Case 343: John Zera

*** Content warnings: Child victims, sexual assault ***On February 28 1976, the suburban community of Hales Corners, Wisconsin, was rocked when the body of missing schoolboy, 14-year-old John Zera, was discovered in a local park. The teenager hadn’t been seen for over a week, having gone missing in the middle of the school day without so much as a word.Over the next few years, the investigation into John’s brutal murder was plagued by mistakes and misconduct before eventually going cold. Thirty years later, the case was resurrected after police discovered a chilling scene.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Brianne JaskulskiProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-343-john-zera Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When 52-year-old Julia Wallace was found brutally murdered in her Liverpool home in 1931, no one could have anticipated the complex and challenging investigation that would follow, centring on her husband, William, and a mysterious figure known only as R. M. Qualtrough.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Milly RasoProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-342-julia-wallace Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content warning: Child sexual abuse ***Late in 1991, a child said something strange to his mother: ‘I don’t like Peter’s black penis.’ Believing this was an indication that her son was being abused by Peter Ellis, a 33-year-old employee at the Christchurch Civic Creche her son attended, the concerned mother quickly filed a report. The case would soon snowball into one of New Zealand’s biggest and most controversial criminal cases…---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Erin MunroProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-341-the-christchurch-civic-creche Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content warning: Sexual assault ***When 22-year-old aspiring journalist Elisabeth Membrey failed to answer her phone on December 7 1994, her loved ones knew something was wrong. A visit to her Ringwood East unit confirmed their suspicions when blood stains were found on the carpet, but Elisabeth herself was nowhere to be seen. With Elisabeth’s disappearance declared to be a homicide, her parents, Roger and Joy Membrey, refused to give up the search for answers. But with one twist after another, they could never have anticipated the journey that lay ahead. ---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Elsha McGillProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-340-elisabeth-membrey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warning: gun violence ***When Larry Phillips Junior and Emil Mătăsăreanu entered the North Hollywood branch of the Bank of America on February 28 1997, no one could have predicted the chaos that was about to ensue. What followed was 44 minutes of pure mayhem.---Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Anonymous Host & Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-11-north-hollywood-shootout Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Friday, August 20 2010, officers from the Holmes County Sheriff's Department were called to Vortex Spring, a commercially operated dive park just outside the Florida town of Ponce de Leon. A 30-year-old scuba diver from Tennessee by the name of Ben McDaniel had failed to resurface after diving into the narrow cave network under the basin of the spring two nights earlier, and nobody had seen or heard from him since. When a recovery mission failed to find any sign of Ben, his loved ones and members of the cave diving community were left in shock. Was Ben stuck in an unexplored part of the cave somewhere, or was something else entirely at play?---Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Elsha McGill Production & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-10-ben-mcdaniel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*** Content Warning: serial killer, extreme violence, animal cruelty ***In early 1993, Frankston resident Donna received a series of unnerving prank calls. Afraid of being home alone, she accompanied her boyfriend during his pizza delivery shift, only to return home to find her worst fears had come true. Her pet cats had been killed, and written in blood on the lounge room wall were the words: ‘Donna, you’re dead.’ This marked the beginning of a five-month crime spree that terrorised locals and resulted in the murders of three young women – Elizabeth Stevens, Deborah Fream and Natalie Russell. The perpetrator was dubbed ‘The Frankston Serial Killer’, but who was he, and when would he strike again?---Casefile Archives is a series of special bonus releases revisiting the earliest years of the show. The re-run episodes have been completely edited, polished, re-recorded and freshly produced from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not complete rewrites - our goal wasn’t to alter the cases or reshape the writing, but to preserve the original storytelling while giving the production the refinement it didn’t have when we started the show back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure and storytelling remain faithful to the originals. Because of this, these re-releases may sound a little different to our recent episodes, but they allow us to bring some of the earliest episodes up to the technical quality listeners expect today.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Anonymous HostAdditional writing & editing – Erin MunroProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-9-the-frankston-serial-killer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 3 of 3]*** Content warning: Gun violence, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, child abuse ***The standoff between the FBI and the Branch Davidians held firm for more than a month, with David Koresh and his followers refusing to surrender. After attempting both negotiation tactics and more aggressive approaches for 51 days, the FBI implements a plan to force the Branch Davidians out, a plan that will have devastating consequences and will change the face of the United States forever.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Erin MunroProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-339-waco-part-3-3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 2 of 3]*** Content warning: Gun violence, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, child abuse ***In 1992, a chance discovery by a UPS delivery driver would lead to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – commonly known as the ATF – launching an investigation into David Koresh’s activities at Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas. Upon discovering that Koresh’s Branch Davidians were stockpiling illegal weapons, the agency began planning a raid that was also intended to boost their image with the public… but the consequences would be disastrous.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Erin MunroProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-339-waco-part-2-3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

[Part 1 of 3]*** Content warning: Gun violence, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse, child abuse ***In 1981, a 20-year-old named Vernon Howell drove more than two hours from his hometown in east Texas to visit a church near Waco that was home to a group known as the Branch Davidians. Vernon would be welcomed into the church’s fold, setting off a course of events that would ultimately end in tragedy and permanently alter the United States of America.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Erin MunroProduction & music – Mike MigasAudio editing – Anthony TelferSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-339-waco-part-1-3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.