*** Content warnings: Child abuse, crimes against children, sexual assault ***

When 10-year-old Zahra Baker was reported missing by her father and stepmum in Hickory, North Carolina, one Saturday afternoon in 2010, it sparked the largest missing persons investigation in the city's history. Police worked around the clock, hoping for a miracle, but people close to the family said they'd been expecting something like this to happen for a long time.

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Narration – Anonymous Host

Research & writing – Emily Shirley

Production & music – Mike Migas

Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-347-zahra-baker

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*** Content warnings: Child abduction ***

When 13-year-old Megumi Yokota failed to return home from her regular badminton practice on November 15 1977, her parents immediately raised the alarm.

The police in Niigata, Japan, conducted one of the city’s largest ever investigations, but no trace of Megumi was ever found. Two decades later, the case took a shocking turn that would rock the entire nation of Japan and have geopolitical ramifications…

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Narration – Anonymous Host

Research & writing – Erin Munro

Production & music – Mike Migas

Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-346-megumi-yokota

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*** Content warnings: Sexual assault, drug use, suicide, homophobia ***

Over a 16-month period between 2014 and 2015, four young men—Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor—each died under unusual circumstances in the East London suburb of Barking.

While the police initially palmed the deaths off as isolated incidents, the families of the four men believed something suspicious was at play. All of the men had been found near or in a churchyard, all had died from dangerously high levels of GHB, and none had a reason to be in the area. When CCTV footage forced detectives to revisit the evidence, what they uncovered was shocking.

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Narration – Anonymous Host

Research & writing – Elsha McGill

Production & music – Mike Migas

Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-345-the-barking-murders

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In the tense weeks following the September 11 terror attacks in 2001, a new and invisible threat emerged across the United States. Letters laced with weaponised anthrax began arriving through the mail, infecting ordinary people and spreading fear nationwide.

As the possibility of bioterrorism gripped the country, a massive federal investigation codenamed Amerithrax was launched to uncover who was behind the attacks…

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Narration – Anonymous Host

Research & writing – Milly Raso

Production & music – Mike Migas

Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-344-amerithrax

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*** 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.

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Narration – Anonymous Host

Research & writing – Brianne Jaskulski

Production & music – Mike Migas

Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-343-john-zera

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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.

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Narration – Anonymous Host

Research & writing – Milly Raso

Production & music – Mike Migas

Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-342-julia-wallace

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*** 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…

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Narration – Anonymous Host

Research & writing – Erin Munro

Production & music – Mike Migas

Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-341-the-christchurch-civic-creche

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*** 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.

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Narration – Anonymous Host

Research & writing – Elsha McGill

Production & music – Mike Migas

Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-340-elisabeth-membrey

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