Podcast Summary:

Australian True Crime – Shortcut: Strange Investigations with Charlie Bezzina – Part 2
Host: Meshel Laurie
Guest: Charlie Bezzina (former Victoria Police Homicide Detective)
Date: March 29, 2026
Episode Length: ~16 minutes

Episode Overview

In this gripping installment, Meshel Laurie continues her conversation with retired homicide detective Charlie Bezzina, diving deeper into the most mysterious, shocking, and revealing cases from his nearly four decades with Victoria Police. The focus is on the quirks, challenges, and psychological toll of homicide work, as well as fascinating forensic and investigative breakthroughs encountered in Australia’s seemingly quiet suburbs.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Emotional Resilience & The Workload of a Homicide Detective

• Charlie on Coping With Disturbing Cases
  • Charlie opens up about why he doesn’t suffer from PTSD despite facing countless traumatic cases, attributing it to a sense of challenge and the sheer volume of work that left little time to dwell on individual horrors.
    • Quote:

      "To me it was a challenge. I loved going to work and doing it... one year there, my team alone did 14 homicides for the year. Multiply that by 14 families, 14 victims’ families. So you can't dwell on it."
      — Charlie Bezzina [00:46]

  • The pressure was immense, managing multiple active cases, victims, families, offenders, and staff welfare all at once.

2. Case Study: The Riverbank Suicide Investigation

• Charlie describes a contentious investigation where a young woman was found with a gunshot wound to the chest, initially ruled a suicide by local detectives.
  • The deceased’s family, particularly her sister (a lawyer), pushed for a deeper investigation, suspecting incompetence.
    • Forensic Detail:
      • Unique wound location (gunshot to the chest) was consistent with studies and actual suicide profiles for women who use firearms.
      • Two marks in the soil provided crucial forensic evidence indicating recoil, confirming it was self-inflicted.
    • Quote:

      "She put the gun between her legs. The butt of the gun rested on the dirt... The clincher... was recoil. There were two marks in the soil... when the gun goes off, it went backwards for the recoil... Based on that alone, it was clear."
      — Charlie [02:35]

  • The family, after learning the forensic details, accepted the findings and reversed their demand for a public inquest.
    • Quote:

      "They then said, well, they went the opposite. We don't want this out, we don't want an inquest, we don't want this."
      — Charlie [03:25]

3. Case Study: Security Guard Murder and the Importance of Forensic Thoroughness

• Charlie recounts a brutal factory assault where meticulous collection of blood samples helped pinpoint the perpetrator.
  • Quote:

    "There was blood everywhere. And I said, I want every piece of blood, a sample taken... 98% the deceased. But this 2% here, unknown—bang. I've got something."
    — Charlie [04:08]

• The investigation revealed it was orchestrated by the victim’s lover, with critical information provided by seemingly insignificant blood evidence.

4. Motives, Alibis, and Outsmarting the Police

• Discussion on the public’s obsession with motive (“But why would she do that?”), and Charlie’s pragmatic take:
  • Quote:

    "People say motive's a good direction. Yeah, it's not a point of proof."
    — Charlie [04:55]

• Charlie reflects on misconceptions about police intellect, noting that overconfident perpetrators make the best suspects because they underestimate investigators.
  • Quote:

    "All these dumb coppers. I'm smarter than coppers, but I say to them, we do this for a living. We are good at what we do."
    — Charlie [05:09]

5. Case Study: The Phyllis Hocking Murder (Unsolved to Solved Through a Break in the Alibi)

• Elderly woman murdered in Box Hill, initially surrounded by unsolvable circumstances and strong family alibis.
  • Series of misfortunes: burglary, Molotov cocktail attack, eventual murder.
  • Years later, the woman providing the alibi (the son’s de facto partner) comes forward, revealing the son enlisted his own son (the victim’s grandson) to commit murder for inheritance money.
    • Quote:

      "She said, I want to see you because my husband was the one that killed his grandmother."
      — Charlie [08:59]

  • Confession followed; son convicted, but no solid evidence to charge the father.

6. Case Study: Erotic Asphyxiation Death and The Dangers of Concealment

• A woman found dead, surrounded by odd crime scene details and evidence of arson.
  • Investigation linked to a male escort, who eventually confessed: what would have been deemed a tragic accident became suspicious due to efforts to cover up.
    • Quote:

      “He then panicked, made it look like that she was having a fetish in front of the computer, left her naked, goes away... sets fire to the place... By then doing anything further to conceal the crime, you become more sinister and less believable, let's put it that way.”
      — Charlie [11:07]

7. Case Study: Brooklyn Tip Dismemberment Case

• Investigation began after a severed leg was found at a landfill.
  • Intensive forensic recovery led to discovery of nearly all body parts but not the head.
  • The killers accidentally disposed of parts in different garbage runs, making full recovery impossible.
    • Quote:

      "We end up finding all the body parts at the tip except for the head... on this side of the street went to the Brooklyn tip... the other side went to the refuse in Dinan Road."
      — Charlie [14:18]

8. Case Study: Heidelberg Torso

• A torso found near La Trobe Uni led to some remarkable detective work:
  • Camera footage caught two bystanders conspicuously uninterested in the crime scene; upon investigation, they were identified as associates of the victim and eventually the killers.
    • Quote:

      "Everyone else, we’ve got 50 or 60 people looking around... And as it turned out, the people in the background, they were my offenders."
      — Charlie [15:25]

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• "To me it was a challenge. I loved going to work and doing it." — Charlie Bezzina [00:46]
• "We just don't do one homicide. There's one year there, my team alone did 14 homicides for the year." — Charlie [01:20]
• “There was two marks in the soil...when the gun goes off, it went backwards for the recoil. And then they arrested back where it was. So definitely two marks.” — Charlie [02:58]
• "All these dumb coppers. I'm smarter than coppers, but I say to them, we do this for a living. We are good at what we do." — Charlie [05:09]
• "She said, I want to see you because my husband was the one that killed his grandmother." — Charlie [08:59]
• "He then panicked, made it look like that she was having a fetish in front of the computer... But by then doing anything further to conceal the crime, you become more sinister and less believable." — Charlie [11:07]
• "Everyone else, we’ve got 50 or 60 people looking around... as it turned out, the people in the background, they were my offenders." — Charlie [15:25]

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Story | |-----------|---------------------------------------------| | 00:46 | Emotional mechanisms & workload discussion | | 01:50 | Riverbank suicide forensic details | | 03:25 | Family’s reaction to suicide finding | | 04:08 | Bloody crime scene – security guard murder | | 04:55 | Motive and proof in homicides | | 05:09 | Outsmarting the police – suspect mentality | | 06:40 | Phyllis Hocking murder; family dynamics | | 08:59 | Confession breaking the Hocking case | | 11:07 | Erotic asphyxiation/arson case | | 12:20 | Dismemberment at Brooklyn tip | | 14:18 | Why the victim’s head was never recovered | | 15:25 | Heidelberg torso case and the tape reveal |

Memorable Moments

• The episode is filled with revealing descriptions of casework, from the closure for grieving families, to unforeseen breakthroughs based on forensic minutiae or shifts in alibis years after the crime.
• Charlie’s pragmatic, unsentimental, and darkly humorous storytelling style brings these cases—and the realities of Australian suburbia’s hidden darkness—to vivid life.

Episode Tone and Language

• Conversational, down-to-earth, occasionally laced with black humour ("That's good for us—because they're the ones that make mistakes").
• Charlie is introspective about his work, speaking candidly about investigative frustrations, ethical lines, and moments of grim satisfaction.
• Meshel Laurie is curious, empathetic, and sometimes incredulous, giving voice to the listener’s questions.

Summary

Listeners are taken behind the headlines into the painstaking, emotionally taxing, and sometimes serendipitous world of homicide investigations. Charlie Bezzina’s decades of experience reveal that beneath Australia’s calm suburban veneer lurk stories of greed, tragedy, and remarkable—and sometimes accidental—deductive breakthroughs. The episode is a masterclass in both forensic investigation and the human complexities of crime.