Three years after Sarah MacDiarmid vanished from Kananook station, a young man began killing women in the streets around Frankston.
In the second of two episodes, we follow the winter of 1993, from a slashed unit in Seaford to a walking track off Sky…Part 2 of 2 - The heinous crimes of Paul Denyer
Three years after Sarah MacDiarmid vanished from Kananook station, a young man began killing women in the streets around Frankston.
In the second of two episodes, we follow the winter of 1993, from a slashed unit in Seaford to a walking track off Skye Road, the same street Sarah's family had once called home.
Paul Denyer confessed to three murders, and to crimes nobody had linked to him. Sarah's disappearance, however, is the one thing he has always denied. We weigh the case against him, and against the other names that have surfaced over thirty-six years, and ask who still knows what happened in that car park.
This episode contains descriptions of violence against women and animals.
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• ABC News. (2010, July 10). Million dollars on offer in missing persons case. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-07-10/million-dollars-on-offer-in-missing-persons-case/898950
• Australian Missing Persons Register. (n.d.). Sarah MacDiarmid. https://australianmissingpersonsregister.com/ampr/Macdiarmid.htm
• Francis, T. (2018, September 2). Sarah MacDiarmid's mysterious disappearance. Unsolved True Crime. https://unsolvedtruecrime.com/2018/09/02/sarah-macdiarmids-mysterious-disappearance/
• Gadd, D. (2004, July 11). The never-ending search for Sarah. The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/10/1089000397377.html
• Petraitis, V. (Host). (2021). Searching for Sarah MacDiarmid [Audio podcast]. Casefile Presents. http://searchingforsarah.com/
• Petrie, A. (2004, February 6). $1m for leads on missing woman. The Age.
• Razak, I. (2017, September 2). Sarah MacDiarmid: Parents of woman missing from Kananook train station share their heartbreak 27 years on. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-02/sarah-macdiarmid-remembered-with-special-plaque-kananook-station/8866454
• Victoria Police. (n.d.). Missing person: Sarah MacDiarmid. https://www.police.vic.gov.au/missing-person-sarah-macdiarmid
• Victoria Police. (n.d.). Reward: Sarah MacDiarmid. https://www.police.vic.gov.au/reward-sarah-macdiarmid
• Wikipedia. (2026). Disappearance of Sarah MacDiarmid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Sarah_MacDiarmidmore
Part 1 of 2 - The disappearance of Sarah McDiarmid
On a winter's night in July 1990, twenty-three-year-old Sarah MacDiarmid stepped off a late-running train at Kananook station, south-east of Melbourne, and walked towards her car. She never made it home.
In the first of two episodes, we follow Sar…Part 1 of 2 - The disappearance of Sarah McDiarmid
On a winter's night in July 1990, twenty-three-year-old Sarah MacDiarmid stepped off a late-running train at Kananook station, south-east of Melbourne, and walked towards her car. She never made it home.
In the first of two episodes, we follow Sarah's last night, from a social tennis match in the city to a dark commuter car park on the Frankston line, and the long hours her family spent waiting for a phone call that never came. Within a fortnight, police had a suspect, a sworn witness and a string of people repeating a confession. So why did the man running the investigation never believe it?
Subscribe now to Strewth Premium on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/cw/StrewthPodcast
Strewth social media links - https://linktr.ee/strewthpodcast
ABC News. (2010, July 10). Million dollars on offer in missing persons case. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-07-10/million-dollars-on-offer-in-missing-persons-case/898950
Australian Missing Persons Register. (n.d.). Sarah MacDiarmid. https://australianmissingpersonsregister.com/ampr/Macdiarmid.htm
Francis, T. (2018, September 2). Sarah MacDiarmid's mysterious disappearance. Unsolved True Crime. https://unsolvedtruecrime.com/2018/09/02/sarah-macdiarmids-mysterious-disappearance/
Gadd, D. (2004, July 11). The never-ending search for Sarah. The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/10/1089000397377.html
Petraitis, V. (Host). (2021). Searching for Sarah MacDiarmid [Audio podcast]. Casefile Presents. http://searchingforsarah.com/
Petrie, A. (2004, February 6). $1m for leads on missing woman. The Age.
Razak, I. (2017, September 2). Sarah MacDiarmid: Parents of woman missing from Kananook train station share their heartbreak 27 years on. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-02/sarah-macdiarmid-remembered-with-special-plaque-kananook-station/8866454
Victoria Police. (n.d.). Missing person: Sarah MacDiarmid. https://www.police.vic.gov.au/missing-person-sarah-macdiarmid
Victoria Police. (n.d.). Reward: Sarah MacDiarmid. https://www.police.vic.gov.au/reward-sarah-macdiarmid
Wikipedia. (2026). Disappearance of Sarah MacDiarmid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Sarah_MacDiarmidmore
Kananook railway station is located on the Frankston line in Victoria, about 50 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD.
At approximately 10:20pm, on the 11th of July, 1990, a 23-year-old woman named Sarah MacDiarmid can be seen alighting from the train and walking in the direction of the poorly lit car park…Kananook railway station is located on the Frankston line in Victoria, about 50 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD.
At approximately 10:20pm, on the 11th of July, 1990, a 23-year-old woman named Sarah MacDiarmid can be seen alighting from the train and walking in the direction of the poorly lit car park, where she parked her red Honda Civic that morning.
She is no doubt in a hurry to get home. She has work in the morning, and her train had been running 20 minutes late.
Despite it being late on a Wednesday night, there are people around. They see the woman, with blonde hair, holding a tennis racket.
She crosses the footbridge. Someone will later remember a female voice shouting “Give me back my keys”. We won’t know if that voice belongs to Sarah.
Between the footbridge and sliding into the driver’s seat of her car, Sarah vanishes into thin air. There are traces that she made it to her vehicle, but someone, or perhaps a group of people, targeted her. But who? And why?
Will we ever know for certain what happened to Sarah MacDiarmid on that night, in the middle of winter, three decades ago?
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