From the Vault - New Years Mystery

Hello legends, Jack here, host of Mysteries at Bedtime. I'm currently travelling to the US because my other show, One Minute Remaining, was lucky enough to be nominated for an award. I’ll be back very soon, but while I’m away, I’m diving into the vault to bring you some fascinating and mysterious stories from Crime at Bedtime.

These are stories focused on people who have vanished under mysterious circumstances, and today we look at the case of Ben Smart and Olivia Hope from New Zealand. On New Year’s Eve 1997, they were seen partying and celebrating with friends. By the following morning, they were gone...

This is their story.

New Year’s Eve, 1997. Hundreds of partygoers pack into Furneaux Lodge in New Zealand’s remote Marlborough Sounds. By morning, two young friends – Ben Smart and Olivia Hope – have vanished after stepping from a water taxi onto a stranger’s yacht. They are never seen again. In this Crime at Bedtime episode, we walk carefully through one of New Zealand’s most controversial murder cases: the disappearance of Ben and Olivia and the conviction of Scott Watson. We follow the movements of that final night, the mystery man on the yacht, the massive search, the forensic hair evidence, and the witness identifications that helped secure a guilty verdict – along with the doubts and challenges that have followed ever since. Told in a calm, measured way for listening at night, this episode lays out the key facts so you can decide what you make of the Scott Watson case.

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