Advertise on podcast: Strewth - Australian True Crime and Mystery Podcast

In July 1981, a fourteen-year-old girl walked up a trail in Yosemite National Park with a camera around her neck. Minutes later, a group of walkers came down that same trail, and not one of them had seen her. Stacy Arras has never been found. Neither has a six-year-old boy in a red shirt who hid behind a bush in the Great Smoky Mountains, or a park ranger in Arizona who told a colleague he was going to do a trail and never came back. A former police officer believes that cases like these, hundreds of them, are connected. His critics say they are ordinary tragedies with a mystery laid over the top, and that nobody has ever counted how many people go missing out there in the first place. This week on Strewth Abroad: Missing 411. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or ad-free on Strewth Premium. Sources: Atadero, A. (2008). Missing: The Jaryd Atadero story: A father turns tragedy into hope after the 1999 disappearance of his son in the Colorado mountains. Tate Publishing. Balloch, J. (2009, June 28). Search in Smokies for lost boy, Dennis Martin, produces lessons for future searches. Knoxville News Sentinel. http://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/search-in-smokies-for-lost-boy-dennis-martin-produces-lessons-for-future-searches-ep-409881509-359338011.html/ Banda, P. S. (2003, June 10). Shredded clothes tell sad story. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/shredded-clothes-tell-sad-story-10-06-2003/ Blumhardt, M. (2019, June 9). Jaryd Atadero disappeared on hike near Fort Collins 20 years ago. His father has been looking for answers ever since. The Denver Post. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/06/09/jaryd-atadero-disappearance-20-years/ Borrell, B. (2021, April 1). The search for the only park ranger who was lost and never found. Outside. https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/paul-fugate-park-ranger-search/ The Charley Project. (n.d.-a). Paul Braxton Fugate. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://charleyproject.org/?p=3028 The Charley Project. (n.d.-b). Stacy Ann Arras. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://charleyproject.org/?p=439 Disappearance of Dennis Martin. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Dennis_Martin The Doe Network. (n.d.). Stacey Ann Arras (Case 4601DFCA). Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/4601dfca.html Dunning, B. (Host). (2021, August 24). Why you needn't worry about the Missing 411 (No. 794) [Audio podcast episode]. In Skeptoid. Skeptoid Media. https://skeptoid.com/episodes/794 Farer, P. (2003, June 10). Missing boy likely attacked by animal. 9News. https://www.9news.com/article/news/missing-boy-likely-attacked-by-animal/73-345346437 Lakin, M. (2019, June 6). Missing in the Smokies: Dennis Martin's disappearance still haunts park, 50 years later. Knoxville News Sentinel. https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/2019/06/06/dennis-martin-missing-smoky-mountains-50-years-spence-field-mystery-smokies-search-east-tennessee/1272247001/ Mountain "smoke" defeats searchers. (1969, June 17). Kingsport Times, 1. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12400022/mountain_smoke_defeats_searchers/ Mystery Wire. (2020). Strange disappearances in national parks and forests: The "Missing 411" phenomena [Interview with D. Paulides]. KRON4. https://digital-release.kron4.com/?p=293033 National Park Service. (n.d.). Released files for Stacy Arras case. https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/foia/upload/Released-files-for-Stacy-Arras-case.pdf National Park Service. (2018, June 19). Reward triples in decades-old disappearance of Chiricahua National Monument ranger. https://www.nps.gov/chir/learn/news/reward-triples-in-decades-old-disappearance-of-chiricahua-national-monument-ranger.htm Paulides, D. (2012). Missing 411: Western United States & Canada: Unexplained disappearances of North Americans that have never been solved. North America Bigfoot Search. Peterson, J. (2012, March 12). Los Gatos author

What happened to Harold Holt? On a Sunday in December 1967, the Prime Minister of Australia went for a swim off a beach near Portsea and never came out. More than three hundred people searched the water for him, and no trace of his body was ever found. Fifty-eight years later, depending on who you ask, Harold Holt drowned, was killed by the CIA, ran off with his lover, or was dragged under by Chinese frogmen and carried away to Beijing in a submarine. In this episode of Strewth we work through the theories, from the frankly ridiculous to the one a coroner finally signed off on in 2005, and ask why a man who had nearly drowned off that same beach seven months earlier swam straight back out past the breakers. Sources: National Archives of Australia. Harold Holt's disappearance, Fact sheet 144. https://www.naa.gov.au/help-your-research/fact-sheets/harold-holts-disappearance Victoria Police and Commonwealth Police. Joint report into the disappearance of Harold Holt, January 1968, including witness statements. National Archives of Australia, A1209, 1968/8063. https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=4982285 Johnstone, Graeme (State Coroner of Victoria). Finding into the death of Harold Edward Holt, 2 September 2005. Coroners Court of Victoria. (Quoted via ABC reporting below.) Frame, Tom. The Life and Death of Harold Holt. Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2005. https://archive.org/details/lifedeathharoldh00fram Grey, Anthony. The Prime Minister Was a Spy. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1983. Grey, Anthony. Hostage in Peking. Michael Joseph, London, 1970. ABC News. "Inside the disappearance of Harold Holt", 1 November 2020. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-01/disappearance-harold-holt-inside-search-operation-australia/12817236 ABC News. "Harold Holt: 50 years since Australia's first 20th century PM disappeared", 17 December 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-17/harold-holt-50-years-since-prime-minister-disappeared/9259680 ABC News. "Coroner rules Holt conspiracy theories fanciful", 2 September 2005. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2005-09-02/coroner-rules-holt-conspiracy-theories-fanciful/2094682 Griffiths, Tom. "How Harold Holt was lost". Inside Story. https://insidestory.org.au/how-harold-holt-was-lost/ National Film and Sound Archive. "Allegations and conspiracy theories". https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/asset/98238-allegations-and-conspiracy-theories Australian Screen Online. Curator's notes, The Harold Holt Mystery (1985). https://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/the-harold-holt-mystery/notes/ Archives Hub. Anthony Grey Archive, University of East Anglia, including the papers of Ronald Titcombe (embargoed). https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/b33f32ee-49ca-3a61-a1b9-29cc2f69a4b7 Who Killed Harold Holt? Presented by Ray Martin. Nine Network, 20 November 2007. The Prime Minister is Missing. Directed by Peter Butt. ABC Television, 2008.

The Murder of Maria James - Part 2 of 2 In 2013, a council electrician named Alan Hircoe opened a newspaper and saw a photograph of a priest. He recognised the face. Years earlier, he said, while working at the presbytery of St Mary's in Thornbury, he had seen that priest come in from the garden with blood on his face and hands. The priest was Father Anthony Bongiorno, and he had tried to force his way into Maria James's bookshop on the afternoon she was murdered. But he had an alibi, and police believed the DNA had cleared him. Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast  Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast   Contact me - [email protected]  Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay Sources: Coroners Court of Victoria. Finding into Death with Inquest: Maria Theresa James (COR 1980 1820). Deputy State Coroner Caitlin English. Delivered 31 March 2022, amended 4 April 2022. Findings index: https://www.coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/inquests-findings/findings Victoria Police. "Cold case: Maria James." https://www.police.vic.gov.au/cold-case-maria-james Victoria Police. "Reward: Maria James." Published 14 June 2024. https://www.police.vic.gov.au/reward-maria-james Brown, Rachael. Trace (podcast), Season 1. ABC, 2017. Brown, Rachael. "Trace: The unsolved murder of Maria James." ABC News, 21 June 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-21/trace-the-unsolved-murder-of-maria-james/8612964 Brown, Rachael. "Trace: Witness saw paedophile priest covered in blood near cold case murder victim Maria James' house." ABC News, 28 June 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-28/trace-priest-seen-covered-in-blood-near-maria-james-crime-scene/8652936 "Trace: Police admit DNA bungle wrongly cleared paedophile priest as suspect in cold case murder." ABC News, 12 July 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-12/trace-police-admit-to-major-dna-bungle-in-maria-james-cold-case/8694870 "Trace: No sign of conspiracy in Maria James investigation, Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton says." ABC News, 14 September 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-14/victoria-police-investigating-trace-case-dna-mix-up/8944596 "Inquest into murder of Maria James hears DNA evidence not found on rediscovered evidence." ABC News, 6 September 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-06/maria-james-inquest-begins/100436294 "Dead priest had the motive, means and opportunity to commit unsolved murder, detective tells inquest." ABC News, 27 September 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-27/unsolved-murder-inquest-hears-of-priest-and-a-murderer/100491298 "Maria James's family calls for a priest's exhumation, if DNA testing doesn't offer answers." ABC News, 4 November 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-04/application-to-exhume-priest-is-unsolved-murder-case/100499632 "Coroner delivers open finding in inquest into the 1980 murder of Melbourne woman Maria James." ABC News, 31 March 2022. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-31/maria-james-coronial-inquest-findings/100943730 "Police offer $1 million reward to solve the cold case of Melbourne mother Maria James." ABC News, 14 June 2024. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-14/maria-james-cold-case-murder-victoria-police-reward/103972070 "Police offer $1m reward to solve murder of Maria James inside Melbourne bookshop." The Guardian (Australia), 14 June 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/14/maria-james-murder-victoria-police-offer-1m-reward-thornbury-melbourne-bookshop "Sons make $1m plea to solve mother's bookshop murder." AAP, 14 June 2024. https://aapnews.aap.com.au/news/police-offer-1-million-reward-to-solve-bookshop-murder "Killer's link to bookshop murder examined." AAP via The Canberra Times, 21 September 2021. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7439775/killers-link-to-bookshop-murder-examined/ "DNA unknown when Maria James was killed." AAP via The Senior, September 2021. https://www.thesenior.com.au/story/7435659/dna-unknown-when-maria-james-was-killed/

The Murder of Maria James - Part 1 of 2 On 17 June 1980, John James rang his ex-wife, Maria, at her bookshop in Thornbury, Melbourne. She asked him to hang on. He heard voices and a small scream, and then the line went quiet. He strained to hear the muffled conversation being carried out in the shop. Then the voices became louder, more aggressive. Then she screamed again. Forty-six years and two inquests later, nobody has been charged with her murder. Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast  Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast  Contact me - [email protected]  Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay Sources: Coroners Court of Victoria. Finding into Death with Inquest: Maria Theresa James (COR 1980 1820). Deputy State Coroner Caitlin English. Delivered 31 March 2022, amended 4 April 2022. Findings index: https://www.coronerscourt.vic.gov.au/inquests-findings/findings Victoria Police. "Cold case: Maria James." https://www.police.vic.gov.au/cold-case-maria-james Victoria Police. "Reward: Maria James." Published 14 June 2024. https://www.police.vic.gov.au/reward-maria-james Brown, Rachael. Trace (podcast), Season 1. ABC, 2017. Brown, Rachael. "Trace: The unsolved murder of Maria James." ABC News, 21 June 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-21/trace-the-unsolved-murder-of-maria-james/8612964 Brown, Rachael. "Trace: Witness saw paedophile priest covered in blood near cold case murder victim Maria James' house." ABC News, 28 June 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-28/trace-priest-seen-covered-in-blood-near-maria-james-crime-scene/8652936 "Trace: Police admit DNA bungle wrongly cleared paedophile priest as suspect in cold case murder." ABC News, 12 July 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-12/trace-police-admit-to-major-dna-bungle-in-maria-james-cold-case/8694870 "Trace: No sign of conspiracy in Maria James investigation, Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton says." ABC News, 14 September 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-14/victoria-police-investigating-trace-case-dna-mix-up/8944596 "Inquest into murder of Maria James hears DNA evidence not found on rediscovered evidence." ABC News, 6 September 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-06/maria-james-inquest-begins/100436294 "Dead priest had the motive, means and opportunity to commit unsolved murder, detective tells inquest." ABC News, 27 September 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-27/unsolved-murder-inquest-hears-of-priest-and-a-murderer/100491298 "Maria James's family calls for a priest's exhumation, if DNA testing doesn't offer answers." ABC News, 4 November 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-04/application-to-exhume-priest-is-unsolved-murder-case/100499632 "Coroner delivers open finding in inquest into the 1980 murder of Melbourne woman Maria James." ABC News, 31 March 2022. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-31/maria-james-coronial-inquest-findings/100943730 "Police offer $1 million reward to solve the cold case of Melbourne mother Maria James." ABC News, 14 June 2024. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-14/maria-james-cold-case-murder-victoria-police-reward/103972070 "Police offer $1m reward to solve murder of Maria James inside Melbourne bookshop." The Guardian (Australia), 14 June 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/14/maria-james-murder-victoria-police-offer-1m-reward-thornbury-melbourne-bookshop "Sons make $1m plea to solve mother's bookshop murder." AAP, 14 June 2024. https://aapnews.aap.com.au/news/police-offer-1-million-reward-to-solve-bookshop-murder "Killer's link to bookshop murder examined." AAP via The Canberra Times, 21 September 2021. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7439775/killers-link-to-bookshop-murder-examined/ "DNA unknown when Maria James was killed." AAP via The Senior, September 2021. https://www.thesenior.com.au/story/7435659/dna-unknown-when-maria-james-was-killed/

In June 2014, Derek and Maria Broaddus bought their dream home at 657 Boulevard, a century-old house on a leafy street in Westfield, New Jersey. Three days later, a letter arrived in the letterbox. The writer welcomed them to the neighbourhood, explained that their family had watched the house for generations, and asked whether the Broadduses had brought the young blood it had requested. More letters followed. Police, private investigators and a former FBI agent all went looking for the writer, and the town of Westfield turned on the family. The Broadduses never spent a single night in the house, and the Watcher has never been found. Sources Reeves Wiedeman, "The Haunting of 657 Boulevard," The Cut (New York Magazine), November 2018, updated 2022. https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html "NJ Family Flees Home After Threats From 'The Watcher'," NBC News, June 2015. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nj-family-flees-home-after-threats-watcher-n381796 "'The Watcher' Stalker Spooks NJ Family Away From 'Dream Home'," NBC Washington, June 2015. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/the-watcher/1986981/ "Westfield Mayor Speaks Out About 'The Watcher'," Patch, June 2015. https://patch.com/new-jersey/westfield/westfield-mayor-speaks-out-watcher-0 "Westfield, New Jersey, House With Alleged 'Watcher' Back on Market," NBC News, 2016. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/westfield-new-jersey-house-alleged-watcher-back-market-n547286 "Westfield 'Watcher' House Will Not Be Demolished," Patch, January 2017. https://patch.com/new-jersey/westfield/westfield-watcher-house-will-not-be-demolished "Westfield 'Watcher' House Gets Another 'Disturbing' Letter, Owners Continue To Try To Knock It Down," Patch, March 2017. https://patch.com/new-jersey/westfield/westfield-watcher-house-gets-another-distrubing-letter-owners-continue-try "'The Watcher' Sent Another Creepy Letter to NJ Couple, Lawyer Says," Fox News with Associated Press, March 2017. https://www.foxnews.com/us/the-watcher-sent-another-creepy-letter-to-nj-couple-lawyer-says.amp "Spooky 'Watcher' House Has Sold After 4 Years on the Market," Inman, August 2019. https://inman.com/2019/08/09/spooky-watcher-house-has-sold-after-4-years-on-the-market "The 'Watcher' House in New Jersey Finally Sold to New Owners," Today, 2019. https://www.today.com/today/amp/tdna160504 "The Creepy True Story Behind 'The Watcher' on Netflix," NBC New York, October 2022. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/the-creepy-true-story-behind-the-watcher-on-netflix/3918650/ "The Watcher Season 2 Is Coming: What to Know About the Creepy True Story," NBC New York. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/the-watcher-season-2-is-coming-what-to-know-creepy-true-stories-behind-netflix-hit/4265222/ "The Watcher: Fact vs Fiction," History vs Hollywood. https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-watcher/ "The Watcher of Westfield, New Jersey," Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Watcher_of_Westfield,_New_Jersey

The Pilliga Yowie In the spring of 2010, a mother pulled into a roadside rest stop south of Coonabarabran so the kids could swim at Hickey's Falls. The car park was silent. Another car was parked by the trail with every door open, and somewhere up the hill a child was crying. What happened next has become one of the best-known yowie encounters in the country, and it rests on the word of one woman who has never given her name. This is her account, set against the long and strange reputation of the Pilliga and the highway that runs through it. The Interview: Hickeys Falls Revisited Anniversary Edition', Yowie Central, podcast, Acast, May 2026, https://shows.acast.com/yowie-central/episodes/ep185-hickeys-falls-revisited-anniversary-edition Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast   Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast  Contact me - [email protected] Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay Sources: Australian Yowie Research n.d., Hickeys Falls, New South Wales 2010, witness report, Australian Yowie Research, viewed September 2026, https://www.yowiehunters.com.au/new-south-wales/2176-hickeys-falls-new-south-wales-2010 Australian Yowie Research 2020, Witness Audio Report #159: Hickeys Falls, New South Wales, YouTube, June 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbBKDeMpezc Yowie Central n.d., Yowie Central, podcast series page, Apple Podcasts, https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/yowie-central/id1554417233 Australian Yowie Research n.d., Pilliga, New South Wales 1976, https://www.yowiehunters.com.au/new-south-wales/1919-pilliga-new-south-wales-1976 Australian Yowie Research n.d., Pilliga, New South Wales 1978 (the Torana account), https://www.yowiehunters.com.au/new-south-wales/1441-pilliga-new-south-wales-1978 Australian Yowie Research n.d., Pilliga, New South Wales 1979 (AAP report quoting Constable Wayne Warren), https://www.yowiehunters.com.au/new-south-wales/1440-pilliga-new-south-wales-1979 Australian Yowie Research n.d., Pilliga, New South Wales 1979 (second transcription of the AAP report), https://www.yowiehunters.com.au/new-south-wales/1442-pilliga-new-south-wales-1979-sp-19667 Australian Yowie Research n.d., Pilliga, New South Wales 2001, https://www.yowiehunters.com.au/new-south-wales/1577-pilliga-new-south-wales Australian Yowie Research n.d., Pilliga, New South Wales 2003, https://www.yowiehunters.com.au/new-south-wales/1443-pilliga-new-south-wales-2003 Australian Yowie Research n.d., Pilliga, New South Wales 2010, https://www.yowiehunters.com.au/new-south-wales/1444-pilliga-new-south-wales-2010 Ridley, W 1875, Kámilarói and Other Australian Languages, 2nd edn, Thomas Richards, Government Printer, Sydney, digitised by the National Library of Australia, https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1099858783/view

On a summer evening in 1919, a 21-year-old factory worker named Bella Wright rides out of a Leicestershire village beside a man she's only just met. Half an hour later she's lying dead in a country lane, and the stranger on the green bicycle has vanished. For seven months, police hunt a man that half the county has seen and nobody can name. Then a coal barge drags something up from the bottom of a Leicester river. It becomes one of the most sensational trials of its time. England's greatest defence barrister takes it on, a dead crow sits in a field beside the lane, and a police confession note stays hidden in the files for nearly a century. Who killed Bella Wright? This week on Strewth Abroad. Sources: - Brown, Antony M. The Green Bicycle Mystery: The Classic Murder Case Reinvestigated. Mirror Books, 2017. - Smith, Sally (ed.). Trial of Ronald Light (Notable British Trials). 2021. - East, C. Wendy. The Green Bicycle Murder. Alan Sutton, 1993. - Wakefield, H. R. The Green Bicycle Case. Philip Allan, 1930. - Marjoribanks, Edward. The Life of Sir Edward Marshall Hall. Gollancz, 1929. - Donahue, Bill. "The Green Bicycle Murder". Bicycling, 2007. - Wikipedia, Green Bicycle Case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bicycle_Case - Crime Traveller, The Green Bicycle Case: The Murder of Bella Wright in 1919: https://www.crimetraveller.org/2015/09/green-bicycle-case-bella-wright-murder/ - Crime Traveller, Cold Case Jury: Bella Wright, The Green Bicycle Mystery: https://crimetraveller.org/2017/01/cold-case-jury-bella-wright-green-bicycle-mystery/ - Coventry Telegraph, 1 July 2017, "This feels like a Sherlock Holmes mystery" (via PressReader): https://www.pressreader.com/uk/coventry-telegraph/20170701/281732679504441 - Evington Echo, The Green Bicycle Murder Mystery: New evidence: https://evingtonecho.uk/the-green-bicycle-murder-mystery-new-evidence - Evington Echo, Bella Wright Remembered: 100 Years On: https://evingtonecho.uk/bella-wright-remembered-100-years-on/ - The National Archives, Policing and prosecution: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-topic/crime-courts-and-justice/policing-and-prosecution/ - Let's Ride / British Cycling, Green Bicycle Case Ride, Leicester: https://www.letsride.co.uk/rides/green-bicycle-case-ride-leicester - Great War Forum, review of Wakefield's account: https://greatwarforum.org/topic/89056-the-leicestershire-mystery-of-the-green-bicycle-murder-of-1919 - HubPages, The Green Bicycle Murder Mystery: Death of Bella Wright: https://discover.hubpages.com/politics/The-Green-Bicycle-Mystery - Past Evidence podcast, The Green Bicycle Case: https://pastevidence.com/episode-01-02-the-green-bicycle-case

The Abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon - Part 2 of 2 A Queensland carpenter identified off a television screen twenty five years later. A man serving life who was ruled out by the only witness who saw the abductor's face. A friend of the family who was pulled in for questioning and never charged. And an upholsterer with a shack in the mid north whose own grandson wrote forty pages about him from a prison cell. Fifty three years on, nobody has been charged with the abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon. What the case has instead is names. In Part two of the Adelaide Oval abductions, we chase down the suspects and present new evidence in this horrifying case. Sleepers Podcast - Bryan Littlely and Max Marten https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise/episodes/688c7609fc150bcf7f24a146 Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast  Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast  Contact me - [email protected]  Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay Sources: Disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Joanne_Ratcliffe_and_Kirste_Gordon Andrew Rule, "50 years on, the search for a depraved man who abducted and killed two little girls continues", Herald Sun, August 2023. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-rule/50-years-on-the-search-for-a-depraved-man-who-abducted-and-killed-two-little-girls-continues/news-story/28ecaa5f898e6d96f4c03bb566116128 Elizabeth Henson, "Adelaide Oval abduction witness Tony Kilmartin reveals what happened the day Kirste Gordon and Joanne Ratcliffe were taken", The Advertiser. https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-oval-abduction-witness-tony-kilmartin-reveals-what-happened-the-day-kirste-gordon-and-joanne-ratcliffe-were-taken/news-story/91a88591d76f28407092ebd318a990f9 Belinda Jepsen, "The Adelaide Oval abduction", Mamamia. https://www.mamamia.com.au/adelaide-oval-abduction/ "Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon abduction: Adelaide Oval mystery breakthrough", Under Investigation, Nine, October 2022. https://www.nine.com.au/tv-shows/joanne-ratcliffe-kirste-gordon-abduction-adelaide-oval-mystery-breakthrough-under-investigation-20221031-p5rcy0.html Bryan Littlely and Max Marten, Sleepers, season 1, episode 2, interview with Anthony Kilmartin. Show index: https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise Bryan Littlely and Max Marten, Sleepers, interview with Alex Bone, recorded November 2024. Show index: https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise 1973 SANFL season, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_SANFL_season

The Abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon - Part 1 of 2 Adelaide Oval, the twenty fifth of August, 1973. Norwood versus North Adelaide, a winter crowd. Joanne Ratcliffe, eleven, took four year old Kirste Gordon to the toilets, the way she had done once already that afternoon. Ninety minutes later they were three kilometres from the ground, fighting for their lives, and they have never been seen since. In part one of two, we thoroughly examine the events of that day. Facts that we have believed to be the truth for over 50 years might not have told us the full story. We reveal the new eye-witness testimony that challenges the conventional wisdom on a case that has haunted Australia for decades. Sleepers Podcast - Bryan Littlely and Max Marten https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise/episodes/688c7609fc150bcf7f24a146 Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast  Contact me - [email protected]  Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay Sources: Disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Joanne_Ratcliffe_and_Kirste_Gordon Andrew Rule, "50 years on, the search for a depraved man who abducted and killed two little girls continues", Herald Sun, August 2023. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-rule/50-years-on-the-search-for-a-depraved-man-who-abducted-and-killed-two-little-girls-continues/news-story/28ecaa5f898e6d96f4c03bb566116128 Elizabeth Henson, "Adelaide Oval abduction witness Tony Kilmartin reveals what happened the day Kirste Gordon and Joanne Ratcliffe were taken", The Advertiser. https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-oval-abduction-witness-tony-kilmartin-reveals-what-happened-the-day-kirste-gordon-and-joanne-ratcliffe-were-taken/news-story/91a88591d76f28407092ebd318a990f9 Belinda Jepsen, "The Adelaide Oval abduction", Mamamia. https://www.mamamia.com.au/adelaide-oval-abduction/ "Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon abduction: Adelaide Oval mystery breakthrough", Under Investigation, Nine, October 2022. https://www.nine.com.au/tv-shows/joanne-ratcliffe-kirste-gordon-abduction-adelaide-oval-mystery-breakthrough-under-investigation-20221031-p5rcy0.html Bryan Littlely and Max Marten, Sleepers, season 1, episode 2, interview with Anthony Kilmartin. Show index: https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise Bryan Littlely and Max Marten, Sleepers, interview with Alex Bone, recorded November 2024. Show index: https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise 1973 SANFL season, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_SANFL_season

April 1943, four boys trespassing in Hagley Wood in Worcestershire climb into a hollow elm looking for birds' eggs and instead, find a human skull. Nobody had reported her missing and eighty-three years later she still has no name. What she has instead is other people's stories. A year after she was found, someone chalked a question on a Birmingham wall asking who put Bella down the wych elm, and the name has stuck to her ever since. A famous folklorist called it witchcraft. In 1953 a woman calling herself Anna wrote to a Wolverhampton newspaper about her husband, a Dutchman, and a night at a pub less than a mile from the wood. Then a writer who had spent the war in Naval Intelligence, and worked afterwards for Ian Fleming, built a German spy ring around her, and decades later the MI5 files seemed to prove him right. This episode tests every theory against what was actually found in that tree, and follows the one lead that could still have given her back her name: her remains. Sources: Staveley-Wadham, R. (2019, April 4). Who put Bella down the wych elm? An unsolved murder mystery seventy-seven years on. The British Newspaper Archive Blog. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.com/blog/who-put-bella-down-the-wych-elm Jakobs, G. K. (2017, December 22). German cabaret singer Clara Bauerle declassified. Josef Jakobs 1898–1941. https://josefjakobs.info/2017/12/clara-bauerle-declassified.html The National Archives. (2025). MI5: Official secrets [Exhibition]. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/mi5-official-secrets/ Asbrey, C. A. (2017, May). Who put Bella down the wych elm? https://caasbrey.com/2017/05/52/ Birmingham Post. (2019, August 15). Author reveals new theory in one of our greatest murder mysteries. PressReader. https://www.pressreader.com/uk/birmingham-post/20190815/281822875437899 Express & Star. (2014, June 15). [Punt PI investigates Midlands riddle]. https://expressandstar.com/editors-picks/2014/06/15/punt-pi-investigates-midlands-riddle Explore the Past. (2016, September 2). Monthly mystery: Who put 'Bella' in the wych elm? Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service. https://www.explorethepast.co.uk/2016/09/monthly-mystery-who-put-bella-in-the-wych-elm Fortean Times. (2018, March 1). [Article on the Hagley Wood case]. PressReader. https://www.pressreader.com/uk/fortean-times/20180301/282179356567349 Goodwin, N. (Host). (2023). The body in the tree [Audio podcast]. BBC Sounds. History and Other Things. (2018, June 14). Who put Bella in the wych elm? https://historyandotherthingsweb.wordpress.com/2018/06/14/who-put-bella-in-the-wych-elm/

The Abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon - Part 2 of 2 A Queensland carpenter identified off a television screen twenty five years later. A man serving life who was ruled out by the only witness who saw the abductor's face. A friend of the family who was pulled in for questioning and never charged. And an upholsterer with a shack in the mid north whose own grandson wrote forty pages about him from a prison cell. Fifty three years on, nobody has been charged with the abduction of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon. What the case has instead is names. In Part two of the Adelaide Oval abductions, we chase down the suspects and present new evidence in this horrifying case. Sleepers Podcast - Bryan Littlely and Max Marten https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise/episodes/688c7609fc150bcf7f24a146 Sources: - Disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Joanne_Ratcliffe_and_Kirste_Gordon - Andrew Rule, "50 years on, the search for a depraved man who abducted and killed two little girls continues", Herald Sun, August 2023. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-rule/50-years-on-the-search-for-a-depraved-man-who-abducted-and-killed-two-little-girls-continues/news-story/28ecaa5f898e6d96f4c03bb566116128 - Elizabeth Henson, "Adelaide Oval abduction witness Tony Kilmartin reveals what happened the day Kirste Gordon and Joanne Ratcliffe were taken", The Advertiser. https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-oval-abduction-witness-tony-kilmartin-reveals-what-happened-the-day-kirste-gordon-and-joanne-ratcliffe-were-taken/news-story/91a88591d76f28407092ebd318a990f9 - Belinda Jepsen, "The Adelaide Oval abduction", Mamamia. https://www.mamamia.com.au/adelaide-oval-abduction/ - "Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon abduction: Adelaide Oval mystery breakthrough", Under Investigation, Nine, October 2022. https://www.nine.com.au/tv-shows/joanne-ratcliffe-kirste-gordon-abduction-adelaide-oval-mystery-breakthrough-under-investigation-20221031-p5rcy0.html - Bryan Littlely and Max Marten, Sleepers, season 1, episode 2, interview with Anthony Kilmartin. Show index: https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise - Bryan Littlely and Max Marten, Sleepers, interview with Alex Bone, recorded November 2024. Show index: https://shows.acast.com/sleepers-its-time-to-rise - 1973 SANFL season, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_SANFL_season

The Perth Mint Swindle - The Perfect Crime? In April 1982 somebody broke into a building in Perth, stole a pad of blank cheques, and burnt the place to the ground on the way out. Five weeks later they did it again. Ten weeks after that, sixty-eight kilograms of gold walked out the front door of the Perth Mint in broad daylight. Nobody was threatened. Nobody was hurt. Nobody raised their voice. The thief built the entire robbery out of honest strangers: a clerk, three armoured couriers, a temp on her first morning, and a bloke following instructions over a CB radio. Every one of them did their job properly. Not one of them could describe him. Forty-four years on, the Perth Mint swindle has never been solved. Sources: ABC News 2008, Mickelbergs to receive $1 million ex gratia payment, 16 January, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-16/mickelbergs-to-receive-1-million-ex-gratia-payment/1013980 ABC News 2008, Mickelberg brothers vow to fight on, 19 January, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-01-19/mickelberg-brothers-vow-to-fight-on/1017342 ABC News 2013, Mickelberg matriarch dies of old age, 28 August, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-28/peggy-mickelberg/4917362 Mayes, A 2023, The other Perth Mint scandal: The Mickelberg brothers and the great gold swindle, ABC News, 1 April, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-01/the-other-perth-mint-scandal-of-the-mickelberg-brothers-swindle/102113790 Pallaras, S 1999, The Mickelberg Saga and the Public Purse, Criminal Lawyers Association of the Northern Territory, Seventh Biennial Conference, Kuta, Bali, 27 June to 2 July, https://clant.org.au/wp-content/uploads/the-bali-conference/1999/Pallaras-Stephen-The-Mickelberg-Saga-amp-thePublic-Purse-BampW.pdf Perth Mint, 2025, Iconic Moments in the Perth Mint's History. https://www.perthmint.com/news/stories/history/iconic-moments-in-the-perth-mints-history Western Australian Government 2002, New evidence on Mickelberg case referred to Police Royal Commission, media statement, 10 June, https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Gallop%20Labor%20Government/New-evidence-on-Mickelberg-case-referred-to-Police-Royal-Commission-20020610 Western Australian Government 2008, Ex-gratia payment to Ray and Peter Mickelberg, media statement, 16 January, https://www.wa.gov.au/government/media-statements/Carpenter%20Labor%20Government/Ex-gratia-payment-to-Ray-and-Peter-Mickelberg-20080116 Wikipedia, Perth Mint Swindle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth_Mint_Swindle

Midlothian, Texas, April 2016. Missy Bevers ran a five o'clock fitness class in a church car park, and the night before, because of the storm, she posted that they would be training inside the building instead. At ten to four the next morning a motion-triggered camera recorded a figure in a helmet, a balaclava and a vest lettered POLICE, breaking glass and opening doors half an hour before Missy's scheduled arrival. It is one of the most-watched pieces of security footage in any American murder case, and a decade later it has not identified anybody. Not the height. Not the walk. Not even whether the person in the corridor was a man or a woman. This week on Strewth Abroad, the unsolved murder of Missy Bevers. The Surveillance Footage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQuTLqDNQjU Sources - ABC News. (2016, April). Police on manhunt for suspected killer of mother found dead in Texas church. https://abcnews.com/US/police-manhunt-suspected-killer-mother-found-dead-texas/story?id=38509190 A&E. (2026). Who killed fitness influencer Missy Bevers? https://www.aetv.com/articles/missy-bevers-unsolved-murder-april-2016 All That's Interesting. Inside the horrific murder of Missy Bevers, the fitness instructor killed in a Texas church. https://allthatsinteresting.com/missy-bevers CBS News. (2016, April 28). Warrant: Father-in-law of mom in church murder had bloody shirt. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/warrant-father-in-law-of-mom-in-church-murder-had-bloody-shirt/ CBS News. (2016). Family, friends were worried about Texas church murder victim. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/family-friends-were-worried-about-texas-church-murder-victim-terri-missy-bevers/ CBS News. (2016). Lab results released for bloody shirt in church murder case. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-church-murder-lab-results-released-bloody-shirt CBS News. (2016). New video, timeline released in Terri Bevers' death at Texas church. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-video-timeline-released-in-terri-bevers-death-at-texas-church/ CBS News. (2016, May). Police search for "vehicle of interest" in Texas church murder. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-search-for-vehicle-of-interest-in-texas-church-murder CBS Texas. (2016, May 20). PD still searching for suspect in murder of fitness instructor Missy Bevers. https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/pd-no-family-members-are-suspects-in-murder-of-fitness-instructor/ Dallas Observer. (2016). Midlothian police file search warrant for bloody shirt in church murder case. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/midlothian-police-file-search-warrant-for-bloody-shirt-in-church-murder-case-8251910/ Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth. (2016, April 28). Midlothian fitness instructor's father-in-law dropped off bloody shirt at dry cleaner. https://www.fox4news.com/news/midlothian-fitness-instructors-father-in-law-dropped-off-bloody-shirt-at-dry-cleaner Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth. New video surfaces in Missy Bevers murder mystery. https://www.fox4news.com/news/new-video-surfaces-in-missy-bevers-murder-mystery Fox News. Police search for driver seen near Texas church killing. https://www.foxnews.com/us/police-hunt-vehicle-of-interest-in-murder-of-texas-fitness-instructor KWTX. (2026, April 15). 10 years later, Midlothian police say Missy Bevers murder case remains active. https://www.kwtx.com/2026/04/15/10-years-later-midlothian-police-say-missy-bevers-murder-case-remains-active/ NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. (2016, May 20). Forensic video analysis complete in Midlothian murder investigation. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/forensic-video-analysis-complete-in-midlothian-murder-investigation/96329/ NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. (2016, June 6). Blood on shirt from Missy Bevers' father-in-law not human: Police. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/blood-on-shirt-from-missy-bevers-father-in-law-not-human-police/98521/ People. (2016). Missy Bevers: Fitness instructor's husband says "it had to be someone she knew". https://people.com/crime/missy-bevers-fitness-instructo

The Luna Park Ghost Train Disaster - Part 2 of 2 For years the most talked about aspect of the Luna Park fire was a photograph of a six year old boy standing next to a man in a horned mask, taken hours before he died. People called it the Luna Park demon. But the material that actually mattered was being collated for over thirty four years by the artist who painted the face over the front gate. The contents of this collection inspired an ABC documentary that brought the truth to light in 2021. In this episode we analyse the documents, the witness testimony and the other evidence that has been unearthed to try to answer the question that has haunted a nation: What started the Luna Park Ghost Train Fire? Exposed - The Ghost Train Fire - https://iview.abc.net.au/show/exposed-the-ghost-train-fire Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast     Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast  Contact me - [email protected]    Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay Sources: Anderson, K.S. (Coroner), Fire Inquiry and Inquests: Luna Park Ghost Train, Coroner's Court of New South Wales, Glebe Tiffen, R. and Masters, C., ABC Editorial Review 25: Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, August 2021. Meldrum-Hanna, C., Begley, P., Karagic, A. and Balendra, S., "Accident or arson? The mystery of Sydney's Luna Park Ghost Train fire", ABC News, 16 March 2021. Meldrum-Hanna, C., Begley, P., Balendra, S., Karagic, A. and Barilla, N., "'Luckiest boy alive': Luna Park Ghost Train fire survivor breaks his silence", ABC News, 10 March 2021. Bramston, T., "Allegations Wran involved in Luna Park fire condemned", The Australian, April 2021. Muller, D., "How Ghost Train Fire exposed remarkable police corruption, yet also failed ABC's high journalistic standards", The Conversation, 2021. "Luna Park Ghost Train fire: Coroner asks police to review evidence", Sydney Morning Herald, April 2021.

The Luna Park Ghost Train Disaster - Part 1 of 2 On a cold Saturday night in June 1979, a rail strike had left Sydney's Luna Park almost empty. Three passengers rode past the imitation fireplace inside the Ghost Train and saw real flames in it. Every one of them assumed it was part of the ride. But in the two and a half minutes that followed, seven people tragically lost their lives. Six of them were children. By three o'clock the next afternoon the police had announced a cause, ruled out anything suspicious and released the site. Nobody had examined the wreckage at all. This is part one of two in which we outline the events of the night in question and the original findings of the coroner. Exposed - The Ghost Train Fire - https://iview.abc.net.au/show/exposed-the-ghost-train-fire Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast     Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast  Contact me - [email protected]    Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay Sources: Anderson, K.S. (Coroner), Fire Inquiry and Inquests: Luna Park Ghost Train, Coroner's Court of New South Wales, Glebe Tiffen, R. and Masters, C., ABC Editorial Review 25: Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, August 2021. Meldrum-Hanna, C., Begley, P., Karagic, A. and Balendra, S., "Accident or arson? The mystery of Sydney's Luna Park Ghost Train fire", ABC News, 16 March 2021. Meldrum-Hanna, C., Begley, P., Balendra, S., Karagic, A. and Barilla, N., "'Luckiest boy alive': Luna Park Ghost Train fire survivor breaks his silence", ABC News, 10 March 2021. Bramston, T., "Allegations Wran involved in Luna Park fire condemned", The Australian, April 2021. Muller, D., "How Ghost Train Fire exposed remarkable police corruption, yet also failed ABC's high journalistic standards", The Conversation, 2021. "Luna Park Ghost Train fire: Coroner asks police to review evidence", Sydney Morning Herald, April 2021.