Episode Summary
When 27-year-old Scott Johnson is found deceased at the bottom of a cliff in Australia, authorities are quick to rule his death as a suicide. However, his brother, Steve, isn’t convinced, and begins a multi-decade quest to get answers – and justice.
Listen Now
For our friends in the Deaf and Signing community, you can view an ASL version of this episode HERE.
Episode Info
Please take a minute to check out these resources and organizations in support of the LGBTQ+ communities:
- The Trevor Project
- It Gets Better Project
- GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network)
- SAGE (Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders)
- National Center for Transgender Equality
- PFLAG (Parent, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
- Matthew Shepard Foundation
- Anti-Violence Project
This year, audiochuck is sponsoring NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, an organization of journalists, media professionals, educators and students working from within the news industry to foster fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ+ issues.
- To learn more about this organization, and/or join us in supporting them, please visit their website.
Don’t forget to also check out all the incredible organizations that audiochuck has previously sponsored over the years that are just as deserving of your support and attention!
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, help is available. If you’re in the U.S., you can call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. If you’re in Australia, you can call Lifeline at 13 11 14, or text or chat with a trained crisis supporter on their website.
Scott Johnson.
Some of the cliffs at North Head.
Scott Johnson (left) and his brother, Steve (right).
Scott (right) and his brother, Steve (left), climbed the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps together before Scott’s death.
Scott Johnson.
Scott White was arrested and charged with Scott Johnson’s murder in 2020.
Episode Source Material
- The Australian: Close to the edge, by Daniel Glick via web.archive.org.
- ABC: Australian Story, On the Precipice.
- The Sydney Morning Herald: Police ‘pawns’ resented political pressure to pursue family’s gay-hate theory for Scott Johnson’s cliff death, by Rick Feneley via web.archive.org.
- Australian Broadcast News: Scott Johnson’s boyfriend was ‘concerned’ police wouldn’t investigate death properly, by Nicole Chettle.
- The Guardian: Scott Johnson, Sydney’s gay-hate murders and the two men who loved him most, by Rick Feneley.
- Australian Broadcast News: Scott Johnson’s boyfriend Michael Noone grilled at coronial inquest, by Nicole Chettle.
- Australian Broadcast News: Scott Johnson was victim of gay hate attack at Sydney’s North Head, inquest finds, By Paige Cockburn and Nadia Daly.
- State Coroner’s Court of New South Wales: Inquest into the death of Scott Russell Johnson.
- Australian Broadcast News: ‘A licence to bash gays’: 1980s crime wave revisited in new TV series, By Shalailah Medhora.
- Hulu: Never Let Him Go (Docuseries, All Episodes).
- ABC (Australia): Scott Johnson’s killer jailed for 12 years over infamous 1988 murder, by Paige Cockburn.
- The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, Australia): Guilty plea to Scott Johnson’s murder should be set aside, court told, by Jenny Noyes.
- The Sydney Morning Herald (Sydney, Australia): Scott Johnson’s family ‘devastated’ after murder conviction quashed, by Sarah McPhee and Rick Feneley.
- The Guardian (US Edition): For families of LGBTQ+ hate crime victims, our tragic loss was compounded by NSW police who turned away with a ‘sorry, mate’ (Opinion), by Steve Johnson.