Witches, Magic, Murder, & Mystery · Megan and Kara

353. MYSTERY: The Death of Gareth Williams

·29 min·1 clip

After seven days missing, police found Gareth Williams inside a zipped North Face duffel bag in his bathtub.

Cara opens with Gareth Williams as a story about espionage, secrecy, and scandal. Megan cuts in with reactions and side commentary that keep the pace loose and conversational. Gareth was born in Wales in 1978. He stood out early for his intelligence, and by age 10 he was studying university-level math. At around 13, he was already enrolled part-time at the university. The show treats that early brilliance as part of what makes the rest of his life feel even stranger. His training in martial arts and self-defense makes the circumstances of his death harder to square. Police found no fingerprints on the lock, the bag, or even the bathtub rim. His own prints were missing from places you would expect them to be. The flat had been heated to the highest setting in August. That sped up decomposition and damaged key forensic evidence. By the time his body was found, he had been dead for about a week. The hosts sit with the awful possibility that the scene had been wiped clean to hide what happened. The episode also digs into the strange belongings found in the flat. Police discovered thousands of dollars worth of unworn women's designer clothing that was too small for him. Tabloid speculation quickly jumped toward cross-dressing rumors. The family pushed back and said he bought expensive gifts for the people he cared about. They also discuss the multiple phones in the flat. Gareth had about 30 SIM cards. Some seemed work-related and others personal, but none of it made the case clearer. The conversation keeps circling the same problem: how he got zipped into a bag and padlocked from the outside. Experts spent months trying to explain that, and they still had no clear answer. The case stays packed with theories and short on proof. The hosts stay honest about the uncertainty instead of pretending otherwise. Their banter keeps the darkness from going flat. Even so, the emotional weight of the story never really lifts. The episode ends where the case still lives, with unanswered questions and a family left without clarity.

As heard by us

A strange espionage case, a locked bag, and too little evidence to explain it.

The episode treats Gareth Williams' death as an espionage case shaped by contradiction: a man from Wales, a zipped bag, a padlock, and very little forensic evidence left behind.

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Why you'd press play

You want a spy case that gets stranger the longer you sit with it.

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