides police worth more witnesses, a bit more
information to maybe solvent I.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Always hope whenever I'm writing about a case it's unsolved,
I always hope that this is the story or this
is the podcast episode that the person with the ounces
here and you know we'll be able to crack the case.
I always hope in the case is I am Belie
Crookshank who went missing down a lake Tepo at Kingston,
which was a little two year old girl just vanished
(06:01):
into sin are you know? The Kirsty Bentley murder. No
has ever been arrested to that, and the Ashburton teenager.
So there's every time I write about or speak about
those cases, I think, I hopefully this is the day
that someone who has information will hear this and decide
to come forward. So it's always you know, as you said,
while people sometimes don't want to hear the glory details
(06:23):
of a crime, I think it is important to keep
a lot of them at the forefront of their minds
when they're not solved or when there's lessons to be learned.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
How different is it covering a more recent case as
opposed to an older case. We're just talking before about
you know, the amount of CCTV footage. There just is
a lot more media from a new case. Right when
I say media, I don't mean writing, I mean, you know,
visual is audio. There's a whole lot more to look
at and investigate, if I know.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yeah, and podcasting tubes. There's definitely more audio options out there,
so you can build an episode around, you know, in
court sentencing, comments from judges and interviews. We record most
of our interviews now either on video or audio, so
people are getting to hear from the witnesses and the
victims firsthand, where some of the older cases I sort
(07:13):
of have to turn to voice actors and you know,
reading judges long long sentencing notes myself to get those
stories told. So it is very different. I mean there's
a lot of information out there about some of our
historic crimes, but not necessarily in a way that you
can be shared other than reading it. So yeah, it's
really interesting covering the more recent cases because you can,
(07:35):
as I said, you know, access those interviews and that
in court and police press conferences and that sort of thing.
It's all sort of there for you to use.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Here's a text has just come through that I'd like
to share with you. Hi to Anna, I love a
moment in crime. It's so informative and entertaining while being
mature and respectful. Keep it up, Anna thumbs up.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Oh, thank you great feedback, and I thank you very much.
For having a chat with us. Ahally one final question,
is there any case that you've covered that gave you
nightmares that stuck with you a lot more than the others?
Speaker 3 (08:08):
But I always think of when people ask me, this
is a christ which case we caught it the House
of Horrors. It was a case of Jason Somerville who
his wife. He went to police and said, my wife's
gone missing, and a couple of days later he admitted
that he had killed her and put her in under
the house, a very awful, awful situation for that poor woman.
(08:29):
And then as he was being interviewed by police, he said, oh,
you know, there's another one under there. And his neighbor,
Tesha Lowry, who had been missing for over a year,
he'd also killed her and buried her in under the house.
So that was just shocking to cover to write about.
You know. We accessed his police interviews which were absolutely fascinating,
(08:51):
and then there was a Nigel Latter special on him
on Beyond the Dark Lands, which was in a phenomenal
television show about the Keller's background and how he became
who he was, and just everything about that case is
just the stuff of nightmares. It's just awful and sad,
and so I often think of that one, think about
some of the worst things I've done.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
There was a gruesome case that one, and I thank
you very much for having a chat with us. Great
to catch up and we'll check again soon hopefully.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Thanks guys anytime.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
That is analyst, senior crime and justice reporter for The
New Zealand Herald and also behind a Moment in Crime podcast,
which you can find where evy I listen to your
podcast for more from News
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Talk st B, listen live on air or online, and
keep our shows with you wherever you go with our
podcasts on iHeartRadio
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