Chasing Ghosts

While Natalia is best known for catfishing teen boys and young men into relationships, she has also used the photos she has stolen to trick at least two different teenage girls - and their mothers - into believing she is a long-lost member of their family. Today, David finds out their stories and how Natalia came to infiltrate their lives. 

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In 2022, David Fisher receives an email from Crystal Jenner, a New Zealand woman living in Australia. She has approached him as her last hope after six years of trying to find a solution to Natalia stealing her photos.

David hears from her, her mother, and a friend who also had had her pictures stolen, one of the men who fell victim to Crystal's face, and a lawyer analyses why Crystal has struggled to get the law to help her. 

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In December 2010, the announcement on Facebook that Laura Jane West has died in a car crash devastates her online friends, and has ramifications in real life for those linked to her and her sisters. 

Four months later, Herald on Sunday journalist David Fisher investigates a serial catfisher targeting teen boys in Christchurch.

In his reporting, David would link these two stories together as he uncovered the extent to which the catfisher had created the world around her characters - a world that, 13 years later, he is still trying to make sense of. 

Suicide and depression help services:

If it is an emergency and you or someone else is at risk, call 111.

For counselling and support:

• Lifeline: http://www.lifeline.co.nz, call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: www.lifeline.org.nz/services/suicide-crisis-helpline, or call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)

Youth services:

• Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234
• What's Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
• Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
• Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737
• Aoake te Rā (Bereaved by Suicide Service): Call 0800 000 053

For more information and support, talk to your local doctor, hauora, community mental health team, or counselling service.

The Mental Health Foundation has more helplines and service contacts - click here for information

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Season of Chasing Ghosts - The Puppeteer - begins October 1st. 

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On Easter Monday 2021, Paulina Hanna was found dead at the Remuera home she shared with her husband of 30 years, Philip Polkinghorne.

For 16 months, her death was treated as “unexplained”. That’s until it emerged Polkinghorne had been charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty in August 2022.

From the team behind The Front Page, the New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, comes Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial.

Listen to Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, or in The Front Page podcast feed.

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Elizabeth Fraser's testimony at the coronial hearing into Donald's death sparks huge interest in Christchurch - but can she be blamed for his death? And how does the success of Donald's horse tie into his murder?

Host: Ric Stevens
Audio Editor: Alastair Boyes
Producers: Ethan Sills and Elizabeth Binning

Open Justice is funded through the Public Interest Journalism Fund through NZ on Air. 

If you know more about this case, you can get in touch at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The spotlight falls on Elizabeth Fraser as the investigation continues, but who was she and why would she want to kill her own husband? And who was the mistress that came between this marriage?

Host: Ric Stevens
Audio Editor: Alastair Boyes
Producers: Ethan Sills and Elizabeth Binning

Open Justice is funded through the Public Interest Journalism Fund through NZ on Air. 

If you know more about this case, you can get in touch at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Fraser's body is discovered, the murder investigation begins, but as Christchurch police struggle to find his killer, outsiders are brought in - and the suspect list starts to contract. 

Host: Ric Stevens
Audio Editor: Alastair Boyes
Producers: Ethan Sills and Elizabeth Binning

Open Justice is funded through the Public Interest Journalism Fund through NZ on Air. 

If you know more about this case, you can get in touch at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On November 16th, 1933, Donald Fraser was shot dead in his bed at the Racecourse Hotel. But who was the controversial publican, and why would anyone want to kill him? 

Host: Ric Stevens
Audio Editor: Alastair Boyes
Producers: Ethan Sills and Elizabeth Binning

Open Justice is funded through the Public Interest Journalism Fund through NZ on Air. 

If you know more about this case, you can get in touch at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The new series of Chasing Ghosts premieres November 4th. New episodes every Saturday in November

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.