Show Notes
Be warned, this episode covers some seriously fucked up shit. This episode will discuss paedophila, sexual abuse, assault, torture, murder, dismemberment, and many other horrific things. Listener discretion isn’t just advised, it’s mandatory. We explicitly stated at the start of this season that we weren’t gonna cover Snowtown… and yet here we are. The Snowtown murders, or the Bodies in the Barrels murders, is the name given to a series of killings committed in the nineties in Adelaide, South Australia. Only one of the murders occurred in Snowtown itself. In a state known for its weird murders, Snowtown was something else. The bodies of eight people were found in barrels full of acid in a disused bank in the small country town, and four other murders would later be linked to the crime. The investigation would reveal that the crimes were the work of a man named John Bunting and his group of friends, motivated by Bunting’s twisted obsession with killing paedophiles. Only two of the twelve were paedophiles, though. The others were killed because they had knowledge of the murders, or to access their Centrelink payments, or simply because John Bunting didn’t like them. In this episode, we’ll discuss the police investigation that led to the discovery of the bodies in the barrels. In part two, we’ll go into detail about the murders and the subsequent trial.
EPISODE NOTES: The small country town of Snowtown, north of Adelaide, will forever be entwined with the bodies that were found there in 1999. But all the murders bar one actually occurred in Adelaide’s poverty-stricken northern suburbs. Drug addiction, violence, and abuse were rife within the area.
John Bunting, Robert Wagner, Mark Haydon, and Jamie Vlassakis were aided in their crimes by the fact that many of their victims were isolated, suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues, and reliant on government support.
Clinton Trezise was one of these vulnerable people. Missing since 1992, it was only when his cold case file landed on the desk of Major Crimes Unit Detective Craig Patterson in 1997 that a connection was made between him and several people who were missing from the area. Slowly but surely, Detective Patterson would make connections between these cases, and the two names that kept cropping up in each – John Bunting and Robert Wagner.
Eventually it would be uncovered that these people weren’t missing, but tortured, murdered, and dismembered, their bodies stored in barrels full of acid. John Bunting spoke openly of his desire to kill “dirties” - his term for homosexuals and paedophiles – but it became apparent that a ‘dirty’ was simply anyone John Bunting didn’t want to live any more. The victims ranged from actual paedophiles, to harmless mentally ill neighbours. He murdered his wife Elizabeth’s oldest son, as well as the wife of one of his best mates. He liked to look in the eyes of his victims as they were strangled to death, so he could see the moment the life left their eyes.
The Snowtown murders are considered Australia’s most horrific crimes, and for good reason. The torture the victims were subjected to is literally too horrible to mention. We glossed over it as much as we could in the episode, but be warned – other sources aren’t so gentle.
Our main source this week was Jeremy Pudney’s Snowtown: The Bodies in the Barrels Murders. It can be purchased here https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/snowtown-the-bodies-in-barrels-murders-by-jeremy-pudney-and-merriman-and-jeremy-pudney-9780732267162 or on other fine internet book dealers.
A thorough though somewhat editorialised version of... Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Murder in the Land of Oz
As the final installment of our First Nation's themed season, we are talking about January 26th. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We are back after a (what turned into a much bigger than intended) break!
Whoops we covered another cult. Coming for ya, Jo Thornely. Chantelle McDougall, her six-year-old daughter Leela, her partner Simon Kadwill, and their housemate Tony Popic went missing in July of 2007. Simon was the leader of an internet-based doomsday cult, who believed that through death, a chosen few would ascend to a new plane of reality and usher in the new Aquarian age of existence. So you know, normal stuff. They told friends and family they were moving to Brazil, but their was no activity on their passports. Their disappearance left police stumped. Had they committed group suicide, or had they gone even further into isolation and completely segregated themselves from society? Our main sources this week were the coronial inquest completed in 2017. You know we love an inquest document! https://www.coronerscourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Felton,%20G;%20McDougall,%20C%20J%20and%20L;%20Popic,%20A%20K%20%20finding.pdf News articles about the case can be found here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-06/cult-leader-simon-kadwell-inquest-begins-into-missing-family/9205656 and here https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/cult-leader-simon-kadwell-inquest-hears-police-failed-to-investigate-report-of-dead-flesh-smell/news-story/b828be6ad139699e509c94ce62bc5292 The website for Simon’s “work” can be accessed via the Wayback Machine here https://web.archive.org/web/20071103141354/http://www.thenewcall.org/book_sdp.htm Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Okay, yes, every show and their dog (or podcast cat) have covered this case. But we just had to jump on the bandwagon. You may be familiar with the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard from the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, or the hit TV show now on Hulu The Act, or just generally from having an internet connection at any point in time over the past four years. The internet is obsessed with this case, and for good reason – the horrific murder of Dee Dee Blanchard shocked the world, not because of the brutality of the crime – but because of the scale of the abuse that Dee Dee afflicted on Gypsy, her daughter, who she had raised to believe was sick with a whole medical textbook of illnesses. Once Dee Dee was dead, the truth came out – nothing was wrong with Gypsy. She was a victim of Munchausen by Proxy, and was horribly abused by the person who was meant to care for her most. EPISODE NOTES: Friends and neighbours looked at Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard as a perfect mother-daughter pair. Dee Dee was dedicated to her sick daughter, and Gypsy was in turn loving and devoted to her mother. When Dee Dee was murdered in 2015, people were horrified. Who was going to take care of poor Gypsy now? But as the truth came out, and Gypsy – along with her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn – was charged with her death, people were horrified to discover that Dee Dee was not what she seemed – and neither was Gypsy. Gypsy had every disease under the sun, from cancer to muscular dystrophy. She was confined to a wheelchair, had tubes all over her body, and had no hair and barely any teeth. She never properly attended school and was in and out of hospital constantly. But none of her ailments were real. Dee Dee was forcing Gypsy to be sick, lying to her about her real age, and physically and mentally abusing her to keep up the sickness routine, so that Dee Dee could keep reaping the benefits of having a sick child. While Gypsy and Nicholas Godejohn were both ultimately convicted of Dee Dee’s murder, many people believe that Gypsy acted in self-defence, and did what she had to do to escape from one of the most horrific situations of abuse conceivable. Read Michelle Dean's incredible longform article on the case here https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michelledean/dee-dee-wanted-her-daughter-to-be-sick-gypsy-wanted-her-mom More info about the case can be found here https://www.yourtango.com/2019322839/who-nick-godejohn-new-details-gypsy-roses-boyfriend-man-murdered-dee-dee-blanchard?fbclid=IwAR0c95is1g2caWJ1wSQX9CobuA8rK30l_Z5BDjfW4AAdf-CpbE2IlcVH7kA Information about the case and also Munchausen by Proxy can be found here https://www.yourtango.com/2019322870/what-munchausen-syndrome-by-proxy-story-gypsy-rose-blanchard?fbclid=IwAR28fu87X_aWdA9iOnfoLHevQ_bfIyiMeabBSbHo-T2YajOWh8ey3vd7YKI For some info on Hulu's stunning new show The Act (this is not a sponsored episode but also – sponsor us, Hulu?) head here https://www.marieclaire.com.au/the-act-tv?fbclid=IwAR2Ohe3PFiupYeS2rfTO3Ux9LoluGAiYbzWQMNMiQJz8RCg5iwvChcyUMHM