JacPod To Catch a Serial Killer

To Catch a Serial Killer

It was the early 90s and a South African serial killer was on the loose. On a rampage of rape and murder, he sent a Johannesburg suburb of women running for cover. In a deadly game of cat and mouse, investigative journalist Janine Lazarus was used by the police as a decoy to trap ‘The Norwood serial killer’.
If we’re to believe that journalists should shape the news – not make it – Lazarus broke just about every rule in newsroom ethics as she became increasingly obsessed with Kobus Geldenhuys.
‘To Catch a Serial Killer’ is the official companion podcast series to the true crime memoir by Lazarus: 'BAIT To Catch a Killer'.
This five-part series is an original JacPod production - featuring Lazarus; Jacaranda FM news editor Marius van der Walt, and various guest contributors - and it explores central themes in the book.
Once-off English South Africa True Crime · True Crime
6 Episodes

Face-to-face with a serial killer

Coming face-to-face with a serial killer is the stuff of nightmares for most, but for former crime reporter Janine Lazarus it was the interview of a lifetime. Our fifth and final episode is a Q&A with 'BAIT To Catch a Killer' author Janine Lazarus, with news editor Marius van der…
11 Oct 2021 17 min

Madness in the air: a serial killer and a country in transition

'Madness in the air!' That's how then political reporter and current Deputy Editor of The Citizen Brendan Seery describes journalism and reporting in the early 1990s in South Africa. Brendan was mentor to Janine Lazarus back then. In episode 4, Marius van der Walt facilitates a discussion about serial killer…
4 Oct 2021 38 min

My Dance with the Dark

In episode 3 of 'To Catch a Serial Killer', author Janine Lazarus and news editor Marius van der Walt speak to respected clinical psychologist Leonard Carr about the Norwood serial killer and about what drives someone to commit the most fundamental taboo – murder. Carr was the clinical psychologist Janine…
27 Sep 2021 31 min

The state of news journalism since the 90s: for better or worse?

Has news reporting become better or worse? When Janine Lazarus worked in news in the early 1990s, there was no Internet, no access to mobile phones, no social media. It was boots to the ground kind of stuff. While traditional reporting relies on hard facts, gonzo journalism takes readers or…
20 Sep 2021 24 min

Serial Killers - The nature versus nurture debate

In episode 1, author Janine Lazarus, Dr Gerard Labuschagne - former head of the police’s psychiatric unit and Jacaranda FM news editor Marius van der Walt discuss and explore the characteristics of serial killers that cut across almost all of them. They are very often family men with sinister secrets…
13 Sep 2021 33 min