Casefile True Crime

*** Content warnings: Sexual assault, drug use, suicide, homophobia *** Over a 16-month period between 2014 and 2015, four young men—Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor—each died under unusual circumstances in the East London suburb of Barking. While the police initially palmed the deaths off as isolated incidents, the families of the four men believed something suspicious was at play. All of the men had been found near or in a churchyard, all had died from dangerously high levels of GHB, and none had a reason to be in the area. When CCTV footage forced detectives to revisit the evidence, what they uncovered was shocking. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-345-the-barking-murders Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the tense weeks following the September 11 terror attacks in 2001, a new and invisible threat emerged across the United States. Letters laced with weaponised anthrax began arriving through the mail, infecting ordinary people and spreading fear nationwide. As the possibility of bioterrorism gripped the country, a massive federal investigation codenamed Amerithrax was launched to uncover who was behind the attacks… --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-344-amerithrax Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content warnings: Child victims, sexual assault *** On February 28 1976, the suburban community of Hales Corners, Wisconsin, was rocked when the body of missing schoolboy, 14-year-old John Zera, was discovered in a local park. The teenager hadn’t been seen for over a week, having gone missing in the middle of the school day without so much as a word. Over the next few years, the investigation into John’s brutal murder was plagued by mistakes and misconduct before eventually going cold. Thirty years later, the case was resurrected after police discovered a chilling scene. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Brianne Jaskulski Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-343-john-zera Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When 52-year-old Julia Wallace was found brutally murdered in her Liverpool home in 1931, no one could have anticipated the complex and challenging investigation that would follow, centring on her husband, William, and a mysterious figure known only as R. M. Qualtrough. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-342-julia-wallace Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content warning: Child sexual abuse *** Late in 1991, a child said something strange to his mother: ‘I don’t like Peter’s black penis.’ Believing this was an indication that her son was being abused by Peter Ellis, a 33-year-old employee at the Christchurch Civic Creche her son attended, the concerned mother quickly filed a report. The case would soon snowball into one of New Zealand’s biggest and most controversial criminal cases… --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-341-the-christchurch-civic-creche Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content warning: Sexual assault *** When 22-year-old aspiring journalist Elisabeth Membrey failed to answer her phone on December 7 1994, her loved ones knew something was wrong. A visit to her Ringwood East unit confirmed their suspicions when blood stains were found on the carpet, but Elisabeth herself was nowhere to be seen. With Elisabeth’s disappearance declared to be a homicide, her parents, Roger and Joy Membrey, refused to give up the search for answers. But with one twist after another, they could never have anticipated the journey that lay ahead. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-340-elisabeth-membrey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warning: gun violence *** When Larry Phillips Junior and Emil Mătăsăreanu entered the North Hollywood branch of the Bank of America on February 28 1997, no one could have predicted the chaos that was about to ensue. What followed was 44 minutes of pure mayhem. --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Anonymous Host & Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-11-north-hollywood-shootout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Friday, August 20 2010, officers from the Holmes County Sheriff's Department were called to Vortex Spring, a commercially operated dive park just outside the Florida town of Ponce de Leon. A 30-year-old scuba diver from Tennessee by the name of Ben McDaniel had failed to resurface after diving into the narrow cave network under the basin of the spring two nights earlier, and nobody had seen or heard from him since. When a recovery mission failed to find any sign of Ben, his loved ones and members of the cave diving community were left in shock. Was Ben stuck in an unexplored part of the cave somewhere, or was something else entirely at play? --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-10-ben-mcdaniel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warning: serial killer, extreme violence *** In early 1993, Frankston resident Donna received a series of unnerving prank calls. Afraid of being home alone, she accompanied her boyfriend during his pizza delivery shift, only to return home to find her worst fears had come true. Her pet cats had been killed, and written in blood on the lounge room wall were the words: ‘Donna, you’re dead.’ This marked the beginning of a five-month crime spree that terrorised locals and resulted in the murders of three young women – Elizabeth Stevens, Deborah Fream and Natalie Russell. The perpetrator was dubbed ‘The Frankston Serial Killer’, but who was he, and when would he strike again? --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Anonymous Host Additional writing & editing – Erin Munro Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-9-the-frankston-serial-killer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 3 of 3] *** Content warning: Gun violence, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, child abuse *** The standoff between the FBI and the Branch Davidians held firm for more than a month, with David Koresh and his followers refusing to surrender. After attempting both negotiation tactics and more aggressive approaches for 51 days, the FBI implements a plan to force the Branch Davidians out, a plan that will have devastating consequences and will change the face of the United States forever. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-339-waco-part-3-3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 2 of 3] *** Content warning: Gun violence, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, child abuse *** In 1992, a chance discovery by a UPS delivery driver would lead to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – commonly known as the ATF – launching an investigation into David Koresh’s activities at Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas. Upon discovering that Koresh’s Branch Davidians were stockpiling illegal weapons, the agency began planning a raid that was also intended to boost their image with the public… but the consequences would be disastrous. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-339-waco-part-2-3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 1 of 3] *** Content warning: Gun violence, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, child abuse *** In 1981, a 20-year-old named Vernon Howell drove more than two hours from his hometown in east Texas to visit a church near Waco that was home to a group known as the Branch Davidians. Vernon would be welcomed into the church’s fold, setting off a course of events that would ultimately end in tragedy and permanently alter the United States of America. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-339-waco-part-1-3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 2 of 2] *** Content warning: child victims *** As police looked into the deaths of Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura Folbigg, they were introduced to Meadows Law – the theory that one infant death is a tragedy, two is suspicious, but three is murder. With suspicion mounting against Kathleen Folbigg, years of investigation eventually led to a legal outcome that no one could have ever seen coming. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-338-the-folbigg-children-part-2-2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 1 of 2] *** Content warning: child victims *** Married couple Craig and Kathleen Folbigg wanted nothing more than to be parents. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, Kathleen gave birth to four children—Caleb, Patrick, Sarah and Laura—but tragically, none of them survived past their second birthdays. While each death was initially attributed to natural causes, the question started to emerge – had Kathleen done something to harm her children? --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-338-the-folbigg-children-part-1-2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 4 of 4] *** Content warning: child victims *** As police closed in on the elusive B.T.K, they received a floppy disk that contained some stunning information – including the name: Dennis... --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-337-test-a-rtf-part-4-4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 3 of 4] *** Content warning: child victims *** B.T.K resumed his cat-and-mouse game with police, who raced to identify and capture the serial killer before he could strike again… --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-337-test-a-rtf-part-3-4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 2 of 4] *** Content warning: child victims *** After claiming seven victims and terrorising Wichita for nearly three decades, the unidentified killer known as B.T.K. suddenly fell silent. Then, in 2004, a letter bearing his unmistakable signature arrived at a local newspaper… --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-337-test-a-rtf-part-2-4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 1 of 4] *** Content warning: child victims *** The quiet suburban life of Wichita, Kansas, was shattered in 1974 when four members of the Otero family, Joe, Julie and their two youngest children, Josie and Joey, were found brutally murdered in their home. Nine months later, a letter was discovered inside a public library book that contained detailed, accurate, insider-knowledge about the crime. Worse still, the writer claimed responsibility for the murders and threatened to kill again. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-337-test-a-rtf-part-1-4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warning: Child victims*** On September 15 2006, detectives began investigating the sexual assault of 24-year-old Tiffany Hall from East St. Louis, Illinois. The assault had caused Tiffany to miscarry her 7-month old foetus. A week later, police received a tip-off that would break the case wide open, revealing unimaginable horrors that devastated a family and an entire community. --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Holly Boyd Production & music – Mike Migas Music - Andrew D.B. Joslyn Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-8-the-tunstall-family Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warning: Crime against a child *** In 1998, the Easter holiday in Victoria, Australia, got off to a tragic beginning when 12-year-old Nicky Fleming was killed in a car accident while travelling to a family camping trip. But what initially looked like a single vehicle tragedy turned out to be a crime. And whoever had hit the Fleming family’s car had fled the scene… --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Vikki Petraitis Production & music – Mike Migas Music - Andrew D.B. Joslyn Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-7-nicky-flemin g Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warning: Self-harm *** On May 17 2008, Swedish twin sisters Ursula and Sabina Eriksson boarded a bus from Liverpool to London. After a routine road stop, the bus driver noticed the twins were acting suspiciously and were clinging tightly to their bags. Concerned, the driver refused to let Ursula and Sabina back on board. Soon after, two patrol officers were called to an incident on the M6 motorway near the English city of Stoke-on-Trent. Expecting the worst, the officers were surprised to find the Erikkson twins standing calmly and unscathed on the shoulder of the motorway. But within a few minutes, the seemingly calm situation took a frightening turn. --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Anonymous Host Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-6-the-eriksson-twins Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warning: child victims *** Oklahoma teenager Ashley Freeman celebrated her sixteenth birthday by inviting her best friend, Lauria Bible, over for a sleepover. It was a pleasant yet uneventful evening, until the following morning of December 30 1999, when neighbours noticed that the Freemans’ house was engulfed in flames. Emergency services quickly arrived at the scene, where they found the charred remains of Ashley’s mother, Kathy. She had also been shot in the head. The fire was ruled to be arson, but where were Lauria, Ashley or Ashley’s father, Danny? --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Anonymous Host Additional writing - Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-5-lauria-bible-ashley-freeman Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When school friends Jessica Wongso and Mirna Salihin caught up for coffee in Jakarta’s upscale Olivier Cafe in January 2016, it was supposed to be a friendly get together. Then, moments after taking a sip from her Vietnamese iced coffee, Mirna collapsed and died. What unravelled was one of Indonesia’s most controversial murder trials with the question on everyone's lips - did Jessica Wongso poison Mirna with cyanide? --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-4-mirna-salihin Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warnings: Sexual assault, child sexual assault, arson, animal cruelty *** When 32-year-old Tina Herrmann didn’t show up for work on Wednesday, November 10 2010, her manager immediately alerted the authorities. Soon they found that not only had Tina vanished, but so had her two children - 13-year-old Sarah Maynard and 11-year-old Kody Maynard - and her best friend, 41-year-old Stephanie Sprang. To make matters worse, there were bloodstains discovered throughout Tina’s home. Soon, clues would lead detectives to a disconcerting scene - a rundown house filled from top to bottom with leaves… --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-3-tina-herrmann-kody-maynard-stephanie-sprang Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In December 1948, the body of an unidentified male was found on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, South Australia. It initially appeared the man had simply passed away in his sleep, but as police looked into his death, they discovered a series of bizarre and unexplainable clues that presented more questions than answers. Was the Somerton Man an international spy? If so, what was he doing in Adelaide? And what significance did the ancient Persian text found in his pocket hold? --- Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Anonymous Host Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-2-the-somerton-man Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.