Casefile True Crime

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Melbourne was gripped by fear when a masked assailant began breaking into suburban family homes and abducting young children. The attacks were particularly callous, earning the assailant the title of Mr Cruel.

When 29-year-old Sherri Rasmussen married the love of her life, John Ruetten, the future looked promising. But just three months after their wedding, Sherri was found shot to death in the couples Van Nuys apartment. One thing was clear – Sherri had fought for her life until the very end...

The summer of 1986 was a busy one for 19-year-old Silver Spring resident, Keith Warren. Having recently graduated from John F. Kennedy High School, Keith worked two jobs to save money for college. Popular and sociable, he spent his spare time hanging out with friends and was excited about what the future held.

The desert roads of the Northern Territory are as long as they are desolate. If you stand still, the loudest sound you’ll hear is your own heartbeat. For British tourists Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees, the prospect of driving from Adelaide to Darwin along the expansive, open road was the thrill of a lifetime and unlike anything, they’d ever experienced before.

On April 28 1996, a lone gunman entered the Broad Arrow Café in Tasmania’s historic Port Arthur site and opened fire. By the end of his shooting spree, 35 lives had been lost and 24 others were injured, including two young children...

In the 18 month period between May 1980 and October 1981, six women went missing from the Frankston and Tynong North areas in Melbourne’s south-east. The victims – Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, Ann-Marie Sargent, Narumol Stephenson, Allison Rooke and Joy Summers – were later found murdered and dumped in remote scrubland. Obvious efforts had been made by the offender to prevent the victims from being identified.

The Italian town of Brembate di Sopra is home to a quiet, close-knit community, and like the other local youths, 13-year-old Yara Gambirasio felt safe navigating the streets alone. On November 26 2010, Yara left the town’s sports centre and didn’t hesitate to walk the 700-metre journey home by herself. However, when she failed to arrive, it turned out the streets of Brembate di Sopra weren’t as safe as everyone thought...

At midday on July 28 1986, 25-year-old British real estate agent Suzy Lamplugh left work to attend an appointment. The only clue as to where she was headed was a note scrawled in her diary that read: “12:45 Mr Kipper – 37 Shorrolds Road”...

[Part 1 of 3] In 1963, two youths disappeared during separate incidents in and around the northern English city of Manchester. First, 16-year-old Pauline Reade vanished while on her way to a dance. Then, four months later, 12-year-old John Kilbride disappeared from a market in Ashton-under-Lyne.

[Part 2 of 3] Ian Brady had fantasies about committing the “perfect murder.” After sharing his secret with his girlfriend, Myra Hindley, the fantasy soon became a reality.

[Part 3 of 3] After Ian Brady and Myra Hindley are arrested for the string of horrific slayings dubbed ‘The Moors Murders’, the true horror of their crimes finally comes to light. As the couple are brought to trial, the nature of their twisted relationship is scrutinised by law enforcement, the justice system, and England’s media.

On the evening of November 8 2010, 25-year-old University of Toronto student Jennifer Pan was relaxing in the bedroom of her family home in the Ontario neighbourhood of Unionville. Her parents, Bich Ha and Hann Huei, were also home at the time. Suddenly, Jennifer heard unfamiliar voices downstairs, followed by thudding footsteps. She immediately knew that something was very wrong.

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and one of Australia’s most famous tourist attractions. Its warm, clear waters and tropical marine life make it popular with scuba divers the world over.

In May 1980, Mary Stauffer was a happily married mother-of-two, living in Minnesota. She and her family were about to make a big move to the Philippines, where Mary and her husband had previously worked as Christian missionaries. In the lead up to their departure, Mary took her eight-year-old daughter Beth for a haircut at a local beauty salon.

[Part 1 of 5] In the summer of 1976, a serial offender began terrorising several quiet, suburban communities throughout Northern California’s Sacramento County. He would stalk his victims before breaking into their homes under the cover of darkness, binding them and raping them repeatedly. By the end of the year, he’d committed a total of ten attacks.

[Part 2 of 5] By the start of 1977, panic had well and truly set in throughout Sacramento County as news of the East Area Rapist spread. Despite residents preparing for possible attacks and police forming a special task force, the perpetrator continued his crime spree unabated.

[Part 3 of 5] Throughout the summer of 1978, the East Area Rapist continued to stalk, attack and assault women and their families. He extended his hunting grounds, moving beyond Sacramento County to target victims in other Northern California communities.

[Part 4 of 5] As the 1970s drew to a close, the East Area Rapist continued terrorising residents of Northern California. His attacks became increasingly violent, with one psychologist warning that the perpetrator would most likely escalate to murder as soon as he felt killing was justified.

[Part 5 of 5] In 1979, the East Area Rapist’s three-year-long crime spree came to an abrupt halt. Residents of Northern California could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Although the perpetrator hadn’t been captured, the nightmare was finally over...

EAR/ONS BONUS EPISODE #1 Interviews with Jane Carson-Sandler & Carol Daly Jane Carson-Sandler survived the brutal attack and rape of the East Area Rapist in the October of 1976. She is the fifth known survivor. She was in bed with her three-year-old son when they were attacked. Her attack had come off the back of around a month of hang up calls. These calls had escalated, and one time, Jane told the caller to stop, the voice then told her he was going to kill her husband. Police who were not linked to the Rapist investigation assured the family it sounded like a prank…

EAR/ONS BONUS EPISODE #2 Interview with Paul Holes Contra Costa County DA Cold Case Investigator Paul Holes spoke with us for the series. You heard him discussing the “Homework Papers" found in Danville as well as his role in finding the DNA match between the East Area Rapist and the Original Night Stalker. We spoke to Paul about his theories and some key questions from our research.

On December 7 2003, 13-year-old Daniel Morcombe set out from his home in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast to walk the one-kilometre journey to the nearby bus stop. He was planning to go to a local shopping centre to get a haircut and buy some Christmas presents for his parents. It was a trip Daniel made often, usually with his twin brother, Bradley.

On February 11th, 2005, a group of four German backpackers arrived into the NSW Northern Rivers City of Lismore. 25-year-old Simone Strobel, her 24-year-old boyfriend Tobias Suckfuell, Tobias’ older sister 28-year-old Katrin Suckfuell, and Katrin’s friend Jens Martin aged 25. Simone and Tobias had arrived in Australia six months earlier on a working holiday visa. They planned to travel around the country while working odd jobs and enjoying the Australian lifestyle. On the Australia day holiday- January 26th, 2005, Tobias’ sister, Katrin and her friend Jens arrived to meet them for a month long trip. They were excited to see each other and Simone and Tobias picked them up at Brisbane airport. From there, the foursome travelled north to the Great Barrier Reef. After that, they headed south and ended up at Lismore. Up until the time they reached Lismore, Jens described it as the best three weeks. Everyone had gotten along really well…

On the morning of February 4 1986, a dairy farmer in the outer Sydney suburb of Prospect noticed his cows had been behaving strangely. For hours, they had stood gathered at one particular spot in his paddock. The farmer went to see what they were doing and found the brutalised body of 26-year-old nurse Anita Cobby.

At 11 PM on October 11 1988, Victoria Police Constables Steven Tynan and Damian Eyre began working the night shift in the Melbourne suburb of Prahran. After attending to a number of routine policing matters, they were called out to inspect a Holden Commodore that had been abandoned in Walsh Street, South Yarra.

Nine-year-old Shannon Matthews lived with her family at the Moorside Council Estate in West Yorkshire, England. On February 19 2008, she said goodbye to her mother Karen before setting off on the half-mile walk to school.

In March 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley joined her parents and brother on a weeklong cruise through the Caribbean. While the rest of her family was excited about the trip, Amy was reluctant. She had an apprehensive feeling that she just couldn’t shake.

[Part 1 of 3] During childbirth, Lynetta Jones’ deceased mother appeared to her in a vision and prophesied that the baby would one day become a great man. Lynetta’s son was Jim Warren Jones, who grew up to become the leader of a new religious movement he named ‘The Peoples Temple’.

[Part 2 of 3] In the late 1970s, Jim Jones and hundreds of his followers relocated to The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project in the South American country of Guyana – more commonly known as ‘Jonestown’.

[Part 3 of 3] On November 17 1978, Congressman Leo Ryan travelled to Guyana to inspect Jonestown for himself. When a number of Peoples Temple members expressed a desire to leave with him, Jim Jones was furious. What followed next would go down in history.

On the morning of July 18 2009, customers gathered outside Min Lin’s news agency in North Epping, New South Wales. The family-run business always opened on time, but on this particular day its doors were locked and there was no sign of anyone inside.

Between 1985 and 1986, five young women went missing on the Hawaiian island of Honolulu. The victims – Vicki Purdy, Regina Sakamoto, Denise Hughes, Louise Medeiros and Linda Pesce – were each found strangled to death with their hands bound behind their backs.

On the evening of April 14 1987, 28-year-old Catherine Holmes hosted a small party at her home in the small New South Wales town of Cowra. When she failed to show up at work the following day, a friend went to Catherine’s home to check on her. There, they discovered Catherine’s badly beaten body, along with that of her friend and colleague, 24-year-old Georgina Watmore...

An important update on the case from Victoria police on October 21st, 2017.

The Weinberger family was emblematic of 1950s suburban America. Husband and wife Betty and Morris lived in a modest home in Westbury, New York, where they were raising their two-year-old son Lewis and their newborn baby, Peter.

When Brisbane based real estate agent Gerard Baden-Clay woke up at 6 AM on the morning of April 20 2012, there was no sign of his wife, Allison. This wasn’t completely out of the ordinary, as Allison sometimes went for early morning walks around their Brisbane neighbourhood. She was always home in time to get the couple’s three daughters ready for school, but when 7:15 rolled around, there was still no sign of her.

North Carolina residents James Napoleon Taylor and Raymond Reid died 13 years apart from seemingly natural causes, and doctors felt there was nothing suspicious about their deaths.

In the 1940s, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in the San Francisco Bay was a state-of-the-art facility. Deemed to be completely escape-proof, convicts from all over the United States who were regarded as dangerous and incapable of rehabilitation were often transferred to the gloomy island prison.

Following the failed 1946 escape turned violent siege, safety measures at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary were made even more stringent and inmates were kept under harsher controls. In the decade following the Battle of Alcatraz, no further escapes were attempted.

On the morning of May 3 1997, 33-year-old Gary Patterson woke up early at his home in Waco, Texas. Gary was excited, as he was flying out to El Paso to complete the final stage in a series of job interviews. He had an appointment with the company’s CEO and by the end of the day, he hoped to be the new head of a large housing development project.

In June 1987, the bodies of Phillip Walkemeyer, Julie Warren and Terry Bolt were found shot dead at a campsite at the Pentecost River Crossing in Western Australia’s Kimberley Region. Their burnt-out vehicle was found nearby. Similarities were drawn to the double homicide of father and son, Marcus and Lance Bullen, that occurred days earlier at a remote river hundreds of kilometres away in the Northern Territory.

On May 2 2005, an officer at the Aigues-Mortes police station in Southern France received a phone call from a panicked man who warned, “A guy who just left my place is about to kidnap a girl. He’s armed, and I think he’s about to do something horrific.” The caller directed police to a nearby cafe and told them to be on the lookout for a man accompanied by an attractive young woman.