RedHanded - Episode 347 - Daniel Morcombe & the ‘Mr Big’ Plot

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

When a 13-year-old boy, out shopping for Christmas presents, disappeared from a bus stop in Australia’s Sunshine Coast, police were initially slow to suspect foul play. They had no idea what this investigation would become.The revelations that would come over the next decade would spark one of the country’s largest ever police operations. And in its dramatic climax, it ended in one of the most controversial investigative techniques we’ve ever covered – the very ethically murky “Mr Big”.Exclusive bonus content:Wondery - Ad-free & ShortHandPatreon - Ad-free & Bonus EpisodesFollow us on social media:YouTubeTikTokInstagramXVisit our website:WebsiteSources available on redhandedpodcast.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Red Handed early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Get ready for Las Vegas-style action at BetMGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for when you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat and Roulette. With our ever-growing library of digital slot games, a large selection of online table games and signature BetMGM service, there's no better way to bring the excitement and ambiance of Las Vegas home to you than with BetMGM Casino. Download the BetMGM Casino app today.

BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact ConnexOntario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor. Free of charge.

BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made. A seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Hannah. I'm Saruti. And welcome to Red Handed. Which is the first time I've ever read a script with contact lenses out loud. Let's see how we go. I'm going to be honest, it's pretty blurry.

I think one of them is inside out. Oh no. So, good luck. Well, maybe it's inside out, upside down, because we're down under today. Segway. In 2003, a 13-year-old boy vanished in broad daylight while waiting for a bus in the sunshine. In or on?

I checked. It's in. Wow. Australia, you crazy. I know. All right, so he was waiting for a bus in the sunshine coast of Australia. What followed was the largest criminal investigation in the history of Queensland

in a case where nothing and nobody is as it seems. It took seven years before the case concluded in one of the most controversial, elaborate and lengthy covert police operations ever carried out in Australia. This is the story that you've asked for, so it's your fault, of Daniel Morecambe and the unbelievable investigation to find the truth. On the 1st of April 2011, Brett Peter Cowan sat down in seat 42D for the long flight from Brisbane to Perth. Sat next to him was a good-looking young man who'd piqued Brett's interest before he even introduced himself as Joe Emery. By the time the six-hour flight was over, the pair had formed a budding bromance,

even swapping numbers. Brett, who had had a rough go of things recently, didn't waste any time getting in touch with Joe. He was keen for a new mate, and the pair hung out regularly over the following weeks, going car shopping, smoking weed, and generally shooting the shit. And from Brett's side of things, it really did seem like shit. He told Joe that he'd been in and out of prison, he wasn't very close to his family, and that he'd even had a couple of failed marriages, and also a few kids that he wasn't

allowed to see. Red flags. Yeah, Brett is just a big walking red flag at this point. But it seemed like Brett could possibly just be a guy whose life hadn't worked out. And in many ways, that was true. But Brett was also a man with many a dark secret. Secrets that he knew would only push his newfound friend away. So Brett tried his very best to put the past behind him and present himself as a regular guy to regular Joe. But there were peculiarities about Brett that slipped through. For example, on one occasion, Brett excitedly showed Joe a letter saying that he had legally changed his name from Brett Peter Cowan to Shadow Nunya Hunter.

The man formerly known as Brett proudly explained that Shadow was his old dog's name and that Nunya was for Nunya. It's in Nunya business. Yep. Why not? Brett didn't explain why he had changed his name. And Joe, although a little bit confused, did just brush it off as a bit of a weird quirk. A few weeks passed, and one day Brett told Joe that he'd just lost his job and that he was really struggling. So Joe, being the good friend that he was, said that he might be able to help. Joe told Brett, in confidence, that he was, said that he might be able to help. Joe told Brett,

in confidence, that he worked for a secretive criminal organisation that operated across Australia, and that if his boss gave the green light, he might be able to get Brett some jobs. And soon, it was on. On the 5th of May 2011, Joe handed Brett a photo of a man, and told him to call him, as soon as he spotted this man getting off a plane at the airport. It was the easiest $150 Brett had ever made. After that, the shady jobs

just kept coming. The following Monday, all Brett needed to do was go and sit in a car while Joe collected a $6,000 gambling debt for the boss. Brett counted the cash and Joe handed him his day's pay of another $150 and asked him if he was interested in more work. Brett was very interested. On the next job, Brett was going to be working with a colleague of Joe's,

a man called Paul Fitzy Fitzsimmons. Brett and Fitzy drove to the city of Fremantle together to pick up $5,000 from a brothel that their organisation ran. During the 45-minute drive, Brett talked incessantly about his theory on how hormones in chicken meat were giving young girls big breasts. He also asked to be introduced as Shadow and Brett no longer. No. No. Not when you've got legal documentation to show that your name is, in fact, Shadow without the W. And if anyone's got any questions, look at my middle name, mate. Over the following months, the jobs came in thick and fast,

involving everything from extortion, blackmail, heists and gun running. On one occasion, Brett even witnessed Fitzy buying blank passports from a man who worked at the immigration department. Slow down. I know. So many things in that sentence are not what they should be. Many, many, many things are going on. And it goes on for months and months and months. All of these jobs,

all of this kind of dodgy dealing. And Brett was loving it. These guys, as far as he could tell, were the real fucking deal. And he wanted in. During their time together, Fitzy explained the ins and outs of the organisation. Because right now, Brett's not like in the organisation. He's very much on the periphery. He's like kind of a handyman for the group, if you will. He's not like in the crew. But Fitzy made it obvious to him that it was all very hush-hush and that they were like a tight-knit family. Fitzy also explained that above all else, the group valued honesty, trust and loyalty. If Brett looked after them and was 100% honest at all times, there was nothing the organisation wouldn't do for him. If he were able to, you know, really get his feet under the table.

Pretty soon, Fitzy introduced Brett to his boss, a man called Jeff. Jeff was the leader of the Western Australian arm of the organisation. After the meet, Brett was excited to learn that Jeff had liked him, which Fitzy said was a rare thing. The jobs and the pay got bigger and bigger. And then one day Fitzy told Brett, you're one of us now. Every man in the organisation is a brother to me, and now you are too.

Brett, whose three real brothers absolutely hated his guts, was overjoyed. Everything was finally going right for Brett. And he knew the only thing that could fuck it all up was if they found out his horrible secret. He just couldn't let that happen. Soon after his inauguration into the group, Fitzy and boss man Jeff explained to Brett that he shouldn't try and contact Joe anymore

as Joe had gotten into some trouble but he was being looked after. Jeff explained that they were sending Joe to London with a new identity and $10,000 while they made his problems go away. Brett was sad to hear about Joe. After all, he was the one who had shown him so much kindness and brought him into the group. But if anyone could sort out whatever trouble Joe was in, it was these guys. And with Joe now out of the picture, it looked like there might be a spot opening up for Brett. It was finally time for Brett to meet the big boss, the guy who headed up the entire organisation, Arnold. Fitzy and Brett flew out to Melbourne for the meeting

on the 12th of July 2011. Brett, during this trip, was thrilled about three things. He was finally stepping up in life. He was going to Melbourne for the first time and his plane ticket said Shadow Hunter on it. He was done with being Brett Cowan. On the day of the face-to-face, the men headed to a fancy hotel in the city. As they made their way inside, Brett said it was the first time he'd ever walked through a revolving door. Yeah, he is very much a tragic

tragic character of the highest regard but also bad guy he's got a secret have we not made that clear it's a foreshadowing and i've seen pictures of brett even though i know what he actually looks like when i'm talking about this case when we're talking about this script I just picture Alfie Allen I'm sorry Alfie Alfie Allen from Game of Thrones like when he looks really like gross and haggard when he's like you know being held captive

that is who I imagine as Brett Peter Cowan interesting I also hate revolving doors they make me extremely anxious but because the world doesn't owe me an anxiety-free life i have to use the revolving door and you have done it yeah not like brett who is going to meet arnold for the first time and is like oh oh my God, a revolving door. What else have they got in Melbourne? And just like us, Fitzy laughed and reminded the starry-eyed Brett once again that Arnold needed to know that he could trust Brett if he was going to keep moving on up in those ranks.

And also, he warned that a background check would be done. But it was all standard stuff, and as long as Brett was being honest and didn't have some sort of massive secret that he had been hiding, then he just had nothing to worry about. A month later, and a load more jobs later, including a diamond smuggling operation out of Melbourne, the background check results were in.

A policeman that the group worked with warned Brett that he was about to be subpoenaed in Queensland. Brett explained to a confused-looking Fitzy that he'd been living in an area where a boy had gone missing seven years before, in 2003, and that he'd been wrongly accused of being responsible. In fact, when he met Joe, he had been on the plane back from being subpoenaed by the coroner's court. Brett claimed that it was all just a big misunderstanding and assured Fitzy that he was 100% innocent and that his alibi was airtight. The boy that Brett

was referring to was Daniel Morecambe, the 13-year-old who had vanished waiting for a bus. Daniel and his twin brother Bradley were born on the 19th of December 1989 to Bruce and Denise Morecambe. When Bradley and Daniel turned two, Bruce bought a franchise of a lawn mowing company in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. Meanwhile, Denise had her hands full looking after Daniel Bradley and the Morecambe's eldest son, who's called Dean. As their business grew, the Morecambe's bought themselves a hobby farm and built a family home on the land in the picturesque suburb of Maroochydore in Queensland. And if you are wondering, just like we are,

a hobby farm is a small farm that's maintained without the expectation of it being a primary source of income. It's like not quite an allotment, like bigger than an allotment. But you're like, I'm not expecting to make any money. Just a bit of fun. Yeah. My chickens need somewhere to live. Sure. That's not my bedroom.

Yes. It's not like a hobby horse, which is just like a horse with a stick that doesn't is not an actual horse it is a farm just not one that's gonna earn you any money which is fine and it was actually perfect for little daniel who was obsessed with animals and wanted to be a vet when he grew up which like that's what they all fucking say it's really hard okay and also people who love animals want to become vets until they realize that all you do is basically go around like shooting horses. Yeah. And that's why vets have an incredibly high suicide rate. Yes. Also, I know that vets don't shoot horses, but you know what I mean? Putting animals down basically becomes a big part of your day. Anyway, Daniel didn't know that yet because he hadn't been jaded by the weight of existence.

He actually just rode ponies on the farm, played with the family dog, which was a German shepherd called Chief, and brought a stray cat home basically every single night. By the time the twins were 11, they had jobs picking fruit for their next-door neighbour. The brothers saved their wages with dreams of buying a small motorbike that they could one day share. And life was generally going really well for the Morecombes. But all that changed on Friday the 7th of December 2003.

It was the start of the school holidays, and with Christmas and the twins' 14th birthdays fast approaching, it was a busy day in the Morecombe house. The twins had a 6am fruit-picking shift, which I was just like, are you fucking kidding? They're 13 years old and they're getting up at 6am. Well, not even getting up at 6am, they're on the farm at 6am to pick fruit. Yeah, it's too hot otherwise. I like their work ethic and they've certainly got a lot of it because they were doing this regularly.

And that day, Bruce and Denise were throwing a big Christmas party for all their employees. And with it being Australia, that Christmas party was of course a picnic in probably the blazing heat. Upside down Christmas. Exactly. Or at least that's what everyone thought until it started absolutely pissing it down with rain. So Bruce and Denise left the boys at home and went off and try and do a last minute staff Christmas party salvage mission. The teenagers mooched about at home that morning when Daniel suddenly realised that he hadn't bought anyone any presents yet. He asked Bradley to go to the Sunshine Plaza with him, which was a nearby shopping centre,

but both Bradley and the older brother Dean couldn't really be asked, so Daniel decided to go on his own. It was only a short bus ride away, and he'd been countless times before. Daniel left the house at 1pm wearing blue shorts and a red t-shirt It was only a short bus ride away, and he'd been countless times before. Daniel left the house at 1pm wearing blue shorts and a red t-shirt with $100 in cash, a phone and house keys in his pockets. He walked to an underpass about a kilometre from his home, where he knew, just like all of the locals, there was an unofficial bus stop. The next bus was due at 1.35, but it didn't come.

What Daniel didn't know was that that bus had broken down a few stops before. Two replacement buses were sent out 30 minutes later. The first one picked up all of the annoyed passengers from the broken down bus, and the driver was told to take them straight to Muruchido without stopping. And that's what he did. This driver recalled going straight past a boy in blue shorts and a red t-shirt who waved at him to stop. As he went past the confused looking boy the driver mouthed the words there's another one coming and pointed behind him. The driver then picked up his radio and even called the other bus driver, saying there's a young chap in a red t-shirt that needs picking up. But when the second bus arrived

just two minutes later, there was nobody there. The boy was gone. Bruce and Denise returned home from Brisbane at around 4pm that day and were surprised to find that Bradley was the only one at home. He told them that Dean was out and to find that Bradley was the only one at home. He told them that Dean was out and that Daniel had gone to the shopping centre. After about an hour, Denise drove to the underpass bus stop to find Daniel. Bruce and Denise had been letting the twins catch the bus on their own for a couple of years by this stage and the boys knew to make sure that they caught the last bus home at 5pm. Daniel had only missed the last bus home once before, and he'd phoned his parents to let them know not to worry.

But this time, there was no sign of Daniel at the bus stop, and no call to explain what had happened. Then Denise remembered having seen a broken-down sunbus on the side of the road when they'd been driving home from the Christmas party. Maybe Daniel was still stranded at the plaza. So Denise headed straight there. But at 6pm, the entire shopping centre was completely empty and Daniel still wasn't answering his phone. After checking out a few more likely places where their son might be,

Denise and Bruce went straight to the police station. There, they were asked all the standard questions. Was Daniel depressed? Was it usual for him to be late? Could he have run away? Bruce assured the officer that the answer to all of those questions was no. Daniel was happy. After all, he'd gone to the shopping centre that day to buy presents for his entire family. And he was very responsible. I mean, he was 13 years old and had a weekly 6am fruit-picking shift that he never missed.

I think that's enough said. The officer told the Morecams that he wasn't going to log Daniel as officially missing just yet and said that they should come to the station at 8am the next morning if he still hadn't turned up. This is 2003. This is not like 1973. This is 2003. And they're just like, no. Even though the child that's being reported missing has no history of this, no past running away, no past like anything in his behaviour. I mean, do you have a child that's more low risk at having been somebody who's run off? Why would you not look into this?

It's just mind boggling, the mistakes the police make. Of course, it was a sleepless night in the Morecambe house. Bruce and Denise continued to search every place they could think of and they phoned every one of Daniel's friends, but nothing. Denise checked Daniel's room and the front driveway every 10 minutes until 4.30am. But Daniel never came, and he never would. The next morning at the station, the officer asked Daniel's parents whether he had been wearing a red shirt and blue shorts. The officer had spoken with a driver from the

Sunbus company who recalled seeing a boy wearing the same thing waiting at that unofficial bus stop under the underpass. Daniel Morecombe, after this, was finally logged into the system as a missing person. But, interestingly, the officer didn't seem to feel the need to tell Bruce and Denise Morecombe about the suspicious looking man that the bus driver had also reported seeing standing near Daniel. I hate that. I feel like, you know, when you see in the world of true crime, those pictures and it will be like there's a one famous picture where it's like a picture of a little boy who goes missing in a national park. And if you look really closely at it, you can kind of see like a man in the background looking at him. I don't know how much of it is like, you know, because you're seeing it because your brain is looking for patterns versus like how much that man is actually stood there. But this is like an eyewitness testimony of that picture. And it was weird enough for him to see it as he was driving past with a bus full of angry people.

To notice that there was a strange man there. Who might possibly have looked quite a lot like Alfie Allen. But notice Alfie Allen, the bus driver, did. He described the man as looking dirty with a stringy goatee, sunken in cheeks and a sunburnt face. I cannot wait for your SBF anxieties that are to come at the end of this year. Ugh. No. Look, we're even coming in October, which I've heard is not the hottest. It's not like it's, you know.

But there's a hole in the ozone layer. January, February. Fuck. Mate, look, I'm going to have to buy like a UV repellent hat. Should I just get you a beekeeping costume? That would be outstanding. With fans in it. Please.

Please, for the love of God. I'm also getting my face fucking microneedled to shit. I definitely can't go in the sun. This is going to be a bloody disaster. So yeah, lots lots of hats the umbrella might have to make a reappearance the cuba umbrella go peak asian bad times bad bad times but i kiddl harvard is the oldest and richest university in America. But when a social media-fueled fight over Harvard and its new president broke out last fall, that was no protection. Claudian Gay is now gone. We've exposed the DEI regime, and there's much more to come.

This is The Harvard Plan, a special series from the Boston Globe and WNYC's On the Media. To listen, subscribe to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jake Warren, and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mom's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now, exclusively on Wondery Plus. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go. A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him.

This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me and it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding, and this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Investigators in Queensland quickly contacted Task Force Argos, which you should know about if you listen to anything we say or tell you to do. Task Force Argos is Australia's rock star child sex offender investigative team. And they are, of course, the heroes that brought down Warhead and Child's Play.

Go and listen to Haunting Warhead if you haven't already. They also have been involved with the demise of numerous other nonce networks. Argos were also asked to review any intelligence that they had on convicted paedophiles known to operate in the area where Daniel had vanished. Meanwhile, alerts to look out for Daniel were broadcast across Australian media stations. Forensic teams combed every surface of the buses that ran that day. Security footage from every camera within a five-mile radius was analysed. Investigators examined the Morecambe family's computers. They called every taxi company to see who they'd picked up and dropped off.

They checked all 71 pawn shops in the area to check for any of Daniel's belongings. And diving teams checked every waterway in the area. But for all of their efforts, the police had nothing. Not one single lead. By Tuesday morning, Daniel Morecombe had been missing for 48 hours, and his case was being investigated by 50 police officers and four homicide detectives. And look, I think they drop the ball on the initial reaction when Denise and

Bruce go and report their son missing but after that the police do everything they can to try and find Daniel but it is just that thing of like the sooner you act the more chance there is and although they have this mammoth team working on the case within 48 hours it already feels too late yeah i know what you mean i think like children it's different but i do think you have to factor in how many times that police station will have been approached this person is missing and then they show up i know i've been that person yes i got reported missing i showed showed up. You have. And the police were very unbothered by my absence. I know. So yes, it is like, you know, with the gift of hindsight and it is a child, so it is different.

But I do think you do have to factor in just how much this happens. No, that's definitely true. And I think it comes back to the children and the history of not having disappeared in the past. And yes, of course, with hindsight, you can blame them. But I do have to give them credit where credit is due, that afterwards, after they open the investigation and properly treat Daniel Morecombe as a missing person, I do think the police do everything they feasibly can,

as you're going to find out all about. Now, eyewitness accounts obviously flooded in once the police opened up their hotlines, with some describing the same tall, skinny, gaunt man with a weathered face and unkempt hair standing near the bus stop where Daniel had last been seen. Then, Task Force Argos provided the police with a list of known paedophiles they could confirm were in the area that day. And one of the names that stood out to the officers

was Brett Peter Cowan, a.k.a. Shadow Nanya. Born in 1969, Brett was the third of four boys born to Peter and Marlene Cowan. Peter was a military man and Marlene was a stay-at-home mum and pillar of the local community in Keppera in Brisbane, which is where the Cowans eventually settled down. And from the very beginning, Brett was the black sheep of the family. He struggled academically and his behaviour outside of school was troubling, to say the least.

And by the age of just ten, Brett's sexual deviance was already starting to show. He'd approach younger boys in the local swimming pool and fondle them under the water, and occasionally he'd even lure them into the changing rooms, which is very similar, actually, to Warhead and what he starts off doing. Brett began molesting a younger female relative as well that same year and would continue to do so for close to a decade.

He'd later say that it hadn't occurred to him that what he'd been doing was wrong until he was much older. While his three older brothers were excelling in school, Brett dropped out in year 10. And this is when Brett's delinquent behaviour really began to ramp up. By the time he was 18, Brett had been in court multiple times for petty crimes. His quiet, church-going parents didn't know how to deal with any of it. But it wasn't until the 5th of December 1987 that they'd find out just how depraved their son truly was. 18-year-old Brett was carrying out some court-ordered community service,

doing maintenance work at a child care centre, which seems like the worst possible place to put someone like that. As he worked digging around some pipes, Brett's attention was focused on a group of boys playing nearby. He was specifically taken with one blonde-haired seven-year-old boy. When nobody was watching, Brett took the child to a nearby toilet He was specifically taken with one blonde-haired, seven-year-old boy. When nobody was watching, Brett took the child to a nearby toilet and raped him. That night, the little boy went home and told his mum everything.

The arresting officer would later comment on how shocked he was at Brett's nonchalant behaviour as they placed him in cuffs. Brett was charged with sodomy and with child abuse, but, for some reason, he was allowed out on bail. And, of course, Brett had absolutely no intention of returning for his trial. He vanished, successfully for over a year, until the police finally caught up with him in Sydney. Eventually, Brett pleaded not guilty, forcing his young victim to have to face him at trial. The little boy pointed straight at Brett when asked in court who had abused him. And Brett,

again very similarly to Warhead, just smiled. Somehow the jury concluded that Brett was guilty of abuse, but that the charges of sodomy hadn't been proven. As a result, Brett was sentenced to two years in prison, of which he only served one. When Brett was released, his parents sent him to live with his grandmother in Murrachida. But before long, Brett moved out and went back to his old ways, stealing and breaking into houses.

In 1991, while living in Nambour, Queensland, Brett met an 18-year-old girl called Tracy Hanveld and dug his hooks in. Before long, Tracy moved in with Brett at the BP Palms Caravan Park in Darwin. And for a while, life was actually quite good in the trailer park. A lot of other residents were Tracy's age, and the couple would spend their evenings barbecuing and drinking beers with their new mates.

Brett even seemed to have sorted himself out a bit by landing a job. But soon enough, Brett began using it again, and started disappearing every night. Then came the night that changed everything, on the 23rd of September 1993. Tracey had come home to find the trailer locked up and no sign of Brett. She'd long suspected that he'd started cheating again and thought that maybe it was to do with that. While Tracey was running around looking for her shitty boyfriend, she found out that Brett wasn't the only one missing.

One of the little boys from the trailer park had also vanished. Later that night, Brett suddenly turned up, walking back from the showers without a care in the world. He told Tracy that he'd gotten dirty trying to steal some sprinklers or something. How does one steal a sprinkler? I don't know. I mean, if anyone is going to steal a sprinkler, it's him. And before Tracy even got a chance to question him, the sound of sirens filled the air. Emergency vehicles were headed for the BP petrol station down the road.

The missing boy had just stumbled in there looking for help. He was naked, bleeding, covered in mud and barely breathing. His injuries were so bad that the paramedics weren't certain that he was going to survive. As he was taken off to the nearest hospital, detectives locked down the entire trailer park. Nobody was going to go in or out until everyone had been interviewed. At the hospital, doctors discovered that the boy had been beaten and strangled, which is why his face was covered in blood blisters and bruises.

He had a collapsed lung, a deep wound to the back of his head, lacerations all over his legs and around his scrotum. The little boy had also been raped with something that had caused serious internal bleeding. It was a miracle that he was still alive, and even more of a miracle that he'd mustered up the strength to give the officers some vital information. The boy said the man who had attacked him was from the trailer park. He was tall, skinny and had mousy brown hair.

According to the boy, the man lived in the trailer opposite the toilets and kept a bike out front. Brett claimed that he'd been in his trailer the entire time and that his girlfriend, Tracy, could back him up. But Tracy did not back him up. Good for you, Tracy. And so, when officers checked Brett Cowan's records and saw that he'd

previously been convicted of assaulting a child, they arrested him faster than you can say Mousy Brown hair. During his interrogation, Brett went from flat out denying everything to saying, I wish I'd never done it. I wish it had never happened. I'm sorry. Brett was sentenced on the 14th of June 1994 on charges of gross indecency, grievous harm and deprivation of liberty. Because he pleaded guilty to these charges, the attempted murder charge was dropped. And the judge also decided to give Brett the benefit of the doubt due to his apparent remorse and promises to seek help. What the judge didn't know, however, was that Brett had been abusing children since the age of 10, and he was never going to stop.

In the end, Brett, a now twice-convicted child rapist, let that sink in, was sentenced to just seven years in prison, and he was released after just three and a half it's honestly so so dark the fact that he served one year for the first incident and now three and a half for this it's mind-boggling like how he just manages not even to slip through the net because he's arrested and convicted but how minimal these jail terms seem and again look we got in a lot of like shit when we did the pedophile hunters episode but what i'm going to say is again it

also shows you how just imprisoning people who do this it doesn't solve anything anyway even if he had got a longer sentence there's no conversation that happens anywhere about what you do with people that are like brett peter cowan it was something i couldn't stop thinking about when we were doing the research for this episode i'm like the parents are like he's a wronger he's molested children he's raped his own cousin from the age of 10 for a decade afterwards and when confronted with it all he says later is like i didn't see that it was a wrong thing to be doing if your child does something like that and you're presented with it, what do you do? Like, what do you actually do?

It's just this whole thing of like, what do you do with somebody like Brett Peter Cowan, who is a relentless and persistent and committed abuser? Like, what do you actually do? But he's been doing it since he was 10. At what point do you intervene? What is the process? What's the procedure? It all just feels so futile and it obviously just ends in tragedy.

So during his time in prison, Brett attended a sex offenders course and like many before him, he found Jesus. When he was released, his mother's sister, Jennifer, and her husband agreed to take Brett in, which I'm just like, are you serious?

But they do. They agree. And they probably did it because Keith and Jennifer Philbrook were pastors at the Suncoast Christian Church. And look, I'm not going to slag them off. I think they genuinely seemed like two people that were like, we can help him. He's found Jesus. We can help him get him on the straight and narrow. This church that Keith and Jennifer ran was just a few roads away from where Daniel Morecombe would go missing in 2003. I think you can all see where this is going. Brett moved into his aunt and uncle's granny flat in Bly Bly, which is the name of the place. I had to look it up. It reads like it's Blee Blee, but it's Bly Bly in Maroochida. However, living here, there would be strict

conditions. Brett would have to pay $65 a week for rent. He'd have to attend their church and he had to absolutely get a job. I just think that's so astonishingly noble. And one of the major reasons that there is such a lack of resource for rehabilitating sex offenders is that nobody wants to fucking do it because it's horrible. Yep. And really, really difficult, if at all ever successful. Yep.

So yes, I you know there's all those problems with resources and also because nobody wants to be the politician that comes out and says this is what we're gonna do because everyone will be like oh you're a non-sympathizer yeah you're gonna spend my tax money on rehabilitating people that i would rather just kill myself if i got my hands on them exactly and look i really have no sympathy for brett peter cowan it's the it's the ramifications and the effects and the lives that people like him destroy and what we should and could do as a society to stop that happening i don't know what that is there will always be predators and predators will always exist in places where they

can abuse their power and typically they will go after children, the elderly, etc. What do you do about that? I don't know. But this case is so infuriating. So for a while, Brett was living with his aunt and uncle. And he seemed to have reformed. But then his parents gave him a car. And this car gave Brett his freedom back. Freedom that he used to stay out

all night doing drugs. And look, I think there are people that blame his parents for like giving him a car, but I'm like, Brett was gonna do this regardless. You think a car was the only thing stopping him from doing what he goes on to do? I think it's incredibly hard. I have all the sympathy in the world for his parents because what the fuck do you do. I think it's incredibly hard. I have all the sympathy in the world for his parents because what the fuck do you do? Probably not enable him but you know here we are. The car gave Brett his freedom back. Freedom that he used to stay out all night doing drugs and very strangely despite being on parole Brett was never once visited by a parole officer who should have been drug testing him.

In the summer of 1998, Brett met another young woman named Tracy Moncrief. And just like he had with Tracy Hanvold, Brett immediately dug his grubby little hooks into her. This Tracy was a devout Christian who saw the good in everyone. And this is why, when Brett revealed to her some of the details of his criminal history and told her, I've reformed, I've found God, she believed him. Pretty soon the pair were dating and once again Brett seemed to turn himself around. He stopped going out at night and doing drugs and even told Tracy that he wanted to wait until they were married to have sex. Just a few days later, Brett raped Tracy in the granny flat. But he apologised and promised never to do it again. And the pair got married in September

the following year. Before the wedding, a pastor had pulled Tracy aside to have a word. He told her that a 15-year-old girl from the church had accused Brett of attempting to rape her. But Tracy refused to believe it. And she married Brett anyway. Ugh. And this is one of those cases where you're like, it's definitely not that everyone was like, oh my God, I never saw it coming.

Yeah, right. Everyone saw it coming. And look again, at what point do you start blaming people because this pastor knows that a 15 year old girl has told him that brett cowan has raped her he tells tracy why doesn't he tell the police right yeah why doesn't he tell the police is it again this thing of like i don't want to you, you know, bring drama to our door. We don't need that. But I warn Tracy. But like, why don't you go to the police?

And yes, you can say like maybe he doesn't want to put Tracy in a position where she's being confronted by the police if she's told him in confidence. I don't know how that relationship works. I guess he owes her some sort of confidentiality. But then also I know that teachers, if a child comes to you and says, can I tell you something? And they're about to make a disclosure of abuse in this country. And I know in Australia, it's a lot stricter. They have mandatory reporting.

In this country, you cannot promise that you will keep it a secret. You cannot say, please tell me I won't tell anybody. You're not allowed to say that because you have a duty to report. In Australia, they have mandatory reporting, which means that if you find out something about a child being abused or you should reasonably have suspected and you didn't report it, you can go to jail. Now, obviously, there's swings and roundabouts because that makes people think like, are you just going to have teachers report everything because they don't want to catch themselves in hot water later down the line? But how this pastor doesn't report that is again, shocking to me. He was hip-hop's biggest mogul,

the man who redefined fame, fortune, and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Cone. Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about. But just as quickly as his empire rose, it came crashing down. Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment, charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was f***ed up. I hit rock bottom. But I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real.

From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace, from law and crime, this is The Rise and Fall of Diddy. Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery Plus. You don't believe in ghosts? I get it. Lots of people don't. I didn't either until I came face to face with them. Ever since that moment, hauntings, spirits, and the unexplained have consumed my entire life. I'm Nadine Bailey. I've been a ghost tour guide for the past 20 years. I've taken people along

with me into the shadows, uncovering the macabre tales that linger in the darkness, and inside some of the most haunted houses, hospitals, prisons, and more. Join me every week on my podcast, Haunted Canada, as we journey through terrifying and bone-chilling stories of the unexplained. Search for Haunted Canada on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favourite podcasts. Now let's fast forward a year. The married couple, Tracy and Brett, were living together in a cottage in Birwa.

While Tracy did all the housework, cooking and cleaning, Brett was busy growing weed under the house, doing drugs all night and watching porn in the living room. And it'll come as absolutely no surprise that he wasn't watching any regular porn. Brett enjoyed watching bestiality, and hardcore violent amputee sex seems to have been his particular flavour. He'd even show it to his wife, hoping that she'd like it. She did not. Then came the point of no return for Tracy. She got pregnant and gave birth in July 2003.

Later that same year, just before Christmas Day, a detective from Task Force Argos knocked on their door. He was there to speak to Brett about his whereabouts on the 7th of December, the day that Daniel Morecambe had vanished from that bus stop. Brett very calmly explained that he'd picked up a mulcher from a man called Keith Davis so he could get rid of some tree branches in his garden. He explained he'd left around 1.30pm, picked up the mulcher at 2pm and was home by 2.30pm at the latest. To the detective's shock, Brett had just placed himself in the area of Daniel Morecambe's disappearance at the exact time Daniel Morecambe disappeared. When asked whether he'd seen a boy in red waiting for a bus,

Brett said he hadn't. His wife Tracy then confirmed Brett's story, and so did the man that Brett said he'd borrowed the mulcher from. The neighbours also confirmed that they'd helped Brett get rid of the tree branches that afternoon, at the time he'd claimed. So how could Brett have had time to lure Daniel away, murder him, hide his body,

and make it home in time to do the gardening within that tight time frame? But then again, what were the odds that a convicted paedophile who was known to kidnap and rape children just so happened to be in the right place at the right time and not have had anything to do with Daniel's disappearance. That didn't stack up either. A few months after this visit, Tracy got pregnant with a second child, by which point Brett was away for weeks at a time, supposedly mining in

North Queensland. It would be months before Tracy found out that he had actually been living with another woman. And when Tracy confronted him about it, Brett decided to walk out on his wife, his young son and the unborn child and move in with his new girlfriend. But that relationship ended quickly when this new girlfriend found out that Brett was what he was, a paedophile. Or, as apparently they say in Australia, a rock spider. So, with nowhere to go, Brett turned to the only people in his life who refused to give up on him. His parents. Ugh.

In 2005, two years after Daniel had gone missing, detectives decided to reanalyse Brett's alibi by retracing his route with a stopwatch, speaking with Tracy again, and checking his phone records. What they learned was that there was at least 40 minutes unaccounted for. And considering the fact that Brett had carried out his last two attacks in mere minutes, 40 minutes was plenty of time for him to have taken Daniel. So in July 2005, Brett was called in for another interview to go over his alibi.

The police got nowhere though, and detectives finished by asking him one last question. If you had abducted Daniel, would you tell me? To which Brett simply responded, probably not. In 2008, Brett moved into a house share in the Brisbane suburb of Durrock with an 18-year-old girl called Claire and her father, David. Brett, who was now 38 years old, asked his father Peter to help him move in. And look, again, hindsight, all that. Are you going to live

with your 18-year-old daughter and move a 38-year-old man into the house? Don't do that. Yeah. The Parenting Book Podcast once again. Just don't do that. David, why? Desperate times, I suppose.

Find a granny. Find anyone else. Not him. Within just three months, Brett was sharing a bed with the teenage Claire, and he managed to manipulate her into taking part in his twisted sexual fantasies. These fantasies often ended with Brett choking Claire until she passed out. Just to remind everybody, he's 38, she is 18 years old. When they weren't together, Brett was out having sex with men that he met online. By 2009, Brett and Claire had moved into a caravan on Bribie Island. It was here that one day Brett suggested that they try a kidnapping role play.

He told Claire to pretend to be a teenage runaway and he'd be a stranger offering her a lift and then she'd pretend that he was raping her when they got to the caravan. But Claire didn't need to pretend because Brett actually did violently rape Claire that day. When he finished, he asked his crying girlfriend, was it good for you too? Claire would go on to give birth to Brett's third child in December 2009. Following this, Brett hung out for a while, but eventually decided to cut all ties with Claire and start

afresh in Western Australia. And his ever supportive parents gave him $5,000 to get on his feet. On 11 October 2010, an inquest into the disappearance of Daniel Morecambe began. During the second half of the inquest, in January 2011, Brett was summoned for a public cross-examination in front of a courtroom full of people, including Daniel's family. Brett spoke freely about his early life, the two convictions that he had for abusing children sexually, let's remember, and the fact that he started abusing children when he was just 10 years old. And then came the topic of the day that

Daniel disappeared. Brett immediately denied any responsibility and then the prosecutor tore him apart. The prosecutor began by asking Brett if he knew how rare a crime it was for a boy under the age of 18 to be kidnapped in public and for the perpetrator never to be found. He then answered his own question by stating that in Brett's lifetime, such a crime had never ever occurred in the state of Queensland, apart from in Daniel Morecombe's case. He went on to point out that as of December 2003,

Brett was one of the very few people in Queensland, if not the whole of Australia, who had a proven history of kidnapping and raping young boys after snatching them in public. Here's what he said. So, if you didn't have anything to do with Daniel's disappearance, Here's what he said. time that this once-in-a-decade, once-in-2030-year event occurs, have you thought about how incredibly unlikely that is? Now sure, the prosecutor was making a very interesting point as to the statistical impossibility of Brett not having been guilty. But Brett Peter Cowan, Shadow Nanya Hunter knew that they didn't have shit on him.

So he kept his mouth shut and he boarded his plane back to Perth the following day, assured that nothing would come of it. And that was when he met the handsome stranger who changed his life, Joe Emery. What Brett didn't know was that Joe Emery was an undercover police officer.

In fact, every single person in the secretive criminal organisation that Brett had joined, thanks to Joe Emery, was also an undercover police officer. And every single quote-unquote crime that Brett had committed with the gang had actually been a carefully scripted and planned fictitious scenario written by police. Bonkers. I know. They literally go to brothels, they go to different places, various different businesses to collect gambling debts extortion money whatever there's so many actors involved in this and it went on for months so this is what's known as a mr big operation it's not something we've come across before and it's very interesting apart from being known as a mr big operation it's also known as the Canadian Technique. It's the opposite, basically, of the usual sort of police undercover operation, where an officer poses as a criminal in order to infiltrate

a gang of real criminals. In a Mr Big Operation, the police pose as the criminal organisation themselves and seduce their suspect into joining them. Then they gain the suspect's trust, carry out crimes together and pay them until their target feels like he's one of the family. That's when their target meets the big boss or Mr Big who is actually a skilled police interrogator. This Mr Big tells the suspect a prerequisite to joining the gang is to reveal their entire criminal history to him. This controversial technique was first used in Canada way back in 1899, and it has since been used over there 350 times, and it has an incredibly high conviction rate.

Mr Big was first used in Australia in the 1990s and over the years it has worked to varying degrees of success And successful or not, it is controversial For one, it involves deception and manipulation which has led to false confessions from vulnerable suspects in the past particularly those with low intelligence or mental health issues Defence lawyers have also challenged the admissibility of evidence in the past, particularly those with low intelligence or mental health issues. Defence lawyers have also challenged the admissibility of evidence obtained through Mr Big operations, arguing that the techniques used constitute entrapment and coercion.

Which, like, they do. There have also been cases where individuals have been wrongfully convicted based on evidence obtained through Mr Big operations. Some argue that the pressure and incentives used during these operations can lead innocent people to confess to crimes they didn't actually commit. This is why Mr Big operations are actually totally prohibited in a bunch of countries, including the UK and the US, due to high standards for what constitutes a voluntary confession. So right or wrong, it's a total murky mess. I know different people have different opinions on this, especially because the Daniel Morecombe case is a very, very, very big case, very high profile case

in Australia. And there are a lot of people, you know, who feel like the ends justify the means. And sure, in cases where it's successful, you can be like, what's the harm? But there are so many problems and this type of investigation is absolutely riddled with ethical concerns. For now, let's get back to where we left off earlier. Brett had just admitted to Fitzy that he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of Daniel Morecambe. Fitzy once again reassured Brett that all he needed to do was to be completely honest and the organisation would fix everything, because they were his family after all. Brett had no idea. Every single car he entered and every person in the quote-unquote gang that he spoke to was wired with recording devices. A few days later, on the 9th of August,

Fitzy told Brett that Arnold, Mr Big, wanted to see him. It was the day that Brett had been dreading for so long. But then Brett remembered how the organisation had helped Joe. Remember, they told him that Joe was in some trouble, they'd given him some money, sent him off to London with a new identity. So surely they could do the same for him. Fitzy took Brett to the Perth Hyatt Hotel, where Arnold was waiting for him in a room, rigged with microphones and a camera. A group of detectives were in the room next door, listening to and watching everything. Brett sat down on the sofa opposite Arnold and Arnold explained what the problem was. They had a huge job coming up and they all stood to make a lot of money. But Brett's situation made him a liability to everyone involved. Arnold asked Brett to be

totally honest with him and if he was honest Arnold could fix everything just like he had for Jo. What he meant by that was that he could make the entire case against Brett go away. All Brett had to do was tell him the truth. Everything hinged on this singular moment. Months of tireless efforts from over 50 undercover officers, all that planning, all that work And an incredibly costly operation that stretched across the entirety of Australia This was it Now what you're about to hear is a clip from the 40 minute recording of the conversation between Arnold and Brett that day

All I'm looking for is loyalty, respect and honesty. And I'll pay you back as you pay me back. From the information I've got, I'm told you've done the Daniel Morecambe murder. And like I said, that doesn't bother me at all. I can sort this for you. I can sort things out, I can buy you alibis, I can get rid of stuff, all that kind of thing that needs to be done, I can do.

But I need to know what I need to do. And like I said, I can't sort out what I don't know. So, look, what happened? And how can I sort it out? Honesty, trust, respect. Because I'm told that you're pretty loyal. You've built up a good relationship with some of the boys,

and they speak very highly of you. So what do I need to fix? Yeah, OK. You know, OK, I did it. OK, so you did it. What I'm saying, lead me through the whole fucking thing, how it happened.

The jaws of every detective in the next room who was listening in were on the floor. But they couldn't celebrate just yet. And Arnold knew that. The job wasn't done, and he didn't miss a beat. With Brett having just confessed to the murder of Daniel Morecombe, Arnold told him that he needed to take him through everything that took place that day. Brett told Arnold that he'd just picked up a mulcher from his friend and was driving

home when he spotted Daniel standing alone, waiting for the bus. So he parked up his car and walked up to Daniel. He pretended to wait for the bus, and when the bus drove past, Brett told Daniel he was going to the shopping centre and asked if he wanted a lift. Daniel said yes. Daniel got into the car willingly, thinking he was getting dropped off at the plaza just ten minutes away, but Brett took him to a secluded spot by an abandoned house in the Glasshouse Mountains in Biwa, thirty minutes away. Daniel had freaked out when Brett tried to pull his pants down,

so Brett said that he panicked and choked him. And before he knew it, Daniel Morecambe was dead. He never got to my house to do anything like that. He panicked and I panicked and grabbed him around the throat and just thought I knew he was dead. All right, how long did it take you to strangle him out, do you know? Didn't see him long. All right. Brett then put Daniel's body in the boot of his car,

drove about 100 metres away to some thick bushland and threw the boy's body down an embankment. He then climbed down after Daniel, dragged him further through the trees, stripped him of his clothes and left Daniel's naked body under some branches. Brett then threw his clothes into a fast-flowing creek, went home to his wife and carried on as though nothing had happened. Brett told Arnold he went back to try and bury the body a few days later, but that it was gone. All that was left was a single bone fragment that he crushed with his shovel and then buried.

Even after this damning confession, Arnold didn't break character. To make sure that Brett would go away forever, Arnold needed him to take them to the scene of the crime. So Arnold reassured Brett once again that he would take care of it, and the group would get rid of any evidence that Brett may have left behind. The following day, Brett was sent back to Brisbane on a plane with Fitzy and another gang member to show them where he had killed Daniel and where he'd left the body.

By this point, it had been over seven years since the murder and the abandoned house that Brett had taken Daniel to was no longer there. At the site, Brett told Fitzy, I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to have some fun with him. He added that he hadn't left the house planning on molesting a child that day, but said that he was just an opportunistic offender. Brett also revealed the reason he changed his name to Shadow, and that it was to make it harder for the police to subpoena him. It's hardly laying low though. No. They know who you are. Like even when he's telling Fitzy

these things it's like he knows or suspects that the people in this gang won't be okay with him being a child molester and a murderer but he's just unable to like really explain exactly what he's just like I didn't mean to kill him I was just having fun with him oh is that too much I didn't leave the house planning on molesting a child that day I'm just an opportunistic effect what is that what that's such like legal pointless talk he's such a strange person but Fitzy would later recall a brief moment where he saw Brett showing some real emotion for the first time. They were discussing how Daniel's body could have disappeared after just a few days when they spotted a pack of wild dogs walking past. Brett started shivering and chanting under his breath, I'm sorry Daniel, I'm

sorry Daniel, I'm sorry Daniel. But then just as quickly he snapped out of it, looking up with a smile. This is what I mean. You can never land on whether he actually feels any remorse for anything he's done, or whether he's kind of taking the piss, or whether it's a bit of an act. Yeah. Three days later, Brett Peter Cowan was placed under arrest and charged with murder,

interfering with a corpse and indecent treatment of a child under 16. There's a video online of the exact moment that Brett Cowan is placed under arrest and the exact moment that he learns that everybody in the gang that he had loved so much for all those months had actually been an undercover officer all along. And another weird thing about Brett is how nonchalantly he reacts to everything because that's exactly what he does here. Like he did every single time he'd been arrested for hurting a child. It's completely

unbelievable. Over the following weeks police recovered some of Daniel's remains and clothes in the area that Brett had led them to in the Glasshouse Mountains. So his guilt really became beyond question at this point. Brett's trial began on the 10th of February 2014. Over the month-long proceedings, 116 witnesses gave evidence. Over 200 pieces of evidence were exhibited, and Brett's parents and brothers gave victim impact statements. Brett, however, pleaded not guilty, declined to give evidence and stated that he had no remorse. He was found guilty on all charges and sentenced

to life with the possibility of parole after 20 years. Today, Brett Cowan is still serving his sentence in Brisbane and has been assaulted multiple times by other inmates. Yeah, if you Google him at any point, there's just like countless articles about how he's been attacked. Oh, I bet. And his pleas at being like, I'm living in a constant state of fear, etc. Yeah. Now, the devastated Morecombe family have since started the Daniel Morecombe Foundation

in an effort to educate children across Australia about personal safety and to raise awareness about the dangers of predatory criminals. Daniel was born the same year I was, so he would be 35 this year. And although the man who killed him is finally behind bars, the Morecombe's grief over the past few years has seemed never-ending, thanks in most to Brett Cowan and his pleas to appeal his conviction. So as of March 2024, Brett Cowan has now exhausted all legal avenues open to him

to challenge his conviction at long last. To which Daniel's mother Denise tweeted, throw the keys away. I never want to hear that name again. RIP Dan. And that is just the ongoing pain and suffering of families who become victims like this not only did they get the conviction in 2011 it has taken another 13 years for the appeals to stop of which they would have had to go to every single one it's just mind-boggling and that's the danger of operations like mr big is there were grounds for something to be questioned and it's so hard because obviously you will always want a watertight case. And when you do an operation like that, they are open to challenge. This one made it,

which must have been incredibly difficult to pull off. But false confessions do happen. And yes, I'm glad to hear that the Canadian model is banned in the UK and the US, but I will add that the standards for interrogation manipulation in the UK are much higher than they are in the US. It's illegal for the police to lie to you here. Yeah. So yeah, I think, you know, a happy ending in as much as it is possible to have one here that at least Brett Peter Cowan is in prison.

I don't think he will be released ever on parole. I'm sure he will die behind bars. And it's prevented any other children that would have crossed his path from being abused by him but the way in which this happened although feels very impressive and very hollywood and like actually they have made an entire film about this case it's called the stranger i think it came out like last year this year very, very, very recently. And Daniel Morecombe's parents have obviously been like, it's a disgusting cash grab. But it's got some very, very big name stars in it.

And again, it's all because it's like, oh, it's so dramatic and so Hollywood. And like they do this whole undercover Mr. Big operation and everybody's in on it. And look at how they pulled it off and they got the result. But I'm like, but it's so dangerous. It could have been the reason that Brett got out. Yeah. Or never went down in the first place. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And it also could have even gone further than that. Imagine they had been found to do something really unethical here. What could have been the other ramifications of like that? Could that then have been used by other criminals who had been convicted using the same technique? Yeah, yeah. To open up appeals and then get their convictions overturned. It's so dangerous. But that's the story.

Yeah. This time it worked. Yes. That's the best you can say about the Mr. Big Operations is, phew, this time it worked and phew, he's not getting out. But the toll it must have taken on the More combs for over two decades it's just heartbreaking um so that's it guys that is the story of daniel more comb you did ask for it i did put the question out on my instagram and we wanted to see what people would say because we obviously wanted to

pull you all in aussies listen to this episode and you chose it and don't worry new zealanders there is a New Zealand episode coming very soon. We haven't forgotten about you. We love you too. Good goodbye. Bye. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show American Scandal. We bring to light some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history.

Presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our latest series, NASA embarks on an ambitious program to reinvent space exploration with the launch of its first reusable vehicle, the Space Shuttle. And in 1985, they announced they're sending teacher Krista McAuliffe into space aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, along with six other astronauts. But less than two minutes after liftoff, the Challenger explodes. And in the tragedy's aftermath, investigators uncover a series of preventable failures by NASA and its contractors that led to the disaster. Follow American Scandal on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Experience all episodes ad-free and be the first to binge the newest season only on Wondery+. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial today. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made, a seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Radin was found dead in a canyon near L.A. in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Lainey Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who

desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Cotton Club Murder early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.