We're bringing Australian True Crime live to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne this July,

and I have to tell you that Brisbane sold out already.

Good for you, Brisbane, so we've quickly added a second show.

Now we can't keep adding more shows, so please make sure you get your tickets. Our special guests,

our forensic criminologist Santee Mallet in Brisbane and Sydney and the one and only Charlie Bazzina in

Melbourne. There'll be a Q&A of course so you can ask your own burning questions on the night but you have to book quickly.

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is recorded.

We pay our respects to their elders, past and present, and to Aboriginal elders emerging.

Former Detective Lex Demand spent 5 years officially trying to bring Anne Hamilton Byrne to justice,

for abuses perpetrated against the dozens of children she brought under her care one way or another. In reality though this case has

consumed Lex's life. The group founded by Anne known as the family has been

described variously over the years as a

doomsday cult a religious sect a government-funded child trafficking ring a real

estate scam a drug den and a yoga school and Anne herself proclaimed that she was the

reincarnation of Jesus Christ. This is Australian True Crime with Michelle Laurie and Emily Webb.

But when Lex received a text on Thursday morning reading simply,

The Witch is Dead, he knew exactly what it meant.

I was really happy that she was dead and I thought may she just rot.

Did you cry?

No, not at all. She wouldn't check one tier for her. I don't mean for her, but I know that when I saw you do a

Q&A a year ago and I saw the emotion when you started to talk about the children who are now adults and there was a lot of emotion then.

Yeah, I went through an emotional roller coast yesterday.

...