Inside The Minds Of Australia’s Worst Female Killers

1 Apr 2026 · 49 min

Episode Inside The Minds Of Australia’s Worst Female Killers

0:00 48:55

Katherine Knight, Sarah Makin, Caroline Grills, Catherine Birnie, Helen Moore, and Rachel Pfitzner are among the most notorious female killers in Australian history. But what compels a woman to take a life, whether it’s someone close to her or, more rarely, a stranger?

Dr Xanthe Weston, a criminal psychologist, has long been driven by this very question. Drawing on years of research into cases like these, she joins us today to explore what she’s discovered - why women’s motives for killing often differ from men’s, and whether some perpetrators are inherently predisposed to violence, or shaped by circumstance.

LINKS

Listen to the Method & Motive podcast here.

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CREDITS

Guest: Dr Xanthe Weston

Host: Gemma Bath

Senior Producer: Tahli Blackman

Group Executive Producer: Ilaria Brophy

Audio Engineer: Jacob Round

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Transcript

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