This podcast details true crime cases. It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of violence.

It is not intended for children.

Listen or discretion is advised. Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Once Upon a Crime.

We're starting a new series for the month of February, and I'll warn you in advance.

This one is not for the faint of heart.

We've all heard stories of good love gone bad and in these episodes we'll hear stories of

those who were so possessive, obsessed or controlling over their love interests that they took

the ultimate revenge. These perpetrators were not content to just hurt or even

kill but felt the need to completely destroy. This is the series revenge attacks and

this episode is the murder of Sophie Elliot. In the summer of 2007, Clayton Weatherson's life appeared to be on an upswing.

He was a research assistant part-time lecturer and

tutor for the economics department of Otago University in Dunedin, New Zealand for several

years. During that time he was working towards his PhD and was now within a few months of

receiving his doctorate after many years of study.

Blayton Weatherston was a popular professor with his undergradads. He often took these students under his

wing and mentored them. Many of his mentees had come from abroad and Weatherston enjoyed

helping them navigate the college and their new unfamiliar surroundings. Dunedin is located in South Island

on the southeast coast of New Zealand and the university could be a bit overwhelming for newcomers.

That summer 31 year old-old Clayton met 22-year-old Sophie Elliot.

Sophie, who was a student at the university, came to know Weatherston while attending his class. Weatherston would later say that he wasn't interested in Sophie romantically at first, but was

flattered when she made her own interest in him clear.

He would later claim that Sophie had become obsessed with him. But others would say that

...