sleepers

sleepers

By Bryan Littlely & Max Marten

sleepers

Join investigative journalist Bryan Littlely as he pulls back the curtain on Australia's most haunting cold cases. With compelling detail and chilling insights, Bryan is

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Best of sleepers

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  1. Number 1: LOST

    What if the witness you've been searching for was there all along? In this special episode of Sleepers, investigative journalist Bryan Littlely sits down with Nicole Morris, founder of the Australian Missing Persons Register, during National Missing Persons Week. For 21 years, Nicole has worked to keep Australia's missing visible. Her register contains thousands of long-term missing-person cases, some dating back to the 1930s, and during last year's National Missing Persons Week campaign her Facebook posts reached an extraordinary 45 million people. Because sometimes keeping a photograph, a name, and a story in front of the public is enough to make somebody remember. And this conversation proves it. Bryan and Nicole explore the disappearance of Joanne Butterfield, the importance of listening to the people who actually knew the missing, and why even decades of research don't always produce a simple answer. Then Nicole tells Bryan about Rhonda State, a 20-year-old mother who disappeared after attending a dance at Camden in 1979. While researching Rhonda's case, Nicole tracked down a woman who told her she had seen Rhonda getting into a car in the car park. Nicole asked what she'd told police. The answer? She hadn't. Nobody had ever asked her. That extraordinary revelation leads to the possibility that Ivan Milat was involved, and raises a much larger question: how much potentially important information can remain hidden, not because somebody deliberately concealed it, but because the right witness was simply never interviewed? Bryan then brings the conversation home to South Australia and the Sleepers investigation into the 1973 Adelaide Oval disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon. The discovery that Alex Bone and his father, Frank, travelled to the football with the Ratcliffe family, and Alex's recollection of being sent to search for the girls, raise significant questions about the accepted timeline. Nicole immediately recognises the problem. If the timeline is wrong, were investigators asking witnesses to remember the wrong period? Along the way, Bryan and Nicole also discuss Susie Ratcliffe, Leave A Light On, and, for the first time on Sleepers, Bryan explains the story behind the words that have become our signature: #Fight Like Jo. CRIME SCENE VICTOR HARBOR | 21–23 AUGUST 2026 This episode arrives as Bryan prepares to bring together some of Australia's leading true crime investigators, journalists, authors, podcasters and advocates for the inaugural CRIME SCENE Victor Harbor. Across three days, Victor Harbor becomes a true crime precinct with live presentations, investigative panels, author appearances, live podcasting and forensic experiences. The 2026 program includes Sally Leydon, Debi Marshall, Derek Pedley, Adam Shand, Suzie Ratcliffe, Max Marten, Bryan Littlely and many more. Part of the proceeds from Crime Scene Victor Harbor supports Leave A Light On Inc. And Sleepers is going live. SLEEPERS LIVE Sunday, 23 August 2026 | 11.00 am McCracken Country Club – Convention Centre, Victor Harbor Bryan Littlely and Max Marten take Sleepers out of your podcast app and into the room for a live examination of the cold cases, witnesses and information driving the investigation. Sometimes somebody sitting in the audience knows something that somebody standing on the stage doesn't. Come and be part of the conversation. Crime Scene Victor Harbor 21–23 August 2026. Sleepers Live is 11:00 am Sunday 23 August at McCracken Country Club. Tickets are currently listed at $40, and part of the festival proceeds support Leave A Light On Inc. (crimescenevictor.com.au)It's time to rise - #fightlikejo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    39min
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  2. Number 2: adelaide oval abduction: The Barrels Speak

    Sixteen years after two barrels were recovered from tunnels beneath a South Australian reservoir, the science is moving again. In this episode of Sleepers, Bryan Littlely speaks with forensic scientist, toxicologist, and criminologist Asha Walther from Exhuming the Truth about her independent preliminary examination of material recovered from the barrels. Those barrels have long formed part of an investigative theory surrounding the 1973 disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon from Adelaide Oval. That theory has never been proven, and there is currently no evidence establishing that either girl was ever inside them. But the barrels are real. The material recovered from them is real. And now new preliminary forensic findings are in . Asha reveals that presumptive testing produced a positive reaction consistent with the presence of blood or haemoglobin-related activity. At this stage, the testing cannot determine whether that blood is human or animal, and no DNA identification has been made. Preliminary pH testing has also found material from the barrels to be acidic. Again, that doesn't establish what substance was present, why it was there, or support any particular theory about how the barrels may have been used. Further chemical analysis is required. Then there's the expanding foam. The unusual material inside the barrels raises another set of questions. What happened to the significant amount of liquid apparently once present beneath the foam? What may have been absorbed into it? And could the chemical composition of the foam itself help establish when it was manufactured or placed inside the barrels? Asha explains how techniques including GCMS analysis may help characterise its chemical composition and potentially narrow its age to a useful timeframe. She also explains why microscopic examination can reveal biological material that would never be visible to the naked eye, particularly after decades of environmental exposure. Most importantly, the preliminary examination isn't where this investigation ends. Subject to the necessary permits and approvals, material is intended to undergo further independent specialist examination through a university laboratory in the United Kingdom. That next stage could include species-specific or human-specific testing, DNA analysis, chemical examination, and further analysis of the expanding foam. Bryan also confronts the question that inevitably follows: after another independent presumptive result consistent with blood, should South Australia Police now receive material from the barrels for further examination? And if these tests eventually produce something significant, how important will the documented chain of custody become? Max doesn't interrupt this time. We leave Bryan and Asha to follow the evidence and explain what the science tells us, what it doesn't, and what needs to happen next. After sixteen years, the next step isn't another theory. It's the science. SLEEPERS LIVE: NEW INVESTIGATIONSJoin Bryan, Max and the SLEEPERS team LIVE at the Arkaba Hotel, Wednesday 30 September 2026. Expect new cases, new information, advance developments in current investigations, and the story behind an upcoming hunt through the Adelaide Hills for one very particular item. Doors 6:30 pm | Show 7:30 pm BOOK TICKETS — SLEEPERS LIVE EVENT DETAILS — ARKABA HOTEL Always remember – fight like Jo.It's time to rise - #fightlikejo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    39min
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  3. Number 3: The Hitchhiker and the Skull

    What happens when someone decides, after years of silence, that it's finally time to tell their story? In this special episode of Sleepers, investigative journalist Bryan Littlely takes listeners behind the scenes of the investigative process itself. You'll hear how one witness's recollection of a hitchhiker seen shortly after Gus Lamont's disappearance led to an unexpected conversation about another missing person, and how that conversation opened the door to an entirely new lead. The second half of this episode follows the real-time journey of information that recently found its way into the Sleepers' investigation. It's a rare opportunity to hear how new material is assessed, why not every lead becomes a case, and why careful listening remains one of the most important tools available to any investigator. If you've arrived here after watching the video shared on Bryan Littlely's Facebook page, welcome. You'll find the direct link to that video HERE Together, the video and this episode explain not just what was discovered, but how information like this reaches Sleepers in the first place. At its heart, this episode isn't about a single witness, a single video or a single cold case. It's about people. People who have carried memories for years. People looking for somewhere they'll be heard. And the belief that every genuine piece of information deserves careful consideration, because behind every unsolved case is a family still waiting for answers. If you have information about any of the cases discussed in Sleepers, we'd genuinely like to hear from you. The Skull Video At the time of posting, all links are current. The Video can be found by clicking - HERE Join Us Live at Crime Scene Victor HarborIf today's episode has sparked your curiosity, we'd love to meet you in person. Join Bryan Littlely, Max Marten and a host of Australia's leading true crime researchers, investigators, forensic specialists and authors at Crime Scene Victor Harbor—AUGUST 21-23 2026 - a unique weekend dedicated to investigation, education and conversation. The programme includes Sleepers Live, where you'll experience the investigation in a completely different way, hear exclusive material, and join the discussion. Importantly, proceeds from the event support Leave A Light On, continuing the shared commitment to helping families and keeping forgotten stories alive. For tickets and the full programme, visit the festival website - HERE - that's where tix are available, #SleepersPodcast, #Sleepers, #BryanLittlely, #MaxMarten, #AustralianTrueCrime, #AdelaideTrueCrime, #SouthAustralia, #ColdCasesAustralia, #MissingPersons, #InvestigativeJournalism, #CrimeSceneVictor, #SleepersLive, #LeaveALightOn #FightLikeJoIt's time to rise - #fightlikejo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32min
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  4. Number 4: adelaide oval abduction: The Rings

    Sleepers: The Adelaide Oval Abductions #9 In 1973, seven-year-old Donna was at the Adelaide Oval the day Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon disappeared. She played with two little girls outside the toilets. Then they were gone. Police interviewed Donna soon after, took her statement, and promised to follow up on the matter. They never did. For fifty years, her memories sat alone until now. In this episode, Donna shares what she saw that day, what she later learned about her own father, and how her life became entangled with the family of the man long suspected of taking those girls — Stanley Arthur Hart. Her testimony reveals a chilling web of names, methods, and silences stretching across generations:A father who used hypnosis like Hart once did.A grandson who repeated the same violence.Families whose lives kept circling the same dark secret. It’s not coincidence. It’s connection. And as this web tightens, the pattern of South Australia’s hidden crimes begins to take its true shape. Hosted by Bryan Littlely. Narration by Max Marten. Music by Cody Martin. Produced by Bearslayer Media / Leave A Light On Inc.It's time to rise - #fightlikejo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    54min
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  5. Number 5: adelaide oval abduction: Warrior Women #2

    Episode 8 of Sleepers takes listeners back to Yatina, the remote mid-north town in South Australia, where truth and terror share the same ground. In conversations with journalist Bryan Littlely, the survivor of the 1966 assault that ultimately led to the only prison time that Stanley Arthur Hart ever served, they recall growing up in Stan Hart's orbit, a man they would both quickly realise was the monster hiding in plain sight. From their first memories of the terror to the police investigations and successive governments that failed them, their stories reveal the human cost of silence and the strength it takes to speak after so long. Max Marten’s narration traces how a 2013 call to police set off the SAPOL Major Crime dig, how other survivors’ voices converged, and how two adjoining properties in Yatina have become a symbol of everything South Australia still refuses to confront. As the final minutes unfold, one quiet statement from Amanda stops everything cold: ‘That wasn’t my shoe.’ A phrase that reopens the questions the state never answered, and propels Sleepers toward its most unsettling chapter yet. ⚠️ Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and trauma. Listener discretion is advised. 🌏 Support Services 🇦🇺 AustraliaLifeline Australia – Crisis Support & Suicide Prevention: 13 11 14 (24/7)Kids Helpline – For young people aged 5–25: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)Beyond Blue – free, confidential telephone counselling 24/7: 1300 22 4636MensLine Australia – Counselling for men: 1300 78 99 781800RESPECT – National Sexual Assault, Domestic & Family Violence Counselling Service: 1800 737 732 (24/7) 🌍 InternationalUnited StatesRAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988 (24/7)United KingdomNSPCC (for children & young people): 0808 800 5000Samaritans UK: 116 123 (24/7)NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood): 0808 801 0331CanadaKids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or text CONNECT to 686868 (24/7)Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (24/7)New ZealandSafe to Talk (Sexual harm helpline): 0800 044 334 or text 4334 (24/7)Lifeline New Zealand: 0800 543 354Europe (general)116 123 – European standard suicide helpline (works in many EU countries)116 111 – Child Helpline EuropeGlobalChild Helpline International: childhelplineinternational.org/child-helplinesInternational Suicide Hotlines Directory: findahelpline.com It's time to rise - #fightlikejo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 7min
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How many episodes does sleepers have?

The podcast currently has 22 episodes available.