The Mercury explores East Coast cold cases of Nancy Grunwaldt and Victoria Cafasso in exclusive crime series
Perfect for your morning commute, tuck into The Mercury's exclusive five-episode podcast Gone Girls, looking into the mysterious East Coast deaths of Victoria Cafasso and Nancy Grunwaldt. With no-one ever charged 25+ years on, read The Mercury's exclusive web and podcast series exploring these mysteries.
Tasmania
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SUNDAY, October 11 was the 25th anniversary of Victoria Cafasso’s death.
The 20-year-old Italian law student was holidaying on Tasmania’s pristine and peaceful East Coast when she was stabbed 21 times in broad daylight at Beaumaris Beach.
With police bungling the crime scene, any hopes of solving the crime by way of forensics was all but destroyed on the day Victoria died – October 11, 1995.
The case was made all the more complex with more than 300 suspects to initially wade through, with a net result that to this day, no-one has ever been charged over her murder.
Gone Girls Part 1: How new DNA science could help catch killer
Gone Girls Part 2: The phone call that could solve 27-year cold case
Gone Girls Part 3: ‘There’s one man who knows truth about Nancy’
Gone Girls Part 4: Author unearths suspect in hunt for Victoria’s killer
Gone Girls Part 5: Hope dwindles cold case mysteries will ever be solved
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Victoria’s death came just two-and-a-half years after German backpacker Nancy Grunwaldt vanished from the same area on her red bicycle.
The 26-year-old travel agent was sighted reading a book on Beaumaris Beach on the morning of March 12, 1993, before she was last seen about 5km south of Scamander.
Some believe Nancy was killed in a hit-and-run accident by a tourist, but still to this day, no-one has ever been charged over her disappearance.
With still no answers to how these two young women met their ends at one of the world’s most remote and beautiful locations, these two cold cases are among the most enduring and impactful cold case mysteries to ever hit Tasmania.
GONE GIRLS
With a quarter of a century now passing since these two cold cases, the Mercury has spoken to current investigators, retired detectives, and those who know the Cafasso and Grunwaldt families.
Gone Girls is a five-part print and online series detailing the current theories, scientific research, investigative breakthroughs, and the human stories surrounding these two tragedies.
The exclusive series by the Mercury also explores dead ends and false leads that have stunted the two investigations over more than two decades, and gives insight into the impact of both cases on family, friends, police and the East Coast community.
Over five parts, this exclusive true crime journalism project features a series of stories, a five-episode podcast and a three-part video package as part of an online multimedia experience.
Gone Girls Part 1: How new DNA science could help catch killer
Gone Girls Part 2: The phone call that could solve 27-year cold case
Gone Girls Part 3: ‘There’s one man who knows truth about Nancy’
Gone Girls Part 4: Author unearths suspect in hunt for Victoria’s killer
Gone Girls Part 5: Hope dwindles cold case mysteries will ever be solved
Follow the Gone Girls series at www.themercury.com.au and listen to the mini podcasts, exclusive to Mercury subscribers.
You can also listen to the podcasts via Spotify, Omny and iTunes.
Becoming a Mercury subscriber has never been better value — just $1 a week for the first 12 weeks, you’ll get unlimited digital access to the latest news and podcasts PLUS free weekend paper delivery.
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