Dead Bodies Podcast

Thousands of people have been killed as a result of the Mexican drug wars, and at least 300 bodies were disposed of by a man named Santiago Meza Lopez who was known as The Stewmaker. Sharnelle looks at people who have had quirky requests for their own burials, and reveals her breakdown after reporting on the murder trial of Adrian Bayley, who killed Jill Meagher in Brunswick in 2012. Bassmah and Sabrina are back with more guesses to where to hide hide a dead body

Jean Stevens didn’t want to live without her late husband and her twin, so she didn’t. Sharnelle looks at how she kept their bodies in her house. Dee Dee talks about the lucrative body snatching trade in the early 1800’s, and the infamous pair Burke and Hare who killed 16 people to sell their bodies to a medical school for dissection. We hear from a listener who had a close call with a cannibal.

Emmett Till was just 14 years old in 1955 when his mutilated body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River in Tennessee. His mother insisted on his brutalised body being shown in an open casket, to expose the evil of his racially-motivated murder, which played a crucial role in improving the human rights of African Americans. Dee Dee tells the story of “The Boy Who Whistled”. Sharnelle looks at some bizarre wills left behind by the dead. The girls talk to Catherine, who tagged along with her room-mate when he went to work as an undertaker.

Sharnelle looks at German photographer Walter Schels who was terrified of death, but conquered his fear by taking a series of portraits of people before and on the day they died. Dee Dee cover the discovering in 1954 of a naked, battered body of a woman, found laying against rocks in Boulder, Colorado. It was more than 50 years before the woman known as Boulder Jane Doe was formally identified. And who killed her? Martha Needle was one of only five women ever hanged in Victoria’s history, convicted of the murder of her brother-in-law, and suspected of killing many more, including her own husband and children. Author Dr Brian Williams joins the girls to share details from his new book, Martha Needle

We asked “Have you ever seen a dead body?”, and it seems many people have. In this episode Sharnelle and Dee Dee share stories of dead bodies from listeners, including the fascinating Memento Mori: photographs of the dead that were taken in Victorian days. The girls talks to certified dog trainer Craig Murray, who specialises in handling cadaver dogs that search for dead bodies. He talks about his incredible work including finding a human bone that was thousands of years old, and his crucial role with police investigating the backpacker murders in the Belanglo State Forest.

Funerals are distressing enough, and Sharnelle has found one that left mourners distressed when the body came out of the coffin. Dee Dee looks at Leonarda Cianciulli who was known as the Correggio soap-maker. She boiled the bodies of her victims to make soap, and in some cases, biscuits. Channel Seven reporter Michael Scanlan shares the moving story of his moment with death, that of his beloved sister Jes.

Dee Dee thinks she has finally worked out where Sharnelle would hide a dead body. And she looks into the gruesome legend of Sweeney Todd. Sharnelle discusses juries and the horrors that they have to view during a murder trial. The girls speak to Professor Andrew Heggie, who says the first time he saw a dead body, there was a whole room full of them.

Santa Claus has given everyone the wrong impression, that you can slide down a chimney. But you’re more likely to get stuck. In this episode Dee Dee looks at a number of dead bodies found in chimneys, including Robert Thompson, found 28 years after he went missing. Sharnelle confesses to taking sneaky peeks at gruesome crime scene photos in the newsroom.

Most of us bury our dead, but not Carl Tanzler. Dee Dee tells us about this eccentric man who kept the body of the love of his life in his home for years. Sharnelle has a fun fact about shoes found at crime scenes. The girls talk to crime scene cleaner Peter Guerin.

Sharnelle and Dee Dee talk to a man, who has seen not one but three dead bodies. The most interesting is without a doubt the body of his friend Theresa Verity Crowe who was murdered in a loft in Prahan, Melbourne in 1980. Hugo was the last person to see the victim before she was murdered and one of the first people to find her body. He helped detectives for years until they found his friend’s murderer.

Sharnelle tells the story of the glamorous event that went ahead despite a dead body on the red carpet, and she serves up a slice of baby pizza. Dee Dee tells the shocking story of dismembered bodies hidden in a tree. The girls discuss “Where would you hide a dead body?”

Dee Dee tells the story of the little girl found under the floor of a house being renovated in San Francisco in 2016. Sharnelle talks about a headless body found on the train tracks. The girls talk to forensic counsellor John Merrick, author of Stories From The Morgue

Sharnelle has been looking through Victorian-era newspapers, where the bodies of babies and children were found in the classifieds. Dee Dee recalls a severed penis found at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne, the hunt for the body that went with it, and the gruesome story that unfolded. The girls talk to Tony Tardio who was traumatised as a young man when he saw a dead body on the train tracks.

Dee Dee tells the story of one of the most famous dead body photos of all time: Evelyn McHale, who jumped from the Empire State Building. Sharnelle tells of the bloody ending to her search for a missing body, and looks at the legendary crime scene photographer Weegee. The girls speak to journalist Brett McLeod who hadn’t seen a dead body well into his adult life. And then he was sent to cover the horror of the aftermath of the tsunami that hit Aceh in 2004.

TV crime and court reporter Sharnelle Vella has seen more dead bodies than she can count. Veteran radio host Dee Dee Dunleavy has never seen one. In this introduction to Series One of Dead Bodies, Sharnelle tells of the first time she saw a dead body at a tea plantation when she was just a child. Their special guest Peter “Grubby” Stubbs tells the story of what he was forced to do with a dead body.