Show Notes
Oof, you guys. This hit home. Carly Ryan was a bright, loving young girl who had a solid relationship with her mum, Sonia. Carly was a typical teenage girl in 2006 – she loved emo music, alternative fashion, and she was heavily invested, like we all were back in the glory days, in her MySpace profile. On MySpace, she met a guy – Brandon, who liked all the things Carly liked, and most importantly, liked Carly. Carly and Brandon began an online relationship, but Carly found out that Brandon was not who he said he was in the worst way.
EPISODE NOTES: Carly Ryan was murdered in February of 2007, by the person that claimed to be her online boyfriend’s father. In reality, he was a man in his fifties by the name of Garry Newman, who had been catfishing Carly for eighteen months, pretending to be a teenaged muso named Brandon. Carly fell for Brandon, big time, and was upset when he couldn’t travel from Melbourne to South Australia for her birthday party. Brandon’s dad, Shane, would be in SA on business at the time though, so he popped in to the party to meet his son’s girlfriend.
Or so the story went. In reality, Garry was finally gaining access to the teenage girl he’d groomed for months, and he wasted no time getting his hands on Carly. Carly’s mum Sonia caught Garry interfering with her daughter and kicked him out of the house, and banned Carly from social media. But Carly was in love with Brandon, so when he said that he could finally come to Adelaide and meet her, she couldn’t say no. There, Carly met Garry, and his real son, posing as “Brandon”. Carly would never come back home to her mother after this meeting.
Carly Ryan was murdered by a twisted predator, who preyed on her totally normal, 15-year-old desire to be loved and cared for. When the media got hold of the story, they latched on to Carly’s involvement in the emo subculture, which of course has nothing to do with the fact that she was the victim of a murderous pedophile.
Sonia created the Carly Ryan Foundation in Carly’s memory, which is committed to educating parents and children about online safety. You can access their website here https://www.carlyryanfoundation.com/
You can listen to an interview with Sonia here https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/south-queensland-drive/mum-of-murdered-teen-carly-ryan-speaks-out/11371764?fbclid=IwAR3c0igLl37OuMSrC4hrz40kI4C-yDtPVpflgN2xIz1LqwKR2ewEjGcIxe8
Mysterious, enigmatic podcast overlord Casey Casefile also covered Carly’s case, which you can listen to here https://casefilepodcast.com/case-91-carly-ryan/?fbclid=IwAR3KsbkyVjTVss0gl-dNL_4MrK6ZK7uCa1uxsBuxI24AzecXXEqnt4ni5gY
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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