Melbourne Marvels

Episode 6 of our collaboration with Whoismrcruel.com on the story of the Karmein Chan abduction.NB:- this podcast deals with topics of a serious nature. Sexual assault and murder are discussed.This episode includes the following:-Premier Joan Kirner appeals to the offender to release Karmein.Police conduct Victoria Polices's largest ever doorknocking campaign in Templestowe to seek information and receive some concerning information from residents nearby from a family with a 13 year old girl whose house was broken into.The story of a local boy who was followed by a stranger in the days before the abduction.PLC returns from school holidays.A Police public servant car is stolen from a home in the same area where the Lower Plenty attack occurred before it's pursued by police and crashes into the Chan restaurant in Eltham?Operation Spectrum is set up.Phyllis Chan writes a letter to the offender (published in a Melbourne newspaper), referring to him as 'Mr Kind', and appeals to him to release Karmein.A local songwriter writes a song for Karmein and tells of her own experience of surviving an abduction attempt as a teenager.

NB:- this podcast deals with topics of a serious nature. Sexual assault and murder are discussed.We continue discussing the story of the Karmein Chan abduction. In this episode we focus on the media telling of the story from the 19 and 23 April. Some of the main themes covered in this episode are:-- A profile in the Herald Sun on the offender by criminologist Paul Wilson. Years later, Wilson himself was convicted for the persistent sexual abuse of a child.- Heart-rending letters written by Karmein's two younger sisters are released in the media. The letters appeal to Mr Cruel abductor to release Karemein.- A discussion about how the offender gained entry to the Chan property.- The abduction is linked to a series of unsolved abductions/attacks that previously hadn't been mentioned in the media. These occurred between 1985 and 1987 in Hampton, Hawthorn, Hampton again, Donvale, Caulfield North, Brighton East, and Dingley.- A mention of an FBI profile that was done by Operation Challenge, an investigation into the the aforementioned attacks and the ones that occurred in Lower Plenty, Canterbury and Ringwood. Operation Challenge was set up in July 1990 and was discontinued the day before Karmein's abduction on 13 April 1991.- Speculation the offender may be a police officer- A discussion about DNA apparently found after the abduction of Sharon Wills.- A discussion about possible similar offenders interstate.- The media revelation that police are to bite the bullet and offer a reward after previously rejecting the State government's offer of one.

In the early hours of 27 December 1988 an intruder broke into the home of the Wills family in Ringwood. After tying up the parents he took a 10 year old girl from the home and took her to an unknown lair where she was held for 18 hours. This episode is an an analysis of this crime.

An in-depth discussion of the first of the canonical attacks in the Mr Cruel series - the Lower Plenty Attack. This episode analyses the majority of what has been written or said about this case in the media and highlights many of the contradictions of these representations.

On 21st of October, 1978, 20 year old Frederick Valentich is flying a Cessna 182L light aeroplane from Moorabbin Airport to King Island. Not long after commencing the over water section of the flight, between Cape Otway and King Island, Valentich reports to the air traffic controller seeing a craft with 4 bright lights passing over his plane. The unusual craft returns and Valentich reports it behaving strangely by playing some sort of game with him, and travelling at such high speeds he could not identify how fast. Valentich reports that the craft is a long shape and has green lights. The conversation lasts 6 minutes before he declares that the object is not an aircraft. Suddenly all radio contact with Valentich's aircraft is lost and he and his cessna disappear never to be heard from again. Despite a massive rescue operation, no evidence is found that would suggest what happened to Valentich or his plane.

When Norman Clark and his fiance decided to go swimming at Middle Brighton Pier in February 1930, he had little inkling that he would have a terrifying encounter with a Great White Shark. This is just one of a collection of 7 stories about fatal shark attacks that have occurred in Port Phillip Bay.

William Buckley and the Wathaurong people live in the wild of South Western Victoria. Buckley witnesses a lot of internecine violence during this period of many years.

The tale of an escaped convict who lived in the bush for 32 years with the Wathuroung aboriginal people before the settlement of Melbourne.