The Veil

On the morning of 20 June 1994, in a weatherboard house in Andersons Bay, Dunedin, five members of the Bain family were shot dead. One survived: 22-year-old David Bain, who had come home from his paper round and called 111. Convicted in 1995. Acquitted at retrial in 2009 after the Privy Council quashed the original verdict. Two stories, told for thirty years, about one morning. The rifle prints, the lens, the gloves, the bladder, the cobweb — every piece of it argued both ways. A country still working out what it thinks.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

On the morning of 8 April 1994, an electrician named Gary Smith climbed the stairs to a greenhouse above a Seattle garage and discovered the body of Kurt Cobain. The ruling was suicide. It held for thirty years — through a Seattle Police review, through documentaries, through one private investigator who never accepted it. Then in November 2025, an international forensic team published a peer-reviewed paper concluding Kurt was murdered and the scene was staged. We walk through the discovery, the note, Courtney Love's vigil reading, and the new evidence — what holds up, and what doesn't.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

On a cold Saturday afternoon in August 1973, eleven-year-old Joanne Ratcliffe took four-year-old Kirste Gordon to the toilet at the Adelaide Oval, and the two of them never came back. Thirteen thousand people were at the football. Three witnesses, in three different parts of the city, watched a middle-aged man carry the smaller girl through the parkland while the older one fought him for the entire kilometre. None of them stopped him. Fifty-three years on, the case is still open. Ryan Wolf listens for what's still behind the veil.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

The episode examines the Aramoana massacre, one of New Zealand’s deadliest mass shootings. Over 36 hours in November 1990, gunman David Gray killed 13 people in the small coastal settlement of Aramoana. The story traces how an isolated dispute escalated into extreme violence, the fear that gripped the community, and the police response that ultimately ended the siege. It also explores the lasting impact on survivors and how the tragedy reshaped New Zealand’s approach to firearms, public safety, and collective memory.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

The death of Hollywood star Natalie Wood remains one of the industry’s most enduring mysteries. In November 1981, Wood vanished from a yacht off Catalina Island during a weekend trip with her husband, Robert Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken. Hours later, her body was found floating in dark, cold waters. Officially ruled an accidental drowning at the time, the case has since been reopened amid conflicting accounts, shifting testimonies, and lingering questions about what happened that night. This episode examines the timeline, the key figures on board, and the unresolved inconsistencies that continue to fuel speculation decades later, leaving one haunting question: was it truly an accident?

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

Byron Bay is paradise. It is also, by NSW Police's count, one of the places where 67 women vanished or were killed between 1977 and 2009. In the final part of our Byron Bay series, Ryan Wolf walks the coast between Newcastle and the Queensland border — ten names, five decades, and one question the region has been asking for nearly fifty years. Théo Hayez. Jackson Stacker. And all the others still hidden behind The Veil.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

Jackson Stacker’s death in Byron Bay raised more questions than answers. What initially appeared routine quickly unravelled into a case marked by inconsistencies, missing details, and uneasy silence. This episode examines the known facts, the gaps in the narrative, and why Stacker’s final hours continue to provoke suspicion and scrutiny.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

This is Part One of Three of our Special Series Byron Bay Vanishings

In May 2019, 18-year-old Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez vanished after a night out in Byron Bay, Australia. He was last seen leaving the Cheeky Monkey's bar in the early hours of May 31st. Despite an extensive search involving police, volunteers, and his family who flew from Belgium, Theo was never found. His phone data showed he had headed toward Tallow Beach. The case remains officially unsolved, leaving his family with no closure.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

In October 1941, a struggling West Coast farmer named Stanley Graham shot four police officers on his remote Koiterangi property, then vanished into the New Zealand bush. What followed was the largest manhunt in New Zealand history — hundreds of police, soldiers, and Home Guardsmen, aircraft overhead, a tank in the valley — all hunting one wounded man for thirteen days. By the time it ended, seven people were dead. This is the story of how a quiet farming community was torn apart, how a nation at war turned its attention inward, and how some crimes leave wounds that never fully close.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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

In April 1943, four boys trespassing in Hagley Wood, Worcestershire, discovered a human skull inside a hollow wych elm. Police found an almost complete female skeleton, folded into the narrow trunk while the body was still warm. She was approximately thirty-five years old, five feet tall, and carried a cheap wedding ring. Nobody reported her missing. No suspect was ever charged. Then, in 1944, graffiti began appearing on walls across Birmingham: Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? The author was never identified. The case was officially closed in 2014. The remains have since been lost. The question endures.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com

Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work.

This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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