Laura McConnell grew up in a fundamentalist sect with no name.

Along with no official title, the group also claims to have no registration around the world, no formal hierarchy, and no official places of worship.

According to Laura, it's this secrecy and denial that has allowed abuse to flourish within the community. She joins us today to expose what she witnessed and experienced inside the group she calls The Truth.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Want to try our new exercise app? Click here to start a seven-day free trial of MOVE by Mamamia.

CREDITS

Guest: Laura McConnell

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Johan Duflou has seen a lot of dead bodies. 

In his four decades as a forensic pathologist, he estimates he’s done about 200 autopsies a year. Sometimes the people on his table have been the victim of a crime. Sometimes they’ve simply died unexpectedly and he’s been tasked to find out why.

As he’ll tell you, the job is not like what you see in movies or on TV.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Want to try our new exercise app? Click here to start a seven-day free trial of MOVE by Mamamia.

CREDITS

Guest: Johan Duflou

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mamamia’s True Crime Conversations is back for 2024, exploring the world’s most notorious crimes, by speaking to the people who know the most about them. 

And over the next month we're taking you behind the scenes of crime, interviewing a forensic pathologist, a cult survivor, a forensic scientist who uses insects and other small creatures to help solve crimes, and the world’s first and only Coffin Confessor.

Hear True Crime Conversations’ Behind The Scenes Of Crime Special throughout February, right here on your favourite podcast app.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Want to try our new exercise app? Click here to start a seven-day free trial of MOVE by Mamamia.

CREDITS

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2023, Malka Leifer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for 18 counts of sexual abuse against Dassi Erlich and her little sister.

Leifer was the sisters' former high school principal, and when whispers of their allegations came to light in 2008, she fled from her home in Melbourne to Israel before any formal complaint could be made. 

It took 70 extradition hearings and 13 years to bring her back to Australia. But finally last year, Dassi was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Leifer was finally going to pay for what she’d done. 

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Want to try our new exercise app? Click here to start a seven-day free trial of MOVE by Mamamia.

CREDITS

Guest: Dassi Erlich

You can find out more about her memoir In Bad Faith here.

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Thom Lion

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2016, Gypsy Rose Blanchard pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. 

She admitted to planning and orchestrating the stabbing death of her mother Dee Dee at the hands of her boyfriend Nick Godejohn, who was convicted of first-degree murder.

Nick remains behind bars, but in December 2023, Gypsy was released after serving eight years of her sentence. 

This case is about more than just murder. It’s one of the most famous cases involving the alleged diagnosis of Munchausen by proxy - known nowadays as ‘Factitious disorder imposed on another’.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Want to try our new exercise app? Click here to start a seven-day free trial of MOVE by Mamamia.

CREDITS

Guest: M.J. Pack

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stevie Munro is a Senior Correctional Officer with Moree Court Escort services, in charge of things like processing offenders who’ve just been arrested, and escorting them to and from court.

She deals with prisoners from all over Australia, and has seen it all. Kicking, screaming, lashing out, attempted suicide…

She is dealing with people during their most emotional times in prison. But as she will explain, her toughest days have nothing to do with the criminals themselves. 

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Want to try our new exercise app? Click here to start a seven-day free trial of MOVE by Mamamia.

CREDITS

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was originally published as part of Mamamia’s Extraordinary Stories podcast.

In the lead-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics, the world began to wonder how and if Peng Shuai would be used in the games, and whether the IOC was going to have anything to say to the Chinese Government about their silencing of the tennis star. So how did the Chinese propaganda juggernaut shift its attention to the global sporting stage? And what happens when the international community’s peak sporting body is accused of silencing a sexual assault survivor?

Plus, we investigate China’s Me Too movement. What does the story of Peng Shuai tell us about feminism in China?

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was originally published as part of Mamamia’s Extraordinary Stories podcast.

For three long weeks in November 2021, the tennis community, news organisations and human rights advocates the world over had one question; Where Is Peng Shuai? In the aftermath of a Weibo post detailing allegations of sexual assault against one of China’s top political figures, concerns for Peng Shuai's freedom were escalating swiftly. Then suddenly, proof of life. On this episode, we’ll learn more about the Chinese propaganda machine, and how it’s working to convince the world of Peng Shuai's safety, whilst censoring her story.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was originally published as part of Mamamia’s Extraordinary Stories podcast.

It was after 10 pm, on November 2nd, 2021 when 35-year-old Peng Shuai - China’s beloved global tennis star - sat down and began typing. Truncated sentences of an open letter, detailing an affair and sexual assault involving one of China’s highest-ranking political figures, would go on to rock the international community. It took only a few minutes before the post had amassed thousands of shares, likes, and comments. But within half an hour, it vanished. And moments later, so too did Peng Shuai.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode was originally published as part of Mamamia’s Extraordinary Stories podcast.

Belle Gibson spent years lying about her health. From those early skater chatroom claims that she had died on the operating table during heart surgery, to a terminal brain cancer diagnosis, and finally, revelations that cancer had spread through her entire body. She had built a business out of peddling her strategy for treating that cancer; with food. She said it was curing her, and could (for a small fee) cure you, too. But in March 2015, everything came undone, and it wasn't only Belle's followers who wanted answers. The police did too.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

GET IN TOUCH:

Check out our TikTok here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]  

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.