The Assassination of John Lennon

On 8 December 1980, former Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed outside his home at the Dakota in New York City by Mark David Chapman, a fan who had previously approached him for an autograph. Chapman’s fixation on The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger became a central part of the case, as he l…

A conversation with psychologist Kelly Morrish

Sammy sits down with psychologist Kelly Morrish for an important conversation about domestic violence, coercive control and the psychology behind our fascination with true crime. They unpack the insidious ways abuse can manifest beyond physical violence, how coercive control can strip away a person…

Gabby Petito

The tragic case of Gabby Petito captured the world’s attention in 2021, when the 22-year-old American travel vlogger disappeared during a cross-country road trip with her fiancé, Brian Laundrie. As police uncovered disturbing evidence of domestic violence and a desperate search for answers unfolded…

The murder of Barbara Grams and wrongful conviction of Robert DuBoise (with Scott Williams)

In 1983, 19-year-old Barbara Grams was raped and murdered in Tampa, Florida, and 18-year-old Robert DuBoise was convicted of the crime in 1985 based largely on discredited bite-mark analysis and testimony from a jailhouse informant who received a reduced sentence. DuBoise was sentenced to death, la…

Mr. Cruel

What if one of Australia's most notorious serial predators was living an ordinary life, hiding in plain sight, and nobody ever knew who he really was? Known only as Mr Cruel, this unidentified offender abducted and sexually assaulted young girls across Melbourne between 1987 and 1991, leaving a cit…

Gwen Harwood AO (with Sarah Bailey)

They thought they were publishing poetry by a mysterious male writer…but they were actually publishing a furious joke written by Gwen Harwood. In 1961, Harwood fooled The Bulletin into printing two poems containing a hidden message aimed directly at its editors, exposing the sexism of Australia's l…

Karen Read and the death of John O'Keefe

In January 2022, Boston police officer John O’Keefe was found dying in the snow outside the home of fellow officer Brian Albert, and his girlfriend, Karen Read, was accused of hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die. What followed was a sensational murder case involving disputed forensic ev…

Pedro Rodrigues Filho (with Scott Williams)

Pedro Rodrigues Filho was a Brazilian serial killer who claimed to have killed more than 100 people; and became known as “Pedrinho Matador,” or “Little Pedro the Killer.” But what makes his story so bizarre is that he said many of his victims were criminals themselves, including people he claimed d…

Christa Pike: The Woman Who Survived Her Execution

Christa Pike was 18 when she took part in the brutal murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, a crime that ultimately sent her to Tennessee's death row for more than three decades. Now, after years of appeals and a failed execution attempt in September 2026, Pike's case has taken an extraordinary new…

The Bricks & Minifigs LEGO Scandal: What Happened to the $200,000 Star Wars Collection? (with Lewis Meeny)

The Bricks & Minifigs LEGO scandal: how a family's $200,000 Star Wars LEGO collection allegedly vanished, and how YouTuber Reckless Ben blew it wide open. It began when a family placed a huge LEGO Star Wars collection with a Bricks & Minifigs store in Oregon on consignment, only for a large portion…