Show Notes
South Australia, we’ve been waiting to get inside you for a long, long time. To start our journey around Australia's most messed-up state, we have the Truro murders, the name given to the truly traumatic series of serial murders committed by Christopher Worrell and James Miller. From 1978 to 1979, a series of human remains were located in remote bushland near the town of Truro, eighty kilometres away from Adelaide, South Australia. As more bodies turned up, police became convinced they’d found the dumping grounds of a serial killer. Eventually, they put two and two together and connected the bodies to a series of seemingly unrelated (and apparently mostly uninvestigated) disappearances of women from around Adelaide, who had all vanished over a period of just over fifty days. The women had been picked up by Worrell and Miler, and restrained, assaulted, strangled, and then dumped in the bush. Fair warning, this ep discusses sexual assault, and also gets a little gross.
EPISODE NOTES: The disappearances of seven women over a period of 52 days from around Adelaide was not taken as seriously as it warranted. It was the seventies, they were all young women, and apparently young people were prone to up and leaving their friends and families for periods of time and never communicating with them ever again. The families of the missing women were certain that they would never run away, but police assured them that there was likely nothing to worry about.
Over a year passed from when the last girl went missing to when a body was found by mushroom hunters in the bushland near the town of Truro. Veronica Knight had gone missing around Christmas of 1976 and was not found until 1978. The absence of any clear cause of death led police to believe that Veronica had simply gone missing in the bush and died of natural causes. When a second body was found in the bush almost exactly a year later, the police changed their tune. As more bodies were uncovered, police began linking the deaths to a total of seven young women who had disappeared from Adelaide between December 1976 and February 1977. And a tip led police to their likely killers: Christopher Worrell and James Miller, two men who had met in prison and formed a dominant and submissive sexual relationship on the outside. Worrell allowed Miller to perform sex acts on him, but he preferred women, and eventually he and Miller would cruise around Adelaide, looking for women for Worrell to assault. Worrell would be killed in a car accident in 1977, which ended the killing spree, but Miller stood trial, and claimed that he never harmed any of the women, and only went with Worrell because he was coerced. But nobody bought that nonsense, and he was sentenced to six life sentences for the murders. The victims of Christopher Worrell and James Miller are: Veronica Knight, aged 18, disappeared on the 23rd of December 1976 Tania Kenny, aged 15, disappeared on 2 January 1977 Juliet Mykyata, aged 16, disappeared on 21 January 1977 Sylvia Pittman, aged 16, disappeared on 6 February 1977, Vickie Howell, aged 26, disappeared on 7 February 1977 Connie Jordan, aged 16, disappeared on 9 February 1977 Deborah Lamb, aged 20, disappeared on 12 February 1977 You can view the episode of Crime Investigation Australia, ‘The Killing Fields of Truro’ that covers this case ~on the internet, but we won’t link it, because crimes
You can read an extract of murderer James Miller’s book, where he details Worrell’s methods, here 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