In June 1980, Maria James was stabbed 68 times in her Thornbury bookstore. Her killer was never charged. For years, investigators and a high-profile podcast pointed the finger at local parish priest Father Anthony Bonjourno — but Phil Cleary has always believed the real killer was someone else entirely.

Phil Cleary is no stranger to violent crime. In 1987, his sister Vicki was murdered by her ex-partner Peter Raymond Keogh. And the deeper Phil dug into the Maria James cold case, the more he became convinced Keo was responsible for that killing too.

In this episode, Adam Shand sits down with Phil Cleary to lay out the case against Keogh — a man with a documented history of violence against women, a flimsy alibi that was later rescinded, a witness who picked him out of a photo board years after the murder, and a chilling statement made to Vicki weeks before her own death: I'll do to you what I did to the woman in the bookshop.

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Kay Docherty was 15 years old when she vanished on July 1979. She'd told her mum she was going to babysit at a friend's place. Her twin brother Kevin was supposed to pick her up at nine. He never got the chance.

Forty-six years later, her twin brother Kevin Docherty, is still searching for answers — and still fighting to be heard. Adam talks to Kevin Docherty about the night Kay disappeared, the letters that were never properly investigated, the toll of 46 years of unanswered questions, and why this inquiry may be the family's last real chance at the truth.

Unsolved Murders and Long-term Missing Persons Inquiry

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****Content Warning:****

This episode contains discussion of the abduction, sexual assault and murder of children. Listener discretion is strongly advised.

In August 1973, two girls vanished from Adelaide Oval at a Saturday afternoon football match. Joanne Ratcliffe, 11, and Kirsty Gordon, 4, walked to the toilet at 3:45pm and were never seen again.

For decades, the prime suspect was Errol Radan — a convicted paedophile held under an indefinite detention order in a Queensland prison until his death in 2022. He never spoke publicly about the girls. He never confessed. Or so we thought.

Adam Shand speaks with "Ted" — a former Queensland prison officer who ended up on the other side of the bars after a conviction of his own. Placed in the same high-security protection unit as Radan, "Ted" spent three months playing chess with a man the other inmates refused to go near. And one afternoon, leading up to Christmas, Radan broke his silence.

What he said to "Ted" has stayed buried for over fifteen years. Until now.

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