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Katie Woolf spoke with Senior Constable Matthew Unwin and Police Dog Wedge on finding Anna · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty
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  Speaker 1: every One is Listening Mixed one oh four point nine.
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  Speaker 2: A story that we touched on a little while back
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  Speaker 2: and spoke to Judy, the friend of an older lady
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  Speaker 2: who went missing in bushland near the city in May
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  Speaker 2: this year.
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  Speaker 3: Now, we caught up with Judy who was due.
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  Speaker 2: To have lunch with her friend Anna, I believe on
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  Speaker 2: eighty one year old Anna on the fourth of May. Now, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: Anna went missing in that bushland, but very fortunately for her,
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  Speaker 2: Senior Constable Matthew Unwin and patrol dog Wedge were called
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  Speaker 2: in to assist with reports of a missing person. Now
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  Speaker 2: that senior Constable joins us on the line right now.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Matthew Unwin.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Katie, how are you very well?
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  Speaker 3: Mate? Now this story, I tell you what.
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  Speaker 2: When we caught up with Judy a little while back
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  Speaker 2: and heard about Anna going missing after not attending that
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  Speaker 2: lunch date, I think that you know, I know. As
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  Speaker 2: I was listening to Judy recall some of what she remembered,
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  Speaker 2: it was making me feel pretty emotional thinking about eighty
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  Speaker 2: one year old Anna missing in that bushland. Can you
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  Speaker 2: talk us through how the events unfolded for you On
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  Speaker 2: the evening of the fourth of May.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Anna was meant to meet up with Judy
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  Speaker 1: for a lunch at the waterfront and she never turned up,
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  Speaker 1: And so Judy tried to call her and had a
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  Speaker 1: pretty concerning short conversation with her, basically said that she
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  Speaker 1: was in a bit of trouble, and then the phone
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  Speaker 1: disconnected and she wasn't able to get back through to her.
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  Speaker 1: We had no idea what had happened to her, and
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  Speaker 1: obviously neither of Judy. So she or police when she
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  Speaker 1: didn't roll up for her lunch date with her concerns,
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  Speaker 1: and she tells me she was pretty pushy with the
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  Speaker 1: attending police officers. But I mean, in this circumstances, pretty understandable.
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  Speaker 1: And I had driven a car to the Palmerston shopping
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  Speaker 1: Center and then caught a bus into town. She'd apparently
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  Speaker 1: ar arrived a little bit earlier then she anticipated and
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  Speaker 1: went for a walk and she's got disserentated and lost
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  Speaker 1: during that war, Yeah, so police are called and their
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  Speaker 1: members from Palmerston did a great job then following up
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  Speaker 1: all lines of inquiry and it spent most of their
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  Speaker 1: shift searching for her, checking her house, they found her car.
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  Speaker 1: He is a phone triangulation to try and narrow down
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  Speaker 1: where she might be pinging her mobile phone off surrounding towers,
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  Speaker 1: and that's essentially our man Wedge were put in the
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  Speaker 1: right spot the start out search.
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  Speaker 2: Wow, Now what time of the night did you and
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  Speaker 2: Wedge sort of you know, start that search.
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  Speaker 1: We were called at around about eleven pm. So the
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  Speaker 1: Palmerston members had been searching for most of their shift
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  Speaker 1: the evening shift and hadn't had any luck. So they'd
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  Speaker 1: done foot patrols of the area where they where the
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  Speaker 1: phone triangulation had come through, as well as well as
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  Speaker 1: some vehicle in that area.
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  Speaker 2: Yep.
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  Speaker 1: And I guess it was not likely that they were
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  Speaker 1: going to find her in that in that sort of search,
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  Speaker 1: just because of where she was, and you know, when
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  Speaker 1: you start to try and think about where she might be,
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  Speaker 1: it was just, yeah, she wasn't going to be in
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  Speaker 1: the area where you would think that she might might.
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  Speaker 2: Make Tell me what happened then, obviously you and Wedge
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  Speaker 2: were in that bushland area and you must have been
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  Speaker 2: so loathed when you found.
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  Speaker 1: Anna yeah, definitely. So when I put Wedge out to
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  Speaker 1: search using the wind as are basically our advantage. We
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  Speaker 1: trained the dogs to pick up on airborne human scent.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's obviously not specific to any person when
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  Speaker 1: we're using that method, but they will show some sort
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  Speaker 1: of change of body language or a change of behavior
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  Speaker 1: that indicates that they can smell someone's airborne scent on
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  Speaker 1: the breeze. So we sort of used the air and
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  Speaker 1: the phone triangulation, which was it was a huge area
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  Speaker 1: of the phone triangulation. Even though it sort of narrowed
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  Speaker 1: it down a little bit, it's still with a large area.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, Wedge gave me an indication that he could
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  Speaker 1: smell something in that vacant that vacant block. At first,
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  Speaker 1: I was sort of we call it handle rising sort
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  Speaker 1: of you know, in my head, I'm going I was thinking, no,
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  Speaker 1: it can't be. She can't be inside that block. It
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  Speaker 1: was there. It was fenced off by a cyclone fence,
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  Speaker 1: a six foot cyclone fence, but there was a push
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  Speaker 1: down part of the fence, and I sort of explored
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  Speaker 1: it a little bit and then changed my mind and said, no,
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  Speaker 1: she can't, she can't possibly be in here, and so
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  Speaker 1: I took web Y out again. He was pretty consistent.
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  Speaker 1: Then he started to bark at the fence, and so
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  Speaker 1: I took him back in there and we explored it
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  Speaker 1: a little bit further. And yeah, I heard some like
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  Speaker 1: I was calling out her name. I heard rustling in
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  Speaker 1: the grass, and Wedge had a reaction to that as well.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, he took me. He took me to where
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  Speaker 1: she was lying.
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  Speaker 2: Goodness, mate, Now, mate, I watched the vision on the
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  Speaker 2: weekend of of Wedge finding Anna and then you carrying
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  Speaker 2: her through that bush land to safety, and I tell
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  Speaker 2: you what, I there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
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  Speaker 2: I was pretty taken by what you and and patrol
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  Speaker 2: dog Widge had done. I mean, how relieved were you
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  Speaker 2: when you found Anna?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolute one hundred percent relief.
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  Speaker 2: It was.
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  Speaker 1: It was probably one of the best best jobs that
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  Speaker 1: I've had in my fifteen year career. So it's yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's been even a little bit emotional for me as well.
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  Speaker 1: So when she was once, I brought her out to
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  Speaker 1: the road and she was taken to hospital by the paramedics.
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  Speaker 1: She didn't do particularly well in the hospital at first,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, sort of I think all you know,
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  Speaker 1: all this, you know, all the effort or whatever, or
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  Speaker 1: the high of it of finding her, and the relief
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  Speaker 1: was sort of might have been for nothing. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: she's she's pulled through. She's a pretty strong lady and
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  Speaker 1: she's home now, so it was a great result.
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  Speaker 3: And I understand you actually live next door to her.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, she's just across the road, so sort of kept
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  Speaker 1: an eye on the plate where she's been. There's been
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  Speaker 1: eight weeks that she's been in hospital, and between Judy
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  Speaker 1: and I looked after, you know, the lawn, and Judy's
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  Speaker 1: been taken care of her cat and that sort of stuff.
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  Speaker 1: If you've been away or not able to do those
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  Speaker 1: sort of things at home, make did you.
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  Speaker 2: Have any idea when you know, when you were carrying
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  Speaker 2: her out in that bushland, that she was your neighbor.
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  Speaker 1: No, not at first, But when I was talking to
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  Speaker 1: the other officers and they were telling me how they'd
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  Speaker 1: been to her house and they told me where it was,
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  Speaker 1: and they told me it was immaculately kept, I sort
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  Speaker 1: of joined the dots and could always see her out
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  Speaker 1: out and about in her front yard. You know, she's
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  Speaker 1: eighty one, but she mows her own lawn, and you've
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  Speaker 1: got a vegie garden and all that sort of stuff
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  Speaker 1: in her house is immaculate. So I just I just
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  Speaker 1: joined the dots and I realized that that she was
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  Speaker 1: my neighbor. But that also gave me a bit of
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  Speaker 1: relief because I knew that because she's always so active
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  Speaker 1: doing those things, I thought, that's I'm pretty confident that
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  Speaker 1: she was going to be Okay, how.
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  Speaker 3: Is she going at the moment, Yeah, she's.
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  Speaker 1: Well, she's home. She's only been home for about a
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  Speaker 1: week and a half now. Of duty has kept me
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  Speaker 1: up today onto her on where she's at. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm planning to go and visit her once for the
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  Speaker 1: restrictions and that a finished up. And are you going
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  Speaker 1: to see how she's going?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Are you going to take Wedge for a visitor as well?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, you come with me. My wife also said
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  Speaker 1: that you make your cake for her. But he's a
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  Speaker 1: member of the c w A. I'm hoping that it
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  Speaker 1: stacks up against it a standards for capet.
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  Speaker 2: No pressure on your poor wife. Oh mate, I this
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  Speaker 2: to me, this story is just unbelievable. I take my
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  Speaker 2: hat off to you and to and to patrol dog Wedge.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I'm a supporter of our Northern Territory Police
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  Speaker 2: and the amazing work that you guys do. But when
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  Speaker 2: I saw the vision on Facebook on the weekend, I
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  Speaker 2: you know, I was in tears. I thought, this is
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  Speaker 2: just unbelievable. What you guys did in terms of finding
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  Speaker 2: Anna is simply amazing, and I think the whole of
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory should be incredibly proud of you and
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  Speaker 2: incredibly proud of Wedge.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, results like that definitely make all the training and
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  Speaker 1: the hard work, and that the rollercoaster that's dog handling
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  Speaker 1: and dog training make it worth all the effort.
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  Speaker 3: And Mate, I think everybody's wondering, did you give Wedge a.
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  Speaker 2: Nice big, a big meeting bone or something to celebrate
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  Speaker 2: his hard work.
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  Speaker 1: The best of the best day. He always gets looked after.
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  Speaker 2: Oh you absolute legend, mate. I honestly I just think
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  Speaker 2: that that it's amazing what you guys did. And as
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  Speaker 2: I said, I spoke to Judy a couple of days
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  Speaker 2: after and had gone missing on air, and she could
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  Speaker 2: not speak highly enough of the work that the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory Police had done in locating her dear friend, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure that Anna's family and friends all feel exactly
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  Speaker 2: the same way. Like I said before, you should be
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  Speaker 2: incredibly proud of the work that you've done.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we love Wedge.
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  Speaker 3: You've got to bring him in for a visit.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, mate, Thank you so very much for your
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  Speaker 2: time this morning. Thank you so much for having a
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  Speaker 2: chat with us. And I don't know if this is
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  Speaker 2: allowed because I know obviously the police are government workers,
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  Speaker 2: but I think you should be our Territorian of the week.
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  Speaker 2: Every week we have a Territorian of the week and
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  Speaker 2: it is all thanks to Nevill at Parrap Fine Foods
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  Speaker 2: who donates this a beautiful gourmet you know, a gourmet package.
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  Speaker 3: So mate, you're.
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  Speaker 2: Our Territorian of the week this week. Thank you very
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  Speaker 2: much for the work that you've done.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, you're a legend. Thank you. We really appreciate
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  Speaker 3: your time.
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  Speaker 2: And as I said, you're going to have to bring
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  Speaker 2: Wedge in to say get a as well as thank you.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks Matthew. That is Senior Constable Matthew Unwin. They're what
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  Speaker 2: a legend. Honestly, he and Wedge and all of the
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  Speaker 2: police that were involved that day in locating Anna it's
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  Speaker 2: a phenomenal story. We will make sure that as well.
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  Speaker 2: If you haven't seen the vision, we will make sure
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  Speaker 2: that we share that vision as well on the Mixed
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  Speaker 2: one oh four nine Facebook page because it will bring
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  Speaker 2: it to you to your eyes seeing what they did
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  Speaker 2: that night in terms of being able to locate her.
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  Speaker 2: I've got quite a few messages coming through here. There's
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  Speaker 2: one here that says Matt and Wedge doing an amazing
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  Speaker 2: job no matter what the situation. Another one here, Hi, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: what an amazing story about finding Anna lost. The police
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  Speaker 2: did an incredible job. Wedge should get a Northern That
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  Speaker 2: should get Northern Terrictorian of the Year. Reckons Rob Wedge
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  Speaker 2: and Matt they've done a phenomenal job. Unbelievable stuff. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm really pleased to hear by the sounds of it
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  Speaker 2: from Matthew there that that Anna is back home and
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  Speaker 2: and yeah and and hopefully doing okay. Our heart goes
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  Speaker 2: out to her and to her family and to her friends.
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  Speaker 2: I know, her dear friend Judy, you know, and as
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  Speaker 2: you've heard there from Matthew as well, they've both been
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  Speaker 2: trying their best to look after her and to look
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  Speaker 2: after the property while she's been gone