About This Episode
In May 2018, investigative journalist Hedley Thomas and producer Slade Gibson released The Teacher's Pet, a crime podcast published by The Australian newspaper. Their subject was one of Australia's most perplexing cold cases: the 1982 disappearance of Lynette Dawson from Sydney's Bayview area, a mystery that had remained unsolved for 36 years.
Lynette—known as Lyn—was the devoted wife and mother of two young daughters. Her husband, Chris Dawson, was a high school teacher at Cromer High and a rugby league player. What made her disappearance particularly troubling was the circumstances surrounding it: Chris had begun an affair with Joanne Curtis, a 16-year-old student, and eventually moved the teenager into the family home while Lyn was still missing.
The podcast struck an immediate chord with listeners worldwide. By 2020, The Teacher's Pet had accumulated close to 30 million downloads and reached number one in podcast charts across Australia, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. The series ultimately reached 60 million listeners—an extraordinary audience that reflected both the compelling nature of the and the hunger for true crime content on a global scale.