True Crime Tonight: This Month in Crime History

**Ruby Bartzis** (0:00)
Warning, this is a true crime segment and not suitable for children. It contains references to sexual violence and suicide, which some listeners may find distressing. If you need support, you are not alone. Contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or visit lifeline.org.au for 24 hour support.

**Meshel Laurie** (0:20)
It's a voice that will send shivers down your spine.

**Matthew Tankard** (0:23)
Stand off with police.

**Ruby Bartzis** (0:24)
Wanted fugitive.

**Michael Adams** (0:25)
Stabbed 19 times.

**Ruby Bartzis** (0:27)
The suspect lured the victim into the water.

**Meshel Laurie** (0:29)
Most legal dramas in Hollywood. Today is a major win to show what the system can do.

**Matthew Tankard** (0:34)
This is True Crime Tonight.

**Meshel Laurie** (0:37)
Hello, everyone. It's 6 o'clock on Sunday night, which means this is True Crime Tonight across the network. I am your host, Michelle Laurie. I'm here with my producers, Matthew Tankard and Ruby Bartzis. We're here every Sunday night from 6 till 7 with True Crime stuff.

**Matthew Tankard** (0:52)
Yes, indeed.

**Meshel Laurie** (0:53)
Yes, book recommendations, documentary recommendations. We've got something new tonight, Ruby.

**Ruby Bartzis** (0:58)
Yes, we do. We have Michael Adams coming on to talk about this month's crime from...

**Meshel Laurie** (1:03)
History.

**Ruby Bartzis** (1:04)
History.

**Michael Adams** (1:05)
That's the one I'm looking for.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:06)
This month in crime, let's call it, because he does an historical podcast called Forgotten Australia. And it's so fascinating. He tells us about crimes that happened a hundred years ago, 200 years ago, 50 years ago. It's all good stuff because you just got to keep saying to yourself, how without mobile phones?

**Matthew Tankard** (1:24)
Yeah.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:25)
That's what the whole show really does make you think, doesn't it?

**Matthew Tankard** (1:27)
Because he's been a godsend for us. He's done so many episodes for Australian True Crime.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:30)
We do love him.

**Matthew Tankard** (1:31)
But it is so funny when you hear about detectives from back then. It's just like they're just operating on a hunch.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:36)
Yeah. No CCTV, no mobile phones, no towers. How did they solve anything? Well, he will tell us all about it coming up later in the show. Also coming up, we're going to talk about the Idaho 4 case. This is a case that I've been fascinated with since it happened.
That was the murder of four college students in a town called Moscow, Idaho, as a man called Brian Koberger, who is now going to spend the rest of his life in jail. He's been convicted of these crimes. In fact, he confessed to these crimes, but there are still many questions about them. We have one of the victims' mothers on the show, Christy Goncalves. She's joined by a lady called Tracy Brocco, and they have started a foundation. We will tell you all about it later in the show. But next up, we're talking a book recommendation. This is an Australian book written by an Australian lady about missing people, missing persons. That's coming up next on True Crime Tonight.
Around Australia, you're listening to True Crime Tonight. True Crime Book Club, guys. I've got another book. This is not a new book exactly, but it's a brilliant book. There's two of them, actually. Two books called Simply Missing by an Australian lady called Nicole Morris, who we love.

**Matthew Tankard** (2:45)
She's one of the few people who have actually cared about something and has moved the needle on so many people's lines.

**Meshel Laurie** (2:54)
You're so right, because missing persons cases are frustrating by their very nature, and they oftentimes drag on and on and on. By the time someone's listed as long-term missing, we should go through the stats because they're really interesting. About 30,000 Australians go missing every single year. Most of those, about 98 percent of them turn up one way or another within a week, let's say a week or two. So I think in order to be called long-term missing, it has to be two or three months. So it's still a significant number of people every year who simply vanish and their family, nobody knows where they are. And it can go on for decades, if not indefinitely. Although with DNA improvements, I think those stats are getting better.
But they're the stats and yes, kids do run away. Yes, people do forget to call home because when they change their plans, all these things do happen. But we also know that sometimes it can be hard to get police interested. Even if you're saying to them, I'm telling you, I know this kid, she has not run away, something terrible has happened.