What started as a typical sleepover in Wisconsin in 2014 turned into one of the most chilling true crime stories in America.

Twelve-year-olds Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier lured their friend, Payton "Bella" Leutner, into the woods with a plan to kill her as a sacrifice to Slender Man, the creepy internet figure.

Both girls were charged as adults in a case that stunned the world.

Now, with Morgan’s 2025 release from psychiatric care, the case is back in the spotlight, except this time we’re having conversations the media steered clear of at the beginning.

Why did this happen? How did this happen? And what was going on mentally and psychologically for those two little girls?

You can read Kathleen's book Slenderman: A Tragic Story of Online Obsession and Mental Illness here.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

CREDITS

Guests: Kathleen Hale

Host: Gemma Bath

Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice note, and one of our Podcast Producers will get back to you ASAP.

Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The disappearance of The Beaumont Children is burned into the collective conscious of Australia. It’s one of the longest-running cases in the nation’s history and has baffled law enforcement for more than half a century.

Stuart Mullins grew up down the road from the Beaumont children in Adelaide. Over the years he has researched and co-authored investigative writing into their disappearance. He walks us through the case, and why he believes he knows just who is responsible for the disappearance of Jane, Arnna and Grant on Australia Day in 1966.

For photos, maps and further details on the case you can join our closed Facebook group dedicated to the podcast. Just search for True Crime Conversations on Facebook.

GUEST: Stuart Mullins
HOST: Jessie Stephens
PRODUCER: Elise Cooper

RESEARCH

• The Satin Man: Uncovering the mystery of the Beaumont Children, Alan Whiticker and Stuart Mullins https://bit.ly/2leQGNx
• Mother of missing Beaumont children, Nancy Beaumont, dies aged 92 - ABC News https://ab.co/2lfjDsE
• The Beaumont Children: What Really Happened, Channel 7 https://bit.ly/2lNMVyE
• The Beaumont Children Mystery: Crime Investigation Australia, Channel 7 https://bit.ly/2mIlwyu
• Beaumont children search: Police end today’s dig, having found no human remains, The Adelaide Advertiser https://bit.ly/2lbGUvr

GET IN TOUCH:

Email the show at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

True Crime Conversations is a podcast by Mamamia. Find more shows here https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On September 7, 1971, at a remote farmhouse 40 kilometres south of Adelaide, Clifford Bartholomew killed 10 people. His wife, his seven children, his sister-in-law and her 19-month-old son. He shot them all dead.

He was sentenced to death, but because of changes to the law, he wasn’t killed. Instead, he was re-sentenced to life in prison and managed to serve just eight years before being released on parole.

He changed his name, his identity and created an entirely new family who knew nothing about his previous life or his crimes… until now.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

CREDITS

Guests: Craig Cook & Allen Arthur

Host: Gemma Bath

Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice note, and one of our Podcast Producers will get back to you ASAP.

Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Margaret Cunneen SC was one of Australia’s top Crown Prosecutors, renowned for securing convictions against some of the country’s most notorious criminals, including the Butcher of Bega and Robert “Dolly” Dunn.

She also led the prosecution of the Skaf gang rapes in 2000, where brothers Bilal and Mohammed Skaf orchestrated a series of brutal, ethnically motivated sex crimes. One of the most harrowing incidents involved 14 men and boys sexually assaulting a single woman.

Today, only one of the key perpetrators remains behind bars.

Margaret’s remarkable career, including her work on this case, is chronicled in The Boxing Butterfly, which you can find here.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

CREDITS

Guest: Margaret Cunneen SC

Host: Gemma Bath

Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice note, and one of our Podcast Producers will get back to you ASAP.

Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On September 12, 1996, Keli Lane gave birth to a baby girl at Auburn Hospital in western Sydney. Two days later that baby seemingly disappeared.

After years of investigation, Keli was convicted of her daughter's murder in 2010 and sentenced to 18 years behind bars. But did they get it wrong?

Keli Lane’s story has been compared to the wrongful conviction of Lindy Chamberlain. It’s been pulled apart and analysed for years.

So is she a baby killer? Or is she a woman, misunderstood?

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

Listen to our episode with Richard Baker 'Inside One Of Australia’s Longest Running Cults' here.

CREDITS

Guest: Xanthe Mallett

You can listen to her podcast Motive And Method here.

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Scott Stronach

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After she was caught trying to smuggle 5.8kg of cocaine out of Colombia in 2017, the media nicknamed her ‘Cocaine Cassie’. But Cassie Sainsbury’s life in a tough Colombian prison was so much more complicated. And interesting.

In this episode, she speaks to Mia Freedman about prison life: the abuse, the relationships, the sex. And what happened afterwards.

You can hear the second half of Mia's conversation with Cassie here.

THE END BITS:

Subscribe to Mamamia

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at podcast@mamamia.com.au

Need more lols, info, and inspo in your ears? Find more Mamamia podcasts here.

CREDITS:

Host: Mia Freedman. You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here.

Executive Producer: Kimberley Braddish

Audio Producer: Madeline Joannou

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Women are responsible for only 10 per cent of homicides in Australia, Canada, England, and the US, and because it’s such a small sample size not much research has been done into the motives and behaviours that drive female killers.

Dr. Kathryn M. Whiteley, a feminist criminologist, has been researching women who kill for over 20 years. She’s spoken to more than a hundred women behind bars, many of whom are serving life sentences with no chance of parole.

Dr. Whiteley’s focus is on telling their stories and understanding their experiences and perspectives in their own words.

You can listen to Dr Kathryn’s conversations on her podcast Self Identities: Conversations With Convicted Women here.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

CREDITS

Guest: Kathryn M. Whiteley

Host: Gemma Bath

Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

GET IN TOUCH

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2023, Malka Leifer was sentenced to 15 years in prison for 18 counts of sexual abuse against Dassi Erlich and her little sister.

Leifer was the sisters' former high school principal, and when whispers of their allegations came to light in 2008, she fled from her home in Melbourne to Israel before any formal complaint could be made.

It took 70 extradition hearings and 13 years to bring her back to Australia. But finally last year, Dassi was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Leifer was finally going to pay for what she’d done.

THE END BITS

Subscribe to Mamamia

CREDITS

Guest: Dassi Erlich

You can find out more about her memoir In Bad Faith here.

Host: Gemma Bath

Executive Producer: Gia Moylan

Audio Producer: Thom Lion

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.