Trascrizione completa di She Lured, Tortured, and Killed… Alongside the Man She Loved, Catherine Birnie

WEBVTT 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:08.839 The year is 1986, the place, Perth, in Western Australia, where the sun beat down on quiet suburban streets. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:16.660 It was the kind of place where kids rode bikes until dark and families gathered for barbecues. It was a city that felt safe. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:28.260 Far from the horrors of the world splashed across international headlines, but behind the closed doors of an ordinary house on Morehouse Street, something terrifying was happening. 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:32.859 Over the course of just five weeks, four young women would vanish. 00:00:33.060 --> 00:00:39.759 Their families would be left begging for answers. Their faces would appear on posters and nightly news reports. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.200 And the community would feel a chill it had never known before. 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:48.960 The world would later come to know these crimes as the Morehouse murders. 00:00:49.259 --> 00:00:55.679 And at the center of it all was not just one killer, but a pair, David and Catherine Birnie. 00:00:56.179 --> 00:01:07.040 Welcome to GBRLIFE Transmissions. I'm your host, Kaitlyn, and you're listening to GBRLIFE of Crimes, where we explore not just what happened in crimes committed by women, but why they happened and the psychology behind them. 00:01:07.459 --> 00:01:19.140 Today, we're diving into the story of Catherine Birnie, a woman whose life choices and toxic partnership with David Birnie led to one of the most disturbing killing sprees in Australian history. 00:01:20.109 --> 00:01:27.450 Catherine Harrison was born in 1951 in Perth. From the start, her life was marked by instability. 00:01:27.829 --> 00:01:35.069 Her mother died when Catherine was just two years old, and her father, unable to cope, placed her into the care of relatives. 00:01:35.349 --> 00:01:44.569 That sense of abandonment stayed with her. In the depths of her inner world, while her outer world began what she felt was a normal life. 00:01:44.569 --> 00:01:56.310 And she remained that way until Catherine was a teenager when she would meet David Birnie, a boy who seemed confident, rebellious, and dangerous. She was just 14. 00:01:56.969 --> 00:02:01.430 He was older, manipulative, and already showing troubling behaviors. 00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:14.469 For Catherine, David wasn't just a boyfriend. He was an escape from loneliness, from feeling unwanted, and having no way to express that. David made Catherine feel seen. 00:02:14.610 --> 00:02:20.129 And as you might have guessed, that bond, as toxic as it was, would define her life. 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:22.610 This was first love territory for Catherine. 00:02:22.969 --> 00:02:28.909 So David was her world. Wondering if her family liked David, they knew he was not a good influence. 00:02:29.129 --> 00:02:36.849 So they immediately disapproved. And surprisingly, when Catherine's family disapproved, the couple were indeed separated. 00:02:37.129 --> 00:02:43.729 Which means she did not try to become that rebellious teenager and stay with him anyway. No, she followed the rules. 00:02:43.949 --> 00:02:50.289 She stayed that way into adulthood, even going on to marry another man, Donald McLaughlin. 00:02:50.469 --> 00:02:55.590 They went on to have six children and live a relatively conventional life. 00:02:55.729 --> 00:03:03.930 Although friends did report that it wasn't as settled as it appeared, with potential abuse going on, but this wasn't confirmed. 00:03:04.150 --> 00:03:16.629 And Catherine did not get to keep her kids. They went with their father because he had the money. And once she saw the situation, she decided to stop trying, possibly due to her abandonment issues. 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:21.949 And during this time, Catherine found herself drawn back to the guy she once knew, David. 00:03:22.580 --> 00:03:30.180 And she was the one who went looking for him. Luckily for her, when she went looking for David, he was also divorced. 00:03:30.379 --> 00:03:39.240 And they went full force into a relationship, moving into David's home at 3 Morehouse Street in Perth almost immediately. 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:49.979 And remember at this point, she was deciding not to fight for her kids, which means her goal in life was only David and nothing and no one else mattered. 00:03:49.979 --> 00:03:55.319 And it was at this point that David had told Catherine about his fantasies of S.A. 00:03:55.659 --> 00:03:59.840 And harming others. And he told Catherine about them openly, without fear. 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:04.280 Instead of running, Catherine agreed to join him. But why? 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:08.800 That's the haunting question because first love or not, this was not a small cork. 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:15.520 It was a clear admission to psychological disturbance, which is why we have to ask again, why? 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:24.620 Was it fear of losing him? Was it codependence? Or was it something darker inside Catherine herself that was unlocked by his influence? 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:26.560 Together they made a pact. 00:04:27.180 --> 00:04:30.420 Catherine reportedly told David, I'll do anything for you. Anything. 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:42.959 And she proved it. In October of 1986, the couple lured their first victim, 22-year-old Mary Nielsen, to their home under the pretense of selling cheap car tires. 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:51.339 Once inside, Mary was overpowered, harmed, and Unalived . Over the next month, three more women would suffer the same fate. 00:04:51.579 --> 00:04:55.860 The victims' ages all ranged from 15 to 31. 00:04:56.199 --> 00:05:06.279 Each was lured into the house, restrained, harmed, and then often strangled or intoxicated before being placed into shallow graves outside Perth. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:07.899 Catherine's role was chilling. 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:19.860 She helped lure the victims. She was the one who opened the door, who made the girls feel safe enough to step