Bad Apple: A True Crime Podcast

Deep in the suburbs of south-east Melbourne, a young woman who believed herself to be the reincarnation of Christ, began to build a following based on New Age ideologies and practices. Anne Hamilton-Byrne quickly developed a following of adults who would worship her like a god, and do anything, including break the law, to help "The Family". The cult set up a network to facilitate the fraudulent adoption of children to create the next master race. These children were given heavy doses of sedatives and hallucinogens and had their food restricted as punishment for breaking the rules. It wasn't until one of them ran away that authorities became aware of the cult operating right under their noses.

In 2012, 23-year-old Leisl Smith got into a white ute at Tuggerah Railway Station on the New South Wales Central Coast. She hadn't told anyone where she was going, or who she was going with, but when she didn't return home that night to tend to her horses her family knew something was wrong. The investigation into Leisl's disappearance was slow, leaving her family without closure for a long period of time. Finally, 6 years after her disappearance, a man was arrested for Leisl's murder, giving the family hope for justice. But a series of tragic events may mean they never know what happened to Leisl a decade ago.

In 2019, a young woman, using the pseudonym Alice, came forward and reported that she had been sexually assaulted by the volunteer massage therapist she met at her childhood netball games. In the tight-knit community of northern Tasmania, news spreads fast, and within months another 4 women had alleged that the same man, Jim Griffin, had groomed and assaulted them too. The subsequent police investigation exposed a man who had dedicated his life and career to getting close to young girls, which sparked a lot of questions about how his offending, which started in the 1980s had flown under the radar for so long.

In the late 1980s, Auckland was considered a safe place and somewhere to raise a family. Parents were comfortable leaving their young teens home alone at night, and young women often walked home alone after dark. That was until New Zealand police discovered the possibility that a serial rapist was operating in the South Auckland area. Citizens became gripped with fear, installing greater security in their homes and sleeping next to weapons, in some areas, vigilante justice groups formed with the hope of catching the serial offender. Advances in DNA technology and criminal profiling led police to the doorstep of Joseph Thompson, who answered the door with: “I've been waiting for you guys.”

On the 16th of October 2021, 4-year-old Cleo Smith disappeared from her family's campsite at the Blowholes, north of Carnarvon in Western Australia. What followed was the most comprehensive search and rescue operation in recent Australian history, and non-stop reporting of Cleo's case which had gripped the nation. Cleo was missing for 18 days before police made a breakthrough discovery, bringing relief to those enthralled by the story. Programs were cancelled in favour of a 3-hour news special, and The West Australian newspaper ran a 22-page spread featuring all the details. The amount of coverage raised questions for some - should the family be granted some privacy, and why aren't the same police resources and media coverage common in the cases of other missing children? 

Nature enthusiasts Urban Höglin and Heidi Paakkonen left Sweden in September 1988 to embark on a trip down under. When the couple didn't return home on time, their families initially thought they'd changed their plans. By the time they raised the alarm, Urban and Heidi had been missing for 6 weeks. Conveniently, a convicted criminal and current fugitive David Tamihere had been recently apprehended and was last seen where the two backpackers went missing.

In 1998, a man was killed while walking along the railway tracks in inner-city Perth. With no identification on his person and no information from the public, investigators couldn't reunite the man with his family. History repeated itself 10 years later, in 2008 when another man was struck by a train in south-east Melbourne. He too was unable to be identified. These two men joined the more than 500 unidentified persons at any one time who are currently stored in morgues, or unmarked graves. Despite huge advances in forensic technology, and the development of a National Missing Persons and Victim System to link DNA records with reports of missing people, these two men remain unidentified. Investigators are sure that someone in the community knows something, and have renewed pleas for information. 

In 2006, 3-month-old twins, Cris and Cru Kahui were taken to hospital by their mother after sustaining serious head injuries and broken bones. No one could explain how the twins had suffered these life-threatening injuries, but hospital staff suspected that it had been deliberate. The case of Cris and Cru highlighted disparities around infant deaths, bringing to the spotlight a 2003 statistic that revealed that Maori children were twice as likely to die as a result of family violence than non-Maori children. In 2020, one child died every 5 weeks as a result of family violence, and UNICEF ranked NZ 35th out of 41 OECD countries for child wellbeing outcomes. Leave us a review! https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/bad-apple-a-true-crime-podcast/id1525665839

In June 1982, 49 gold bars were withdrawn from the Perth Mint using three cheques. The bars were taken to Jandakot Airport, loaded onto a plane, and never seen again. However, staff at the Mint had realised the cheques were fraudulent, meaning the gold had been swindled. The Mickelberg brothers, Ray, Peter and Brian, were convicted in 1984, but these convictions were overturned 20 years later. The unsolved mystery of the missing gold has all the makings of a Hollywood film: allegations of police corruption bombshells about fabricated evidence, a plane crash, and a car bomb. But this is the real-life tale of the Mint Swindle.

In the 1980s, the Satanic Panic was rife in the United States, with authorities receiving more than 12,000 claims of satanic abuse within an alleged network of underground devil-worshipping paedophiles operating in daycare centres. By 1991, this panic had reached Christchurch, New Zealand. Child care worker, Peter Ellis, was accused of sexually assaulting a young boy in his care. The investigation of these claims has been plagued with criticisms about parental interference, an unreliable interview process, and fabricated compensation claims. Peter has always maintained his innocence, and 30 years on his case continues. 

Australia and New Zealand share a passion for sport. It is a source not only of entertainment, but of national pride, which means it comes as no surprise that conspiracies of sabotage against our sporting stars are some of the most widely believed conspiracies among the population. The allegations of Phar Lap's murder by US gangsters, and the potential poisoning of the All Blacks' at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, have been discussed at backyard BBQ's for decades, but still remain unsolved.

Like so many young people at the time, 29-year-old Kayo Matsuzawa had traveled from Japan to Christchurch, New Zealand, with a dream of learning English and seeing the world. In September 1998, Kayo took her first trip to Auckland. Worried about traveling alone, Kayo invited her friend Naomi to Auckland, but when Naomi couldn't come, Kayo promised to send her a postcard. After 10 days, there was no postcard - Naomi knew that something had happened to Kayo.

In 1942, Melbourne was subject to light restrictions, known as a ‘brownout', in order to lessen the threat of an air raid. Little did they know, another threat was lurking in the darkness. When 3 women were killed in the span of 15 days, police had to work fast to find the perpetrator. Suspicions were raised when reports came to hand that a US soldier had been harassing and attacking women - with a quarter of a million US troops stationed in Australia at the time, finding the Brownout Strangler would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

In the late 1970s, Air New Zealand began operating an Antarctic sightseeing flight. These flights offered a once-in-a-lifetime experience and attracted tourists from all around the world. This all changed on the 28th of November, 1979, when Air New Zealand flight 901 lost contact with Antarctic air traffic controllers during its descent over Ross Island. A fatal error had been made, but was it an honest mistake, or was the crash a result of deliberate shortcuts and cover-ups?

On the 25th of August 1973, Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon went to a Saturday afternoon football game with their families at Adelaide Oval. In the 3rd quarter, Joanne and Kirste went to the bathroom together. When they didn't return to their seats 15 minutes later, Joanne's mother became worried and began to look for the two girls, but it may have already been too late. Despite a number of witness accounts of the abduction, and potential links with similar cases, the disappearance of Joanne and Kirste remains unsolved.

In 1954, two teenage girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme orchestrated and carried out the murder of Pauline's mother in Victoria Park in Christchurch, New Zealand. Their attempt to cover up the death as an accident quickly fell apart, and both girls were charged with murder. When their trial began, rumours of insanity and homosexuality consumed the Christchurch population as people speculated about the motivations around the seemingly cold and callous murder of Honorah Parker.

In 2014, Queensland veterinarian, Dr Martin Pearson, was in the final stages of an endurance cycling ride when he was the victim of a fatal hit-and-run accident. When police located the driver responsible, they realised that he had been responsible for the accidental death of his wife, Leanne, just 6-years prior. Although Geoffrey Sleba’s actions had resulted in the loss of 2 lives, he substantially escaped punishment, only serving 13-months in prison, after proving that both occasions were ‘accidental’.

In 2005, Victoria Police received information that a woman had been sexually assaulted by her father, but were unable to pursue the claim as the woman, fearing what her father might do, refused give more information. 3 years later, police obtained a DNA sample from the man, which revealed that he was the father of his daughters 3 children. What followed was a discovery of almost 30 years of sexual abuse and emotional manipulation at the hands of a man she should have been able to trust.

On June 21st, 2004, 43-year-old Jim Donnelly signed into work at the Glenbrook Steel Mill. 16 years later, Jim still hasn't signed out. Despite a wide-ranging search, and investigation of Jim's personal life, there is very limited evidence as to what happened to him, leading to plenty of speculation and unique theories about his disappearance. To this day, Jim's family is no closer to finding out what happened, and without new evidence or witness information, they may never know.

In the summer of 2018, 16-year-old Amber-Rose Rush was anticipating 2018 would be her year, after finishing school and starting a new job. But her future was robbed from her on the night of February 3rd 2018 when Amber-Rose was murdered in her family home. After retrieving heated Instagram messages between Amber-Rose and a 30-year-old Dunedin doctor, police had their prime suspect. It was revealed that Dr Skantha had been behaving erratically at work, and inappropriately with young girls, and Amber-Rose was set to reveal all.

Frederick Valentich was a 20-year-old man, training to become a pilot. In late October 1978, during a solo flight between Melbourne and King Island, Frederick made radio contact with Air Services to report a suspicious unidentified aircraft circling around his plane. The contact lasted for a few minutes, ending with some metallic scraping noises, and then silence. Despite a large-scale air and sea search, no trace of Frederick was ever found, leading people to ask, was his disappearance related to the "unidentified flying object", or did he fall victim to an unfortunate pilot's error?

On the 29th of August 2016, Mark and Jacoba Tromp, and their 3 adult children, left their red currant farm in Melbourne's outer suburbs for an "off-the-grid" roadtrip. Far from home, the family became separated, and they were unable to be located as their behaviour became increasingly erratic and disoriented. Police located the missing family members 6 days later, and over 400km apart, but none were able to offer any insight as to the motives for their impulse getaway.

On the 4th of August 1986, an open letter was published in The Age from a group calling themselves the Australian Cultural Terrorists, taking responsibility for the theft of a Picasso from the National Gallery of Victoria. Staff hadn't noticed The Weeping Woman was missing until reading the letter, which prompted a large, cross-border police investigation. The group was demanding more funding for independent, community artists, and threatened to destroy the $2M AUD painting if their demands were not met.

Harvey and Jeannette Crewe, and their 18-month-old daughter Rochelle, lived on a farm in Pukekawa. On a cold and rainy June night in 1970, someone entered their home, fatally shot Harvey and Jeannette, took their bodies, and left baby Rochelle distressed in her cot. Neighbouring farmer, Arthur Thomas, was convicted of the murders, but after it was revealed that evidence was fabricated by police, he was granted a Prime Ministerial pardon. This double murder in the quiet New Zealand countryside remains unsolved.

On the 28th of April 1996, 25-year-old Martin Bryant woke early, packed two semi-automatic rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and travelled by car to the Port Arthur historical site. What happened next would change the Australian social and political landscape forever. With 35 fatalities and 24 injuries, the Port Arthur massacre is the largest random mass shooting in modern Australia committed by a single person.

On the 12th of September 2014, William Tyrrell and his sister were playing hide and seek at their foster grandmother's house, on a quiet cul-de-sac in Kendall, New South Wales. After taking a photo of William in his spiderman costume, his foster mother went inside to make a cup of tea. That was the last time William was seen, and after a 6-year investigation with almost 700 persons of interest, police still aren't certain what happened to the little boy in the spiderman suit.

When New Zealand police were alerted to the body of a young woman in a drainage canal in suburbian Auckland in February 1992, they almost immediately categorised the death as an accidental drowning despite many indicators of foul play. After the body was identified as 12-year-old schoolgirl Agnes Ali'iva'a, police still didn't properly investigate the possibility that Agnes was murdered, and to this day the case remains unsolved.

On the 25th of April 1935, Gertie the shark became agitated in her Coogee Aquarium tank. Soon after, she coughed up a large amount of ocean matter, including one human arm. The arm had a distinctive tattoo, and was quickly identified as Jim Smith, but how his arm ended up inside a captive shark was a mystery which ran far deeper than originally thought.

From 1979 to 1983, 5 young men were murdered in Adelaide, all as a result of similar injuries. While police initially didn't link the deaths, a pattern soon emerged and investigators began to suspect there were multiple offenders. While it has never been officially uncovered, 'The Family' is believed to involve a number of high-profile doctors, lawyers, and even TV personalities who targeted young men from the LGBT+ community in Adelaide.

On the 21st of January 2003, a 35-year-old New Zealand man, Antonie Dixon, attacked two women who lived at his Pipiroa home with a samurai sword. This horrific attack was just the tip of the iceberg in this story, which involves another murder, a hostage situation, and ends in Dixon's tragic prison-cell death in 2009.

That's a wrap! Thank you so much for all your support during "Season One" of Bad Apple! We will return in 2021 with new episodes. In the meantime, we hope you all have a safe and happy holidays, how ever you celebrate. If you've liked the show so far, leave us a review! Until next time, Helen and Rylee.

On the 10th of February 1966, two teenagers left a rock-and-roll dance in Shepparton, Victoria to go for a drive, but they never returned. Shortly after, there was a number of connected sexual attacks in Melbourne's Eastern suburbs which went unsolved for the next decade. The Shepparton attack was linked to the Melbourne attacks by a young fingerprint expert, but the offender, known by the media as 'Mr Stinky' due to his offensive body odour, was not caught until almost 20 years after his first known attack.

On the 1st of September 1934, the body of a young woman in silk pyjamas was found in a stormwater drain, just outside Ararat, Victoria. The body, while being badly disfigured, was eventually identified as Linda Agostini. However, speculation surrounds the circumstances of the investigation, and the identity of ‘Pyjama Girl’ is still disputed, over 80 years later.

In July 1985, the Greenpeace ship ‘Rainbow Warrior’ was bombed while moored in the Port of Auckland, as it waited to lead a protest against nuclear testing in French Polynesia. Tragically, Greenpeace photographer, Fernando Pereira, was killed after becoming trapped in his cabin as it filled with water. While the attack seemed unprovoked, Greenpeace immediately pointed the finger at the French Government, who had wanted to stop the protests going ahead.

Remaining unsolved for more than 2 decades, the Claremont serial killings held the city of Perth captive in the late 1990s. 3 girls all going missing in the early hours of the morning on their way home from a night out had put the city on edge, but police were drawing blanks. It wasn’t until a breakthrough in forensic science in 2016 enabled investigators to join the DNA dots and link the crimes to a known offender.

In May 1895, Minnie Dean boarded a train in Invercargill holding a baby and a hatbox. When she alighted the train on her return, she only possessed the hatbox, which railway porters remarked was ‘suspiciously heavy’. The Station Guard alerted New Zealand police to the possibility of a missing baby. In reality, they had a much larger problem on their hands - the systemic issue of what was dubbed "baby-farming" in New Zealand.

On the 17th of December 1967, Australian Prime Minister, Harold Holt, was spending a relaxing Sunday at his beach house in Portsea, Victoria. Holt wanted to swim before lunch to ‘work up an appetite’, but when he went into the water, he was quickly swept out of his depth and disappeared beneath the waves. A mammoth search ensued, but no trace of Holt was found. Did he drown in the rough conditions, or was there something more sinister lurking beneath the surface?

On the 20th of May 1999, South Australian police closed in the key suspects in a string of unsolved missing persons' cases. Their investigation led them to a disused bank vault in Snowtown, a tiny town north of Adelaide. When they got closer to the vault, police were overwhelmed by a horrific smell emanating from 6 barrels, which contained the bodies of 8 missing people.

On the morning of June 20th 1994, 5 members of the Bain family were murdered in their Dunedin home. The only surviving member, David Bain, was suspected of killing his whole family and staging it as a murder-suicide committed by his father, Robin. For the next 12 years, David defended his innocence through multiple appeals. To this day, we still don’t really know just what happened in the Bain house that morning.

After serving 16 years behind bars for the murder of Kim Barry in 1980, Graham Potter was staring down the barrel of another lengthy sentence after police busted the drug ring he was working for. Since he failed to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court in February 2010, he has been evading authorities. Some believe he is working on a cattle station, others think he has met a natural demise in the croc-infested waters of Far North Queensland. 10 years later, Graham Potter remains Australia's Most Wanted Man.

When 22-year-old English backpacker Grace Millane doesn’t return her parents calls for three days after her birthday, they become worried and contact New Zealand police. What her parents and police didn’t know was that Grace may not have even made it to her 23rd birthday, after a Tinder date put her in a fatal situation.

After finishing school on the 19th of August 1986, 9yo Samantha Knight had walked home, waving happily to a neighbour as she arrived at her mother’s flat in Bondi. She changed out of her school uniform and had something to eat. Knowing her mother wasn’t due home until 6 pm, she walked down to the local pharmacy to buy a new toothbrush, and that was the last time she would ever be seen.

On the 14th of April 2006, the morning of Good Friday, a man was sailing on his yacht in Waitemata Harbour in Auckland when he noticed a black object bobbing in the water. On closer inspection, he realised it was a large suitcase and when it was too heavy to pull on board, he opened the zipper a little. Inside was the body of 19-year-old Wan Biao.

From 1987 to 1991, Melbourne’s eastern suburbs were gripped with fear, as young girls were abducted from their homes and raped by an unknown assailant. In the notoriously safe suburbs, where people would move specifically to raise their families, investigators were at the mercy of this meticulous offender, who left no real evidence and planted red herrings at every scene. To this day, the man’s identity is only known as Mr Cruel.

Since 2004, three young women have vanished from Mercer Bay. The area, known for its steep cliffs and rough seas, is also the setting for the Maori legend of Hinerangi and her broken heart. Did these women fall victim to the unforgiving conditions or is there something more sinister, or even supernatural, going on?

In the late 1980s, Belanglo State Forest was the backdrop for the notorious “backpacker murders” committed by serial-killer Ivan Milat. 30 years later his great-nephew, Matthew, lures high-school friend, David Auchterlonie, into the forest to uphold the family legacy.

When 44-year-old John Price doesn’t turn up to work on March 1st 2000, his boss gets worried and sends someone to his house. When they reach the front door, they see blood - but that was just the beginning of the horrific scene awaiting them inside.

(NZ) On September 15th 2007, little ‘Pumpkin’ was found standing alone in a busy train station in Melbourne. Those who found her would never have expected the international manhunt that would ensue, and the tragedy awaiting police at the toddler's Auckland home.