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Dark Adaptation - Episode 31: Australia - The Murder of Betty Shanks
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Episode 31: Australia - The Murder of Betty Shanks

Dark Adaptation

08/22/22

106m

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It’s September 19, 1952, and Betty Shanks' father is waiting up for her to arrive home from her evening classes. The Shanks family lives on Montpelier Street in the safe and peaceful suburb of Grange in Brisbane, Queensland. Betty was routine and punctual and should have arrived home around 10 pm at the latest, so by 1:30 am when she still wasn't home, her father grew concerned and reported her missing to the authorities.

Just 4 hours later, at 5:30 am, Alex Stewart, who was one of the neighbours and an off-duty police officer, went outside his home to grab his newspaper when he saw the violently beaten body of a woman on his neighbour’s property line on the corner of Carberry Street and Thomas Street.

The body was that of 22-year-old Betty Shanks, who had last been seen at 9:32 pm the night before when she got off a tram (streetcar) at Days Road Terminus in Grange after attending her night classes in the city. The foul play that she met on her short walk home to Montpelier Street has led to one of the oldest and most notorious unsolved murder cases in Queensland, Australia...

Spoils of Horror

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Previous Episode

In December, 2004, Brent Springford Jr. admitted himself into the Poudre Valley hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, for a psychiatric evaluation. Brent told hospital staff that he was having visions of blood and violence, and he thought he might have murdered his parents. The police intervened, and Brent told investigators that just 2 weeks prior, on Thanksgiving Day, he went to his parent’s home in Montgomery, Alabama, and laid in wait. His parents Winston “Brent” Sr. and Charlotte Springford finally arrived home that evening, and Brent brutally attacked and murdered them. His parents had been worrying about Brent’s declining mental health, but no one suspected he was capable of committing such an atrocious act, especially towards people as loving and doting as his own parents.

In part 2 of this 2-part series, we tell you about Brent’s life following the murder (his actions and movements in the days and weeks after), his subsequent arrest, his “trial”, and some suspicious circumstances involving someone we talked about heavily in part 1...

Drifting Into Darkness by Mark I. Pinsky

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Next Episode

This week, you're in for a treat! Paige is back with Brianna for an all new episode of Paige Presents Cryptids & Folklore. From telepathic premonitions to towering, dark figures soaring through the sky, something strange is lurking in Point Pleasant West Virginia. And we're going to get to the bottom of it. Don't get scared now.

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