Morbid - Episode 117: Flinders Highway AKA The Highway of Death Aussie Madness

Episode Date: February 17, 2020

Australia, you came in hot with a road that deserves its own episode! Flinders Highway is called The Highway of Death and is also known as the real Wolf Creek. Over 12 people have confirmed to have been killed along this stretch of desolate highway and some believe a thrill killer could be behind it all. Visit our Sponsors! Hunt A Killer Right now, just for our listeners you can go to HuntAKiller.com/morbid and use promo code MORBID at check out for 20% off your first box. HelloFresh Go to HelloFresh.com/morbid10 and use code morbid10 for 10 free meals including free shipping. SimpliSafe Visit SimpliSafe.com/MORBID. You’ll get FREE shipping and a 60-day risk free trial. You’ve got nothing to lose! Best Fiends Engage your brain with fun puzzles and collect tons of cute characters. Trust me, with over 100 million downloads, this 5-star rated mobile puzzle game is a must play! Download Best Fiends FREE on the Apple App Store or Google Play. That’s FRIENDS without the R – Best Fiends! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is another morbid. More, more, more we missed last week. You, yes you, right there. On the treadmill, pooping, and you're jogging in a salad. I see you. A fucking captain crunch slurpee because fuck a salad.

Yeah. So I see you. You are getting two main episodes this week and a mini, because we don't fuck around when it comes to content creation. Fuck with us. So yeah, we love you guys, and you're so supportive, and so beautiful, and so patient, and so wonderful. And I bet you smell good.

So we decided that you deserve two main episodes this week and a mini, and you're getting them. So cool. So welcome to a second main episode for this week. Should we tell them what we're going to be talking about? I think we should. Hit them up a little. So let's, okay.

So first we're gonna, I'm gonna be honest with you. At first we were like, we're gonna do one main episode and two minutes. We did say that. We did say that initially, but then. And then we're like, wait,'m gonna be honest with you. At first we were like, we're gonna do one main episode in two minutes. We did say that. We did say that initially, but then. And then we were like, wait, we can be better than that. We can, we were like, we can be better, we can do better. And then this wonderful, wonderful human from Australia

just went and made us be better. So Amanda, this episode is all because of you. So Amanda sent us a fucked up roads, Australia edition, email, and we were like, oh cool, we're going to do some fucked up roads. And I was like, oh, you know what, let's do an Aussie, Anderson, a fucked up road. Let's do our Durshian. I know, I'm having a moment. I'm a slap apiast.

Yeah, we're wicked slap-pappy. Because guess what? My daughter is home from the hospital Around this house with balloons. Oh, yeah stickers on she's here Auntie asked she just made it a homecoming for the ages Mm-hmm. There's Vampirina shit all over my house right now. It's great Just a burrina shit in the trees outside because auntie can't hold up to a fucking balloon like I fucking 23 year old human But that's not a hear no. Like, I fucking 23 year old human. But that's not her here nor there.

Anyway. So, you know what? So we're slap happy a little bit. But yes, back to Amanda, fucked up Rhodes Aussie edition. We were thinking we're gonna do an Aussie episode of fucked up Rhodes, which we could have done in just like briefly gone over a few Australian fucked up Rhodes, but she sent us the most Auss most fucked up the most and when I started getting into this road I was like oh no no no sir this deserves its own its

own episode yeah yeah so what we're gonna do tonight is we're gonna talk about Flinders Highway aka the highway of death. Duh, duh, duh, duh. And what we're gonna do is we're first gonna read Amanda's email that she sent us because we love you girl. And then I'm gonna read you, whoa, that was the paper. I wanted it to be dramatic, do you think we're gonna be like ouchi? I think they're gonna be like ouchi, but you know what the drama was there, and I appreciate it.

Thank you. So then we're gonna go over all the crazy ass shit that happened on this highway. So before we do that, we just have one little tiny little business to take care of. So open up your ears for a second. Okay, fast forward to April 14th when we're in Philadelphia at the punchline comedy club.

Oh yeah, we are. Fast forward to the next day at Washington DC when we're at DC in Braw. The nation's capital all up in it. Flash forward a little bit after that and we're gonna be at Crime Con in Orlando. Hell yeah, we are. I tickets, user code morbid.

Billy Jensen, are you gonna be there? Tell me. I think you guys are best friends. He listens, right? We are. Billy Jensen and I are best friends. He wished your child wasn't so bad. He might not know that, but like, I know that.

Now you're not best friends. We're gonna ruin that. Anyways, after that May 6th, Fast Forward. We are going to be at Stand Up Live, not doing Stand Up in Huntsville, Alabama. No, we're going to be telling true crime. Tell on the crime of truth. Tell on the crime, we're going to roll tide and war eagle.

I was going to say you'd better be in crisis. Of A.M. and anybody else, any other kind of chant. Everything. We're going to do it. Then May 7th,th early will be in Nashville, Tennessee at Zainey's early whoa Then we're gonna be in Nashville again that same night because we're not gonna leave we're gonna do a late show We are not leaving and you can't make us I'm Jimmy Kimmel. She's Jimmy Fallon

I can't remember who I like better cuz I get them confused you like Jimmy fellon. I'm Jimmy Fallon you're Jimmy Kimmel I'm into it June 12th, we're gonna be in Chicago. Chicago? Yeah, that was the worst accident I ever did. And we're gonna be at Tell You Hall, which is beautiful. It is, and it's so spooky looking, I'm very excited. So let's talk about Australia now. But also, just to keep your eyes open

because it's gonna be some new shows being announced perhaps. Oh, I don't know. Just just wait, but wait, there's more, but wait, but not so that. So let's let's move on to some Australian madness, shall we? Okay, so this is most of the email that Amanda wrote. We're going to cut some of the middle out. We're so sorry Amanda, but it has like spoilers and such. Yeah, we just don't want to spoil it before we talk about it, but I will give you credit for you brought up all of these things that I will talk about after I ask you read the email was brought to me by Amanda.

Yes. Thank you, girl. Brought to you by you for you from Amanda. Yes. It says the email says fuck that. That's not email. The email. It says fuck that roads.

I'll see you addition. Hi, we have death. Oh, hi ladies. Can I just start by saying hi all the way from Australia? Oh my god. Hi You guys are the best and I discovered you when I was working a really harsh job where I was incredibly unhappy and all that helped me through my day Was plugging my headphones in and listening to you guys holy shit. I'm glad we could be there sweetie Jobs that you don't like are the worst. I know also I people call other people, sweetie, so I'm sorry I did that. The other day somebody called me hunt at the drive-through and I was like, I will hate that. I'll hate that, through that, speaker. Hate that. Back to the email. And this one is a little different to your normal

spooky roadtales. This one is more scary-ass serial killing, motherfucking, wolf-creek type of road. Rather than a Spook-spoon-canted road. Love it. This is the crazy ass stories from the flunders. Is it flunders? Yeah, flunders. Flunders Highway in Queensland, Australia. Lendez. Lendez.

To give you some context for this road, it is long. And straight and flat. There was a lot of oaths. Ash literally just unhinged her jaw. And it just wagged around first. And you want me to do it one more time? It's inclusive. Nooo.

Look at that so unsettling and I love it. You're welcome. I love it. And straight and flat and deserted. For reference, it's about the same distance driving from Boston to Pittsburgh, where it's a bit of a problem, but I don't want to tell you how long I spent looking that up for all you Americans. I appreciate that.

I appreciate that so hard. Yeah, that was really nice. Like so hard. A lot of people don't do to tell you how long I spent looking that up for all you Americans. I appreciate that. I appreciate that's so hard. Yeah, that was really nice. Like so hard. A lot of people don't do things like that, including myself. And I really appreciate it. There are only six towns spread out over this highway, miles apart, meaning the travel between towns is ours and there's nothing to see. To see. Literally, it is so flat and desolate. I love the word desolate.

It's it really it has a nice. I think if I write a book someday which won't happen I'll name it desolate. Desolate. I'll write a book about my childhood which was desolate. They named desolate. Literally it is so flat and desolate up there. Just you the road and the flat ass out back. Wow. Stakehouse. There's a small city at one end where I live, but the rest of the towns are super small, like one horse and one gas station small. Yeah. So when stuff like this happens, it's a big deal since it is so deserted out here. You can go hours without running into another car or truck. So anyway, this is why it's called me that little look. So anyway, this is why it's called the Highway of Death. And then Amanda goes into detail that we're

going to give you in just a second, so I'm going to skip forward to the end of the email, where she says, I've driven this highway many times, and every time I get freaked out by some serial killer, just wolf creep in me into oblivion. The outback is a spooby, spooby place. I love it. She turned wolf creep into a verb. I appreciate that wolf creep in.

I don't want to say that I've never seen that movie because I bet people will yell at me, but here I am. Yep, I already did. So she says, anyway, sorry for how long this is. Love you guys. Maybe visit Australia. Fuck yeah. Hell yeah. Oh, Amanda. And then she wrote us another email that said,

I just realized I spent 20 minutes looking up kilometers to Miles conversions and finding two American cities to give you the context about the drive so I could be American friendly And then in the same email expected everyone to know what Wolf Creek is. Oh, see she gets it. She gets it Just in case you don't it's an Australia horror movie about an outback serial killer who is based on our real outback serial killer Ivan Milatt. Love you guys Also, um, Amanda Wolf Creek is a great movie. I saw that movie in theaters. I want to see it

And it's but it's really fucked up like real fucked up. Okay. Look. I'm talking to you. Um, I mean, I'm tough I wish sometimes I wish there was video involved in my never do you do. So you could have seen Ash's face when she said, I'm tough. Because it was not tough. I can tell you that. I'm tough. I'm tough. Alright. Wait, wait, I wanted to say like how considerate is Amanda?

Oh, first of all, the other thing I wanted to say, like that just remind me of it, first of all, Amanda, you're amazing for looking that shit out. And giving us two cities to, including one of our cities. And then coming back again, and not wanting to like, even like, unseeing viewers out. I appreciate that. And also, I just want to say to,

like, Australia, New Zealand in particular, have been, like, given me such, like, levity because, like, everybody in America, whenever I say, like, a state wrong or, say like a state wrong or like a town wrong or a city wrong, like literally just implodes about like it's like the end of days. But I have fucked up so many Australian things. I am positive of it. I have tried my hardest to do an Australian accident accident.

It always turns out to be an Australian accident. It does. It always turns into an Australian accident. And you know what? I get emails. We get emails from Australians that are like, you know what? That accent was like a travesty, but I loved it. And I appreciate you trying and you're wonderful. Like everybody, they're so nice. I'd also like to point out that anybody that has a Boston accent, that's not like an actual Boston accent. That's fails, miss or worse. So, you know, just saying.

So I just wanted to say thank you, Australia, for not yelling at me for fucking up your accent and all your towns and cities. I love it. Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondries Podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash Scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice.

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So without further ado, let's get on to Flinders Highway, aka the High Whip Death. So Flinders Highway is called the High Whip Death. It is North Queensland. It's like around North Queensland or in Cludes, North Queensland. I just like saying North Queensland because I think- I feel like that you're like stirring an invisible cauldron with your entire hand span. Australia just makes me feel some type of way. I just love it.

Maybe we should make this visual. And so this highway has a shitton of fucking horrific crimes associated with it, like legit nightmare fuel. At least 12 victims have lost their lives on the stretch of cursed highway. Now, this is at least 12 that that have been confirmed and we know of. Right. Some of them are super old cases. Some of them are as recent as 2017, like the end of 2017.

Oh, shit. There are unsolved cases, some solved, some missing, but declared dead. All others were found and confirmed dead. Some people think Ivan Malat was responsible for some of it. What do you think? I think he might have been responsible for a couple of these cases, but I'm not positive. They call it like real life wolf creek.

That's like what is going on here. People think that even right now people think there is a thrill killer out there, just picking people off. Because a lot of these seem like they have connections somewhere, but it does seem is a thrill killer out there just picking people off. Because a lot of these seem like they have connections somewhere, but it does seem like some thrill killer is just doing this shit. Killed a kill, like, for the hell of it.

Yeah, just for the hell of it. That's so spooky. Now this first case is a real bummer. I just wanna put it out there real quick. That's why I'm doing it first because I want to get it out of the way. It is not, I mean, they're all bummer, of course. Should I put the blanket over my head? Yeah, this one's a real big bummer

So this the two victims in this case were Judith McKay seven years old Oh fuck and Susan McKay five years old. Oh They disappeared August 26th 1970 They were taken from a bus stop near Townsville on their way to school that day around 8am. My kids are never taking the bus. No, this story is horrific. People went nuts and the search went for two full days before anything was found. It was actually a local taxi driver named Ron Brooker that helped searchers because he knew the roads really well.

So he said the purple would most likely take, like, less traveled areas, and they were able to find them because of this. Searchers first spotted, searchers felt like the wrong word. No, I got that. I don't know why it came out. Well normally we say something like investigator,

so maybe that's why. Searchers first spotted not their bodies, but something that spelled out that nothing good had happened to them. They saw their school uniforms and socks neatly folded as well as their school bags and straw hats just sitting. Straw hats? Yeah.

Next to these belongings were their bodies. Oh. Their bodies were located in a dry creek bed. Both of them had been raped and stabbed three times in the chest. Oh my God. Susan had been strangled as the final cause of death. Susan was a five-year-old. Oh.

Judith had died of asphyxiation. They had both been buried under sand. And Judith had been alive when she was buried. And her cause of death was asphyxiation, asphyxiation due to choking on the sand. Oh my god. Yeah. Obviously people went absolutely fucking nuts.

Yeah. The detective who uncovered them said he said quote, he said quote, I went to pieces. And then he said, don't tell me about brave men. Like you have not seen what I've seen. Oh my god. Yeah. One detective on the case, the lead detective said he wouldn't,

he vowed he was like, I will not go home until this case is solved. And he didn't. He would not go home. He ate all of his food there. His wife brought his food at the station. He refused to go home. After two weeks on the case, he died of a heart attack.

Oh my God. That's how like hardcore this, yeah. Police were offering a $10,000 reward, and this is a 1970. Wow. A woman who lived near the bus stop said she saw the girls get into a 63 or 64 brown hold in sedan with a gray or bluish front door.

There were barefoot footprints in the sand that appeared to show the girls played, and they were very well taught not to get a new stranger's car. Uh-huh. So this led a lot of people to believe that they were abducted by someone who knew them. And do you think it's slightly weird that the clothes were folded? It is slightly weird, but like that kind of shit, I feel like that only works sometimes

that kind of psychological stuff with this stuff because if it's just a maniac, then that stuff means nothing. Right. A gas station worker named Jean Thwaite, I believe it was, came forward and told Detective John Sanderson who was working the case. That after seeing the little girl's photos on the news, she remembered seeing them that day. She said the driver was about 30-ish with dark hair that was very neat. The girls look like they had both been crying.

All. Susan was actively crying. She was saying, are we there yet? And then Judith asked, when are you going to take us to mummy, you promised you were going to take us to mummy. Oh my God, my heart. And the guy just snapped, get up on the seat and go to sleep. So I know this like hurts my heart, I'm sorry.

Why did you do this to me? I know, this is a big case in this thing I know it I just had a week of momming and this is what I can do. Yeah, this is rough She later identified the school uniforms and said definitively that was due to thin season Another witness Neil looney said he He had been cut off by someone in traffic and he said when he looked inside the car He saw those two girls. Yeah, he also confirmed like the same sighting The case hit a wall nothing happened. They couldn't find any leads after this

It wasn't until 1998. Oh wow that Arthur Stanley Brown was brought forth as a possible suspect He was a serial pedophile rapist and had allegedly admitted to Judith and Susan's murders twice. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. He admitted to like random people. Once was in the pub to a random person. Uh-huh. This person went to police and was like, yo, the sky just said he killed them. Right. Nothing happened. They ignored it. Perfect. Yeah. So far, it's like so good. He had worked as a maintenance worker at the school that Judith and Susan had attended.

Cold case detective started looking further into him and he was eventually arrested. Turns out one of his victims, who he had rapes, came forward and informed police of several other sexual assaults he had committed on other children. Most of these assaults happened in the same place where Judith and Susan were found. Oh, wow. Yeah, so he obviously liked that area. Right. He was charged with double homicide, six rapes, and 45 sexual assaults in the end. He stood trial October 18th, 1999, but it was a hung jury. Because evidence of his pedophilia was ruled inadmissible. Why?

It's that random shit that they're like, well, you can't talk about that. He's a pedophile because that will sway the jury to think he must have done this. But he is. Exactly. Like, you can't tell the jury that. But that shit happens all the time. It's like they won't allow you to put some evidence. No, I know.

It's inadmissible that ends up fucking up a case. That's stupid. I know. It doesn't make any sense. It's like, look. that ends up fucking up a case. That's stupid. I know, it doesn't make any sense. It's like, look. He, so there was a retrial planned for the following year,

but it was called off because Brown was seen as unfit to stand trial because he had dementia. He died in 2002 at 89 years old. And never would you have? Never having really paid for his crimes, yeah. Perfect. So that's cool. Hate that. And never one should have. Never having really paid for his crimes. Yeah. Perfect. So that's cool.

Hate that. He was also suspected in another famous unsolved missing kids case, which we're going to cover on this podcast, like as its own thing, the Beaumont children. It's a really, that's a really interesting case. Something recently in requested that. Yeah. Everyone from Australia won that case, for sure. He's suspected in that one so is that I hate kid cases

He was also suspected and we'll talk about it later in the 1975 murder of Catherine Graham Who's we're gonna talk about later because she also died on this highway. He suspected in her murder Brown may also have been involved in another murder we're going to talk about in this episode of Anita Cunningham and Robin Hoinville Bartram who also disappeared on Flanders Highway back in 1972. So he might be, have been a very busy guy. Now the next case we're going to quickly go over is the case of Jaden Peno Trumpsit. Jaden was 22 years old. He was from Birmingham Gardens and he was on a boys trip to Karen's to go to a New Year's

Eve party. I believe it's Karen's. C-A-I-R-N-S. Should we look it up? Karen's? I feel like no one in Australia will yell at me. I don't know, so I think it's Karen's. I agree with you.

Yeah, Karen's. He was driving with his friend Lucas Tatterseil. This was on December 31, 2017. Oh, shit. Yeah. You know, it's crazy. That was like, that was like almost four years ago. I know, but it seems like it was like yes

Like that was long So he had spoken to his mother December 29th and told her he was good He was looking forward to the trip the party. He was like everything's going good. Yeah a couple of days later CCTV footage was found Showing him and his friend Lucas at a roadside rest stop in Charter's Towers. This was at like 3.30 a.m. on December 31st. So the two eventually got back on the road. They somehow ended up in an argument. Uh-oh. Now remember, they had been on the road for like countless hours and days together at this point.

So it's not crazy to think that they started to get on each other's nerves. I mean, like it happens. Well, sometime during the argument, Lucas pulled over and Jaden stormed off into the night. Oh, no. This was near a dark and quiet road called Stalk Route Road. So Lucas drives off because he's pissed. Do you ever leave your front of the highway? Well, and then he turns around because he's like, oh, fuck, I gotta go. And Jaden is gone. He starts trying to find him. your front of the highway. And then he turns around because he's like, and Jane and his gone. He starts trying to find them. No sign of him anywhere. Oh, shit.

He was never seen again. Oh my God. And that poor, best friend. Well, Lucas reported him missing January 3rd. He said he didn't do it sooner because Jaden had told him that he had outstanding warrants. And so Lucas figured he was just pissed and walked away. And reporting him missing could get him some big trouble. So he was like, but after a

few days he was nervous, so he called the police because he was like, I haven't heard from him yet. Okay. Turns out police later confirmed there was no outstanding warrants for Jay. Yeah, I was gonna say that sounds like a fishy story. Police did tons of searches via like ground air, but they went door to door, they found nothing. The search lasted for three weeks and then was suspended. Officials said that the area was impossible to get lost in because there's so many places to get help. Uh-huh.

And actually Amanda in her email to us said it seems like it would be very hard to get lost out there because it's like wide open. Okay. His mom, so Jaden's mom Rachel Peno made a ton of trips out to North Queensland to investigate this. She went door to door. She put together a 20-page dossier for police. Wow. Like she's serious. She will not stop. As of today, his bank accounts and any other accounts have not been touched. Oh, that's so spooky. Whenever that happens. It kind of reminds me of like Bryce Pisa. Do you think Luke had something to do with it?

I don't know. I would love to believe he didn't, because it would really suck to have that hanging over you if you didn't do something. Yeah. It's fishy. Rachel says that text between she and her son are what bother her now because they were very uncharacteristic of him at the end. He said on December 30th, she wrote, are you okay? And he wrote back at 7.52 p.m. Yeah.

And she said he would have elaborated. He wouldn't have just written me, yeah. Right. That's not, he never answered that one wordy and that bluntly. His cousin said that they got a text from a different number at 9.16 PM that night, saying, hey, it's Peno. And that his phone was broken and that the car had broken down so they were like delayed, getting started back on the road. And he told him what happened to the car had broken down so they were like delayed getting started back on the road.

And he told him what happened to the car and then he said they were going to quote, put the pedal to the metal to make sure they got to the party in time. Yeah. So the cousin wrote back at 11.45 pm saying, you know, where are you? At 11.59 am on December 31st, he got a reply saying, Hey, have you been in contact with Peno since last night? Uh-huh. So then he replied, the cousin replies and it's like, Nah, are you with him?

Because the cousin was like, I thought, like, you guys were together, Lucas. And he said, what happened and have you heard anything? And the reply came back at 2.24 pm, Hey, bro, still haven't been able to contact or find anyone who's seen him. So it's just like, so he used this person's phone to say we're on the way.

Right. Then another person is like, no, I haven't seen him. Like, it's just a weird, it's very fishy. Rachel, the mother, said she also hacked Jaden's Facebook and email afterwards and found scary messages from a local drug dealer. Oh no. That was threatening Jaden. Oh no.

He was owing some money and in the emails they also threatened to hurt his mother. Oh. In fact, she claimed one day he had told her not to be home and when she did return home her screen door was like all ripped out. Oh my god. That's really scary. Now Lucas, the friend that was with him that like stormed away, wrote on Facebook because he's obviously getting a lot of heat from people being like, you have something to do with it. So he wrote on Facebook, I'll just read you a couple snippets from it because it was long.

I'm sorry to tell you, but if someone wants to just up and leave and fuck off, then that's what they're going to do. You don't understand how hard I tried to help Jaden when I was with him and calm him down so we can sort this out. He is my mate and I'm hurt too, please stop making out, I'm just some heartless prick that left him out there to die. None of you understand my side or the shit that was going on. Like I said to the police, I've been speaking to and the ones who need to know it all have

got it. You can make up all the assumptions about me that you want at the end of the police, I've been speaking to and the ones who need to know it all have got it. You can make up all the assumptions about me that you want at the end of the day. I know the truth. I want him home to, I want him home to, you know. Now, tips and updates go through the Jaden Pennotomset Help Find Facebook page, which is run by his mother Rachel. As of now, no, nothing has been found. Wow. No leads. And that was only a few years ago. So yeah, that's crazy. So that's that case. That one again, remember, these are all in the same stretch of highway. Right. So you know. The next one is the Anita Cunningham in Robin Hoynville barterum case from July 1972.

Anita was 19 years old, Robin was 18. So they were going from Bowen to Melbourne and or Melbourne. That's what they said. Yeah, Melbourne. Right? Right Australia? Tell me. Melbourne. They were going from Bow to Melden and they were going

to fly, but they decided hitchhiking was going to be more fun. They wanted adventure. It was the 70s. No, like taking off is more fun. I know. But it's not to me. Well, neither one is fun to me to be honest. I was going to say you'd rather hitchhike. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so it was about, um, in miles from, uh, bow into Melbourne, it was about 1,550 miles. Okay. So they were going to hitchhike and they were like, cool adventure. That's pretty far, huh? It is. Now they were both studying to become nurses. They were friends. Yeah. Uh, no one ever saw a need again after they started hitchhiking. But four months after they set out on their trips Skeletal remains were found in a dry creek bed under a bridge along Flinders Highway on

November 15th, 1972 These ravines were identified as Robin. Mm-hmm She had been raped and a 22 rifle had been used to shoot her twice in the head. Oh my gosh No one ever found Anita. She was never seen again. No one has been charged with the murder of Robin. The case was reopened in 2003. There's a reward for $250,000 and immunity from prosecution, but still nothing. Wow. A former detective named Mick Gern has really banked on Ivan Malat being the culprit here. He says that he had witnesses that claimed that they went to Mount Issa from Melbourne

and then stopped in Pentland where they stayed at the Pentland Hotel. The staff there allegedly told Detective Gern that the women were headshiking with a guy they referred to as Cowboy. Sounds like Malat to me. The next place witnesses saw them was at a pub. Then nothing. That's the end. Wow, that's so sweet. Again, could be Malat, but that asshole

wouldn't give up anything on his deathbed. In fact, he was literally days from death. And when presented with videos of the victims loved ones begging to know what happened, he said, quote, people die. They should just get over it. Oh my God. Butthole spiders, man. That dude is living a life of butthole spiders, right? And bees with teeth. And bees with teeth and penis flateners. Ouch. People think a shit-stained named John Andrew Stewart could have been also been the guy at

that who did this? He murdered 15 people when he bombed a whiskey-agogo nightclub in Brisbane on March 8, 1973. He was arrested for that and died in 1979. The reason he was brought into the mix as a possible suspect here is because someone said they met him at the Pentland Hotel around the time that the girls were there. So this guy met him, chatted with him, they became like friendly and then found out he was a psycho. Yikes. He said, quote, I left him to go Rue shooting. What's Rue shooting? Is that like kangaroo shooting?

Oh, maybe. I don't know. I made that up. So I don't know. Like maybe I'm wrong. That sounds sad. It sounds sad, but it sounds like Rue shooting. Go shoot a room. Oh shoot a room. Or maybe they were upset with the thickener that they made. So they shot their room, get it? Yeah.

I love a good room. I know. I know you do. I make a great room. I make a good room too, but you always tell me I don't make it right. You don't. I do. I do.

So, quote, I left him to go ruse shooting about dusk. And when I got back, I found just about all my gear, including money in 21st birthday presents, was gone. He left something a bit chilling. On the bed, he had neatly laid out a single set of my clothes, laid out like a body. There was a shirt neatly in place under what had that unarranged belt, then a pair of my clothes laid out like a body. There was a shirt neatly in place under what had that unarranged belt, then a pair of my jeans

and at the bottom of the jeans were footwear designed to look like they were feet in them. Ew. Yeah. What is crazy is that some of the clothes that he stole from this guy were found near the area where Robin's body was located. Oh.

So this guy could have been the thing. And it's weird that this fucking crazy killer was at the hotel at the same time he were, or at least allegedly was. Right, right, right. So the next case on this flinder's highway, so much fun, is the case of Catherine Graham from July 29th, 1974.

So Catherine was only 18 years old. She was from Queensland on July 29th, 1974. She was selling educational books door to door as a bookseller. What a sweetie. That was like a thing back then. Like a lot of a lot of these cases start with like she was selling encyclopedias or books. Remember encyclopedias? Yes, I remember in Psychopedias. We had one that somebody came to our door and sold us a whole set of. Remember when people came to your door? Yeah, I just said that. Yeah, we definitely had like one of those sets that they came where like would you like to buy this? And I was like, yes, we would. I used to them. They were good. I think I still have some of those. Now people knock on the door and I'm like, oh, whatever people knock on the door. I'm like, I don't answer the door to people.

So she was doing this around Townsville and then disappeared. Oh, no. That evening that she was doing this at 8.19 p.m. Catherine had called her mother from a pay phone. It was telling her that she felt really unnerved by a man that was following her. Oh, no. She was panicked and nervous. She was like, I really don't like him. Something's weird. She said she just didn't like the look of him. Oh, this like makes me want to cry.

Yeah. It was quickly the next day that she was found murdered near the Flinders Highway in the same location about the same location that Judith McKay and Susan McKay were found. In fact, it was only 500 meters away. Oh, wow. Also, she was found partially buried as well, and police said that it looked like they had all been disposed of in kind of the same way. She had been brutally raped, and her skull had been crushed by multiple beatings with a rock. Oh, my God.

The massive head trauma was what the cause of death was. Are there Stanley Brown, who was suspected of killing Judith and Susan, was the main suspect here? Did he ever confess to this one? No. The place issue was selling books was on the root, same root that his home was on. Oh shit. And he was a creepy fuck who would ski about anyone he looked at, so that checks out. And there is still a $250,000 reward for information about her death. The next case is the case of

Karen Edwards, Gordon Twaddle and Timothy Thompson on October 1978. So Karen Edwards was a 27-year-old student psychologist from Dandinong in Victoria. Okay. Dandinong. Tim Thompson was 31. Gordon Twattle was 21. They were schoolteachers from New Zealand and had arrived in Australia about 18 months before they were murdered. They were friends, all that good stuff.

Tim and Karen were in love. Oh, stop. You know, and planned a fun adventure together. Yes. So Tim was going to do and plan to fund adventure together. Yes. So Tim was going to do a mission trip, teaching in Alice Springs, and Gordon was going to go with him, and he was going to work in a bakery.

They were going to do this for a few months, make some money. The plan was for Karen to go back to Victoria, and then fly out to Alice Spring in October, where they would all go on two separate motorcycles to Mount Issa, Queensland, and Karen's, then back down to Melbourne to have Christmas with family together. So it was going to be a cool epic trip that they were going to take on motorcycles. It was going to be great. It was not.

It was not. Karen and Tim were riding a red and gold 1977 BMW R100S. I know nothing about that. Motorcycle. So, it had a sidecar that they had made themselves. Stop. That sidecar had their nine month old Doberman named Tristy in it. Like fuck me right up. Yeah. Gordon was on a blue 1977 Suzuki GS750. I love it. Yeah. It was just going to be this

awesome epic adventure together. Also, you know, in this traveling with two men probably made her feel safe. Yeah, of course. I'm not trying to be like like I'm a feminist it's but if I'm with two bearded dudes I feel like I got a little safe. I feel safe in numbers anyways but two bearded dudes are gonna give you a little extra layer of safety. Like motorcycle dudes. Yeah like big motorcycle dudes. The groups stopped together at a caravan park on October 5th 1978. That's where they were like camp out and stay. Yeah witnesses said they got into a brown and cream-colored Toyota land cruiser with an unknown man. This man with some of they had apparently just met. They had set up a campsite and they had left all their gear their bikes and the

dog tied up indicating they wanted to return quickly. Like he was just tied to a tree. The next day witnesses said the man showed back up in the van alone, impact all the stuff including up the dog and left. He took the dog. He took the dog. They just disappeared. And then October 24th, 1978, Stan Harris and his fiance, Kirsten Striker were walking their dogs

when they spotted Karen's body propped up against a tree, oh Bushland in spear creek. That's so stony. Yeah, they quickly found Tim and Gordon propped up against other trees nearby as well. Each of the three victims had been shot in the head with a 22 rifle. All

of their pockets were turned inside out and their identifications were stolen. That's very Ivan Malatt, isn't it? It is pretty Ivan Malatt. Yeah. A week later, everything but their bikes were found at a local dump. Oh my God. 64-year-old Bruce John Preston was arrested and charged for the murders in April 2019. Oh shit. Yeah. Bruce was a former prison guard at the most notorious prison in Australia. Uh, Goldburn Supermax. This places where literally the worst of the worst go. Wow. It has the highest security super violent like this guy was a prison guard. Yeah. Bruce was someone they looked at early in the investigation,

but he was eventually be caught because he had Tim's motorcycle. Oh, and we didn't think that was gonna give you away. Exactly. And it was a very distinctive motorcycle, I guess. He claimed he found it. He also just like find motorbikes. Just like, just whatever.

Like nice ones. I just found it. He also lied saying he wasn't near Mount Isat the time, but then he admitted he was contradicting himself. Okay. He also drove a vehicle very similar to the van at the time. So like, check, check, check. But he was recently released on Bond. Wow. Excuse me. Because they now the judge is saying that the evidence against him has been greatly exaggerated. Oh, okay. So this is like an ongoing thing. Well, shit. So the next case from Flinders Highway is the case of Tony Jones, November 3rd, 1982. So Tony Jones was a 22-year-old dude from Perth.

So Tony Jones was a 22 year old dude from Perth. He was hitchhiking around Australia. He was backpacking along the way. His whole plan was he was heading home with his brother Tim when he disappeared. Okay. Now Tony was hitchhiking and Tim was riding a bike. Okay. Like a motorcycle or like a bike? I think like a legit bicycle.

Oh shit. So they traveled separately but to the same destination. Okay. Along the route, they left messages for each other with friends and family. So they were the call friends and they were like, oh, Tim says he's going to be here next. With his little belongings, Tim had a 22-voi-er rifle serial number 257-435. With a stained red stock, it was in in his backpack that was never found again either Okay, what is a stained red stock? Why are you asking me that? Sorry? I'm so sorry. Wow. That was so aggressive

Why are you asking me that? No, I'm like why you ask me I don't know I don't know if it was like stained red, like with blue. Oh, it's blue. That's what I was asking. No, I think it's, I don't have no idea. It's not stained red with blue, but. OK.

I have no idea. Why was it blue though? Maybe someone else could answer that for us with blue. Look at that. Look at me yelling on there. Whoa. So Tony spent some time in Townsville and also stopped in Cairns. He went back to Townsville and also stopped in Karnes.

He went back to Townsville on November 3rd and he talked to his girlfriend on the phone. His girlfriend? Yeah, his girlfriend. I love love. She told him that Tim was in Mount Issa and was waiting for him at the next stop. Yeah. Now their parents had wired them $150. There's a lot of money back then.

They were going to get it when they both got to Mount Issa. So Tony was like, I gotta hitchhike to Mount Issa. So he hitchhiked attending Mugo straight there. Yeah. That was the last anyone ever heard of him or saw him again. Oh my God. His bank account remains untouched. Stop saying that to me.

I'm sorry, it's just, it's happening out. It's happening out. Apparently the police were really ridiculously negligent with this case. And at the time were apparently not awesome for any case, to be honest. There was a note that they had an evidence that claimed to say where Tony was buried.

It said, quote, I believe body of age age of Tony Jones buried in or near Fullerton Riverbed within a hundred yards west south side flinders highway Lockheel this note was lost, but they still know what it says. So they go check out place out, but the problem is they did they searched the place They couldn't find anything, but the letter itself was lost. So now yeah, now they can't test for DNA. Well, that's good. So a reward for $20,000 was offered in 1983. In 2010, it was raised to $250,000. There was a coronal inquest that ended up saying that he was officially murdered. They don't have a body, obviously, but that's how this works. Right. But the family didn't get a death certificate until 2006. Why didn't it take so long? There was a lot of laws and like red tape to go through with that shit.

They're still trying to get that process like right. His brother, Mark Jones, still is on the case looking for answers. According to an ABC Australia article, he said, quote, we now believe that he was picked up by a group of young people and taken to Hugenden, question mark, events unfolded that ended up with Tony being killed and his body being disposed of on that evening. Yikes. So they'd believe they know what happened, but obviously you have to wait for that shit. In 2014, Andy Albury claimed that he killed 14 people in the area between the 1970 and 1982.

He included Tony Jones in this number. Oh, okay. He was a bullshitter. Why? So police think he was just being an asshole. But there's really not to wrap my brain around that. It's just people who like to fuck with people. shitter. Lies. So police think he was just being an asshole. Um, but I'll never be able to wrap my brain around that. It's just people who like to fuck with people. It's so annoying. This guy too, this Andy Albury is a whole other mess of awful. He murdered a woman named

Gloria Pinden in Darwin in 1983. He mutilated her with a broken bottle. He cut off her breasts and gouged out her eyes. Yeah. So that is the last story I have about Flinders. I just ended up with the fuck is wrong. I had to end on a, on a, on a woo. Whoa. Hey, yo, that's what I had to end up. I'm scared. So that is Flinders Highway, That's what I had to end up. I'm scared. So that is Linda's highway, the highway of death. Shoo. And there's also like a, there's other missing persons cases.

There's like spoopy, poopy things happen in there. And I do think there's like a thrill killer out there. I think so. Or at least was a thrill killer out there that was just picking people up. Because a lot of it was in the 70s. Like do I believe that I have a melat that probably had a hand maybe a couple of those sure do because he was an ass out of the highest order,

but, you know, we'll never know because that fucker is dead now and he took it all with him. Mm-hmm. That ugly shit. Yikes. So yeah, so, you know what Amanda, thank you so much. Yeah, you inspired us greatly. You inspired us.

And for that, we are forever in your debt. You know what's been, you know it's been spooking me out this whole time. What is? Cabin it behind you is open and I feel like it never is. The bottom one. Why'd you do that? I don't know, it's spooking me out.

Why the fuck would you do that? Well, because you do a lot of shitty things to me during these episodes and I have been facing it looking at it while you're telling these scary ass stories. And now I'm like, is there something in that cabinet? Not cool, man. Not cool. Well, now we have to end that episode

to go find out what's in the cabinet. Hopefully we'll be okay, guys. Well, stay tuned. And if you wanna go ahead and follow us on Instagram, you can do that. More of it. More of it. More of it.

More of it, podcast. Read us an want to follow us on Twitter, a more vid podcast. Read us an email to check in on our whereabouts. More vid podcasts at gmail.com and keep sending us these fucking crazy scary roads. Join the Facebook page group. More vid. Collin, a true grad podcast Facebook group. It's lit in there. It really is.

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And we hope you keep it weird. But that's a weird that I have to find out what's in that cabalic. We just had an episode I'm scared. It feels like. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.