New Year’s Eve, 1997. Hundreds of partygoers pack into Furneaux Lodge in New Zealand’s remote Marlborough Sounds. By morning, two young friends – Ben Smart and Olivia Hope – have vanished after stepping from a water taxi onto a stranger’s yacht. They are never seen again. In this Crime at Bedtime episode, we walk carefully through one of New Zealand’s most controversial murder cases: the disappearance of Ben and Olivia and the conviction of Scott Watson. We follow the movements of that final night, the mystery man on the yacht, the massive search, the forensic hair evidence, and the witness identifications that helped secure a guilty verdict – along with the doubts and challenges that have followed ever since. Told in a calm, measured way for listening at night, this episode lays out the key facts so you can decide what you make of the Scott Watson case.
","author_name":"Jack Laurence"}