Crimes That Shook Australia

On 20th July 1969, Derek Percy approached 12-year-old Yvonne Tuohy and her friend Shane Spiller whilst they were playing at their local beach in Warneet, Victoria. He snatched Yvonne into his car before trying to get Shane too, but Shane managed to defend himself.

Katherine Mary Knight lived in the small town of Aberdeen, NSW. In the early hours of March 1st 2000, Knight attacked her de facto husband John Price by stabbing him repeatedly.

On 8th November 2010, Jason Downie broke into the house of his friend's girlfriend, where Chantelle Rowe and her parents were asleep. And killed them brutally.

On 19th April 1999, several times convicted criminal Peter Dupas posed as a new client of psychotherapist Nicky Patterson. Having made arrangements for his first appointment, 28-year-old Nicky welcomed Dupas into her home under the pretence that she would be giving him counselling for gambling. Dupas then attacked Nicky with a knife before mutilating her body.

On 28th April 1996, 28-year-old Martin Bryant shot and killed 35 people in the popular Tasmanian tourist site of Port Arthur and its surrounding areas.

On 19th August 1992, Andrew Garforth grabbed nine-year-old Ebony Simpson just 1 kilometre from her home.

Allison Baden-Clay was a beauty queen with a successful real estate husband. They lived in Queensland with their three young children. In 2012, Allison’s body was discovered in a creek, ten days after being reported missing by her husband. In July 2014, Gerard Baden-Clay was found guilty of murder after a protracted trial. He appealed the verdict and in 2015, to widespread outcry, his conviction was downgraded to manslaughter.

In August 1997, Hoddle Street in Clifton Hill, Melbourne became the scene of utter carnage as disgraced Army cadet, Julian Knight shot and killed seven people and injured countless more. He was given 27 years minimum sentence and despite several legal petitions, the Victorian government has said it is unlikely he will be released.

Raechel Betts was a young woman from the Melbourne suburbs whose life spiralled out of control after she began selling drugs on behalf of a male acquaintance. Tragically this man, unbeknownst to Raechel, was a double murderer who had slipped through the parole system and was free to kill again...

On Easter Thursday in 1986, a car bomb exploded outside the Russell Street Police HQ in central Melbourne. Constable Angela Taylor was caught by the full force of the blast and succumbed to her wounds 21 days later in hospital. She was the first serving female Australian Police officer to be killed in the line of duty. The subsequent investigation into the bombing would change the face of forensic inquiries and lead to the apprehension of a gang or armed robbers with a vendetta against the Police. Includes interviews with Angela's parents, officers who carried out the investigation and survivors of the attack, many of whom haven't spoken of their experiences before.

Five-year-old Darcey Freeman suffered a horrific death at the hands of her father on the 29th January 2009. Driving her to her first day at school, he stopped the family car on the West Gate Bridge and callously threw her off the side, in full view of her two older brothers. He then returned to his car and drove to the law courts in central Melbourne where he handed himself in, pleading with officials to take his boys off him. In a trial that gripped the nation, the jury had to decide if Freeman was 'mad or bad'.

The Strathfield massacre in Sydney on the 17th August 1991 will be forever remembered as one of Australia's most shocking gun crimes. A lone gunman, Wade Frankum, entered a shopping mall one afternoon, had a cup of coffee and observed shoppers going about their business. Moments later, he stabbed a teenage girl next to him before opening fire on unsuspecting shoppers for ten minutes. The devastation left eight dead and six wounded. Before police arrived, he took his own life. Officers later found a collection of violent literature and films at his home - the only clue into why this killer took all those innocent lives. The crime provoked fierce debate on the country's gun laws.

On the 14 July 2001, British couple Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees stopped on the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory after a man flagged down their car. This man, later identified as Bradley Murdoch, shot Falconio before tying Lees up. She managed to escape while Murdoch was distracted, hiding in nearby bushes for five hours until she was able to run out into the road and flag down a truck driver who took her to safety

The crime committed by Robert Farquharson has been etched on the minds of Australian's since 2005. Farquharson drove his car into a dam off the Princes Highway near Winchelsea on Father's day, drowning his three sons, Jai, 10, Tyler, 7 and Bailey, 2. After two trials, Farquharson was found guilty of murder with the prosecution confirming he killed his children to get revenge on his wife from whom he had recently divorced.

The story of the shocking rape and murder of 29-year-old Jill Meagher, who died on her walk back home in 2012. A crime that left the nation outraged by a flawed parole system.

In the early hours of October 12, 1988, two Police officers were murdered in Walsh Street, Melbourne. The ensuing police investigation would reveal a tale of lies, deception, and revenge.

Dubbed the ‘Black Widow’, Patricia Byers effectively stripped her lovers before killing or trying to kill them to cover her crimes. Only diligent detective work would lead to her eventual imprisonment.

In 1966, two teenagers, Garry Heywood and Abina Madill, went missing in Shepparton, Victoria. Their bodies were found days later. The murders would remain unsolved for over two decades when a chance discovery of a set of fingerprints to connect the murders and a brutal set of unsolved rapes to one man—Raymond Edmunds.

Morgan Huxley's decision to have one last beer lands him in the deadly hands of Daniel Kelsall, a disturbed young man who wants to act out his fantasies.

In October 1997, Law student Anu Singh held two dinner parties to say goodbye to her friends after she had allegedly divulged to them that she and her boyfriend Joe Cinque were to die in a suicide pact.

In November 2010, in the quiet Belanglo State Forest, Matthew Milat fulfilled his desire to follow in his infamous uncle's footsteps when he brutally murdered his school friend in cold blood.

On the 8th of December, 1987, Frank Vitkovic entered the Australia Post headquarters in Melbourne and opened fire with a military grade rifle, firing 40 rounds and killing eight people. The day becomes a milestone along the road to stricter gun controls in Australia.

In 1997, teenagers Lauren Barry and Nichole Collins left their friends at a campfire and walked through the bush to a party. Little did they know, this would be the last time they were seen alive.

On reopening several missing person's cases police found they were all connected to two men. The trail of missing people led them to a bank vault in Snowtown. Inside the vault, they found a number of barrels - all containing body parts.