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The Veil
E58 | Who turned off the light? The disappearance of Eloise Worledge (AUS)
Season 1, Ep. 60
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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
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This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.
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61. E59 | In Cold Blood | Part One of the Book Series
42:50||Season 1, Ep. 61On 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 MEMORYThe 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 SOURCINGRichard 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. SOURCESState v. Hickock and Smith, 188 Kan. 473 (1961): law.justia.com/cases/kansas/supreme-court/1961/42-068-0.htmlHickock 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.htmlNew 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 1965Kansas Memory, Hickock and Smith inmate files and execution witness list: kansasmemory.gov/item/208965Lawrence 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 2013Phillip K. Tompkins, "In Cold Fact", Esquire, June 1966; Purdue oral history, 2015Casey 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 SUPPORTThis 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.
59. E57.5 | BONUS - While the Baby Slept: Jess Rigby (companion to Episode 57)
49:21||Season 1, Ep. 59A companion to Episode 57 — the death of Jason RigbyOn 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 SOMETHINGJason'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 BOOKWHILE 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/B0HGL7VG7PA NOTE ON SOURCINGNobody 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.SUPPORTThis 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.
58. E57 | Jason Rigby (Aus/Fiji)
27:10||Season 1, Ep. 58On 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 SOMETHINGJason'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.LINKSJustice for Jason Rigby — on Instagram and FacebookOr 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/B0HGL7VG7PA NOTE ON SOURCINGNobody 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.SOURCESThe Fiji Times, 16 Dec 2024 — the resort's statement that there was no criminal investigationFBC News, 17 Dec 2024 — ACP Mesake Waqa's first statementfijivillage / 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 2025Mamamia, Gemma Bath, 30 Jun 2026True Crime Conversations (Mamamia) — "A Families' Fight For Answers After A Death In Paradise"Interview with Jess Rigby, 26 Aug 2026SUPPORTThis 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.
57. E52.5 | BONUS - Hunting Elly's Killer: Paul Warren, ten years on (companion to Episode 52)
01:08:50||Season 1, Ep. 57Elly 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 FACTSPaul 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 PROTOCOLPaul'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 BOOKHUNTING 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/9781761636486Kindle: amazon.com.au/dp/B0GR1JY5H4Ebook ISBN 9781761636493 — also at Booktopia, Dymocks, Readings, QBD and Mighty Ape in New Zealand.IF YOU KNOW SOMETHINGIf 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 SOURCINGNobody 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.SOURCESellywarren.net — Paul Warren's published investigation and primary documentsCoroners Court of Victoria — inquest into the death of Elly Rose Warren, findings delivered 15 December 2023ABC News, 22 August 2023 and 15 December 2023 — inquest and findings reportingHunting Elly's Killer, Paul Warren (Simon & Schuster Australia)Interview with Paul Warren, recorded 25 August 2026SUPPORTThis 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
55. E55 | How did she Fall? The Case of Warriena Wright and Gable Tostee (NZ/AUS)
37:58||Season 1, Ep. 55Warriena 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 SOURCINGGable 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.SOURCESABC 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.auABC News, "Plea for help from sister of Warriena Tagpuno Wright", 14 Aug 2014RNZ 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.nzThe New Daily, "Coroner reopens investigation into Warriena Wright balcony death", 18 Dec 2016Coroners Court of Queensland — findings archive, inquest proceedings list, and guidance on coroners' powers: coronerscourt.qld.gov.auSUPPORTThis 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 797Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
54. E54 | Finding Alysha (NZ/USA)
41:42||Season 1, Ep. 54On 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 SOMETHINGMiami 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 2002-3368Florida Dept of Law Enforcement: 1-888-FL-MISSING (1-888-356-4774)Tips direct to her family, anonymously if you wish: findingalysha.comA NOTE ON SOURCINGNobody 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.SOURCESKatie Ham, Stuff, 18 & 27 Jan 2024 (also on RNZ): stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350152238Bridgette Matter, WPLG Local 10, 13 Aug 2026: local10.comMiami Herald, Jan 2024 and 15 Aug 2026NamUs MP19635: namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP19635The Charley Project: charleyproject.org/case/alysha-krsangi-haninThe family's site: findingalysha.comSUPPORTThis 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 REFUGEAustralia: Lifeline 13 11 14 · Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732
52. E52 | The Murder of Elly Warren (AUS)
41:32||Season 1, Ep. 52Elly 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 SOMETHINGNo 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.netIn Australia, information can be passed anonymously to Crime Stoppers — 1800 333 000 — or through the AFP's online reporting form at afp.gov.auThe 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 SOURCINGNobody 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.SOURCESmarie 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.SUPPORTThis 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 Wolfwww.brevityplus.com
51. E51 | The Whiskey Au Go Go Murders (AUS)
33:02||Season 1, Ep. 51At 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 SOURCINGJames 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.SOURCESGeoff 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 filesMatt 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 2023Both archived at whiskeyfire.infoContemporaneous 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 1973Monument Australia — Whiskey Au Go Go Fire VictimsSUPPORTThis 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