When police raided the home of 48-year-old Gary Francis Newman in March 2007, they found him sitting in his lounge room, chatting online with a 14-year-old girl. She thought she was speaking to “Brandon,” a teenage American boy. In reality, Brandon was a persona—a carefully crafted fake identity Newman had used to lure girls online. Police would later uncover nearly 200 such identities.

One of those girls was Carly Ryan.

Newman lured Carly to a secluded beach, pretending to be Brandon, and brutally murdered her.

What followed was every parent’s nightmare—and one mother’s mission to stop it ever happening again.

Donate to the work at The Carly Ryan Foundation through their website here.

Support is available if you need it:

Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation - https://www.accce.gov.au/

eSafety Commissioner - https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics

If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

Our new podcast Watch Party is out now, listen to our deep-dive into The Thursday Murder Club movie on Apple or Spotify.

CREDITS

Guest: Sonya Ryan

Host: Claire Murphy

Senior Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

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