True Crime Conversations

Nearly 30 years have passed since the Port Arthur massacre — one of the darkest and most devastating events in Australia's history.

On April 28, 1996, a lone gunman, Martin Bryant, carried out the country’s deadliest mass shooting, killing 35 people and injuring 23 others in and around the historic Port Arthur site in Tasmania.

Kaitlyn Braun spun an elaborate web of lies, convincing over 50 doulas she was pregnant after a traumatic assault. Her deception confused and shattered trust in the doula community, leaving many unsure if they could continue their work.

Journalist Sarah Treleaven spent over eighteen months investigating Kaitlyn’s unusual story and the motives behind it. She ...

After 20 years in prison, Kathleen Folbig, once labelled Australia’s worst female serial killer, was released in just 56 minutes. New genetic evidence cleared her of killing her four children, flipping one of the country’s most infamous cases on its head. 

Kathleen’s story is one of loss and a justice system that got it badly wrong. But her ...

She was young, poor, and alone in a harsh, unforgiving Icelandic landscape — and then she was sentenced to die. In 1830, Agnes Magnúsdóttir became the last person executed in Iceland, beheaded by axe for the murder of a powerful man.

Nearly 200 years later, her story still lingers. Was she a cold-blooded killer, or a woman trapped by circumsta...

He was three years old, dressed in a Spider-Man suit, playing in his foster grandmother’s yard — and then he was gone. Nearly a decade later, the disappearance of William Tyrrell remains one of Australia’s most haunting mysteries.

For years, this case has been clouded in secrecy. With a high number of registered sex offenders living in the area ...

Kat Torres had it all—famous friends, a jet-setting modelling career and a social media feed that painted the picture of a woman who had truly made it. 

But behind the flawless photos and inspirational captions lurked a far darker reality. Torres wasn’t just living the influencer dream; she was building something far more dangerous. What began...

At just 18 months old, Ben Shenton was handed over to a woman who claimed she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

That woman was Anne Hamilton-Byrne, the leader of a secretive doomsday cult called The Family. For 14 years, Ben lived cut off from the outside world—beaten, starved, drugged, and taught to stay “unseen, unheard, unknown.” The cult twisted Christianity into a tool of fear and control.

Ben was finall...

"Dirty John" Meehan, a serial con artist and violent criminal, was Terra Newell's stepfather. He had married her mother and spent years manipulating and abusing her until she finally left him. Enraged by her departure, he sought revenge.

One day, after finishing her shift at work, Terra was walking to her car when John suddenly grabbed her from behind, wrapping his...

Heston Russell has lived a life most of us couldn’t imagine. A former special forces commander, he’s been shot at, dropped out of helicopters, and led troops through the chaos of Afghanistan and Iraq.

But it wasn’t until he came home that he faced his toughest fight yet — not against an enemy overseas, but against his own country. Heston and his men were accused of war crimes, and suddenly, he was battling t...

Laura McConnell grew up in a fundamentalist sect with no name.

Along with no official title, the group also claims to have no registration around the world, no formal hierarchy, and no official places of worship.

According to Laura, it's this secrecy and denial that has allowed abuse to flourish within the community. She joins us today to expose what she witnessed and experienced inside the group she calls The Truth.

CREDITS

Guest:...

In 1993, a teenage girl vanished on her way to school in a quiet town in Ontario, Canada. That morning, she’d argued with her mother, Mary Ann—nothing serious, just one of those everyday fights about going to school. It would be the last time they ever spoke.

Her name was Christine Harron. She never made it to class.

The case went cold for years—until filmmaker and podcast host David Ridgen started asking question...

Stephanie Scott was just days away from marrying her long-time partner when she went into her empty high school on Easter Sunday to prepare lesson plans for the substitute teacher. That morning, she was tragically murdered.

Vincent Stanford, the school janitor, was arrested after police found evidence linking him to the crime—scratches on his body, bloodstains in his car, and disturbing phot...

Hello, True Crime Conversations listeners! If your sharp investigative minds haven't already guessed, we're excited to share that our very own host, Gemma Bath, has been expecting her second child over the past nine months. However, her little girl made an early arrival, which brings us to an exciting update... it's time to introduce the new host of True Crime Conversations!

CREDITS 

Host: Wel...

Carita Ridgeway from Australia and Lucie Blackman from England arrived in Japan eight years apart, both working as hostesses, earning $150-$400 a night while entertaining wealthy businessmen.

At 21, both planned to make money for world travel but encountered Joji Obara, a sadistic criminal mastermind. While there were hundreds of victims assaulted by Obara, they were the only ones known to have lost their lives.

Clare Campbell&rsqu...

On a Friday afternoon in 1972, in the small town of Faraday, Victoria, 10-year-old Robyn Howarth was playing musical chairs with her classmates when something unexpected caught her eye. She turned to the classroom door and saw two men standing there—one wearing a black mask, the other with dark sunglasses and a hat.

The taller man raised an enormous gun, aiming it at Robyn, her five classmates, and their 20-year-old teacher, ...

In 2010, 18-year-old Jason Downie became obsessed with Chantelle Rowe, his friend’s girlfriend, after she rejected him. On the night of November 8th, in the quiet town of Kapunda, South Australia, Jason, consumed by jealousy, brutally took the lives of Chantelle, her father Andrew, and her mother Rose in their own home.

Chantelle’s older brother, Chris Rowe, was on holiday in the Gold Coast at the time. When he heard ru...

In the remote outback of Victoria in 1993, Ralph Vollmer believed his wife, Joan, was possessed.

Ralph enlisted members of his local religious community to perform an exorcism, hoping to rid Joan of the ten demons they believed controlled her. What followed was a horrific four-day ordeal that ended in Joan’s death. 

Margaret Thanos is the director of Furious Mattress, a play based on Joan Vollmer’s tragic stor...

Hamish McLaren is a serial fraudster. Remember the podcast Who the Hell Is Hamish? He defrauded victims of their money for more than 30 years before he finally saw the inside of a prison cell.

Tracy Hall was his last victim, losing over $317,000 of her life savings to Hamish while in a relationship with him for 18 months.

In August 2021, Gabby Petito went missing while on holiday with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. The pair were six weeks into a four month trip across the United States.

They'd been living out of Gabby's specially decked out van, documenting and filming every adventure so she could share it on her growing social media platforms. But when the 22-year-old suddenly stopped posting, her family began to fear the worst.

Gabby's high-pr...