Part One

West Memphis, Arkansas, sits along the eastern edge of the state, separated from Memphis and Tennessee by the Mississippi River. In 1993, it was a small, working-class city with a population of approximately twenty-six thousand people. The area was economically depressed, with limited employment opportunities and high levels of poverty. Public services, including law enforcement, were under-resourced, and many families lived pay-cheque to pay-cheque.

The city was socially conservative. Church attendance was high, and religious values shaped daily life. Alternative belief systems, nonconformity, and subcultures associated with heavy metal music or the occult were often viewed with suspicion. This type of social environment would later become significant as an investigation into the murders of three little boys unfolded.

Sources:

Documentaries: Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) West of Memphis (2012) Books: The Devils Knot – Mara Leveritt (2002)

How Does a Body Decompose in Water? - Biology Insights

What Sparked the Satanic Panic of the 1980s?

West Memphis Three | Background & Trial

West Memphis 3

Britannica Broader DNA and genetic testing to be requested in West Memphis Three case - Talk Business & Politics

M-Vac to be Used on Evidence from West Memphis Three Murders

West Memphis Three: What You Should Know About Their Wrongful Conviction - Innocence Project

The West Memphis Three Trials (1994)

West Memphis Three Trials: The Transcripts

The Jesse Misskelley Trial (January 26 - February 4, 1994): Verdict

The Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin Trial (February 28 - March 18, 1994): Verdict

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Listen here for a 2026 look ahead!

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On the outskirts of Ararat, two imposing sandstone buildings still stand as relics of Australia’s mental health past.

Aradale Lunatic Asylum, formerly known locally as mad mans hill — was once the largest psychiatric hospital in Victoria.

Just down the road, J Ward confined the state’s most violent and “criminally insane.”

Behind their thick stone walls, treatments blurred with punishment, and the line between care and cruelty disappeared.

Sources:

Book your visit — Aradale, Lunatic Asylum

Books: The J Ward Story – Graeme Burgin

Aradale, The Making of a Haunted Asylum – David Waldron, Sharn Waldron and Nathaniel Buchanan

Yarra Bend (Asylum 1848-1905; Hospital for the Insane 1905-1925)

vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/search/nattrust_result_detail/67299

Public Record Office Victoria Collection | PROV VPRS 7446/P0001, Ararat Asylum

Public Record Office Victoria Collection | PROV VA 2841

Lunacy Act, 1903, No. 1873 - Legislation - Australian Psychiatric Care

Aradale Lunatic Asylum History

Dr Eric Cunningham Dax | Mont Park to Springthorpe report.pdf

LLIFS - The story of Mr Bill Wallace - J Ward's oldest inmate | llifs.com.au

Aradale: A Historical Overview 1867-1994 | Making History

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There are places in Australia where silence feels heavier. Where the air hums and even the birds seem to whisper. One of those places is Larrimah — a speck of a town on the Stuart Highway, 500 kilometres south of Darwin. Population in 2017: less than 15. A pink pub, a tea-house, a scattering of homes, and a lot of red dirt.

Sources:

2021 Larrimah, Census All persons QuickStats | Australian Bureau of Statistics

NT Police vow to continue investigations into suspected murder of Paddy Moriarty - ABC News

New Page 5 'A pink pub, a blind croc and an empty bar stool': What happened to Paddy Moriarty? | NT Independent

Reward offered - Missing person - Paddy Moriarty | NT Police, Fire & Emergency Services

D00742018-Paddy-Moriarty.pdf

Paddy Moriarty: Major development announced in Larrimah missing person case made famous on Netflix show | The Nightly

NT coroner believes Paddy Moriarty was killed because of a neighbourly dispute in Larrimah - ABC News

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Perth, 1986. A quiet street, a house like any other. Curtains drawn, a car in the driveway, a life that seemed unremarkable. But behind closed doors, a darkness was growing—two lives entwined, feeding a secret that would soon terrify an entire city.

Sources:

Catherine, David Birnie: The macabre, sadistic Moorhouse murders | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site for latest headlines

David Birnie’s daughter still haunted by ‘caring’ father’s evil deeds | The West Australian

Serial killer found hanged in cell

APA_DSM-5-Paraphilic-Disorders.pdf

Books:

Psycho Girl : The True Story of Catherine Birnie by Jena Dickens | Goodreads

Documentaries:

Crime Investigation Australia:Season 1, Episode 6.

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They were supposed to come home with sunburned cheeks and sandy feet. The Beatles were topping the Australian music charts with their hit, "We can work it out". It was the era of the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and the Bee Gee’s . The Beatles were a cultural phenomenon, the Vietnam war was in full swing, Prime Minister Robert Menzies retired and was succeeded by the now missing Harold Holt. In January 1966, Australia was a country that thought it was safe, until its innocence was stolen in broad daylight. Three children were playing with a tall man on a beach, starting one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries.

Sources:

Beaumont Children - Crime Stoppers South Australia

Beaumont children: Marking the 50th anniversary of Adelaide's enduring unsolved mystery - ABC News https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/the-screen-guide/t/the-fishermen-2004/18461/ The Satin Man | Stuart Mullins

Books: The Satin Man by Alan Whiticker and Stuart Mullins Documentaries: The Fishermen Additional: National Library of Australia Digital Archives

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He smiled at neighbors and stood in line at the shops. Maybe he once stood in your midst. He spent time in the Gosford boys home, and later prison, where he adopted the nickname Lenny the Loon. Streets would quieten in his wake, leaving an echo of the psychopath who once walked along them.

Sources:

Leonard John Fraser | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers Natasha Ryan's story — Her bizarre disappearance - TheNetline

Things A Killer Would Know: The True Story Of Leonard Fraser. Is He Australia’s Worst Serial Killer? By Paula Doneman

Prison-based correctional rehabilitation: An overview of intensive interventions for moderate to high-risk offenders | Australian Institute of Criminology

Natasha Ryan, former teen runaway whose 1998 disappearance sparked years-long search, found dead in Rockhampton - ABC News

cif-fraser-lj-20120320.pdf Leonard John Fraser, Australia Serial Killer and Rapist - The Crime library Couriermail.com.au | Subscribe to The Courier Mail for exclusive stories

Pendulum: Man questioned over Margaret Kirstenfeldt's death linked to serial killer | 7NEWS

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2003-05-09/fraser-convicted-of-qld-serial-murders/1851222?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

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Some Crimes leave a trace. Fingerprints, footprints, a whisper of who was there. He moved silently in the shadows, watching, waiting. They Called him Mr Cruel, and decades later, we still don’t know who he is.

Mr Cruel 1 – Overview of Case – Melbourne Marvels

Mr. Cruel — UnresolvedPM with Samantha Donovan - ABC listenHerald Sun

Fairfax Syndication - Detective Inspector David Sprague heads police taskforce Operation Spectrum to investigate the disappearance of Karmein Chan, 1991

The Age Newspaper Archives – 1988 to 1997

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They came chasing freedom, Backpacks, smiles, youth and time on their side. Deep in the Australian bush, someone was hunting. 7 bodies, 1 monster, and for years he walked among us.

Strands of hair in murdered Welsh backpacker's hand finally solve mystery | Wales Online

https://www.smh.com.au/national/on-the-trail-of-a--serial-killer-20140414-36m7u.html

Serial killer who murdered Hexham backpacker Caroline Clarke on his 'death bed' | Chronicle Live

Ruger® 10/22® Autoloading Rifle

On the trail of a ... serial killer

Australian serial killer Ivan Milat dies in Long Bay prison, aged 74 - ABC News

https://crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/predators/milat/15.html

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It’s just after 8pm in the Australian outback — pitch black, dead quiet. A van pulls over on the Stuart Highway… and one of its passengers is never seen again.

Sources:

STORY - Colleen Gwynne

Timeline: Peter Falconio murder | UK news | The Guardian

https://supremecourt.nt.gov.au/

Peter Falconio’s murderer Bradley John Murdoch moved into palliative care | 7NEWS

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