Investigates

On this week’s episode, our guest is a young woman who has been through hell and back and is finally ready to tell her harrowing story.

On April 11, 2017, the world was introduced to 22-year-old Cassie Sainsbury, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed young lady from Adelaide in South Australia. Cassie was a personal trainer, she was engaged to marry a man named Scott Broadbridge and she had a close, loving family.

But Cassie’s face was splashed all over the news for a sinister reason. She’d just been arrested at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Colombia after custom officers found 5.8kg of cocaine wrapped inside her luggage. The drugs had been stashed inside the packaging of headphones.

A photo of Cassie stood beside the 18 tightly-wrapped packages is now an iconic picture. From the outside, she didn’t look like a criminal at all.

Her story shocked millions of people. How could this seemingly innocent, wide-eyed girl from the Adelaide suburbs be a drug mule?

Cassie pleaded with authorities, telling them she’d been set up. She had no idea there was cocaine inside her bag.

“I didn’t do it mum, you have got to get me out,” a hysterical Cassie said during a chilling phone call home after her arrest.

But Cassie’s proclamations of innocence fell on deaf ears. She was charged with drug trafficking and held in a Colombian prison, awaiting trial. Under Colombian law, a drug trafficker faces life in prison.

It was just the start of a three-year nightmare for the young personal trainer. She tells her story on today’s episode.

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On Easter 2015, in Leeton, NSW, around five hours from Sydney, a chill hung in the air of the usually bustling country town.

Leeton was a quiet, unassuming place. Nothing bad ever seemed to happen there. People kept their doors unlocked and every one know each other at the local grocery store. The worst crime would be a scuffle outside of the pub on Friday night. But five years ago, evil came to Leeton. 

On Easter Sunday, 2015, 26-year-old schoolteacher Stephanie Scott said goodbye to her fiancé Aaron Leeson-Wooley, and headed into Leeton High School for a few hours.

Stephanie was a drama and English teacher at the local high school. And in a few days time, she was getting married to the love of her life. Friends and family would tell you just how excited Steph was to become Mrs Leeson-Wooley. She’d been planning her wedding for months – and it was nearly here.

That Easter, Stephanie had decided to dedicate a few hours to preparing work for her students while she was away on her honeymoon. See, Steph had a heart of gold. She was adored by anyone and everyone who met her. Spending a Sunday devoted to making sure her pupils wouldn’t miss a beat while she was away was typical Steph. 

But that day at Leeton High, Steph would come face-to-face with a monster. The excited bride-to-be was brutally murdered just days before she was due to say I do. The story of her death is utterly heartbreaking and touched so many people who had never even met her, including Leeton journalist Monique Patterson.

Monique – who once edited the local paper The Irrigator – wrote a book on Stephanie’s murder and the effect it had on the town of Leeton. She joins us on today’s episode.

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Melbourne woman Lily Parmenter was only 19 when her mum Kathleen O’Shea – known to her family and friends as Katie - disappeared from the Queensland town of Atherton in December 2005. Katie was a quirky, happy and beloved single mum of five from Melbourne. On December 17, Katie and her 11-year-old daughter Brigid O’Shea flew to Cairns to visit her son, Alan and his partner Bryer. Alan and Bryer lived two hours from Cairns in the town of Ravenshoe, and they were expecting their first child. Lily says, she was so incredibly excited to meet her very first grandchild. But Katie never made it to the birth of her granddaughter. 

After a few weeks of staying at Alan and Bryer’s property, on December 29, Katie decided to go for a walk into town. Her son Alan then picked her up and dropped her at a pub in Atherton. She told him she was going to the pub to play pool. This was the last time anyone saw Katie alive. The New Year came and went, and on January 9, 2006, Bryer gave birth to a baby girl. Katie wasn’t there. It’s been 15 long years and Katie still hasn’t been seen by a single soul. In this episode, we speak to Lily about where she thinks her mother is – and why it’s taken so long to find any answers about her missing mother...

Your host is April Glover

The Executive Producer is Elissa Ratliff

Subscribe to Investigates here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/investigates/id1344649849

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you think of Luna Park you probably think of fun, rides and fairy floss. But on the 9th of June 1979, as many Sydney-siders and tourists flocked to the amusement park - they had no idea some of them would be leaving without their lives. Because in 1979, Sydney’s Ghost train ride caught on fire and it killed six children and one adult. On this episode of Investigates Stephen sits down with journalist John Burfitt to find out how the fire really started…

If you or someone you know needs support, help is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Your host is Stephen Downie

The Executive Producer is Elissa Ratliff

Subscribe to Investigates here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/investigates/id1344649849

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why do some people see ghosts? And are they actually real?

Most of us love a good ghost story. Popular culture is rife with spooky tales of apparitions, poltergeists and unexplained noises in the night. While some ghosts are said to be benign, others can be malicious or even downright evil – if you believe that kind of stuff.

And there are plenty who do.

Today, we’re talking to Karina Machado, host of the Ghost Files podcast and author of the books Spirit Sisters and Love Never Dies. On her podcast Karina hears stories from everyday Australians about their encounters. Everyone one of them is absolutely convinced they saw or heard something paranormal.

But just because they can’t explain what it is, does it necessarily mean it’s a ghost? Let’s unravel the mystery…

If you or someone you know needs support, help is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Your host is Stephen Downie

The Executive Producer is Elissa Ratliff

Subscribe to Investigates here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/investigates/id1344649849

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the tiny mid-north coastal town of Kendall, in NSW, Australia, a little boy in a Spiderman suit was running around his grandmother’s backyard on Benaroon Drive His name, of course, was William Tyrrell.

It was September 12, 2014 – and at around 10.30am – three-year-old William was playing hide-and-seek with his older sister.

William was a cheeky, playful little boy and one of his favourite games was pretending to be a tiger.

As his mum and grandma went inside for a cup of tea, William let out one final roar, ran around the side of the house, then nothing.

“It had become quiet,” his foster mum would later say. “Too quiet.”

When William’s mother came outside only moments later, she expected to see her two young children playfully running about the backyard, but there was no sign of William.

She called out his name again and again. But there was only silence. By all accounts, he’d simply vanished off the face of the earth.

The police were called, and by 11.30am, there was an official search party combing the nearby woods for the little boy in the Spiderman outfit.

This was six long years ago – and William, who would now be eight years old, still hasn’t been found. No trace of him – not a single hair follicle or piece of clothing - has ever been found.

Award-winning journalist and author Caroline Overington, like many of us, is fascinated and heartbroken by the story of William Tyrrell.

In her book, Missing William Tyrrell, Caroline delves into the mystery and explains why Australia won’t give up until we have answers.

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In a world where we are deeply fascinated with true crime, digging into the lives of perpetrators and victims and vicariously living through these horrific stories, there’s a side to it we always tend to forget.

And that is the police officers who see it all – these heroes are in the thick of every terrible, haunting case – from homicides, 10-car pile-ups to terrorist attacks.

But the emotional toll it can take on our cops is very, very rarely spoken about.

Police officers are regarded as strong and invincible protectors who can’t get hurt. But they can and they do.

Seeing death, destruction, tragedy and turmoil on a daily basis is not normal.

Sadly, not many members of the police force feel comfortable or even safe speaking about their emotions or mental health. The mantra is to bottle it up, forget about it and tomorrow is a new day.

Our guest on this episode is former Victoria police officer Cameron Hardiman – and he knows very well just how devastating ignoring your mental health on the force can be.

If you or someone you know needs support, help is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Your host is April Glover

Your audio editor is Melanie De Gioia

The Executive Producer is Elissa Ratliff

Subscribe to Investigates here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/investigates/id1344649849

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In December 1932, as the Depression tightened its grip, the body of a woman was found in Queens Park, Sydney. It was a popular park. There were houses in plain view. Yet this woman had been violently murdered without anyone noticing. Other equally brutal and shocking murders of women in public places were to follow. Australia's first serial killer was at large. Author Tanya Bretherton joins April to discuss this case.

You can find Tanya's book The Killing Streets at any good bookstore now.

If you or someone you know needs support, help is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Your host is April Glover

Your audio editor is Melanie De Gioia

The Executive Producer is Elissa Ratliff

Subscribe to Investigates here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/investigates/id1344649849

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you harbour a borderline morbid fascination with cults, you’re certainly not alone. Countless movies, novels, plays, podcasts and articles explore the psychology behind why people join cults, and why people start them. One of Australia’s most infamous cults was simply known as The Family. The Family was headed by a Victorian woman named Anne Hamilton Byrne, who at her height through the 1960s until the late 1980s, ran the sadistic apocalyptic sect with hundreds of members.

Anne was as beautiful and charismatic as she was delusional and dangerous.

Anne – who was born Evelyn Grace Victoria Edwards – was a yoga teacher turned cult leader who convinced her followers she was Jesus Christ reincarnated.

Her ethos was simple – the world was going to end, and the only way you could be saved is if you joined The Family. 

Along with her husband Bill, Anne started recruiting followers from a psychiatric clinic. She targeted middle-class professionals, some even with medical backgrounds, and essentially ‘brainwashed’ them with her new age ‘spiritualism’.

And she didn’t stop there. Anne acquired children through adoption scams or even through other members, and allegedly injected them with LSD, as well as beating and starving them.

Our guest on the show today is New Zealand-born author JP Pomare, who’s new novel In The Clearing was inspired by the disturbing doomsday cult. JP did extensive research on The Family and cults in general, and he joins us on today’s episode.

If you or someone you know needs support, help is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Your host is April Glover

Your audio editor is Melanie De Gioia

The Executive Producer is Elissa Ratliff

Subscribe to Investigates here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/investigates/id1344649849

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From a shy, intelligent Sydney boy to the charismatic INXS frontman. How did Michael Hutchence become a superstar with one of the biggest bands in the world?

And how did it all go so terribly wrong?

Today, we’re talking about the life and death of Michael Hutchence.

The middle son of Kel and Patricia, the older brother of Rhett, the younger brother of Tina, the father of Tiger Lily and one of the biggest rock stars the world has ever seen.

At the peak of his fame with Australian band INXS, Michael, with his long locks and effortlessly cool rock star moves, was adored by fans. He had a string of high-profile relationships with famous women, including our own Kylie Minogue, who appeared naked in a home video Michael shot in Richard Lowenstein’s incredible documentary film, Mystify: Michael Hutchence.

But then, just as INXS were trying to reignite their career, Michael’s body was found in a Sydney hotel room in 1997.

So what happened? What went wrong? And why 20 years after his death are his family only just finding out about some debilitating medical conditions?  

Stephen is joined by Michael's big sister Tina Hutchence.

If you or someone you know needs support, help is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Your host is Stephen Downie

The Executive Producer is Elissa Ratliff

Subscribe to Investigates here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/investigates/id1344649849

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.