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Missing mum’s daughter begged for a new investigation · The Front

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  Speaker 1: You can listen to the fronts on your smart sneaker
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  Speaker 1: every morning.
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  Speaker 2: To hear the latest episode, just say play the news
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  Speaker 2: from The Australian.
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  Speaker 3: From the Australian, here's what's on the front I'm Christinamio.
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  Speaker 3: It's Monday, June twenty four. Parliament will be back in
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  Speaker 3: session before the winter break this week and the PM
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  Speaker 3: is planning on a political comeback. He'll focus on cost
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  Speaker 3: of living relief in the form of grocery prices, tax
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  Speaker 3: cuts and energy subsidies, as well as vaping reforms in
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  Speaker 3: a bid to regain ground from the Coalition and the Greens.
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  Speaker 3: That story is live right now at the Australian dot
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  Speaker 3: com dot AU. A Westfield shopping center in Adelaide was
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  Speaker 3: evacuated on Sunday afternoon after a fight broke out in
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  Speaker 3: a food court. South Australian Police said two groups of
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  Speaker 3: young men were potentially armed when the clash occurred. The
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  Speaker 3: daughter of missing Lennox Head woman Bronwyn Winfield didn't want
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  Speaker 3: her stepfather to know she'd made a formal statement to
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  Speaker 3: police about the night her mum vanished. Now a podcast
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  Speaker 3: investigation by the Australian's National Chief correspondent Hedley Thomas is
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  Speaker 3: shedding light on Crystal's last memory of her mother that's
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  Speaker 3: in today's episode. In nineteen ninety nine, Crystal Winfield was
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  Speaker 3: boarding with a woman named Kerry McLain in the town
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  Speaker 3: of Balina on the New South Wales North Coast. Her stepfather,
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  Speaker 3: John was working as a brick lay in Sydney at
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  Speaker 3: the time and had taken Cristel's younger sister Lauren down
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  Speaker 3: south with him. Cristel's mother, Bronwyn, had vanished from the
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  Speaker 3: family home on Sandstone Crescent six years earlier, on the
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  Speaker 3: evening of Sunday May sixteen, nineteen ninety three. Bronwin's mysterious
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  Speaker 3: disappearance is the subject of a podcast investigation by The
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  Speaker 3: Australian's National Chief correspondent Hedley Thomas, and revelations made in
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  Speaker 3: the latest episode have cast Crystal's recollections of that night
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  Speaker 3: in a sinister new light. The episode, titled Did Judy
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  Speaker 3: See Bronwyn's Body, is available for subscribers right now at
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  Speaker 3: Bronlin podcast dot Com. Kerry Maclin plays a pivotal role
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  Speaker 3: in this latest episode. She connected Headley with Judy Singh,
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  Speaker 3: a former neighbor of the Winfields, whose explosive account of
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  Speaker 3: what she saw on the night of May sixteen, nineteen
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  Speaker 3: ninety three, was ignored by police until last week.
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  Speaker 4: And this night I was sitting up and I saw
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  Speaker 4: the carl pull out the end of the street in
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  Speaker 4: the law was on in a car. There's very squeaky
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  Speaker 4: brakes on that car, and he drove very slowly along
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  Speaker 4: the street, but he had left the car hite on.
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  Speaker 4: I could see directly into the car, and I had
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  Speaker 4: a small lantern on the balcony rail and he kind
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  Speaker 4: of looked up this night and I saw this what
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  Speaker 4: looked to be like a mummy in the back of
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  Speaker 4: the car.
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  Speaker 3: Kerry MacLean also opened her home up to a then
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  Speaker 3: sixteen year old Crystal Winfield in the years after her
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  Speaker 3: mother vanished.
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  Speaker 2: So those are two big coincidences, Kerrie, One that Crystal
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  Speaker 2: is staying with you while police are investigating her mother's
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  Speaker 2: suspected yep. And two that your friend who lives in
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  Speaker 2: the street witnessed somede.
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  Speaker 3: It was Kerrie who took Crystal to the nearby Ballina
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  Speaker 3: Police station in nineteen ninety nine to fire finally make
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  Speaker 3: a formal statement about what she remembered about the night
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  Speaker 3: her mother disappeared. Her words are being read by a
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  Speaker 3: voice actor.
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  Speaker 1: I have attended the Ballana Police station today again of
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  Speaker 1: my own free will. I've been very concerned about what
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  Speaker 1: has happened to my mother, and I would like the
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  Speaker 1: police to conduct a thorough investigation to try and find
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  Speaker 1: out what has happened to her.
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  Speaker 3: Cristal gave her statement to Detective Sergeant Glenn Taylor years
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  Speaker 3: after the fact because the initial investigation into her mother's
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  Speaker 3: disappearance was severely lacking.
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  Speaker 1: I am prepared to do that, and I understand that
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  Speaker 1: the statement may be given to the coroner to assist
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  Speaker 1: in any further inquiry.
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  Speaker 3: Cristal says in her statement that she was at home
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  Speaker 3: on Sandstone Crescent with her mother and sister on the
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  Speaker 3: afternoon of May sixteenth, nineteen ninety three. They'd moved back
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  Speaker 3: in just days earlier after a stint in a townhouse
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  Speaker 3: on Byron Street. That's where they stayed after Bronwin and
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  Speaker 3: John formally separated two months earlier in March. She says
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  Speaker 3: her stepfather, who she calls Dad, returned Sandstone Crescent from
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  Speaker 3: Sydney at some stage that afternoon with a woman in tow.
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  Speaker 3: Cristel didn't know her name and says she left pretty quickly.
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  Speaker 3: Heather Johnson asked in the podcast Facebook discussion group, if
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  Speaker 3: we know who that woman was, you can find it
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  Speaker 3: and join the conversation by searching for Bronwyn podcast Official
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  Speaker 3: discussion group on Facebook. We know from earlier episodes of
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  Speaker 3: Bronwyn that the woman was probably a friend of John
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  Speaker 3: Winfield's oldest daughter, Jodi. Twenty two year old Becky Maguire.
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  Speaker 3: She said in her statement that John picked her up
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  Speaker 3: on his way to Sandstone Crescent on the Sunday afternoon.
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  Speaker 3: A voice actor is reading Becky's words.
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  Speaker 5: John must have had a set of keys to the car,
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  Speaker 5: because we then got into the car and he drove
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  Speaker 5: me home. John didn't go inside the house at all
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  Speaker 5: while I was in the house with him. While we
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  Speaker 5: were driving back to my house, John thanked me for
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  Speaker 5: coming with him and told me he was sorry for
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  Speaker 5: getting me involved.
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  Speaker 3: Later in the evening, Cristel remembers Bronwyn and John argued
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  Speaker 3: about unpaid bills.
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  Speaker 1: I don't recall what was being said between mom and dad,
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  Speaker 1: but I could tell that they were arguing. I could
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  Speaker 1: hear them arguing until I must have fellously. My next
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  Speaker 1: recollection that night was being woken by my father. Dad
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  Speaker 1: told me that he was taking Lauren a night to Sydney.
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  Speaker 1: I recall that we packed a small bag of clothes
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  Speaker 1: and got into the car.
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  Speaker 3: Crystal says her stepfather stopped to buy fuel at a
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  Speaker 3: petrol station near Lennox Head on their way out of town.
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  Speaker 3: And we know that's true because when he got to Sydney,
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  Speaker 3: John Winfield produced a receipt of payment timestamp at eleven
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  Speaker 3: o six pm on the sixteenth. What's not clear is
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  Speaker 3: exactly when Judy Singh saw John Winfield allegedly driving the
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  Speaker 3: family car with what she fears was Bronwin Winfield's body
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  Speaker 3: wrapped in a sheet. He's never been charged and denies
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  Speaker 3: any wrongdoing coming up how Fresh Eyes and Ears turned
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  Speaker 3: this case around. Episode seven of Bronwyn is live for
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  Speaker 3: subscribers right now at bronwinpodcast dot com, and if you
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  Speaker 3: have any information about Bronwin Winfield's disappearance, email Hedley Thomas
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  Speaker 3: at Bronwyn at the Australian dot com dot au. We'll
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  Speaker 3: be back after this break. Christal Winfield is still close
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  Speaker 3: with her sister Lauren. She has a relationship with her stepdad,
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  Speaker 3: John two. Those connections are a big part of the
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  Speaker 3: reason she hasn't directly participated in Headley Thomas's podcast investigation
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  Speaker 3: into her mother's nineteen ninety three disappearance. She said in
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  Speaker 3: her statement to police in nineteen ninety nine that she
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  Speaker 3: doesn't know what happened to Bronwyn Winfield or if her
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  Speaker 3: stepfather was involved. It wasn't something the trio discussed.
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  Speaker 1: I have not had any contact with my mother since
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  Speaker 1: her disappearance in nineteen ninety three. Over the years, I
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  Speaker 1: have often thought about what has happened to her. Dad
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  Speaker 1: has never brought up my mother in conversation. Basically, over
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  Speaker 1: the years, my mother has gradually been built out of
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  Speaker 1: our lives. My dad never talks about Mom or his
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  Speaker 1: past relationship with her. I have never tried to bring
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  Speaker 1: up Mom in conversation with my father. I am aware
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  Speaker 1: that he does not like to talk about her. I
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  Speaker 1: am very concerned about what has happened to my mother,
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  Speaker 1: and that is why I've attended the police station today
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  Speaker 1: to speak to the police.
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  Speaker 6: It's a heartbreaking statement and it took a lot of
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  Speaker 6: courage for this teenage girl to go into a police
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  Speaker 6: station and offer a statement about her concerns about her
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  Speaker 6: mother's disappearance.
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  Speaker 3: Matthew Condon is a senior reporter with The Australian.
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  Speaker 6: And then in the statement to Detective Glenn Taylor, she stayed,
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  Speaker 6: very clearly, I would prefer if you don't tell my
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  Speaker 6: father that I was here and that I made this statement. Now,
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  Speaker 6: why could that be? Clearly the concern she had for
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  Speaker 6: her mother overrode I guess any sensibilities she might have
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  Speaker 6: had at the time in terms of worrying about whether
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  Speaker 6: she was doing the right thing or not. From her
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  Speaker 6: point of view, it was important she went to the
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  Speaker 6: police to offer her assistance. And she also, when does
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  Speaker 6: the statement, says to urge them to the fullest extent
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  Speaker 6: to reinvestigate her mother's disappearance. So she was ten when
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  Speaker 6: her mom disappeared. Six years later she made the decision
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  Speaker 6: that she would urge the police to forcefully reinvestigate what
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  Speaker 6: happened to her mum. She needed answers.
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  Speaker 3: When Kristal Winfield attended Ballina Police Station to make a
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  Speaker 3: formal statement in nineteen ninety nine, she implored Detective Sergeant
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  Speaker 3: Glenn Taylor to conduct a thorough investigation into her mother's disappearance.
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  Speaker 3: The veteran former homicide cop had reinitiated the investigation a
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  Speaker 3: year earlier after a visit from Bronwin Winfield's brother, Andy
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  Speaker 3: Reid and his wife Michelle. Here's how they described it
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  Speaker 3: to Headley Thomas in the first episode of bronwin Andrew.
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  Speaker 7: Read and Michelle Reid came to see myself and another
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  Speaker 7: detective being Blenor and said, look, and we had some
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  Speaker 7: pressure eye put it.
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  Speaker 4: We're just not happy that again the letter which think there's.
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  Speaker 7: More to it, and that with abundantly clear very early
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  Speaker 7: in the initially reinvestigation that he needed a lot more
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  Speaker 7: work done and then a lot of form of statement.
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  Speaker 6: The initial investigation, from what we've learned, certainly from witnesses
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  Speaker 6: that have come forward and people interviewed on the podcast,
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  Speaker 6: is that there seemed to be from the police perspective
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  Speaker 6: that the story of the husband in this case, John Winfield,
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  Speaker 6: was largely accepted, and that Bronwyn Winfield was deemed quite
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  Speaker 6: literally a missing person. There's a significant leap from being
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  Speaker 6: a missing person to a potential homicide victim. But as
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  Speaker 6: Glen Taylor said to me, only this week that a
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  Speaker 6: dozen red flags presented themselves to him, just leaped off
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  Speaker 6: the pages. But I've spoken to police friends and retired
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  Speaker 6: police colleagues who have said to me that this is
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  Speaker 6: a generalization I know, but they will agree now as
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  Speaker 6: retired officers that the attitudes in general were lacks that
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  Speaker 6: not just in this instance, but in many instances shortcuts
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  Speaker 6: were taken out of sight, out of mind. So look,
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  Speaker 6: you know, without criticizing other generations of police officers and
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  Speaker 6: their work, we can say that a set of fresh
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  Speaker 6: eyes can be critical. And fortunately in this case, Glen Taylor,
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  Speaker 6: diligent detective in his day, saw it for what it was.
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  Speaker 6: But yet again, after that nineteen ninety eight ninety nine reinvestigation,
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  Speaker 6: it went into the hands of the coroner and then
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  Speaker 6: it was up to the DPP and thus remained inert
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  Speaker 6: for thirty one years.
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  Speaker 3: Within hours of episode seven going live for subscribers, New
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  Speaker 3: South Wales Police got in touch with the Australian's National
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  Speaker 3: crime correspondent, David Murray. After all these years, they wanted
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  Speaker 3: to speak to Judy seeing about what she believes she
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  Speaker 3: saw that night. You're a seasoned podcaster and Matt and
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  Speaker 3: You've known Headley for a really long time. Why do
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  Speaker 3: you think this medium is so effective in moving these
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  Speaker 3: cold case investigations forward.
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  Speaker 6: Well, firstly, I mean I covered the trial of Christopher
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  Speaker 6: Dawson and his case, which of course stemmed out of
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  Speaker 6: Headley Thomas's The Teacher's Pet. We come now to Bronwin
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  Speaker 6: and we see again fresh information arising out of a
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  Speaker 6: podcast investigation to which the police have reacted to their
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  Speaker 6: credit immediately to certainly the witness Judy Singh and what
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  Speaker 6: she alleges she saw on the night that Bronwyn disappeared.
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  Speaker 6: We can be thankful that happened in that podcast pretty much,
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  Speaker 6: unlike any other component of the media, as a platform,
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  Speaker 6: can reach hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people,
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  Speaker 6: very very quickly. The information coming out of Bronwen and
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  Speaker 6: accurately reported was that the initial investigation into Bronwen could
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  Speaker 6: have been better, a lot better. And now with a
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  Speaker 6: fresh witness coming forward with this startling information that had
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  Speaker 6: never entered the Bronwyn Winfield Missing Persons file courtesy of
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  Speaker 6: the power of the podcast, I mean Headley Thomas is
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  Speaker 6: an extraordinary podcaster. He lends his investigative talents now to
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  Speaker 6: this amazing medium, and we're seeing in real time the
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  Speaker 6: results of that.
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  Speaker 3: Matthew Condon is a senior reporter with The Australian. For
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  Speaker 3: all the latest updates on Headley Thomas's cold case investigation,
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  Speaker 3: go to the Australian dot com dot au