Catching Evil

First Kill

Catching Evil

Show Notes

Fifteen-year-old best friends Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock were brutally murdered on a windswept beach by a teenage surfer who lured them to their deaths. Marianne’s four youngest siblings played together in the dunes, unaware that their big sister and her ‘bestie’ were being raped and stabbed just yards away. Trixie describes what unfolded, while her brother, Hans, his voice breaking, recalls waiting on the porch for his favourite sibling, who never came home. Wanda Beach is arguably the greatest unsolved murder mystery in Australia - until now.

Catching Evil presents the case against serial killer Christopher Wilder, the charismatic businessman who would take his obsession with murdering beautiful young women to America and trigger the biggest manhunt in the nation's history. We uncover how police let him slip through their fingers and discover a startling confession that exposes a shocking secret about the case hidden for sixty years.

Join the hunt and follow us:

Catching Evil Podcast Blog: www.catchingevil.com

Instagram: catchingevil - https://www.instagram.com/catchingevil/

Facebook: Catching Evil: True Crime Podcast - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61582973930611

TikTok: catchingevil - https://www.tiktok.com/@catchingevil

Youtube: Catching Evil Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/@catchingevilpodcast

#catchingevil #prettygirlkiller #truecrimetok #truecrime #givingavoice #christopherwilder #SerialKiller #ProtectOurGirls #SafetyEducation #EmpowerYoungWomen #BreakTheSilence #TrueCrimeCommunity #UnsolvedMysteries #TrueCrimeObsessed #MindysStory #TerryWalden #BeautyQueenKiller #TerryFerguson #Survivor #WandaBeach #TrueCrimePodcast #SurvivorStories #RememberHer #PodcastRecommendation #VictimsMatter #NeverForgotten #MarianneSchmidt #ChristineSharrock

Hosts Andy Byrne Mark Llewellyn

Audio Production Sam Blacker at The Podcast Butler - https://thepodcastbutler.com/

Artwork Susan Armstrong

Media Lisa at Llewellyn Communications https://llewcom.com.au/

Special thanks to Pro Podcast Studios, Sydney - propodcast.com.au

Resources The Pretty Girl Killer by Andrew Byrne - courtesy of Penguin Random House Wake Me Up at 10:00 Love, Terry by Frances S Ferguson - https://www.balboapress.com/en-au/

Catching Evil is hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information Get in Touch If you knew Wilder or one of his victims, contact us in confidence: [email protected]

Record a voice message: https://www.speakpipe.com/catchingevil

Join us and support these not-for-profits: US Survivors of Homicide Inc - https://www.survivorsofhomicide.com/ Yesterday Today Tomorrow Women Inc - https://www.yttwomen.org/ Aus Mary’s House 1800 002 111 https://www.maryshouse.org.au/about/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from Catching Evil

Jul 13, 2026

No one should be in a grave without a name. This is the finale — and it is full of breaking news. A listener tip connects Wilder to the Tyre Murders: dozens of young women lured from car parks across five states, years before anyone was counting. We name five new victims. We reveal the pattern hidden in 3,500 classified ads — every gap, a girl. And Ellery Jane Doe, murdered and nameless for decades, may be about to get her name back. The official count said nine. The evidence now says Bundy territory — and beyond. We end the only way we could: with every victim, name by name. Every one of them was a person. Every one of them was loved. Follow the show — because this isn't over. It's unfinished business.

Jul 6, 2026

Mindy was four when her mother was taken. She still can't remember her voice. This is the episode we promised at the beginning: every one of Christopher Wilder's victims, finally heard. A reckoning. New evidence. New witnesses. Cold cases live again, police forces are now working leads we uncovered.

Jun 29, 2026

Two girls named Mary. The same mall. Four weeks apart. One found stabbed in a ditch — the other still missing, forty years on.

Jun 22, 2026

A killer who confessed to eleven murders. A sixteen-year-old runaway with a modelling dream. And a sister who never stopped fighting to bring her home.

Jun 15, 2026

A serial killer who confessed to 11 murders. A body that lay nameless in a swamp for 30 years. And a chilling new discovery.

See all episodes →