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The Veil

Brevity Studios

The Veil is a chilling true crime podcast that pulls listeners deep into the world’s darkest and most haunting cases. Hosted by Ryan Wolf, each episode is crafted like an immersive thriller - a story told not just through facts, but through atmosphere, tension, and detail that makes you feel as though you’re standing inside the crime scene itself.


These are not urban legends or ghost stories; every case is real, every victim and every clue drawn from documented fact.


From unsolved murders to bizarre disappearances, infamous trials to cold cases that still whisper through history, The Veil strips back the layers of time and rumor to confront the unsettling truths hidden beneath.


With an eye for detail and a voice that guides you through the shadows, Ryan brings both journalistic rigor and cinematic storytelling to each 30-minute episode. What emerges is an experience that is at once gripping and unnerving, reminding us that the scariest stories are not fiction at all.


Pull back The Veil - but beware. Because sometimes, when we lift it, we don’t like what we find.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • 31 episodes
  • Avg 39 min
  • English

Episodes 31

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  • S1 · E63
    Monday · 41 min

    E61 | Murder at Sea? Part Two - Fatal Honeymoon (AUS)

    Eleven days after her wedding, 26-year-old Tina Watson died on a honeymoon dive 48 nautical miles off Townsville. She was found on the sea bed in 30 metres of water with her regulator in her mouth and most of her air still in her tank. Her husband, Gabe Watson, was committed for trial for her murder by a Queensland coroner, pleaded guilty instead to manslaughter by criminal negligence, served 18 months, was deported, and was then tried for capital murder in Alabama. That trial collapsed before the defence called a witness. Two countries, eight years, one conviction, one acquittal, and no jury verdict of any kind about how she died. A NOTE ON SOURCING David Gabriel "Gabe" Watson was convicted in Queensland on his own plea of manslaughter on the basis of criminal negligence, for failing in the duty he undertook as his wife's dive buddy. He was sentenced on 5 June 2009 to four and a half years imprisonment suspended after 12 months, increased on the Attorney-General's appeal to suspension after 18 months. He was acquitted of murder in Jefferson County, Alabama, on 23 February 2012, on a judgment of acquittal granted by Circuit Judge Tommy Nail at the close of the state's case. An acquittal cannot be appealed. No court in either country has found that he intended to kill his wife, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence. As at September 2026 there have been no further proceedings against him anywhere. The theory that he interfered with his wife's air supply was advanced publicly by Queensland investigators. It was never tested at trial, never proved and was abandoned. It was also never disproved. The Police Diving Squad's examination of her equipment found no life-threatening fault in any part of it and her cylinder still held 2,200 psi, which rules out a malfunction but is consistent with either an accident or the police theory. Two official records conflict on how she died. The coroner recorded drowning. Chesterman JA, in the Court of Appeal, found she did not drown and that the cause was asphyxiation, "for some reason wholly unexplained in the materials provided". That conflict is left standing in the episode because neither court has resolved it. The coroner's findings date Watson's rescue diver certification to 2001; the agreed statement of facts before the Court of Appeal says April 1999. The episode uses the agreed facts. Mike Ball Expeditions Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Cairns Magistrates Court on 9 May 2007 to a workplace health and safety offence and was fined $6,500 plus $1,500 in costs, for failing to follow its own procedures, which the inquest was told were significantly stricter than Queensland law required. Trial testimony comes from court reporting, reliable as to substance but not exact wording. One witness quotation is paraphrased. SOURCES Inquest into the death of Christina Mae Watson, Findings of Inquest, Coroner David Glasgow, Townsville, delivered 20 June 2008. courts.qld.gov.au R v Watson; ex parte A-G (Qld) [2009] QCA 279, 18 September 2009. Statement of David Gabriel Watson to Det Snr Const K J Gehringer, Townsville CIB, 22 October 2003. QPS Police Diving Squad, evaluation of scuba equipment, Snr Const D M E Netting, 10 September 2004. Victoria Colvin, "Plea Bargaining and Miscarriage of Justice" (2015) 34 University of Queensland Law Journal. Queensland Museum, SS Yongala online exhibition. Contemporaneous court reporting of the Alabama trial, February 2012. SUPPORT This episode deals with a sudden death and with a family's long grief. New Zealand: free call or text 1737. Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14, Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E62
    Sunday · 40 min

    E60 | Murder at Sea? The Joyita Mystery (NZ/Pacific)

    Before dawn on 3 October 1955, the MV Joyita left Apia on one engine, bound for Tokelau with 25 people aboard, among them a doctor on his way to operate, Tokelau's District Officer, and two children aged 3 and 11. She never arrived. Five weeks later she was found drifting north of Fiji, flooded and listing, with nobody aboard. Her life rafts, logbook, navigation gear and the captain's guns were gone. On deck was a doctor's bag holding a scalpel and blood-stained bandages. A 1956 Commission of Inquiry explained the flooding, but found the fate of the 25 "inexplicable on the evidence." So was it an accident at sea, or a crime? IN MEMORY Thomas Henry Miller, Charles R. Simpson, Tekokaa Teeweka, Aberaam Tanini, Henry McCarthy Jr, Penaia Kolio Pedro, Ihaia Kitiona Faraimo, Tagifano Latafoti Lepaio, Haipele Fihaga Himona, Ioakimi Iapeha Apete, Himeti Falaniko Mohe, Tuhaga Hila Elekana, Leota Telepu Kolo, Mohe Maota Peleti, James William Wallwork, George Kendall Williams, Takama Lapana, Tekai Lapana, Liua Noama Rosaiti Faiva, Founuku Uluola Talama, Herbert Hodgkinson, Alfred Denis Parsons, Roger Derrick Pearless, Joseph Hipili Pereira, Tomoniko Teofilo. Memorials stand at Mulinu'u Point, Apia, and on Fakaofo (2012). The Atafu Tokelau Community Group keeps a page on the families' campaign for formal declarations of death: matauala.org.nz A NOTE ON SOURCING This is a historical case. No one was ever charged and no court has found that any crime occurred. The mutiny theory involving Captain Miller and mate Chuck Simpson comes from Miller's friend Capt. S. B. Brown and the writer Robin Maugham (1962). It was never proved, and both men are presumed long dead. The 1956 Commission report (C. C. Marsack) could not be obtained for this episode; its findings are taken from reporting, including by a journalist who covered the inquiry. Criticism of the inquiry (a "suppressed" witness, the Fiji Guardian editor's unpublished report) reaches us through one family memoir and is untested. The "four tons" of missing cargo conflicts with the owners' representatives' 1955 statement that provisions were still aboard. The cash figure comes from reports at the time. The Thelma Todd link is ownership only. Status of death declarations checked 11 Sep 2026. SOURCES RNZ, "Call for coronial hearing into Tokelau's Joyita tragedy", 8 Mar 2012 Atafu Tokelau Community Group, "Joyita - Unsolved Mystery" (incl. PMN, 2022) matauala.org.nz Terry Dunleavy tribute, Savali News, 11 Mar 2012 Rosemary Francis, "A Watery Grave", Pae Koroki, Tauranga City Libraries, 2013 Julie Parsons, Westmeath Independent, 28 Oct 2020; julieparsons.ie Te Vakai (Tokelau Government), 10th ed., 2012 China Mail, 21 and 23 Nov 1955 (UP wires); Life, 12 Dec 1955; FATE, Apr 1961 (archive.org) Fiji Times, "Joyita - the ghost ship mystery", 5 May 2014 Martinborough Star, 8 May 2023; Fijivillage, 7 Mar 2012 David G. Wright, Joyita: Solving the Mystery (AUP, 2002); Robin Maugham, The Joyita Mystery (1962); John Harris, Without Trace (1981) SUPPORT This episode discusses sudden death and loss at sea. NZ: 1737 (call or text). AU: Lifeline 13 11 14. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E61
    September 6 · 42 min

    E59 | In Cold Blood | Part One of the Book Series

    On a Monday morning in November 1959, Truman Capote found a three hundred word wire story deep inside the New York Times. A wheat farmer, his wife and two of their children had been found bound and shot in their farmhouse in western Kansas. Nothing had been stolen. Capote went to Kansas with Harper Lee, stayed six years, and wrote the book that made true crime respectable. This episode tells both stories at once: what happened to Herb, Bonnie, Nancy and Kenyon Clutter, and what happened to the facts on their way into In Cold Blood. It ends with the two daughters who survived, and the letter they sent to everyone who asked. IN MEMORY The Clutters are buried at Valley View Cemetery, Garden City. A shelter at the Kansas State 4-H camp at Rock Springs Ranch, a stained glass window at the First United Methodist Church in Garden City, and the Garden City Co-op building are dedicated to the family. The 1959 murders of Cliff, Christine, Jimmie and Debbie Walker at Osprey, Florida, remain an open investigation with the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. A NOTE ON SOURCING Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were convicted of all four murders on 29 March 1960 and hanged on 14 April 1965. The Kansas Supreme Court never determined which man fired which shot; both were guilty as principals. Hickock's signed statement blamed Smith for all four; Smith's first account had Hickock shooting Nancy and Bonnie, and he later asked to take all four himself but signed neither version. The sequence inside the house is taken from the Kansas Supreme Court's 1961 judgment only. Neither man was ever charged over the Walker murders; the 2013 DNA result was inconclusive and the lab work has since been found contaminated. We have named nobody else. Capote's account of the night is attributed to him wherever it appears. The two versions of the last words are as reported by the wire services and by Capote; Phillip Tompkins's 1966 witnesses are the source for the claim that Capote did not hear them. The 1965 wire text was reached through a secondary source. On Bonnie Clutter's health we report only what her family said in 2005 and what Capote wrote. The daughters' letter and interviews are from the Lawrence Journal-World, 2005. As of September 2026 the KBI investigative file has not been released; the Nye notebooks were published in 2019. SOURCES State v. Hickock and Smith, 188 Kan. 473 (1961): law.justia.com/cases/kansas/supreme-court/1961/42-068-0.html Hickock v. Crouse, 334 F.2d 95 (10th Cir. 1964): law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/334/95/108910/ State ex rel. Schmidt v. Nye, Kansas Court of Appeals, 2019: law.justia.com/cases/kansas/court-of-appeals/2019/118666.html New York Times, 16 Nov 1959, "Wealthy Farmer, 3 Of Family Slain" (NYT archive) George Plimpton, "The Story Behind a Nonfiction Novel", NYT, 16 Jan 1966 (NYT archive) Garden City Telegram, 16 Nov 1959 and 4 Jan 1960; AP, 30 Mar 1960 and 8 Apr 1965 Kansas Memory, Hickock and Smith inmate files and execution witness list: kansasmemory.gov/item/208965 Lawrence Journal-World, "In Cold Blood: A Legacy", 3 to 5 Apr 2005 (Patrick Smith, Melissa Lee, Van Jensen) Kevin Helliker, Wall Street Journal, 8 Feb 2013, and On the Media, 15 Feb 2013 Phillip K. Tompkins, "In Cold Fact", Esquire, June 1966; Purdue oral history, 2015 Casey Cep, Furious Hours (2019); Gerald Clarke, Capote (1988); Too Brief a Treat (2004) Tampa Bay Times / CBS News, 6 Feb 2023, and ABC News, 14 Aug 2013, on the Walker case SUPPORT This episode describes the murder of a family including two children, and discusses capital punishment. If you need to talk to someone: New Zealand, call or text 1737. Australia, Lifeline 13 11 14. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E60
    August 31 · 40 min

    E58 | Who turned off the light? The disappearance of Eloise Worledge (AUS)

    In January 1976, eight year old Eloise Worledge went to bed in her family's home on Scott Street, Beaumaris. Her father looked in on her at 11:40pm. At 7:30am her younger brother and sister woke their parents to say Ella was not in her room. The flyscreen on her window had been cut and rolled back, but forensic examination found the cut was made from the inside, the dust and cobwebs undisturbed, and the scene staged. Fifty years on, Eloise has never been found, nobody has been charged, and a coroner's open finding is the only formal answer anyone has. IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING On 13 January 2026, the fiftieth anniversary, Victoria Police announced a reward of up to $1 million. It is offered at the discretion of the Chief Commissioner of Police for information leading to the discovery of Eloise's remains, or the apprehension and subsequent conviction of the person or persons responsible. Police say it is currently the only reward of its kind in Victoria because it pays for the recovery of remains, not only for a conviction. The Director of Public Prosecutions may grant an informant indemnity from prosecution. The investigation remains open with the Victoria Police Missing Persons Squad. Police believe Eloise was murdered. Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 Confidential online report: crimestoppersvic.com.au You do not have to give your name. A NOTE ON SOURCING Nobody has ever been charged over Eloise Worledge's disappearance. Her parents, Lindsay and Patsy Worledge, were treated as suspects from the first days and lived under public suspicion for decades. No evidence implicating either was ever found. A 2001 cold case review found none, and Victoria Police have since told the family they have concluded the parents were not involved. Lindsay died in 2017 and Patsy in 2022, before that conclusion was conveyed. Alistair Duncan Webster, named in this episode, died in 2020. He had convictions for sexual offences in 1953, 1970 and 1972. He was never charged over Eloise Worledge, and no court or coroner has found he had any involvement. The case for examining him is ABC journalist Russell Jackson's, and Jackson states he found circumstantial evidence and coincidences but nothing definitive. Police say they cannot comment on individuals. The Board of Inquiry into historical child sexual abuse at Beaumaris Primary School reported in February 2024 and found no connection between Eloise's disappearance and the abuse at the school. Coroner Frank Hender's 2003 finding is not published online, so we worked from contemporaneous reporting of it. The 631 page police coronial brief is not public. Some widely repeated details about that night could not be traced to a source and were left out. The argument in Part Two that a staged window is equally consistent with an intruder misdirecting the search is the host's own analysis, not any investigator's finding. SOURCES Victoria Police cold case, missing person and reward pages, police.vic.gov.au Board of Inquiry into Historical Child Sexual Abuse in Beaumaris Primary School and Certain Other Government Schools, final report, Chair Kathleen Foley SC, February 2024 Russell Jackson, ABC News, 11 and 14 January 2026 ABC News, 13 January 2026 and 7 July 2003 Australian Women's Weekly, January 2026 SUPPORT This episode deals with the abduction and presumed murder of a child, and with historical child sexual abuse. New Zealand: 1737 call or text. Safe to Talk 0800 044 334. Family violence 0800 456 450. Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14. Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E59
    August 30 · 49 min

    E57.5 | BONUS - While the Baby Slept: Jess Rigby (companion to Episode 57)

    A companion to Episode 57 — the death of Jason Rigby On the evening of 14 December 2024, Jess Rigby and her husband Chris had put their youngest to bed and started a movie when the calls began. Chris's brother Jason, forty years old and second-in-charge of a resort in Nadi, had died in his staff apartment that morning — ten hours earlier, on the other side of the Pacific, with a stab wound to the chest. By the time the family were told, the scene had already been cleared and released. In this conversation Jess describes what the twenty months since have been like: three trips to Fiji, a private investigator, a missing phone, a knife nobody can account for, a toxicology form with a word crossed out - and the single document her family has been given about how Jason died. IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING Jason's family want to hear from anyone who worked at, or stayed at, the Crowne Plaza Fiji Nadi Bay Resort & Spa on 14 December 2024. There were hundreds of guests and hundreds of staff on the property that day, and almost none has ever been asked what they saw. No detail is too small. Justice for Jason Rigby — on Instagram and Facebook Or message anonymously via theguiltpodcast.com and it will be passed to the family. THE BOOK WHILE THE BABY SLEPT: A Family's Fight for Justice in Fiji Over the Unsolved Death of Jason Rigby, by Jessica Rigby (Hembury Books), publishes 24 November 2026. Ebook pre-orders are open now: amazon.com/dp/B0HGL7VG7P A NOTE ON SOURCING Nobody has been charged with any offence in relation to Jason Rigby's death, and no court or coroner has made any finding about how he died. The Fiji Police Force's public position, stated by Assistant Commissioner Mesake Waqa in June 2025, is that they could not establish foul play and that there was no cover-up. People who were present or nearby that morning are referred to in this conversation. None of them has been charged with anything, all are entitled to the presumption of innocence, and nothing said here should be taken as alleging criminal conduct by any of them. What Jess describes of what happened inside that apartment is her family's understanding of what they have been told. It is not a matter of record, because the record has not been released to them. There were two post-mortem examinations — one in Fiji, and a second by the Queensland Coroner after Jason was repatriated — and the family has been permitted to read neither. The reason given for withholding the Queensland report is that the matter forms part of an open investigation in Fiji. No wound count, no toxicology beyond a single alcohol screen, no scene examination, no witness statement and no incident report has ever been made public. Fiji Police referred the file to a Resident Magistrate in March 2025 recommending a full inquest. As at the end of August 2026, no inquest finding is on the public record. For the full case, the timeline and the sources, listen to Episode 57. SUPPORT This episode concerns a death officially recorded as suicide, and a family who do not accept that finding. If it raises anything difficult for you: New Zealand — 1737, call or text any time. Safe to Talk 0800 044 334. Australia — Lifeline 13 11 14. Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E58
    August 30 · 27 min

    E57 | Jason Rigby (Aus/Fiji)

    On the morning of 14 December 2024, Jason Rigby put on a suit, went to a meeting, and told colleagues in the lobby of the Fijian resort he had helped build that he would see them in half an hour. He was forty, the resort's executive assistant manager, living in staff quarters a hundred metres away. Within that half hour he was stabbed in the chest. His scene was cleared by four o'clock that afternoon — before his family in Australia had been told he was dead. Twenty months later they have obtained exactly one document about how he died, and somebody had already crossed a word out of it. IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING Jason's family want to hear from anyone who worked at, or stayed at, the Crowne Plaza Fiji Nadi Bay Resort & Spa on 14 December 2024. There were hundreds of guests and hundreds of staff on the property that day, and almost none has ever been asked what they saw. No detail is too small. LINKS Justice for Jason Rigby — on Instagram and Facebook Or message anonymously via theguiltpodcast.com and it will be passed to the family. Jessica Rigby's account of the case, WHILE THE BABY SLEPT: A Family's Fight for Justice in Fiji Over the Unsolved Death of Jason Rigby (Hembury Books), publishes 24 November 2026. Ebook pre-orders are open now: amazon.com/dp/B0HGL7VG7P A NOTE ON SOURCING Nobody has been charged with any offence in relation to Jason Rigby's death, and no court or coroner has made any finding about how he died. The Fiji Police Force's public position, stated by Assistant Commissioner Mesake Waqa in June 2025, is that they could not establish foul play and that there was no cover-up. Everyone who was near Jason that morning is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and nothing in this episode should be taken as suggesting otherwise. None of them is named in this episode. Almost nothing about this death has been released. There were two post-mortem examinations — one in Fiji, one by the Queensland Coroner after Jason was repatriated — and his family has been permitted to read neither. The reason given for withholding the Queensland report is that the matter forms part of an open investigation in Fiji. No wound count, no toxicology beyond a single alcohol screen, no scene examination and no witness statement has been made public. Accounts of what happened inside the flat come from Jason's family, and are their understanding of what they have been told rather than established fact. The published record on this case amounts to three things: the Fijian reporting of December 2024, the 60 Minutes broadcast of June 2025 and the police response to it, and Mamamia's interview with Jess Rigby in June 2026. The rest comes from the family. Fiji Police referred the file to a Resident Magistrate in March 2025 recommending a full inquest. As at the end of August 2026, no inquest finding is on the public record. SOURCES The Fiji Times, 16 Dec 2024 — the resort's statement that there was no criminal investigation FBC News, 17 Dec 2024 — ACP Mesake Waqa's first statement fijivillage / FBC News, 22–23 Jun 2025 — "We could not establish any foul play... there is no cover up" 60 Minutes Australia, "Murder in Paradise", 22 Jun 2025 Mamamia, Gemma Bath, 30 Jun 2026 True Crime Conversations (Mamamia) — "A Families' Fight For Answers After A Death In Paradise" Interview with Jess Rigby, 26 Aug 2026 SUPPORT This episode concerns a death officially recorded as suicide. If it raises anything difficult for you: New Zealand — 1737, call or text any time. Safe to Talk 0800 044 334. Australia — Lifeline 13 11 14. Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E57
    August 27 · 1 hr 8 min

    E52.5 | BONUS - Hunting Elly's Killer: Paul Warren, ten years on (companion to Episode 52)

    Elly Rose Warren was twenty years old, three days from flying home, when she was found dead beside a toilet block at Tofo Beach in Mozambique on 9 November 2016. The Mozambican autopsy recorded a violent death — a homicide — with sand obstructing her airways. The Australian autopsy left the cause undetermined. Nearly ten years later nobody has been charged, and almost everything now known about how Elly died was found by her father. In this conversation Paul Warren describes what he found: a crime scene he believes was altered before investigators arrived, a photograph that existed for two years before his family was shown it, clothing that never came home, and an Australian agency he says did not go to Mozambique officially until seven years after his daughter died. ELLY WARREN — THE TRUE FACTS Paul has published his entire ten-year investigation, including scanned primary documents, at ellywarren.net. If you take one thing from this episode, take that. THE ELLY WARREN PROTOCOL Paul's proposed reform for what should happen when an Australian dies overseas in suspicious circumstances — putting the coroner in control from the start, and using state homicide expertise rather than leaving families to investigate for themselves. It is set out on his website. It has not been taken up. THE BOOK HUNTING ELLY'S KILLER: A father's relentless pursuit of justice, by Paul Warren (Simon & Schuster Australia, ISBN 9781761636486). Available in print, ebook and audiobook. https://www.simonandschuster.com.au/books/Hunting-Ellys-Killer/Paul-Warren/9781761636486 Kindle: amazon.com.au/dp/B0GR1JY5H4 Ebook ISBN 9781761636493 — also at Booktopia, Dymocks, Readings, QBD and Mighty Ape in New Zealand. IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING If you were at Tofo Beach in November 2016, or know anything about what happened there, you can reach us through theguiltpodcast.com — anonymously if you prefer. Anything concerning Elly is passed to Paul directly. A NOTE ON SOURCING Nobody has been charged with any offence in connection with Elly Warren's death. The Victorian coronial inquest was held in 2023. Judge John Cain delivered his findings on 15 December 2023: the cause of death was aspiration of a large amount of sand; he could not determine how the sand came to be there; he could not rule on whether the death was a homicide; he found it possible that a person or people caused or contributed to her death; he could not say whether she died where she was found or was moved there; and he could not determine whether she had been sexually assaulted, though he accepted it was possible. Three post-mortem examinations reached different conclusions — in Mozambique, in South Africa and in Melbourne — and all three found sand in her airways. The Melbourne finding of "undetermined" was later amended following evidence at the inquest. Paul is severely critical of the Australian Federal Police, the Mozambican police and the Victorian coronial process. Those criticisms are his, they are strongly held, and the documents he relies on are published on his website for you to read and weigh. Nothing in this episode should be taken as alleging criminal conduct by any identified person. SOURCES ellywarren.net — Paul Warren's published investigation and primary documents Coroners Court of Victoria — inquest into the death of Elly Rose Warren, findings delivered 15 December 2023 ABC News, 22 August 2023 and 15 December 2023 — inquest and findings reporting Hunting Elly's Killer, Paul Warren (Simon & Schuster Australia) Interview with Paul Warren, recorded 25 August 2026 SUPPORT This episode concerns the unexplained death of a young woman overseas, and refers to the possibility of sexual assault. If it raises anything difficult for you: New Zealand — 1737, call or text any time. Safe to Talk 0800 044 334. Australia — Lifeline 13 11 14. 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732. Hosted by Ryan Wolf. brevityplus.com While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E55
    August 24 · 37 min

    E55 | How did she Fall? The Case of Warriena Wright and Gable Tostee (NZ/AUS)

    Warriena Tagpuno Wright was 26, a New Zealander, and had flown to Queensland for a friend's wedding. In the early hours of 8 August 2014 she fell 14 floors from a balcony at the Avalon apartments in Surfers Paradise. Almost the entire night had been recorded on the phone of the man she had met that evening — hours of audio, later played to a jury in Brisbane. In October 2016 Gable Tostee was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter. Two months later the Queensland State Coroner reopened the coronial investigation into how she died. Nearly ten years on, no finding has been published. A NOTE ON SOURCING Gable Tostee was tried in the Supreme Court of Queensland and acquitted of murder and of manslaughter on 20 October 2016. He has never been convicted of any offence in relation to Warriena Wright's death, and this episode does not suggest he should have been. The defence case is set out at length, including evidence from the recording of Warriena's own conduct that night. Nothing about his life after the verdict appears in the episode; that is a deliberate editorial decision, stated on air. A sound described as choking-like is audible on the recording. The pathologist, Dr Dianne Little, found reddening around Warriena's neck but considered it more likely caused by the fall than by strangulation, and found no internal neck injury. Those two pieces of evidence sit together in the episode and have never been publicly reconciled. A coroner in Queensland cannot find that anyone is guilty of an offence or civilly liable. The reopened coronial investigation was never a second prosecution. The statement that no coronial finding has been published is based on a direct search of the Coroners Court of Queensland findings archive and its inquest proceedings list, both checked on 20 August 2026. Not every coronial investigation produces a published document, so this establishes that nothing is publicly available — not that nothing was done. SOURCES ABC News trial coverage, October 2016, including "The Tinder date and the fatal fall" (20 Oct 2016) and the pathology evidence (13 Oct 2016): abc.net.au ABC News, "Plea for help from sister of Warriena Tagpuno Wright", 14 Aug 2014 RNZ court reporting: "Tostee trial: Jury hears Warriena Wright's last words"; "Warriena Wright had 80 injuries after balcony fall, court told"; "Gable Tostee found not guilty of killing Warriena Wright": rnz.co.nz The New Daily, "Coroner reopens investigation into Warriena Wright balcony death", 18 Dec 2016 Coroners Court of Queensland — findings archive, inquest proceedings list, and guidance on coroners' powers: coronerscourt.qld.gov.au SUPPORT This episode deals with a violent death, family violence and alcohol. New Zealand: 1737 (call or text, any time) · Family violence 0800 456 450 · Women's Refuge 0800 REFUGE · Alcohol Drug Helpline 0800 787 797 Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E54
    August 23 · 41 min

    E54 | Finding Alysha (NZ/USA)

    On 10 December 2001, her 24th birthday, Alysha Krsangi Hanin flew out of New Zealand for Florida, having just left her three-year-old son with his grandmother. The plan was to collect her things in Miami and come home to raise him here. Four weeks later, in the small hours of Sunday 6 January 2002, she left the Shore Club hotel on Collins Avenue to get something to eat, and was never seen again. Her passport, purse, luggage, ID and credit cards were still in her room. Nobody reported her missing for three weeks. In the 24 years since: no verified sighting, no activity on her accounts. Police suspect foul play. Nobody has ever been charged. IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING Miami Beach Police confirm the case is active. Her family asks five questions: Did you know Alysha — as Alysha, Krsangi or Yami — in Miami, Los Angeles, or within the Hare Krishna community, before 2002? Were you at or near the Shore Club on Collins Avenue in early January 2002 — including working there, on the door, valet, desk, housekeeping or bar? Do you remember seeing or hearing from her, anywhere, after 6 January 2002? Do you have photographs, letters or recordings in which she appears? Did anyone you know ever speak about her disappearance, then or since? Crime Stoppers of Miami-Dade: 305-471-TIPS (anonymous) Miami Beach Police Department: 305-673-7900 — case 2002-3368 Florida Dept of Law Enforcement: 1-888-FL-MISSING (1-888-356-4774) Tips direct to her family, anonymously if you wish: findingalysha.com A NOTE ON SOURCING Nobody has ever been arrested, charged or named. Alysha Hanin is legally a missing person: no finding of death, no inquest, no judgment anywhere in this case. "Foul play is suspected" is Miami Beach Police's published position, not a finding. The episode refers to a former boyfriend who spoke briefly to the family's private investigator and then left the state. He has never been named, arrested or charged, and nothing in the record suggests any involvement. He is not named or described here, and no inference should be drawn. Almost everything known about the New Zealand end comes from two articles by one reporter — Katie Ham at Stuff, Jan 2024, republished by RNZ: one outlet, not two. The Miami reporting is Miami Herald copy syndicated across several sites, plus independent television reporting by Bridgette Matter at WPLG Local 10. The episode mentions that Alysha told her family she had been invited to party on Jeffrey Epstein's island. That comes from a single outlet, is an account of things she said, has never been tested, names or implicates no one, and is not connected to her disappearance. Cilla Senk's account of clothing returned to her that she did not recognise is her account, not a forensic finding; nothing indicates it was ever examined. Her recollection of a call with Interpol in Wellington is her own account, unanswered by any agency. Sources conflict on when she left the hotel and why she was in Miami; the episode sets out both and resolves neither. SOURCES Katie Ham, Stuff, 18 & 27 Jan 2024 (also on RNZ): stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350152238 Bridgette Matter, WPLG Local 10, 13 Aug 2026: local10.com Miami Herald, Jan 2024 and 15 Aug 2026 NamUs MP19635: namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP19635 The Charley Project: charleyproject.org/case/alysha-krsangi-hanin The family's site: findingalysha.com SUPPORT This episode deals with a disappearance, sexual exploitation and drug use. New Zealand: 1737 (call or text, any time) · Safe to Talk 0800 044 334 · Alcohol Drug Helpline 0800 787 797 · Women's Refuge 0800 REFUGE Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14 · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E52
    August 17 · 41 min

    E52 | The Murder of Elly Warren (AUS)

    Elly Warren was 20, from Mordialloc in Melbourne, six weeks into a marine conservation placement and days from flying home to study marine biology. On the night of 8 November 2016 she was last seen outside a bar in Tofo, about half past eleven. At five the next morning a fisherman found her beside a public toilet block less than forty metres away, face down, her clothing disturbed, her airways packed with sand. Three autopsies in three countries reached three different conclusions. Her clothes were incinerated without being tested. Nearly ten years on, nobody has been charged, and the sand has never been compared. IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING No reward has ever been offered in this case. If you were in Tofo on the night of 8 November 2016, worked there, or were told something afterwards, the family are still asking. Elly's father maintains the case archive and a contact page: ellywarren.net In Australia, information can be passed anonymously to Crime Stoppers — 1800 333 000 — or through the AFP's online reporting form at afp.gov.au The questions still open: whether the golden beach sand in Elly's airways came from somewhere other than the dark grey ground she was found on; whether she died at that spot or was moved there; and who was near the market and the bar between 11.30pm and 5am. A NOTE ON SOURCING Nobody has ever been charged over Elly Warren's death, and no person is named as a suspect in this episode. No private individual is named at all. On 15 December 2023 the State Coroner of Victoria, Judge John Cain, found Elly died from aspiration of sand into her lungs. He could not establish how it got there, could not determine whether she died where she was found, and could not establish whether she was sexually assaulted, though he accepted it was possible. He made NO finding of homicide — he found it possible that a person or persons unknown caused or contributed to her death. Mozambique refused to provide its evidence brief to the court. The opinions of retired homicide detective Charlie Bezzina, and the beliefs of Elly's father, are given as opinion and belief. They are not findings. Material concerning the crime-scene photographs, the position of Elly's body and the state of her shirt comes from documents obtained by Paul Warren. It is untested and no court has ruled on it. Much of the detail of Elly's last evening rests on the reporting of a single outlet. The coronial findings are reported here from news coverage; the finding document itself is not published online. SOURCES marie claire Australia — "Mozambique Murder: What Really Happened To 20 Year Old Aussie, Elly Warren?" The most detailed reporting on this case anywhere. The New Daily (AAP), 15 December 2023 — the coronial findings. The Canberra Times (AAP) — inquest evidence of David Cafarella, AFP Commander Andrew Smith and honorary consul Blake Gray. Club of Mozambique — Mozambican police homicide classification, August 2023. Now to Love, Sarah Marinos — interview with Paul Warren. ellywarren.net — Paul Warren's case archive: the three autopsies, the 2019 radiological review, and the Elly Warren Protocol. "Hunting Elly's Killer: A father's relentless pursuit of justice" by Paul Warren, Simon & Schuster Australia, 2026. SUPPORT This episode deals with the violent death of a young woman and with a suspected sexual assault. Australia — 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732. Lifeline: 13 11 14. Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636. New Zealand — Safe to Talk: 0800 044 334. Need to talk? Free call or text 1737. Narrated by Ryan Wolf www.brevityplus.com While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E51
    August 16 · 33 min

    E51 | The Whiskey Au Go Go Murders (AUS)

    At 2.08am on 8 March 1973, two drums of petrol were lit in the foyer beneath the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub. Fifteen people died upstairs of carbon monoxide poisoning, in a first-floor room with one obstructed exit. Every one of them was dead before the fire brigade arrived. And months earlier, a career criminal named John Andrew Stuart had told a journalist — who printed it, and who personally warned the Police Commissioner and the Police Minister — that an empty club would be firebombed first, and then the Whiskey Au Go Go would be burned while it was full of people. On 25 February an empty club burned. Eleven days later, so did the Whiskey. A NOTE ON SOURCING James Finch and John Stuart were convicted in October 1973 of one murder — that of Jennifer Denise Davie, 17. The other fourteen charges were never proceeded with. Stuart died in Boggo Road Gaol in January 1979. Finch was released in 1988 and deported to England, where he confessed to a British newspaper and retracted within a day. He died of Covid in London, and the reopened inquest was told of his death on the opening day of its second tranche. Police fabricated the evidence used to arrest Stuart. That is not in dispute. Finch was convicted largely on a typewritten record of a police interview that he never signed, in Queensland, in the years before the Fitzgerald Inquiry examined that police force. A coronial inquest was reopened in 2017 and sat from June 2021 into 2022 — 30 days, more than 65 witnesses, over 2,000 exhibits — hearing credible evidence that Finch and Stuart did not act alone. As at the time of recording, the coroner's findings had not been delivered. At a 2017 Supreme Court sentencing for the murders of Barbara McCulkin and her daughters, Vincent O'Dempsey told the court he had nothing to do with the Whiskey firebombing, and Justice Peter Applegarth said there was available evidence to the contrary. That is reported here as what was said in open court. It is not a finding about the fire. Mr O'Dempsey has never been charged over the Whiskey Au Go Go and denies any involvement in it. No other person is named in this episode in connection with the fire. Two motives have been argued for fifty years — an extortion campaign, which is what the 1973 jury accepted, and an insurance fraud that went wrong. Neither has been established. SOURCES Geoff Plunkett, The Whiskey Au Go Go Massacre: Murder, Arson and the Crime of the Century (Big Sky Publishing, 2018) — written with access to the original police files Matt Condon, 'What really happened at the Whiskey Au Go Go?', Courier-Mail, 4 March 2023 'Secrets of Whiskey may never come out', Courier-Mail, 8 March 2023 Both archived at whiskeyfire.info Contemporaneous reporting: The Age, 9 and 13 March 1973; 7 January 1974; 2 January 1979; 6 June and 7 July 1984. The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 October 1966; 9 May 1974; 10 February 1984; 24 November 1988. Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, Whiskey Au Go-Go nightclub bombing 1973 Monument Australia — Whiskey Au Go Go Fire Victims SUPPORT This episode deals with mass killing, self-harm and death in custody. Australia — Lifeline: 13 11 14. Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636. New Zealand — Need to talk? Free call or text 1737. www.brevityplus.com While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E49
    August 10 · 39 min

    E49 | How does it Feel to Hug a Murderer? (NZ)

    In July 2011 Bruce Mouat came home drunk from a work function at 1am. Workmates walked him to his own front door. Minutes later he went backwards down the concrete steps outside it. He was 48, worked at the local dairy factory, and led the Taranaki Alpine and Cliff Rescue team. He died in Wellington Hospital eleven days later. Police considered homicide and ruled it out. A coroner found no foul play. At the tangi, his sister told police, his wife had hugged her and asked how it felt to hug a murderer — and the finding was accidental death regardless. It took five more years, and her own friends going to police about what she had been telling them, before Susan Mouat admitted she had pushed him. No new evidence was ever found. IN MEMORY Bruce Mouat led the Taranaki Alpine and Cliff Rescue team, volunteers who turn out for people in trouble on a mountain that has killed more than eighty people since the 1890s. If this episode stays with you, the volunteer search and rescue teams in your region are worth a thought. A NOTE ON SOURCING Susan Mouat pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was convicted. She was never charged with murder, and the Crown accepted she did not intend to kill her husband. All proceedings, including her sentence appeal, concluded in December 2017. Because she pleaded guilty, there was no trial. Her account that she pushed him in self-defence has never been tested by cross-examination, and no court has made findings of fact about what happened at that door. Between 2011 and 2016 she gave police three statements denying involvement before admitting it. Only the final version has ever been accepted, and it was accepted unchallenged. In that account she alleges Bruce was behaving abusively that night. That allegation has never been tested, he cannot answer it, and his family have never accepted it. Her confession is quoted from a transcript released to the Weekend Herald and reported by Kelly Dennett. The remark at the tangi is a witness's recollection recorded in a coronial finding, not a recording. Susan Mouat told the coroner she could not remember saying it, and that if she did, it was black humour. Much of the direct quotation in this episode comes from journalists reporting from court, some of it from a single outlet. Bruce and Susan Mouat's daughter is named in a public judgment; she is not named here, and will not be. No detailed post-mortem or scene evidence in this case has ever been made public. SOURCES Exclusive: What Susan Mouat told police about husband's death / Son of Bruce Mouat breaks his silence — NZ Herald and Herald on Sunday, Kelly Dennett, 2017 Couple had rocky past before fatal fall — RNZ, 13 October 2017 rnz.co.nz/news/national/341480 Wife's guilty plea six years after death — Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 2017, reporting by David Burroughs pressreader.com/new-zealand/taranaki-daily-news/20170905/281479276561336 Fall death ruled accidental — despite wife's quip — NZ Herald, February 2012 Home detention for Susan Mouat / Appeal denied — NZ Herald, 2017 Son of Taranaki manslaughter victim awarded thousands by court — Stuff, 2018 Estate: Kawana-Mouat v Mouat, High Court, 17 July 2018 — summarised at nzbloglex.blogspot.com Sentencing Act 2002, s 15A (home detention) — legislation.govt.nz SUPPORT This episode deals with family violence, alcohol dependence and a death in the home. New Zealand — Family violence: 0800 456 450. Women's Refuge: 0800 REFUGE. Alcohol Drug Helpline: 0800 787 797. Need to talk? Free call or text 1737. Australia — 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732. Lifeline: 13 11 14. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E48
    August 9 · 49 min

    E48 | The Luna Park Ghost Train Fire (AUS)

    On a quiet winter Saturday in 1979, three separate passengers rode the Ghost Train at Sydney's Luna Park, saw a small fire burning inside an imitation fireplace, and thought it was part of the show. Minutes later the ride was an inferno. Seven people died: John Godson and his two young sons, and four Waverley College schoolboys. A fifth boy was lifted out of his carriage seconds before it went in. The coroner could not say how the fire started. Forty-seven years on, a police report sits suppressed, a million-dollar reward stands unclaimed, and the State Coroner has still not decided whether to ask the question again. A $1,000,000 reward remains on offer from the NSW Government and NSW Police for information about the Ghost Train fire. It is unusual, and worth understanding: it does not require the charge or conviction of any person. It is offered for information alone. Strike Force Sedgeman, run by the Homicide Squad's Unsolved Homicide Team, has reviewed the case. Investigators have asked for anything about that night, including: * the group of five men in distinctive motorcycle clothing seen near the Ghost Train shortly before the fire, who left the park quickly as it took hold and were never traced * the smell of kerosene reported around the ride by several people * anything from anyone who gave a statement to police in 1979 and was never called to the inquest * anything about the conduct of the original police investigation Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000\ [nsw.crimestoppers.com.au](https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au)\ Information is treated in strict confidence. Police ask that you do not report information via their social media pages. **A NOTE ON SOURCING** Nobody has ever been charged over this fire. Abe Saffron, Detective Inspector Douglas Knight, Jack Rooklyn and Neville Wran are all deceased and none was ever charged in connection with it. No court has made any finding against any of them in relation to the fire. The allegation that Saffron ordered the fire came from an anonymous source in the ABC's 2021 series and was assessed by independent reviewers as essentially hearsay. The 1981 accusations that Knight took bribes were never tested or proved. Separate and on the public record: in 1974 Justice Athol Moffitt condemned Knight for dishonesty in evidence to his royal commission. On Neville Wran we have followed the independent review commissioned by the ABC and conducted by Rodney Tiffen and Chris Masters, which found no evidence he interfered in the Luna Park lease decision and found the series' suggestion of a direct link between him and Saffron misleading. The same reviewers found the fire was, on the balance of probabilities, arson, and that the police investigation was inadequate and corrupted. The investigation remains open. **SOURCES** Coroner Kevin Anderson, Inquiry into the fire and deaths at Luna Park, findings 3 September 1979 — [coroners.nsw.gov.au](https://coroners.nsw.gov.au)\ ABC Editorial Review 25: Exposed: The Ghost Train Fire, Rodney Tiffen and Chris Masters, August 2021\ ABC News, "Accident or arson?" — Meldrum-Hanna, Begley, Karagic, Balendra, 2021\ NSW Police Force, $1m reward — [police.nsw.gov.au](https://police.nsw.gov.au)\ AAP, Miklos Bolza, 10 September 2024\ Dictionary of Sydney; Australasian Leisure Management; The Conversation **SUPPORT** This episode concerns the deaths of children and the grief of the families left behind. If it lands heavily: Australia — Lifeline 13 11 14, Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636. New Zealand — call or text 1737. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E45
    August 3 · 43 min

    E45 | The Gatton Murders (AUS)

    There was no Australia yet. Six British colonies, six sets of laws, and a farming town of fewer than five hundred people west of Brisbane. On Boxing Day 1898, Michael Murphy and his sisters Norah and Ellen drove ten kilometres into Gatton for a dance that had been cancelled. They turned for home and never arrived. The next morning their brother-in-law followed the tracks of his own sulky into a paddock and found all three dead, arranged in a triangle with a shot horse, their feet pointing west. Within hours, forty townspeople had walked across the only evidence there would ever be. No one was ever charged. A NOTE ON SOURCING Every person named in this episode died more than a century ago. No one was ever charged with the murders of Michael, Norah and Ellen Murphy. No coroner or court has ever made a finding as to who was responsible, and the case remains formally unsolved. Thomas Day, Richard Burgess and William McNeill are named because each was publicly investigated at the time and named in the 1899 Royal Commission material and the Queensland Police Museum's own account. None was ever charged. Nothing here should be taken as a finding against any of them. A man was charged in relation to the death of Alfred Stephen Hill at Oxley in December 1898. That indictment was not proceeded with, and that killing is also unsolved. He is not named here, and some widely-circulated sources are wrong to state the matter as settled. The two sisters were sexually assaulted before they were killed. That is stated plainly in the episode and not described in detail. Where testimony reaches us through a stenographer, then a book, then a retelling, it is described rather than quoted, and the episode says so on air. Direct quotation is confined to the Royal Commission's published findings and to Frederic Urquhart's own published verse. Single-source material — the calibre of the recovered bullets, the reported cry of "Father!", and the conclusion that more than one attacker was involved — is attributed as such. SOURCES Queensland Police Museum, "The Gatton Murders of 1898" — police.qld.gov.au/museum 1899 Royal Commission into the Queensland Police Force — testimony, post-mortem evidence and recommendations (archived copies linked at brevityplus.com) The Telegraph (Brisbane), "Gatton Tragedy", 4 January 1899 — the £1,000 reward — nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173352686 Toowoomba Chronicle, "Police Inquiry", 5 December 1899 — nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217713782 The West Australian, "Suicide in Sydney — The Deceased and the Gatton Tragedy", 27 Oct 1900, and "The Oxley Murder — The Inquest", 18 Feb 1899 — both via Trove Queensland State Archives — "Police Detectives and trackers in Blackfellow Creek, Gatton, c 1899" Australian Dictionary of Biography — W. Ross Johnston on Frederic Charles Urquhart Queensland Places (University of Queensland) — "Gatton" Stephanie Bennett, The Gatton Murders (Pan Macmillan, 2004) and The Killer with 300 Names (2013) Raymond Evans, A History of Queensland (Cambridge, 2007) With thanks to the Queensland Police Museum and to the National Library of Australia's Trove — without Trove, the 1899 press record would be out of reach to anyone outside a reading room. SUPPORT This episode deals with sexual violence and, in its closing section, with suicide. If any of it lands close to home: Australia — Lifeline 13 11 14, Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636, 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732. New Zealand — 1737, Safe to Talk 0800 044 334. Written and hosted by Ryan Wolf. Researched and produced with AI assistance — I use it to help me find and check the record, and I go through everything before it reaches you. www.brevityplus.com While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E44
    August 2 · 44 min

    E44 | The Murder of Pauline Sowry (AUS)

    Pauline Sowry was 49 when she had lunch with her son at a Warrawong pub in December 1993. Her family never saw her again. A coroner found she had died but could not say how, when or where. Thirty years later a witness led police into bushland at Figtree, where they dug up a blouse she had stitched herself. In January 2026 the only charges ever laid in connection with her death were withdrawn. Nobody has ever been convicted. Police say there are people in the Illawarra who know exactly what happened. IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING A $500,000 reward remains open for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. Crime Stoppers — 1800 333 000 — anonymous Wollongong Police — (02) 4226 7899 Police especially want to hear about two things: A cream-coloured, button-down, long-sleeved blouse with a hand-stitched design in coloured cotton, believed added by Pauline herself. Images were released by NSW Police in December 2024. A white 1968-model Holden HK Kingswood sedan, in pristine condition, reportedly seen carrying Pauline south of Wollongong after she disappeared. A NOTE ON SOURCING All charges against the man named in this episode were withdrawn by the DPP on 28 January 2026. No court has ever made a finding against him, he has never been convicted of any offence connected to Pauline's death, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Nobody has ever been charged with her murder. Where this episode describes covert police recordings, those descriptions come from what the Crown told a bail hearing they contained, as reported by one journalist present in court. We have not heard the recordings and neither has anyone outside that courtroom, so they are described rather than quoted. The defence disputed their accuracy and context. None of it was tested at trial. Strike Force Anthea remains open. SOURCES NSW Police — reward appeal and case summary police.nsw.gov.au/can_you_help_us/rewards/500000_reward/disappearance_of_pauline_sowry The Illawarra Mercury is the only outlet that covered the court proceedings in this case, and the reason it is still being talked about. Jason Lawrence on his mother — who Pauline actually was. Read this one. illawarramercury.com.au/story/8707899 Clothing unearthed at Figtree, December 2024 illawarramercury.com.au/story/8841308 Charges withdrawn, January 2026 illawarramercury.com.au/story/9162611 SUPPORT This episode discusses suicide. Lifeline (AU) 13 11 14 · Beyond Blue (AU) 1300 22 4636 · New Zealand: free call or text 1737 While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E43
    July 27 · 42 min

    E43 | The Masterton Massacre

    On a winter Friday night in 1992, Raymond Ratima let himself into his in-laws' house on Judds Road, Masterton, with a key he had taken when he was told to leave. He waited forty-five minutes. Then he killed seven members of his own family — including his three small sons and a woman a month from giving birth — before lying in wait in the dark for the rest of them to come home. He pleaded guilty. He has never been released. And across thirty-four years, fourteen parole boards, a High Court judgment and the country's best forensic psychiatry, nobody has been able to answer the only question that matters: why. Sources used: Court and official records Ratima v The New Zealand Parole Board [2024] NZHC 613 (Preston J, 20 March 2024) — https://thelawassociation.nz/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Ratima-v-Parole-Board.pdf New Zealand Parole Board, decision of 12 March 2024 — https://www.paroleboard.govt.nz/decisions/decisions_2024/raymond_wahia_ratima_12032024 Parole Act 2002 — https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0010/latest/DLM137632.html Sentencing Act 2002, s 103 — https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0009/latest/DLM136499.html Contemporaneous reporting "Man charged over massacre of seven," UPI, 26 June 1992 — https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/06/26/Man-charged-over-massacre-of-seven/7593709531200/ History and reference "Masterton massacre, 1992," NZHistory, Manatū Taonga — https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/masterton-massacre "Mass homicides since 1990," Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand — https://teara.govt.nz/en/violent-crime/page-6 Later reporting Nikki Macdonald, "Faces of Innocents: The Ratima massacre — remembering the children of Judds Rd," Stuff, 23 July 2016 — https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/faces-of-innocents/81305979/faces-of-innocents-the-ratima-massacre--remembering-the-children-of-judds-rd "Mass murderer believed he was 'putting them in a better place'," NZ Herald, 2017 — https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mass-murderer-believed-he-was-putting-them-in-a-better-place/SYPSCTINWHZJSKXKURBIXI7W5M/ "Mass murderer Raymond Ratima to have opportunity to apply for parole again," RNZ, 21 March 2024 — https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/512331/mass-murderer-raymond-ratima-to-have-opportunity-to-apply-for-parole-again Melissa Nightingale, "Mass murderer denied parole for 16th time, reveals motive for killing his kids," NZ Herald / Newstalk ZB, 24 July 2025 — https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/crime/mass-murderer-raymond-wahia-ratima-denied-parole-explains-why-he-killed-seven-people/ "No parole for Raymond Ratima who murdered seven in Masterton," Stuff, January 2026 — https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360931145/no-parole-raymond-ratima-who-murdered-seven-masterton While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E42
    July 26 · 43 min

    E42 | The Red Fox Tavern

    On Labour Weekend 1987, two disguised men walked into the Red Fox Tavern at Maramarua, shot the publican Chris Bush dead in front of his staff, and disappeared into the night with the contents of his safe. For more than thirty years, the case stayed cold. Then, in 2021, two men were convicted of the murder — one of them so notorious that his name was suppressed for years. In July 2026, the Supreme Court took those convictions apart, entered acquittals, and left a killing that is, once again, officially unsolved. This week on The Veil, we trace the case backwards from that courtroom: the night itself, the circumstantial evidence that was never quite enough, and the dead man whose alleged confession pointed somewhere else entirely. It's a story about the uneasy gap between what the law can prove and what we think we know. Some veils lift; this one fell closed again. Sources Supreme Court of New Zealand — Wilson v R [2026] NZSC 88 (judgment): https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2026/2026-NZSC-88.pdf RNZ — "Red Fox Tavern murder: How the case and trial unfolded": https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/442059/red-fox-tavern-murder-how-the-case-and-trial-unfolded RNZ — "Pair's convictions over Red Fox Tavern killing quashed by Supreme Court": https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-and-justice/683311/pair-s-convictions-over-red-fox-tavern-killing-quashed-by-supreme-court RNZ / The Detail — "The life and crimes of James Henry Wilson": https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/crime-and-justice/706724/the-life-and-crimes-of-james-henry-wilson 1News — "Red Fox Tavern killing convictions quashed by Supreme Court": https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/07/07/red-fox-tavern-killing-convictions-quashed-by-supreme-court/ NZ Herald — "Red Fox Tavern murder convictions overturned by Supreme Court, James Henry Wilson named": https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/red-fox-tavern-murder-convictions-overturned-by-supreme-court-james-henry-wilson-named/S7HLC2IW4RCMBKHM6RPZVKPXDY/ NZ Herald — "Red Fox Tavern murder: Two men found guilty after 33-year wait for justice" (2021): https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/red-fox-tavern-murder-trial-two-men-found-guilty-after-33-year-wait-for-justice/WZ4T6AHA4ISJHM6QUOXOE27OHI/ New Zealand Police — "Police acknowledge Supreme Court decision in Red Fox Tavern case": https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/police-acknowledge-supreme-court-decision-red-fox-tavern-case While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E41
    June 29 · 37 min

    E41 | The Bounty's Children

    In 1790, the mutineers of HMS Bounty burned their ship in a hidden bay and vanished onto a mis-charted Pacific rock, sealing themselves off from the world. Two centuries later, that isolation had a price. When a visiting British officer, sent merely to train the local constable, was quietly told that a girl had been raped, she pulled a thread that unravelled generations of abuse on Pitcairn — and forced one of the strangest trials in legal history. Could British law even reach an island settled by men who fled it? Courts were built from scratch; a third of the island's men stood accused. Sources used Wikipedia — "Mutiny on the Bounty," "HMS Bounty," "Pitcairn Islands," "2004 Pitcairn Islands sexual assault trial": backbone for the mutiny (28 April 1789), Bligh's open-boat voyage (~3,600 nmi to Timor, ~47 days), the burning of the Bounty in Bounty Bay (23 Jan 1790), the founding violence and Fletcher Christian's death (~1793), John Adams, and the full trial record — charges (55), verdicts (6 of 7 convicted on 35 charges; Jay Warren acquitted), individual sentences, the jurisdiction defence, Betty Christian's counter-testimony, the firearms surrender, Bob's Valley prison, sentences served by 2010. History.com, National Geographic, History Hit, EBSCO, Historical Maritime, History Chronicles, Shipwrecks & Sea Dogs: corroboration for the Bounty mission (breadfruit for West Indies plantations), Tahiti layover, mutiny mechanics, settlement of Pitcairn (15 Jan 1790), Topaz/Folger discovery 1808, Thursday October Christian, Norfolk Island relocation. HMS Bounty (Wikipedia): the detail that the Tahitian men/women were effectively kidnapped (per a follower's journal) — attributed in script. NZ Herald ("Law descends on Pitcairn," Kathy Marks): the 1996 first report, Kent detectives as first police on the island, Gail Cox sent 1997 to train local officer Meralda Warren, two girls' 1999 disclosure, the global scope of Operation Unique, the from-scratch legal infrastructure, Governor Richard Fell. ProQuest review of Kathy Marks, "Pitcairn: Paradise Lost": 1996 Australian girl's report; Cox's "rose-coloured glasses" quote; the detective's "100 per cent" observation; 13 men / 96 charges figure. Irish Times (Oct 2004, Rosita Boland): trial in converted schoolroom, guns handed in Aug 2004, victims testifying by video link and breaking down, the seven named accused, islanders' belief Britain wanted to depopulate the island, Ricky Quinn 1999 case (100 days). Into the Shadows; HubPages/Crimewire: Operation Unique = 27-month investigation, 100+ allegations / 31 men, 24 women testified, "tip of the iceberg" (Simon Moore), prosecutor's "child abuse on a grand scale." NBC News (AP, Oct 2004): sentences up to six years; the longboat-lifeline problem and Prof John Connell's prediction that prisoners would be released to crew it; Randy Christian 6 years, Len Brown (78) 2 years. Wikipedia "Pitcairn Islands" + en-academic + Wikishire + Apple Podcast "The Pitcairn Trials": prison at Bob's Valley built by the community, sentences began late 2006, all served/home detention by 2010, "ludicrously short" (Marks), trial cost (~NZ$14.1m as of April 2006), later off-island trials. Huck Magazine (Rhiannon Adam, "Big Fence"): a convicted man (Shawn Christian) later served as mayor of Pitcairn (2014–2019) — used with light attribution; present-day decline and ageing population. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E40
    June 28 · 29 min

    E40 | Mona Blades

    On Queen's Birthday weekend, 1975, eighteen-year-old Mona Blades set out hitchhiking from Hamilton to Hastings, carrying a birthday gift of plastic cups for her baby nephew. She reached Taupō — and vanished. A truck driver's sighting of her in an orange Datsun launched one of New Zealand's largest manhunts: more than 500 cars, thousands of hours, not a single trace found. Fifty years on, her body has never surfaced and no one has been charged. But a cold-case review revealed something unsettling: the famous orange Datsun may have been a wrong turn from the very start, sending an entire country chasing a mirage. Sources used Wikipedia — "Disappearance of Mona Blades": backbone for timeline, sightings table, the 500+ orange Datsun owners, John Freeman (rental + St Cuthbert's shooting/suicide), Hinton allegation and 2012 Kawerau dig, 2003 Huntly garage-floor false alarm, 2018 Cold Case documentary findings, gang-link theory, family detail. NZ History (nzhistory.govt.nz) — "Mona Blades vanishes": family context (sister Lillian, brother-in-law Tom, niece Angela), the surprise trip and nephew's 1st birthday, plastic tumblers, dropped on Cambridge Rd/SH1, ~10am orange-Datsun sighting, fencing contractor on Matea Rd. NZ Herald / The Listener (Greg Bruce, "On the wrong trail" / "No DNA, no CCTV, no chance," May–June 2025): the central reassessment — the short/spiky hair vs the long-haired bridesmaid photo; the truck driver interviewed four times with escalating certainty and the "half-pie smile"; the memory-as-fresh-snow interviewing material; the alternative sightings (blue/green wagon, red Toyota, Spa Hotel); detectives Ron Cooper, John Hope, Mark Loper and the on-camera conclusions; 145km road; "solved in a week today" (Henwood/Beard); Scott Bainbridge "deathbed confession." 1News (May 2025, 50th anniversary): hundreds of police across a 200km Tokoroa–Napier stretch; fencing contractor detail; "steady stream" of tips since the 2018 doc; Det Snr Sgt Ryan Yardley; clothing/pack detail. The Post (May 2025): surprise trip, items found in searches incl. discarded dresses, identikit of the man, ~360 Datsun station wagons by Oct 1975, "suspects — the driver of the orange Datsun and four others — two of whom are dead," the living person of interest's public denials and DNA sample. NZ Police cold-case page: ~5000 hours over 6 months; webpage now lists blue/green wagon and red Toyota (the Taupō-local / gang-adjacent theory); appeal re: bike-gang associates. NZ Herald (Sept 2025 / "Cop v Cop," Jan 2012): Tony Moller (former Kawerau policeman) and the Hinton allegation; the family's strong rejection; the red-Toyota / rolled-carpet sighting not followed through. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • S1 · E39
    June 22 · 31 min

    E39 | The Snapshot Killer

    He was a successful Florida businessman with a waterfront house, fast cars, and a camera — and a name that surfaced, twenty years earlier, among the suspects at Wanda Beach. In early 1984, Christopher Wilder began to kill. Over six weeks and sixteen states, the Australian-born "Beauty Queen Killer" lured young women with the promise of a modelling shoot, abducting at least twelve and murdering eight. Three survived, and their testimony narrowed the net. He died in a struggle with police a few miles from the Canadian border. The chilling question isn't who — it's how he stayed free so long. Sources used Wikipedia — "Christopher Wilder" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Wilder): primary backbone for biography, full spree chronology (victims, dates, locations), death scene, FBI Most Wanted, estate distribution, The Collector, disputed electroshock/near-drowning (per McNab). UPI Archives (April & August 1984): Tina Risico contemporaneous reporting — released at Boston/Logan, treated as victim not accomplice, told authorities of electric-shock torture and abuse. ABC News / People / E! News / USA Today (2024, re: Hulu's The Beauty Queen Killer: 9 Days of Terror): three survivors (Grober, Risico, Wilt); Risico's "arms crossed above her head" detail; accomplice debate and her status as a minor/victim; spree framing (8–9 killed, 12 abducted, "47 days"). Palm Beach Post (2025) — "Boynton Beach serial killer Christopher Wilder's … rampage": numbered victim chronology, dates/locations, Risico lured Wilt, Dodge last murder, death scene; FBI Most Wanted 5 April. WickedWe (victims overview) and Yahoo/Palm Beach Post reprints: corroborating sequence for Logan, Bonaventura, Korfman, Risico, Wilt, Dodge; Charlie Laursen (truck driver) and Penn Yan hospital. A&E — "Elusive 'Beauty Queen Killer'": private investigator hired by Kenyon's father; Wilder's proximity/profile; nine-month delay theme (used re: the Wanda link, consistent with prior episode). Duncan McNab, The Snapshot Killer (2019), via Wikipedia citation: debunks electroshock and near-drowning stories. While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts. If you would like to suggest a case, you can message us via our website at www.brevityplus.com Subscribers get ad free listening to The Veil and all of our podcasts. Please consider subscribing to support our work. This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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