WEBVTT - Episode 1: Jon’s Castle 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.680 Listeners are advised that this podcast series Bromwin contains coarse 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:08.840 language and adult themes. This podcast series is brought to 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:34.600 you by Me Headley Thomas and The Australian. 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.760 When we moved to Lennox head I was even more lonely. 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.680 The house that was Bill became John's castle. In my prison. 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.480 Roman Winfield wrote these words shortly before she disappeared one 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:00.959 Sunday night in May nineteen ninety three. She had been 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:03.880 to see her GP a couple of days earlier and 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:07.440 was in good physical health. Apart from having strained her hand. 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.120 She was of sound mind and had no known mental illness. 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:16.200 A brief period of post natal depression after the birth 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.600 five years earlier of her second daughter was well behind. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:20.080 Bromwin. 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:22.479 Where do you want to go. 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:24.280 Today? 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.759 Thirty one years since the sudden disappearance of a mother 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:29.039 of two little girls. 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:30.119 I'm driving on. 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:33.160 A winding road south of Byron Bay to the house 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.399 that Bromwin had called her prison. Past former dairy and 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.520 sugar cane farms subdivided for residential housing estates and the 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:45.080 Great Australian Family Dream. A three or four bedroom, two 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:47.280 bathroom bricantile close to the. 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.920 Beach getting directions to Sandstone Crescent Lennox Head. 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:57.320 The Pacific Ocean is tantalizingly close. You can hear it, 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:01.600 smell it, its saltiness. Linger on an easterly zephyr of 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:08.359 a breeze. In luxury homes with views over smoothly curving coastline, binoculars. 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:10.000 Are at the ready for the first sightings of. 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:15.440 Humpback whales on their annual migratory journey from Antarctica. They 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:18.680 perform in the warm waters of an aquatic backyard off 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:22.519 the most easterly part of Australia's mainland and the lighthouse 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:27.560 at Byron Bay. It's a quieter, gentler lifestyle in this 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:33.200 place everyone calls Lennox. It's less crowded here, more chilled 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:39.680 than the nearby more famous Byron Roman left indelible imprints 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.079 on those who loved her, Yet her thirty one years 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:47.760 disappeared with barely a ripple in the wider world. Her life, 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:52.440 her suspicious disappearance, and her highly probable death have barely 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:57.200 been reported, except from time to time by regional TV 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:02.840 and The Northern Star. The newspaper ceased publication in print 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:08.280 in twenty twenty, but Bromwin left behind her writings, her 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.160 reflections on her life, her marriage and loved ones, with 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.920 the occasional underlining and crossed out word on sheets of 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:21.760 a four paper. They are poignant and compelling. All these 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:25.800 years later, I picture Bromwyn writing in quiet moments between 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.800 getting her two girls ready for school and working part 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.760 time in a local takeaway store called Eden's down near 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:33.440 the Waves. 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:36.880 My idea of a lasting love is being able to 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.240 tell your partner anything and it doesn't make a difference 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:43.320 to your relationship. Trust, being kind to one another when 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:47.000 you're down, supportive, having time for each other always, as 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:48.360 well as time for other people. 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.360 Her family, friends and neighbors tell me she was determined 0:03:53.400 --> 0:04:00.000 to remain separated from her husband of six years, John Winfield, 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:03.640 wanted to go her own way. She was pursuing a divorce. 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:07.840 Her good friends in this idyllic beachside town in northern 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:11.840 New South Wales supported her. They were all school mums 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:16.240 with small children who played together. They shared instant coffees, 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.960 morning walks, birthday parties, turns at babysitting and random catchups 0:04:21.000 --> 0:04:25.680 for a glass of wine and easy conversation. Bromwinn had 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:30.360 confided troubling things about her marriage. She was close to 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:34.040 her brother Andy and his wife Michelle, who lived in Sydney, 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:35.320 a one hour flight away. 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:36.880 It was where. 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:41.000 Bromwin had grown up. She had close cousins there, including 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:45.760 Megan Reid. She had her Auntie Leah and uncle John 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:50.800 and her half sister Melissa. Her mother Barbara, and her 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:54.680 half sister Kim Marshall lived another hour away in Tasmania. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:00.640 All of these family members talked regularly to Bromwin. Kim 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.440 was about to travel north to Lennox because Bromwin had 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:05.680 invited her to come and stay for a while. 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:08.839 Nobody had heard of any. 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:14.600 Plans by Bromwin to suddenly go away to disappear. Writing 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.039 about the unhappiness of the marriage Bromin had decided was 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:22.919 bad for her and her girls perhaps felt cathartic. Liberating 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.200 the house in Lennox was a heavy burden. 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:29.880 I drifted away from John as he became more and 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.760 more depressed about the house being less than immaculate and 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.039 the death of his mother, the only woman he thought 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.120 was perfect. I couldn't leave him at the time, as 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:41.680 he was so unhappy and depressed and hated life, and 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.920 probably me, I tried to plead and talk to him 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:47.080 to open up and get things off his chest, but 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:48.400 nothing would help him. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:53.840 Friends and neighbors tell me John would obsess and see 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:58.800 over the smallest things. No matter how hard Bromwin tried. 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.640 The house could never be clean enough for John. A 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.880 tiny spot on a tile, a crumb on the carpet, 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:10.320 these could set him off. John was an introvert and 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:14.240 a perfectionist. He had built the house with his bare hands. 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:19.479 He was often unhappy when visitors dropped by. Sometimes he 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.640 would appear hostile. Bromwin, on the other hand, was naturally 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:25.080 sociable and welcoming. 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:26.640 She needed the. 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:30.720 Company and support of her friends. But the children would 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.720 play with their friends in the garage to ensure no 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.880 mess in the house, and all the while Bromwan walked 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:42.000 around on eggshells. She worried about how John would react 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.880 when people were over All of it took a toll. 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:51.240 The tensions must have been unbearable at times. Their marriage 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:56.240 was clearly doomed. On March twenty one, nineteen ninety three, 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.200 Bromwin and John formally separated. 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:04.240 Eventually, I switched off and became cold inside. He had 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.960 a heart of ice and always criticized me. No matter 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:11.240 what I did. The man was cold and heartless and 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.960 gave nothing but expected everything. 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:20.840 Bromwyn shared recollections and sorrows, hurts, and philosophical musings with 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.480 her notepad. But for whom was she writing all of 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:28.360 this in nineteen ninety three? Why had she begun to 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.200 put it all down? Bromwin hadn't kept a journal before. 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.600 Bromwin's family and friends tell me she lived for her 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:41.200 two daughters, Crystal, aged ten, and Lauren five. She loved 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:45.200 those girls to bits. Her devotion every day was obvious 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.640 to all who knew her. The three were inseparable, and 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:53.440 Romin was a caring, nurturing mother. Nobody has suggested otherwise. 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:58.160 My children have suffered from the environment that surrounded them. 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:00.960 It is equally important to be honest with them and 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.760 to tell them about their past, as you not only 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:05.880 suffer from denying the truth, but so do they. 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:11.200 As I read all of it, some big questions are inescapable? 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.560 Are Rombin's writings the artifacts of a woman looking back 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:18.680 on the thirty one years of her life to that moment, 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:22.560 a woman looking forward with her two girls to a happier, 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.600 brighter future, as a newly single mum finally freed of 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.480 the shackles and sadness she felt in an intolerable marriage 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:31.000 to John. 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.959 I was surrounded by hate and abuse in various ways 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.240 as a child, and am determined not to allow this 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.280 to happen to my girls or myself ever again. No 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.760 one will ever intimidate me again, nor will I allow 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:47.240 anyone to force their opinions onto me, as this can 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:51.600 cause damage to myself as well as my children. If 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.240 love means not being trusted to be yourself, or thinking 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:59.480 that everyone is out to own you paranoia, then it 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.720 is not my idea of happiness. 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.240 Or are they the nuanced words of a woman who 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.560 is writing with a plan to leave something personal and 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:13.320 heartfelt behind for her loved ones. When Romwin wrote in 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.160 her notepad in nineteen ninety three, was she intending to 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:22.319 imminently and dramatically change everything by leaving everyone who loved her, 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:28.000 including her daughters? Was she intending to vanish without explanation 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.800 and never see or speak to them or anyone else? 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:33.360 She knew again. 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.760 Everyone has both good and bad, and I've confronted the 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.959 bad in myself and realized I am human. We all 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.040 make mistakes. I can forgive myself and will now live 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:49.040 with my memories in peace. I will always remember the 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.760 people I meet. I will be fine now. A little 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.720 break for a few weeks, and everyone will see the 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.000 old me look out. 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.840 Over months of visits to Lenox, nearby towns and villages, 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.040 and the city in which she grew up, Sydney. I'm 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.280 talking to people who knew Bromwin and seeking answers to 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:12.520 these questions and more, talking to anyone who might shed 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.800 light on what happened to Bromen on the night of 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:19.000 May sixteenth, nineteen ninety three, when John was the last 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:20.920 person to see her at the. 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:22.760 Home in Sandstone Crescent. 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.920 In this enclave worshiped by dedicated surfers and made affluent 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:32.440 by Sea Change property owners, people who know more than 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:35.959 they've let on before about Broman's fate are coming forward. 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:41.400 Former police detectives are sharing information with me. Many hundreds 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.600 of pages of evidence are being scrutinized for clues. 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:46.440 Here's one example. 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:51.080 On April two, nineteen ninety three, Doreen Strong from the 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:55.439 Ballena Byron Family Support Service made a handwritten diary note 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.120 about the first of several contacts with the newly singled 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:00.920 Bromwin from the Life Lennox Head. 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:06.840 Bronwyn Winfield left husband ten days ago emotional violence, custody 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:12.120 threats being to solicitor. Received advice regarding custody. Feels better 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.679 but needs support. We are to call Monday regarding availability 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:16.400 of appointment. 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:22.439 Bromwin saw three different solicitors after her separation from John. 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.920 On March twenty one, nineteen ninety three, she sought advice 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:30.000 about her rights in a planned property settlement with John, 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:34.839 an intended division of their assets. The solicitor she had 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.600 decided to stay with, Chrismkdebitt, was based in the nearby 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:43.040 town of Lismore. Broman's next appointment in his office there 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:47.880 was scheduled for Monday, May seventeenth. I have a copy 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:50.800 of a page from her notepad with the time Bromwin 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:56.000 jotted down for the Monday meeting with Chris mcdebitt eleven am. 0:11:56.400 --> 0:12:01.400 But Bromwin disappeared the night before Sunday, May sixteenth, nineteen 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.040 ninety three, and as she didn't meet her solicitor or 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.320 contact him ever again to make another appointment, the plans 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.240 that had been made for divorce and the sale of 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:18.360 the house were quietly shelved. John kept his castle on Sandstone. 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:47.800 Crescent Head south on Balana Street. 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.720 In seven hundred meters at the roundabout, take this second 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:55.200 exit onto North Creek Road. 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:01.959 A good wave is peeling this sunny afternoon. Board riders 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:04.880 are carving across the face of swollen waves at a 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:10.160 beach known as Boulders. Boulders Beach is still John Winfield's 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:14.960 favorite location when he paddles out for a wave. Bromwin's 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:18.920 husband didn't leave Lennox Head after she vanished, but why 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:26.120 would he? John has always emphatically denied wrongdoing. In two 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:30.079 thousand and two, a senior coroner made a formal finding 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:33.680 that Bromwin was dead and he ended an inquest which 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:37.360 had traversed a large amount of evidence over five days 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:42.080 of hearings in a courtroom in Lismore. More importantly, the 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:46.240 senior coroner recommended to the Director of Public Prosecutions in 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:51.120 New South Wales that a known person, Bromwin's husband, John Winfield, 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:56.319 should be prosecuted over her alleged murder, but the DPP 0:13:56.679 --> 0:13:58.760 firmly refused to prosecute. 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.920 Wish to advise that after careful consideration of the matter, 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.920 referred to him by the coroner and following further investigation, 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:11.199 the Director of Public Prosecutions is not satisfied that there 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.920 is sufficient evidence to lay any charge against Jonathan Winfield 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:15.880 at this time. 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:21.160 The prosecuting agency confirmed its decision in a letter of 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:25.400 just one sentence. The letter went to the police who 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:31.280 had reinvestigated Bromwan's case for the inquest. Roman's brother Andy 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:35.960 Reid and his wife Michelle were astonished. They wrote to 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.360 the office of the DPP in early two thousand and three. 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.400 We are writing to you on behalf of ourselves and 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:47.920 the Reed family to formally request a full explanation as 0:14:47.920 --> 0:14:51.200 to why the Crown Prosecutor in Lismore and the Director 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:55.920 of Public Prosecutions in Sydney have decided is not sufficient 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.440 evidence to lay charge against mister Jonathan Winfield. 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.320 We feel that at the very least, we deserve better 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.280 than a line or two informing us of this decision. 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.240 It has taken ten long years to get the case 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.720 to this point and we would appreciate a full written 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.160 response to this matter at your earliest convenience. 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.200 No doubt you are aware that we are completely dissatisfied 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:25.040 at the decision and have already taken steps to investigate 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.720 the matter further through political and departmental channels. 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:33.480 The Director of Public Prosecutions in New South Wales at 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:37.400 that time, Nicholas Cowdery, replied to Andy Reid. 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.040 The disappearance of your sister Bronwin Winfield in May nineteen 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.320 ninety three has no doubt caused much grief to you 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:46.840 and your family, and I offer my sympathies. My advice 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:49.440 to police and the coroner, after very careful consideration of 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.280 all the evidence presently available, is that there is not 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.480 sufficient evidence to charge Jonathan Winfield or any other person. 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:59.280 Bronwin's disappearance was not reported to the police for two 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.080 weeks and was initially treated as a missing person inquiry. 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.600 By the time it was dealt with as a possible homicide, 0:16:05.720 --> 0:16:09.120 years had passed and any potential scientific evidence was long gone. 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:13.680 There is nobody and no known cause of death. While 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.280 Jonathan Winfield is the last known person to have seen 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:18.840 her alive, there is no evidence that he killed her 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.800 or had any role in her disappearance. Suspicion cannot be 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:24.160 substitutioned for evidence. 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:29.200 John has never been charged with any offense in relation 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.880 to his missing wife. John suggested to police that Romwin 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:37.479 had left to start a new life with a new identity, 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:42.240 probably with money from, in John's words, a wealthy sugar daddy. 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:46.600 But nobody has ever reported having seen her, and in 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.200 the two decades since Nicholas Cowdery wrote that letter in 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:55.040 two thousand and three, there's still nobody behind his back. 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:55.640 Lennox. 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.240 Locals who know the story of Bromwin Winfield scoff at 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:04.360 John's verse. I was on assignment and rushing from one 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:07.200 interview to the next in Sydney when I heard her 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:11.320 name for the first time. It was December twenty seventeen. 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:16.040 Bromwin Joy Winfield had been missing for twenty four years. 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:20.240 By then, she became real for me during my podcast 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:24.560 investigation into the nineteen eighty two disappearance of another missing woman, 0:17:25.000 --> 0:17:29.600 Lynette Joy Dawson. At the request of Lynn's family, we 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:34.080 now refer to her by her maiden name. She's Lynette Simms. 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.560 It was a hot and humid afternoon, just a week 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:42.680 before Christmas twenty seventeen, and I had spent several hours 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:46.560 talking to Lynn's friend Julie Andrew in her home near 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:51.240 the heart of Sydney. Julie made a powerful impression that day. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.800 Six months later, when the podcast had a name, The 0:17:55.880 --> 0:18:00.880 Teacher's Pet, and episode started to come outs her Julie's 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:06.040 commitment to justice for Limb. They heard her unwavering certainty 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:09.520 about Lynn's fate at the hands of her husband, Chris Dawson. 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:13.720 The best way to dispose of a body when you 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.240 live in the bush is to put it in the bush, 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:18.680 and that's what I think he did on the Friday night. 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:20.639 I'm sorrowful. 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:25.080 I lost a tear friend and I've carried it these 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:33.280 and I miss her every day. I just want justice, 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:36.000 and I'd love her little girls to know she didn't 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:39.840 leave them, she was taken away from them by the 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:42.200 person who was supposed to protect her. 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.080 I drove away from the interview in Julie's terrace house 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:49.880 with my friend Rebecca Hazel. We headed west to meet 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:55.200 Karl Milavanovitch, a retired deputy State coroner of New South Wales. 0:18:58.240 --> 0:18:59.400 Come in, gets out of the head. 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:00.840 We're very sorry. 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:02.639 We just realized we pulled up it and we didn't 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.640 bring the bottle of why a cake anything organized? 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.840 Come upstairs, please straight upstairs. 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.200 Carl had agreed to talk to me for my podcast 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.840 investigation back then about Lynn's case. He remembered the evidence 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:23.119 well because back in two thousand and three, fourteen years 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:26.359 before Karl met me at his home, he had led 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:32.280 an exhaustive coronial investigation. Carl watched and heard numerous witnesses 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:36.160 give evidence under oath in a courtroom in Sydney. These 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:40.359 witnesses recalled Lynn and Chris their Northern Beaches home, the 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:45.520 marriage and a schoolgirl will call JC. There were many 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:49.000 who were adamant that Lynn would never have voluntarily left 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:51.600 her two girls, who were just four and two at 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:56.120 the time. Among the witnesses were Lynn's friends and family 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.400 who knew her as an utterly devoted mother and wife, 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:04.320 and sister and daughter. All were questioned under oath in 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.160 the inquest by a police officer with expertise as a lawyer. 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:08.840 Matt Fordham. 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:11.919 He had done a lot of work to ensure the 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:16.760 police brief of evidence was very solid. A highly committed 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.240 Northern Beach's detective called Damian Loon, was sure that Chris 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:25.080 Dawson had killed Lynn. Damien had been investigating the case 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:28.679 off and on for several years, and his work comprised 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:33.000 most of the police brief of evidence. Chris Dawson, a 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.280 high school teacher and former first grade rugby league player 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:40.560 with the Newtown Jets, had become infatuated in nineteen eighty 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:44.359 with the babysitter, his former student at Cromer High School. 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:48.879 Chris would move JC into Lynd's bed within a couple 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:53.200 of days of Lynd's disappearance in January nineteen eighty two, 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.840 but Chris didn't give any evidence. In the courtroom of 0:20:57.040 --> 0:21:00.879 the then Deputy State coroner Karl Milavanovitch in two thousand 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:06.360 and three, Chris exercised his right to silence. A key 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:10.840 witness was the former teenage babysitter, JC, who had gone 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:15.280 on to marry Chris Dawson, then flee him, obtain a divorce, 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:19.960 and raise her concerns with police about foul play. At 0:21:19.960 --> 0:21:23.920 the end of the coronial proceedings, Karl Milivanovitch found that 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:27.760 Linn was dead and he recommended to the Director of 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:31.879 Public Prosecutions at the time, Nicholas Cowtery, that Christopher Michael 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:38.200 Dawson be prosecuted for murder, but the DPP refused. Nicholas 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:42.399 Cawtery was adamant that there was not enough evidence, and nobody. 0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:47.040 From that time on, Carl believed that Chris Dawson had 0:21:47.160 --> 0:21:52.040 evaded justice despite a compelling, circumstantial case against him for 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.720 the murder of his wife. This is some of what 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.600 Karl told me as I sat in his lounder room 0:21:58.640 --> 0:21:59.880 in December twenty seven. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.080 Team, all the. 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:06.120 Circumstances, when you put them together, are just so remarkable 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:09.200 that I just could not accept that Lynn Dawson would 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:12.480 just disappear off the face of the earth without there 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:16.720 being some human intervention. It just defies all logic that 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:19.160 a mother would leave a four year old, a two 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:23.359 year old, a family, a job, and friends and just disappear. 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:27.600 It's just not normal human behavior for a woman with 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:32.000 her intelligence, her community ties, the fact that she was employed, 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:35.160 two kids, had a lovely home. It just doesn't add up. 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:38.760 And I was very disappointed that the police investigation was 0:22:38.760 --> 0:22:42.520 so poor initially, that Lynnette Dawson was just treated as 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:47.359 another missing person and it wasn't prioritized. They never looked 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:49.800 at the issues of domestic violence. They never looked at 0:22:49.800 --> 0:22:53.040 the reality or the possibility that this was a homicide. 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:58.119 Karl Milavanovitch has been a powerful advocate for murdered women 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.840 like Lynn. But he told me something else of great importance. 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:06.480 On that afternoon in December twenty seventeen, Karl spoke about 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:11.520 the case of another missing woman, Bromwn Joy Windfield. I 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.840 had not heard her name, nor anything about her nineteen 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:19.120 ninety three disappearance until Karl raised it with me. There 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:22.800 was very little publicity about Bromwin over the years. Her 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:27.199 case seemed to have fallen between the cracks. This is 0:23:27.280 --> 0:23:30.560 some of what Carl matter of factly told me about Bromwyn. 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:35.360 I did an inquest of her. Lady called Bromwyn Windfield, 0:23:35.800 --> 0:23:40.680 and she had two kids as well, And she went 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:43.919 to bed one night, and she disappeared next day. And 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.160 there was some suggestion from a neighbor that they heard 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.879 the car reversing down the driveway and scraping on the ground, 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:53.280 like some suggestion there might have been something in the boot, 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:56.360 but she was never found. The same thing happened there. 0:23:56.400 --> 0:23:58.480 He was in Sydney, the husband was in Sydney. She 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:02.000 was up there. She went to see solicitor about organizing 0:24:02.000 --> 0:24:05.040 a separation, got the locks changed to the house. He 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:06.560 found out about it, drove. 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:07.400 Up there next day. 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:11.119 She disappeared I did the inquest at Lismore. I had 0:24:11.119 --> 0:24:14.720 a very competent counsel assisting. It was a strong case. 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:18.040 I thought circumstantial evidence. Referred it to the DPP. They 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:18.840 didn't run with it. 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:22.800 And when the DPP decides that they're not going to run, 0:24:23.320 --> 0:24:25.880 do they send to you or to the coroner's office a. 0:24:25.840 --> 0:24:30.480 Letter explaining what No, there's no explanation in the DPP 0:24:31.000 --> 0:24:34.800 in terms of detail reasons. 0:24:33.680 --> 0:24:34.600 For not proceeding. 0:24:35.359 --> 0:24:37.400 How do we know that they haven't just misunderstood? 0:24:38.640 --> 0:24:42.119 Well, I suppose that's always a possibility. At that stage 0:24:42.160 --> 0:24:44.840 of my career as Deputy State Coroner, I was probably 0:24:46.040 --> 0:24:48.600 just starting to do a number of missing persons cases 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:53.520 that were historical ones. And it wasn't long after the 0:24:53.600 --> 0:24:58.080 inquest into Lynette Dawson's disappearance from and Winfield and a 0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:01.960 number of others that I was getting very concerned about 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:07.119 historical missing person cases where clearly it was evident that 0:25:07.160 --> 0:25:11.520 they were probably homicides, and the attitude that the police 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:14.439 had to the investigation of them. I think there was 0:25:14.480 --> 0:25:18.000 a systemic problem in the police department in how they 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:23.600 prioritized and triarched missing persons cases. So that was a 0:25:23.680 --> 0:25:28.000 systemic attitude the police had. You don't worry about investigating 0:25:28.080 --> 0:25:31.359 until you've got a smoking gun or some evidence of 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:33.840 foul play. They'll turn up, or they've gone off with 0:25:33.880 --> 0:25:35.440 a boyfriend or something like that. 0:25:36.680 --> 0:25:40.320 I asked Carl whether this meant that a significant number 0:25:40.480 --> 0:25:44.040 of women who had been classified by police as simply 0:25:44.119 --> 0:25:47.160 missing were more likely to have been murdered. 0:25:47.800 --> 0:25:51.920 No doubt, no doubt. I've got no doubt about that. Absolutely. 0:25:52.320 --> 0:25:55.040 If you'd asked me this question nine years ago, before 0:25:55.040 --> 0:25:56.800 I retired, I would have given you a list of 0:25:56.800 --> 0:25:59.840 all their names. And I think the majority of the 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:02.840 long term missing persons cases that are still outstanding even 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:05.920 to this day involve the young women who have disappeared. 0:26:06.760 --> 0:26:08.280 Inevitably they are victims. 0:26:08.040 --> 0:26:12.080 Of On the side, it was chilling to hear this conclusion, 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:16.840 because it was also completely logical. I had a name, 0:26:17.240 --> 0:26:21.160