Motive & Method
by Crime Central Australia
True CrimeE · Explicit
Latest episode
VIP EPISODE pt2: Michael Kirby on Humanity, Love & The Future of…
VIP EPISODE pt2: Michael Kirby on Humanity, Love & The Future of…
About this podcast
Motive & Method is an expert-led Australian true crime podcast. Join Dr Xanthe Mallett and criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro as they unpack what really makes the offenders behind some of history’s most notorious cases tick, and also react and unpack crimes as they hit the headlines. You will also hear from victim survivors, investigators and advocates for change analysing motive, and method.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 100 episodes
- VIP EPISODE pt2: Michael Kirby on Humanity, Love & The Future of Justice · 29 minIn the second part of our conversation with former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, he takes us beyond Australia’s courtrooms and into some of the biggest challenges facing the…
- VIP EPISODE: The Honorable Justice Michael Kirby · 37 minFormer High Court Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG is one of Australia’s most influential legal minds. During his 13 years on the High Court he stood at the centre of some of the…
- 16. Ivan Milat: The Taxi Shooting He Was Never Charged Over · 36 minA hostile former top cop, stonewalled families and an explosive revelation about Ivan Milat’s crimes. In this series finale for 2026, Xanthe and Tim sit down with NSW MP Jeremy…
- MAFS, Mistaken Identity, Missing: The Katie Walker Case with Josh Fox · 23 minIt started with a case of mistaken identity - and led to a global search for answers. When media outlets falsely reported that a Married at First Sight producer had vanished near…
- 15. Searching For Elaine: Does A Sinister Arcade Hold The Clue? · 17 minCould dark secrets at a games arcade in 1980’s Cronulla hold the key to solving this cold case? This episode, journalist Kate Kachor joins Tim and Xanthe to discuss her…
- 49,000 Reports| Who Is Looking For Australia's Missing · 28 minWhat happens behind the scenes when someone disappears? In this episode, Tim and Xanthe sit down with AFP Commander Joanne Cameron to discuss how Australia tackles some 49,000…
- 14. Two Teenage Girls Vanished: A Sister’s 46-Year Search For Answers · 23 minIt’s been 46 years since 16-year-old Elaine Johnson vanished alongside her friend Kerry-Ann Joel. But Elaine’s little sister, Helen Cooper, refuses to let her become a forgotten…
- You Asked, We Answered: Serial Killers, Psychopaths & Bizarre Murder Methods · 32 minIn our first ever Q & A episode Tim and Xanthe are answering your questions about the inside world of true crime, forensics and criminal psychology. From the top personality…
- How To Rob A Bank: The Thief & The Agent Who Caught Him · 55 minThey were on opposite sides of the law - one robbing banks, the other hunting him. In this extraordinary interview, bank robber Steven Meyers and former FBI agent Shawn Johnson…
- Did An Innocent Man Hang? The Execution Australia Tried to Stop · 31 minWas an innocent man sent to the gallows in Australia’s most infamous - and final - execution? On February 3, 1967, Ronald Ryan was hanged for the murder of a prison guard during…
- 13. Nadine Haag: The Note That Said 'He Did It' · 21 minHer death was ruled a suicide. But was crucial evidence missed that could point to foul play? When Nadine Haag was found dead in her Sydney apartment in 2009, police immediately…
- Fatal Sex Trend: Teens Learning From Porn & Social Media · 23 minAustralia is seeing a disturbing trend of teenagers engaging in extremely dangerous, and potentially fatal, sexual acts. After a 16-year-old girl reportedly died during a…
- 12. The Case of Janine Vaughan: A Red Car, CCTV Clues & The Lost Evidence · 30 minAfter 25 years, could forensic experts uncover new leads from the final clue in this case? In December 2001, Janine Vaughan was seen on CCTV getting into a red car outside a…
- 11. Ivan Milat's Accomplice & Questions Of Lost Files · 29 minDid Ivan Milat really act alone? And could lost documents link him to unsolved murders? The Crown prosecutor who put Ivan Milat behind bars believes the notorious serial killer…
- Lindsay Clancy: A Hung Jury In The Case That Gripped The World · 35 minShe killed her three children. But was she in control of what she was doing? The Lindsay Clancy case has gripped the world - a mother accused of killing her three young children…
- The Murders Of Karlie & Khandalyce · 32 minTwo unidentified bodies were found years apart and thousands of kilometres away from eachother- Then came the chilling discovery that they were a mother and her young daughter…
- Forgery & Foul Play: Who Killed Les Ball? · 37 minLeslie Ball didn't just disappear, someone went to extraordinary lengths to erase him. But a trail of forged signatures, fraud and burnt evidence couldn't keep this 33-year-old…
- Mr Rent-A-Kill: The Underworld Hitman Who Disappeared · 39 minFor years, Christopher Flannery AKA 'Mr Rent-a-Kill' was the man Australian mobsters hired to make people disappear - until he became a target and vanished into thin air himself…
- ‘Falsely Convicted’ with Neil Mercer: True Stories of Injustice in Australia · 48 minFrom unvetted science to coerced confessions, catastrophic failures in Australia's justice system have stolen decades from innocent people for crimes they didn't commit. In this…
- Port Arthur: The Massacre That Changed Australia · 38 minThe Port Arthur massacre remains the deadliest mass shooting in Australian history - a tragedy that shattered lives and transformed the country’s gun laws. On a quiet Sunday…
- Terror In The Outback: Can Peter Falconio’s Body Be Found? · 36 minOn a remote highway Peter Falconio vanished forever - His murder became every outback travellers worst nightmare. 25 years after one of Australia’s most infamous murders, the…
- 10. Painful Patterns: Inside The Grafton Hearing with Tim & Xanthe · 30 minAt the second hearing of the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into unsolved missing and murdered cases, Tim and Xanthe examine three more cases that expose troubling similarities in the…
- 9. Andrew Inglis: The First Love Who Never Came Home · 26 minA teenager climbed into his red Datsun and drove off into the rain on Boxing Day 1985. He was never seen again. Nearly 40 years later, what happened to 18-year-old Andrew Inglis…
- The Thailand Suitcase Murder: An Australian Charged · 25 minA 17-year-old disappeared in Thailand after meeting an Australian man. Less than a day later her body was found inside a suitcase abandoned near railway tracks. In this episode…
- 8. Narelle Cox: If Not Milat, Then Who? · 28 minCould an anonymous truck driver hold the key to solving this 50-year-old cold case? In this episode Tim & Xanthe sit down with Karen Cox, the sister of Narelle Cox, who vanished…
- 7. Marion Barter Pt. 2 - The Citizen Sleuth Who Found What Police Missed · 35 minNo badge, no warrant and no official powers - yet she uncovered vital evidence in the search for missing schoolteacher Marion Barter. In this episode, we speak with citizen…
- 6. The Mysterious Disappearance of Marion Barter · 30 minShe secretly changed her name. Hundreds of thousands of dollars disappeared from her bank account. A convicted conman was questioned for days at a coronial inquest, yet nearly…
- Chopper Read: Australia’s ‘Celebrity’ Criminal · 29 minHow a notorious criminal became a pop culture legend. Tim & Xanthe unpack the violent life and complicated mythology of Mark Brandon ‘Chopper’ Read - the underworld figure…
- A Family Vanished: The 'Nannup Cult' Mystery · 41 minIn 2007, four people vanished from a remote town in Western Australia - leaving behind an abandoned home, a cryptic note and a trail of unanswered questions. At the centre of the…
- Bonus: Behind The Scenes With MP Jeremy Buckingham · 30 minIn this bonus episode, Tim and Xanthe sit down with MP Jeremy Buckingham, the driving force behind the parliamentary inquiry examining some of Australia’s most notorious unsolved…
- 5. Cheryl Grimmer: A Confession Ignored- A Child Killer Never Caught · 29 minA three-year-old disappears. A teenager confesses. Yet more than five decades later, Cheryl Grimmer’s family is still fighting for justice. Cheryl Grimmer vanished from a beach…
- 4. Keren Rowland: Was She Ivan Milat's First Victim? · 33 minWhat if Ivan Milat’s first victim was killed more than two decades before the backpacker murders? Keren Rowland was 5 months pregnant when she was brutally murdered and hidden in…
- 3. Kevin Docherty: 47 Years Searching For Answers · 27 minA twin brother's 47-year fight for answers, suspicious letters and a new witness who may hold the key to where Kay Docherty is buried. In this episode, Kevin Docherty shares the…
- 2. Ivan Milat's 11 Other Victims? · 22 minFamilies demand answers - police under scrutiny - and a revelation that could reshape the Milat case. At the first hearing into dozens of Australia’s unsolved murders and missing…
- 1. Australia's Killer Secrets: Milat, Murders & Missing · 29 minWhat if the full story behind Australia's most notorious serial killer Ivan Milat has never been told? In episode one of this special series of Motive&Method, forensic scientist…
- Introducing: Australia's Killer Secrets · 2 minWhat if the full story behind Australia's most notorious serial killer Ivan Milat has never been told? And what if more recent cases point to a copycat killer - or worse? In this…
- Is There A Byron Bay Serial Killer? · 35 minMysterious disappearances, unsolved deaths & terrifying stories - Is a killer stalking Byron Bay? And could there be more than one? In 2019, 18-year-old Belgian backpacker Theo…
- A Horrific Crime In Campbelltown: Australia's DV Crisis · 27 minA mother & two young boys killed allegedly at the hands of their father - This tradegy has once again left an entire country asking how this keeps happening. The alleged murders…
- Youth Crime & 'Crimefluencing': Clicks, Clout & Coercion · 31 minCrimes for clicks, shares and online status - In this episode, Tim and Xanthe unpack the dangerous new phenomenon “crimefluencing”. Australia’s top cop recently highlighted this…
- Breakthrough: Body Found In Search for Jayden Penno-Tompsett · 26 minIn December 2017, two young men took off on a drug-fuelled roadtrip to spend New Year's Eve in Cairns. One made it to the party - the other was never seen again. Now a shocking…
- The Wrong Man? Who Killed Leanne Holland · 38 minMore than three decades after 12-year-old Leanne Holland was murdered in Ipswich, her case remains one of Australia’s most controversial unsolved killings. In this episode, Tim…
- Bonus: Mark Jones [Extended Interview] · 42 minMark Jones’ little brother Tony was hitchhiking to meet their other brother in 1982 when he made a final phone call back home & was never heard from again. In this extended…
- Outback Murder Highway: The Disappearance Of Tony Jones · 26 minIn the early '80s a young hitchhiker vanished off the Flinders Highway - despite a mysterious tip-off in the mail, a killer’s confession, and growing rumours around one outback…
- Bonus: John Twaddle [Extended Interview] · 18 minJohn Twaddle thought he knew who murdered his brother Gordon, but the person he had suspected has been ruled out by police on multiple occasions. Almost 50 years after Gordon was…
- Outback Murder Highway: Triple Murder At Spear Creek · 24 minIn October 1978 three bodies are found at Spear Creek in remote outback Queensland - each has a single rifle shot to the head. Decades later a prime suspect is ruled out but did…
- Bonus: David Cunningham [Extended Interview] · 25 minFor over fifty years, David Cunningham has been searching for the truth about his sister Anita, who vanished while hitchhiking Queensland’s notorious Flinders Highway in 1972…
- Outback Murder Highway: The Sensible Creek Killings · 31 minTwo 18-year-old girls disappeared on the Flinders Highway in 1972. One was found murdered, the other has never been found. In this first episode of our special series for Outback…
- Introducing: Outback Murder Highway · 2 minOne Australian highway - 11 people dead or missing In this special series, criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro and forensic criminologist, Dr Xanthe Weston are unpacking four…
- Ted Bundy Bonus Episode: DNA Breakthrough In Serial Killer Case · 34 minBreaking news on notorious serial killer Ted Bundy decades after his execution - A DNA breakthrough has linked Ted Bundy to another cold case murder, proving his story may not be…
- Catching Peter Foster & Finding A Missing Baby: Ken Gamble (Part 2) · 21 minA dramatic arrest on a Queensland beach and a years-long search for a missing baby - it’s not all cybercrime for private investigator Ken Gamble! In part two of our conversation…
