Crime Investigation Australia
Encyclopedia
Crime Investigation Australia is an Australian true-crime series that first premiered on Foxtel's Crime & Investigation Network in August 2005. The series is also rebroadcast on the Nine Network
, and made its debut there on 14 August 2007. The host of the series is Steve Liebmann
.
) that is dominated by American and European crime stories.
The series (often abbreviated to CIA) examines some of Australia's most shocking and infamous crimes. It includes interviews from victims, loved ones and the investigators who brought the criminals to justice. These crimes are further examined by re-enactments shot in the actual locations where the crimes took place.
Foxtel
announced that the series would be "rested" for 2010. However, on November 9th 2010 Crime Investigation Australia series four premiered under the name Crime Investigation Australia: Families of Crime.
Michelle Nagy in her Editorial Review of the program writes:
"Crime Investigation Australia presents an impressive package, using re-enactments, montages of real evidence, locations, maps, photos and real footage – not to mention leading Australian anchor Steve Liebmann, who lends weight and integrity to the series."
Similarly: "Producer Graham McNeice's Crime Investigation Australia program revisits landmark crimes that once shocked and that remain embedded in the memories of many of us. Hosted by stern, gravelly voiced Steve Liebmann, McNeice's films skilfully dramatise the stories behind these cases, though in disturbing the past he sometimes creates a sense of dismay... It's all very noir, very tabloid, and very conspiratorial. McNeice, with his just-the-facts method, unashamedly gives us criminality, violence, gritty realism, horror and psychopathology. There is no apology and no shame here, which is what makes it such riveting TV."
A recent review by David Knox explains that:
"True crime television is hitting us from all corners lately. Sitting at the top of the heap, at least in Australian productions, is Crime Investigation Australia. Hosted by Steve Liebmann, it shies away from emotive, sometimes even racist, sensationalism of other players. CIA has also triggered viewers to come forth with new information – surely a measure of success for any in this genre. Hopefully, this week’s case study ... will elicit the same response."
Another review asks the question:
"What is it about the true crime genre that's so addictive? A showcase of the worst elements of human nature should be repellent, yet so often it's darkly compelling... Crime Investigation Australia has all the hallmarks of a pay-TV documentary – lots of stock footage, dodgy re-enactments, eerie music and talking heads – but nevertheless tells an engaging tale."
The re-enactments featured on the show are very often gratuitously portrayed, as for example the Anita Cobby episode in which the moment of the murder is replayed over and over again.
CIA Series 1 – 5 DVD Boxed Set became available in late October 2007. Series 1's running time is approximately 670 minutes. The Set is rated MA 15+.
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
CIA Series 2 – 5 DVD Boxed Set is now available. Series 2's running time is approximately 250 minutes. The Set is rated MA 15+.
Volume 6
Volume 7
Volume 8
Volume 9
Volume 10
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
, and made its debut there on 14 August 2007. The host of the series is Steve Liebmann
Steve Liebmann
Steve Liebmann is an Australian television anchor and radio broadcaster, best known for co-hosting the Today news and current affairs show on the Nine Network between 1982 and 1986, and again from 1990 to 2005....
.
Production
The series is produced by Graham McNeice Productions of Moore Park NSW. In a 2008 interview McNeice said the impetus for the series was to provide an element of local content to a channel (FoxtelFoxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
) that is dominated by American and European crime stories.
The series (often abbreviated to CIA) examines some of Australia's most shocking and infamous crimes. It includes interviews from victims, loved ones and the investigators who brought the criminals to justice. These crimes are further examined by re-enactments shot in the actual locations where the crimes took place.
Foxtel
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....
announced that the series would be "rested" for 2010. However, on November 9th 2010 Crime Investigation Australia series four premiered under the name Crime Investigation Australia: Families of Crime.
Series 1
- Episode 01: No More Grannies – The Granny KillerJohn Wayne GloverJohn Wayne Glover was a British-born Australian serial killer convicted for the murders of six elderly women on Sydney's North Shore....
- Episode 02: Kid For RansomGraeme Thorne kidnappingThe Graeme Thorne kidnapping is the name given to the 1960 kidnapping and murder of Graeme Thorne for money that his father, Bazil Thorne, had won in a lottery. A crime which caused massive shock at the time and gathered huge publicity, it was the first known kidnapping for ransom in Australian...
/Tears For DanielDaniel MorcombeDaniel James Morcombe was a 13-year-old Australian boy who was abducted from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, on 7 December 2003. In August 2011 Brett Peter Cowan, a former Sunshine Coast resident, was charged with Morcombe's murder... - Episode 03: Death in a HeartbeatVictor ChangVictor Peter Chang, AC , was a Chinese Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation. Born in Shanghai to Australian-born Chinese parents, he grew up in Hong Kong before moving to Australia...
/The Body in the Bag - Episode 04: Ivan Milat: The Backpacker MurdersBackpacker murdersThe Backpacker Murders is a name given to serial killings that occurred in New South Wales, Australia during the 1990s. The bodies of seven missing young people aged 19 to 22 were discovered partly buried in the Belanglo State Forest, south west of the New South Wales town of Berrima...
- Episode 05: Contract to KillMegan Kalajzich murderMegan Kalajzich was shot twice through the head as she slept beside her husband, Andrew in Fairlight, Sydney, Australia, at about 1am on 27 January 1986. Her husband Andrew Kalajzich is currently serving a 28 year jail sentence for conspiracy to murder. He maintains his innocence.-Timeline:11-12...
/The Mornington Monster - Episode 06: The Moorhouse HorrorsDavid and Catherine BirnieDavid John Birnie and Catherine Margaret Birnie were an Australian couple who were serial killers. They murdered four women ranging in age from 15 to 31 in their home in the 1980s, and attempted to murder a fifth...
/The Call Girl Killing - Episode 07: The Killer Punch/The Will of Death
- Episode 08: The Anita Cobby Murder
- Episode 09: Snowtown: Bodies in the BarrelsSnowtown murdersThe Snowtown murders, also known as the Bodies in Barrels murders, were the murders of 11 people in South Australia, Australia between August 1992 and May 1999...
- Episode 10: The Kimberley KillerJoseph SchwabJoseph Schwab was a serial killer who murdered five tourists in the Northern Territory and Western Australia in June 1987. Schwab was dubbed "The Kimberley Killer" by the Australian press after the region in which he committed the murders....
- Episode 11: The Wanda Beach MurdersWanda Beach MurdersThe Wanda Beach Murders refers to the case of the unsolved murders of Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock at Sydney's Wanda Beach on 11 January 1965. Their partially buried bodies were discovered the next day....
/Beaumont Children MysteryBeaumont children disappearanceJane Nartare Beaumont , Arnna Kathleen Beaumont , and Grant Ellis Beaumont were three siblings collectively known as The Beaumont Children who disappeared from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia on Australia Day 1966.Their case resulted in one of the largest police investigations in... - Episode 12: The Greenough Family MassacreGreenough Family MassacreThe Greenough Family Massacre refers to the axe murders of Karen MacKenzie, 31, and her three children, Daniel 16, Amara, 7, & Katrina, 5, at their remote rural property in Greenough, Western Australia, 400 km north of Perth, on 21 February 1993, by William Patrick...
- Episode 13: The Disappearance of Donald Mackay
- Episode 14: The Body in the Sports Bag
- Episode 15: The Assassination of John NewmanJohn Newman (Australian politician)John Paul Newman was a member of the New South Wales state parliament and Member for the seat of Cabramatta. He was the first elected politician to be assassinated in Australia.-Early life:...
- Episode 16: The Butchered BoysThe Family MurdersThe Family Murders was the name given to an alleged high society conspiracy involving the kidnap, torture, and murder of teenagers, particularly young men and teenaged boys, in Adelaide, Australia and surrounding areas in the late 1970s to the mid 1980s...
Series 2
- Episode 17: The Killing Fields of TruroTruro murdersThe Truro murders is the name given to a series of murders uncovered with the discovery in 1978 and 1979 of the remains of two young women in bushland near the town of Truro, South Australia. After police searches, the remains of seven women were discovered in total: five at Truro, one at...
- Episode 18: No Mercy: The Killing of Virginia Morse
- Episode 19: The Night Caller: Eric Edgar CookeEric Edgar CookeEric Edgar Cooke nicknamed The Night Caller was an Australian serial killer. From 1959 to 1963, he terrorised the city of Perth, Western Australia, by committing 22 violent crimes, eight of which resulted in deaths....
- Episode 20: Headless Body: The Kim Barry Murder
- Episode 21: The Gonzales Family MurdersSef GonzalesSef Gonzales is an Australian who was convicted and sentenced in the Supreme Court of New South Wales to life imprisonment for the murder of his father Teddy Gonzales, 46, mother Mary Loiva Josephine, 43, and sister Clodine, 18....
- Episode 22: Thrill Kill: The Janine Balding MurderJanine BaldingThe murder of Janine Balding was the killing of a woman in New South Wales, Australia by multiple perpetrators. Twenty-year-old Janine Balding was raped and murdered by a gang of five youths on 8 September 1988....
- Episode 23: Hunt For a Killer: The Claremont Murders
- Episode 24: The Devil Inside – John Ernest CribbJohn CribbJohn Ernest Cribb is an Australian triple murderer from Sydney, New South Wales, currently serving three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment plus 45 years for the rape and murder of Valda Connell and the murder of her children Sally and Damien and numerous other offences at Swansea on 11...
- Episode 25: The Predator: Leonard John FraserLeonard FraserLeonard John Fraser also known as "The Rockhampton Rapist" was an Australian convicted serial killer.- Crimes :...
- Episode 26: Evil Heart: The Murder of Donna Wheeler/The Disappearance of Trudie Adams
Series 3
- Episode 27: The Girls Who Knew Too MuchJuanita NielsenJuanita Joan Nielsen was an Australian publisher and heiress.She was born Juanita Joan Smith in New Lambton, NSW to parents: Neil Donovan Smith and Vilma Grace Smith nee Meares . Her parents separated soon after her birth and she was raised by her mother at Killara, Sydney...
- Episode 28: Bloodsport – The Bondi Gay Murders
- Episode 29: A Killer Amongst Us – The Norfolk Island MurderJanelle PattonJanelle Patton was a 29-year-old Sydney woman who was brutally murdered on Norfolk Island on 31 March 2002. The case made national headlines in Australia and New Zealand, as she was the first person to be murdered there since 1893.-Background:...
- Episode 30: Night of Terror: The Bega SchoolgirlsBega schoolgirl murdersThe Bega schoolgirl murders refers to the abduction, rape and murder of New South Wales schoolgirls, 14-year-old Lauren Margaret Barry and 16-year-old Nichole Emma Collins of Bega, New South Wales on 6 October 1997....
- Episode 31: Murder of Innocence – Sian Kingi
- Episode 32: Date With a Serial Killer: Rodney Cameron
- Episode 33: Cop Killer – The Winchester AssassinationColin WinchesterColin Stanley Winchester APM, was an Assistant Commissioner in the Australian Federal Police . Winchester commanded ACT Police, the community policing component of the AFP Australian Federal Police responsible for the Australian Capital Territory.On 10 January 1989, at about 9:15 pm, he was...
- Episode 34: Michael KanaanMichael KanaanMichael Kanaan is a Lebanese Australian triple murderer from Sydney, New South Wales, currently serving three sentences of life imprisonment plus 50 years and 4 months without the possibility of parole, for the murder of three people and other offences, all committed in Sydney between 17 July 1998...
: Shoot to Kill - Episode 35: Buried Alive: Luckman and ReidRobin Reid (criminal)Robin Reid is an Australian criminal currently serving a life sentence at Goulburn Correctional Centre for the sexual assault, torture and murder of 13-year-old Brisbane schoolboy, Peter Aston in 1982....
- Episode 36: Mystery of the Homestead Murders
Reception
The show has been generally well received, although it has not been without detractors.Michelle Nagy in her Editorial Review of the program writes:
"Crime Investigation Australia presents an impressive package, using re-enactments, montages of real evidence, locations, maps, photos and real footage – not to mention leading Australian anchor Steve Liebmann, who lends weight and integrity to the series."
Similarly: "Producer Graham McNeice's Crime Investigation Australia program revisits landmark crimes that once shocked and that remain embedded in the memories of many of us. Hosted by stern, gravelly voiced Steve Liebmann, McNeice's films skilfully dramatise the stories behind these cases, though in disturbing the past he sometimes creates a sense of dismay... It's all very noir, very tabloid, and very conspiratorial. McNeice, with his just-the-facts method, unashamedly gives us criminality, violence, gritty realism, horror and psychopathology. There is no apology and no shame here, which is what makes it such riveting TV."
A recent review by David Knox explains that:
"True crime television is hitting us from all corners lately. Sitting at the top of the heap, at least in Australian productions, is Crime Investigation Australia. Hosted by Steve Liebmann, it shies away from emotive, sometimes even racist, sensationalism of other players. CIA has also triggered viewers to come forth with new information – surely a measure of success for any in this genre. Hopefully, this week’s case study ... will elicit the same response."
Another review asks the question:
"What is it about the true crime genre that's so addictive? A showcase of the worst elements of human nature should be repellent, yet so often it's darkly compelling... Crime Investigation Australia has all the hallmarks of a pay-TV documentary – lots of stock footage, dodgy re-enactments, eerie music and talking heads – but nevertheless tells an engaging tale."
The re-enactments featured on the show are very often gratuitously portrayed, as for example the Anita Cobby episode in which the moment of the murder is replayed over and over again.
DVD releases
The series is currently available in three sets: Series 1 (Volumes 1–5), Series 2 (Volumes 6–10), and Box Set (Series 1 and 2).Series 1
Volume 1
- The Backpacker Murders – Ivan Milat (75 mins) (M)
- The Kimberley Killer – Joseph Schwab (45 mins) (M)
Volume 2
- The Anita Cobby Murder (45 mins) (M)
- The Moorhouse Horrors – David and Catherine Birnie (30mins) (M)
- The Call Girl Killing – Roslyn Watson (20 mins) (M)
Volume 3
- Snowtown – The Bodies in the Barrels (50 mins) (MA15+)
- The Greenough Family Massacre (48 mins) (M)
- The Killer Punch – Dean Waters (30 mins) (M)
- The Will of Death – Ludwig Gertsch (15mins) (M)
Volume 4
- The Wanda Beach Murders (30 mins) (M)
- The Beaumont Children Mystery (25 mins) (M)
- Kid for Ransom – The Graeme Thorne Case (50 mins) (PG)
- Tears for Daniel – Disappearance of Daniel Morcombe (25 mins) (PG)
- No More Grannies – John Glover (50 mins) (M)
Volume 5
- Death in a Heartbeat – Murder of Victor Chang (60mins) (M)
- The Body in the Bag – Jane Doe (20 mins) (M)
- Contract to Kill – Megan Kalazcich (25 mins) (MA15+)
- The Mornington Monster – John Myles Sharpe (25 mins) (MA15+)
Series 2
Volume 6
- The Disappearance of Donald Mackay – (M)
- Headless Body – The Kim Barry Murder – (MA15+)
Volume 7
- Thrill Kill – The Janine Balding Murder – (M)
- The Night Caller – Eric Edgar Cooke – (M)
- The Body in the Sports Bag
Volume 8
- The Killing Fields of Truro – (M)
- The Butchered Boys
- The Devil Inside – John Ernest Cribb – (M)
Volume 9
- No Mercy – The Killing of Virginia Morse – (M)
- Hunt For a Killer – The Claremont Murders – (M)
Volume 10
- The Gonzales Family Murders – (M)
- The Assassination of John Newman – (M)
External links
- Crime Investigation Australia website
- About Crime Investigation Australia. at eBroadcast
- List of Episodes. at Crime & Investigation Network
- DVD Releases. at Crime & Investigation Network