Speaker 1: Trigger on ing. Some listeners may find this podcast distressing.
Speaker 1: This is a real story about a real person that
Speaker 1: is still unfolding in real time, and any leads or
Speaker 1: information from anybody out there may help the family either
Speaker 1: find the answers or the closure they're desperately searching for.
Speaker 1: Sydney's Eastern Suburbs isn't just one of the most affluent
Speaker 1: areas in Australia, but it's one of the most densely
Speaker 1: populated parts of this country too, and for many years
Speaker 1: it was where Katie Walker, a British born forty six
Speaker 1: year old mum of two, called home until one day,
Speaker 1: forty nine days ago now at the time of me
Speaker 1: recording this podcast, Katie never returned to her home in
Speaker 1: Darling Point and she hasn't been seen since.
Speaker 2: She said, Elizabeth, you're I just feel I'm unsafe, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm sleeping and these these guys come in.
Speaker 1: With CCTV capturing her last known movements at one twelve
Speaker 1: pm on Saturday May twenty third, twenty twenty six. In
Speaker 1: that grainy image, Katie is seen walking down Alexander Street
Speaker 1: in Tamarama towards Mackenzie's Bay as of.
Speaker 3: Now, we have nothing since May twenty three. On that
Speaker 3: day we have her moving like from one area to
Speaker 3: the next, not so far from Bondai. I don't know
Speaker 3: Sydney that well.
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, according to the media who briefly covered this story
Speaker 1: weeks ago with articles that you may have read, Katie
Speaker 1: is a former producer of Married at First Sight Australia,
Speaker 1: which is the job title they reduced her to for
Speaker 1: clickbait with headlines like fears for mass producer before moving
Speaker 1: on to other stories then that were a bit more
Speaker 1: scandalous or sallacious. But the issue with those very few
Speaker 1: news stories was they just weren't true.
Speaker 4: That's not even her, she wasn't a producer. This is
Speaker 4: all just like I think, like detracting from the real thing,
Speaker 4: like this is because I know that's a controversial show
Speaker 4: or there's other factors, but that's she was a beautiful
Speaker 4: person that needs support.
Speaker 1: The only brief bit of attention this case has gotten
Speaker 1: from the mainstream media contained the most inaccurate information. Katie
Speaker 1: never worked for Married at First Sight or has ever
Speaker 1: had any connection to the show, which has baffled her
Speaker 1: friends and family about where this story came from.
Speaker 4: We've known each other for five years, five years to
Speaker 4: this month. She never once said I was a producer.
Speaker 4: I am a producer. It's just like, it's completely distracting.
Speaker 1: When New South Wales Police first issued a missing person's
Speaker 1: appeal for Katie Walker on June fourth, the media then
Speaker 1: put her her name into LinkedIn and confused her with
Speaker 1: Kate Walker, a TV producer who did appear in the
Speaker 1: same search results. That's where this case of mistaken identity
Speaker 1: stems from. But that also means that anyone in Sydney
Speaker 1: who did take notice of her disappearance all those weeks
Speaker 1: ago from those articles and wanted to help, they were
Speaker 1: reading details about the wrong woman.
Speaker 3: But it helps to get her image around and just
Speaker 3: in case someone has seen her anywhere, really, because there
Speaker 3: are some hours that aren't accounted for, so yeah, just
Speaker 3: as many people as we can reach, just in case
Speaker 3: they saw her on that day.
Speaker 1: Katie is a glamorous and spiritual jewelry designer, an aspiring author,
Speaker 1: and the only similarity between Katie and Kate other than
Speaker 1: a near identical name, is the fact that they both
Speaker 1: have brown hair, and they both called Sydney's Eastern Suburbs home.
Speaker 1: A place where no one else something like this to happen.
Speaker 1: This isn't the Australian outback where you can go hours
Speaker 1: without seeing another soul, Nor is it the Australian bush,
Speaker 1: where dense forests can swallow you whole if one of
Speaker 1: the deadly animals hiding in the shadows doesn't get to
Speaker 1: you first.
Speaker 2: But the reason why I'm bringing this up is that
Speaker 2: he showed up in Sydney, and it's like, what is
Speaker 2: the chances of that?
Speaker 1: This is a place where ambition and adventure, status and
Speaker 1: success all blur together for the two hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: seven thousand people who call this part of Sydney this
Speaker 1: slice of Heaven home, which is why it is so
Speaker 1: hard to comprehend how someone can just vanish here in
Speaker 1: broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Just said she's gone, and I said, what do you
Speaker 2: mean gone? You know, I guess the first words that
Speaker 2: came out of my mouth was fuck.
Speaker 5: Fuck fuck.
Speaker 1: In Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, his apartment blocks in every direction
Speaker 1: you look, squeeze next to mansions worth tens of millions
Speaker 1: of dollars, These hostels bursting with backpackers, cafes with qes
Speaker 1: spilling onto the footpath, roads that are rarely without traffic
Speaker 1: and public transport packed shoulder to shoulder, and these construction
Speaker 1: cranes that rarely disappear from the skyline. As this area,
Speaker 1: this slice of Heaven grows bigger and busier by the day.
Speaker 1: Life is everywhere in Sydney's Eastern suburbs, and amongst all
Speaker 1: of that life. Over the last four months, since returning
Speaker 1: to Australia from her new home of America, with a
Speaker 1: brief stop in Dubai for business along the way, Katie
Speaker 1: Walker could be found rebuilding her life with a smile
Speaker 1: on her face while only looking forward to the future.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think for Gid Katie, she was definitely had
Speaker 4: a big transition in her life and with that, you know,
Speaker 4: it could be an ungroundedness or an uncertainty. We often,
Speaker 4: you know, all experience those seasons.
Speaker 5: She had been sitting not very long.
Speaker 4: She had lived in another country prior to that, so
Speaker 4: there was a lot of relocation stress, but.
Speaker 5: In general she was a very optimistic person.
Speaker 1: Over the last four months, locals likely spotted Katie strolling
Speaker 1: from her unit in Darling Point down to Double Bay
Speaker 1: for a spot of shopping or to grab a coffee
Speaker 1: in Bondai beat always immaculately dressed while coming up with
Speaker 1: new dreams alongside her friends.
Speaker 2: She's a lot of fun, funny, funny, funny, talented, so
Speaker 2: talented and makes jewelry and so she We were actually
Speaker 2: talking about doing a podcast ourselves and traveling around because
Speaker 2: together I guess, both of us being from England.
Speaker 1: But sadly, Katie may never get to make that podcast
Speaker 1: or continue her travels unless any of you people listening
Speaker 1: to this right now can help us figure out how
Speaker 1: in a place this crowded, this connected, and this alive,
Speaker 1: how can someone simply disappear without a trace?
Speaker 4: You know, Katie was like a very striking, beautiful woman.
Speaker 4: She's not somebody that somebody would walk past and not
Speaker 4: acknowledge like she surely people have.
Speaker 1: Seen her, not just that, but how does someone vanish
Speaker 1: in the middle of the day just meters away from
Speaker 1: one of the world's most famous coastal tracks, the iconic
Speaker 1: bond Ei to Kujie cliff Walk, which has over eight
Speaker 1: thousand visitors daily with not a single person seeing anything.
Speaker 4: She's magnetic, like every time we went to places, people
Speaker 4: would stop and say you're so beautiful. I mean, she
Speaker 4: was like extraordinarily beautiful. So I think that just surely
Speaker 4: people have seen her, noticed her, saw something that could
Speaker 4: be potentially helpful.
Speaker 1: That's what I've been asking myself lately after first reading
Speaker 1: about Katie Walker in those articles, who was last seen
Speaker 1: in Sydney's Tamarama on May twenty third, And just like
Speaker 1: the police and the private investigator that's been hired, That's
Speaker 1: what I've been trying to figure out lately while speaking
Speaker 1: to her friends and family and all those involved in
Speaker 1: this story, which is still very much unfolding as I
Speaker 1: sit here and record this right now.
Speaker 2: But she just didn't want to be there anyway. She
Speaker 2: wanted to come back to America.
Speaker 1: Really yeah, and then that's where you and Justine were
Speaker 1: like her support in America.
Speaker 2: Then yeah.
Speaker 1: Trigger warning now ahead of the next part of this podcast.
Speaker 1: The police do have an unsubstantiated theory on what happened
Speaker 1: that Katie sadly took her own life, which is the
Speaker 1: easiest conclusion to come to given where she was last
Speaker 1: seen and how close to the water that was. But
Speaker 1: the police's investigation remains active. While appealing to the public
Speaker 1: for any information that will help them prove or disprove this.
Speaker 1: I'm now going to retrace the steps that the police
Speaker 1: think Katie did. You can hear the ocean now, but
Speaker 1: I still have to climb down another two sections, and
Speaker 1: this is in full view of the coastal track. Like
Speaker 1: all those people have said walking that, a lot of
Speaker 1: them are now looking at me. And this working theory,
Speaker 1: which again there is no proof of, is one that
Speaker 1: Katie's loved ones refuse to believe, and they do suspect
Speaker 1: foul play and something more sinister here.
Speaker 4: There's too many puzzling circumstances. Something is missing from the
Speaker 4: story and that feels deeply unsettling at somebody who loved her,
Speaker 4: but also justice for her.
Speaker 1: And this is why Katie's found recently flew from the
Speaker 1: UK to Sydney to fund their own private investigation, because
Speaker 1: again there's just too many things to them at least
Speaker 1: and me now, which proved that likely isn't the ending
Speaker 1: of this story, and the truth is still out there.
Speaker 2: You know, what's the likelihood of somebody wanting to kill
Speaker 2: themselves if they're waiting for the large sum of money
Speaker 2: or a decent amount of money to come.
Speaker 1: And Casey's friends and family want her face to be
Speaker 1: seen by as many people as possible, and her story,
Speaker 1: her real story, to be heard by as many people
Speaker 1: as possible, because surely someone out there must know something
Speaker 1: that could help them either find answers or closure.
Speaker 4: If somebody less than twenty four hours prior is completing
Speaker 4: a bank transaction that could be potential relief for some circumstance,
Speaker 4: then that, oftentimes to me, if somebody was truly suicidal,
Speaker 4: had a plan and was ready to act upon it,
Speaker 4: I don't think they would care too much about these
Speaker 4: for the listings.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm recording this podcast to help get Katie's
Speaker 1: story out there, which every friend and family member of
Speaker 1: hers I've spoken to have said they are so desperate
Speaker 1: to do. And Katie's loved one's refusal to accept what
Speaker 1: the police feel is a quite compelling theory, although I
Speaker 1: must note again their investigation is very much still active
Speaker 1: and ongoing. Isn't fueled just by knowing Katie personally, but
Speaker 1: also by the noticeable lack of proof that she did that,
Speaker 1: alongside the endless twists, turns and confusion when you do
Speaker 1: know the full story, that theory doesn't explain why. Over
Speaker 1: six hours later, at seven forty pm, Katie's phone was
Speaker 1: then switched on for the very last time and ping
Speaker 1: from this cell tower here in Bondai. Plus. These then
Speaker 1: the list of questionable people who had entered Katie's life
Speaker 1: over the last few months, who those that love her
Speaker 1: are now urging for help in identifying.
Speaker 2: She said that, she goes, I can't fucking believe it.
Speaker 2: You know that I that was in my room, that
Speaker 2: came in my room?
Speaker 1: Is it is? You know?
Speaker 2: I bumped into him on the beach in Sydney. She's
Speaker 2: what the fucking chances of that?
Speaker 1: Because of that initial yet inaccurate media storm three weeks ago. Now,
Speaker 1: Katie Walker, to most people out there, is a former
Speaker 1: producer of Married at First Sight Australia.
Speaker 5: Are young here for the wrong reasons?
Speaker 1: I do, Well, then, why did you want to sleep
Speaker 1: with another guy?
Speaker 6: Oh?
Speaker 1: Well, you're walking off by You're you and I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: that's what made me first take notice of this story.
Speaker 1: My name is Joshua Fox. I'm a former journalist and
Speaker 1: I host The Maths Funny podcast and much of my
Speaker 1: career has been built around commentating that show, speaking to
Speaker 1: the cast and just creating content that feeds into the
Speaker 1: chaos that comes from strangers marrying.
Speaker 5: She wanted to give where's tomorrow? Tomorrow?
Speaker 1: She wanted to your hausband. When I first read those
Speaker 1: articles and noticed that there was never any updates, I
Speaker 1: first thought, maybe this story has been quietly resolved and
Speaker 1: maybe Katie has been found. But then once I started
Speaker 1: digging a bit deeper, I realized no, she was still
Speaker 1: very much missing. That's when I started reaching out to
Speaker 1: Katie's friends and family just to ask if me using
Speaker 1: my platforms, this podcast and my audience to help bring
Speaker 1: more awareness that could lead to new information, would that
Speaker 1: be helpful, And as everybody I spoke to then said yes, please,
Speaker 1: we would be grateful for anything. Not only did I
Speaker 1: then realize the married at first sight connection which initially
Speaker 1: inspired me to get involved, was nonexistent, but I also
Speaker 1: realized this story is much bigger than I ever thought,
Speaker 1: which is why I've now created a whole new podcast
Speaker 1: feed for it. Katie isn't just a woman who was
Speaker 1: wrongly identified in the press. Katie is a mother of two.
Speaker 1: Katie is a much love daughter and sister, and Katie
Speaker 1: is also a friend and a creative and a free spirit.
Speaker 3: She was.
Speaker 5: Joyous in a lot of ways.
Speaker 4: I mean, we all have our experiences that bring us down,
Speaker 4: but she half the times was she was a spiritual person.
Speaker 4: She could kind of look beyond hardship in a lot
Speaker 4: of ways. She had a lot of positive qualities to her.
Speaker 1: Katie is also someone who sings her heart out while
Speaker 1: saving hotel rooms as she checks in.
Speaker 3: Hey here, she is your.
Speaker 1: Actually, Katie is someone who is often just found belting
Speaker 1: out any song with her friends, who all describe her
Speaker 1: as someone just full of so much joy and life
Speaker 1: and excitement.
Speaker 2: Two and one, two three, Oh Lord, won't family mersy?
Speaker 1: This is the disappearance of Katie Walker a podcast series?
Speaker 1: Is I never thought I'd be creating a series I'm
Speaker 1: sad I'm making and a series that will be unfolding
Speaker 1: in real time as the exposure we hope it will
Speaker 1: bring will hopefully it lead to fresh leads that will
Speaker 1: help Katie's family find the answers they're desperately searching for.
Speaker 3: Color dollar for dollars is trying to tell me?
Speaker 1: And I suspect some people may question is this series
Speaker 1: even appropriate? And question where is the line between capturing
Speaker 1: public attention and creating what can feel like exploitative content,
Speaker 1: and don't worry, I'm with you on that. Part of
Speaker 1: me feels a bit uncomfortable because it's like, it's like
Speaker 1: how much is helpful? But you have to tell a
Speaker 1: full story to get public support and in order to
Speaker 1: find answers, Like I feel, the whole story needs to
Speaker 1: be there because that's the only way people notice.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of small details that you have information
Speaker 4: on from these other parties, and the most pressing, bigger
Speaker 4: message is that this is a woman that's missing.
Speaker 1: As I've sat and attempted to write the script you're
Speaker 1: now listening to me read multiple times over the last
Speaker 1: few days, I've constantly found myself conflicted while figuring out
Speaker 1: how do I tell Katie's story respectfully and bring the
Speaker 1: awareness that her loved ones want without it starting to
Speaker 1: feel like sensationalism. True crime isn't a genre that I
Speaker 1: personally consume, as it mostly makes me feel uncomfortable, and
Speaker 1: true crime also isn't a jore I've ever worked across.
Speaker 1: Most of my career in media has been centered around
Speaker 1: entertainment and showbiz, so I will be honest here. This
Speaker 1: whole thing is slightly out of my depth. But then
Speaker 1: I realized, if we want people to stop and think
Speaker 1: about Katie and take notice and really look at her
Speaker 1: picture scratched their brains thinking did they see something that
Speaker 1: may help or do they know something that may help?
Speaker 1: They must know the full story of who Katie is
Speaker 1: and her life over the last few months, and they
Speaker 1: must know the real woman who is still out there
Speaker 1: missing the woman I'm starting to feel who I know
Speaker 1: to an extent and understand.
Speaker 6: Is there, I mean, anything else you wants to say
Speaker 6: about Katie or share or just like I really want
Speaker 6: to do justice with her story and my understanding at
Speaker 6: the minute, tell me if this is an accurate reflection.
Speaker 1: She's always been quite creative. She's a bit of a
Speaker 1: floater like she you know, she's been living here, there,
Speaker 1: and everywhere. After she broke up with she ended up
Speaker 1: in America. You know, she remarried that ended. She's got
Speaker 1: a bit of money, which she may be wasted to
Speaker 1: some extent she's borrowing to other people, but ultimately she's
Speaker 1: always just been happy and joyous. To me, it's the
Speaker 1: story of a woman who became lost in a way,
Speaker 1: but wasn't defeated.
Speaker 4: I would agree with that she was very clever, she
Speaker 4: was very smart, and she was highly soulful, and she
Speaker 4: I truly believe that many circumstances she would be able
Speaker 4: to problem solve and I deeply feel that something is
Speaker 4: missing from her story.
Speaker 1: Every day in Australia, approximately one hundred and fifty people
Speaker 1: are reported missing and ninety percent of them are found
Speaker 1: within one week, and most children are found within twenty
Speaker 1: four hours. And data shows that annually ninety seven to
Speaker 1: ninety nine percent of those cases are eventually resolved, often
Speaker 1: before the wider public us people even become aware they
Speaker 1: were missing in the first place. Then the few and
Speaker 1: lucky people, you could say, the ones who remain missing.
Speaker 1: Only the ones who have a story the media feel
Speaker 1: is worth reporting on, are the ones we hear about.
Speaker 5: We have some breaking news this hour.
Speaker 1: A coronial inquest into the suspected death of frudster Melissa
Speaker 1: Kaddick has concluded that she is deceased. In recent years,
Speaker 1: there was Melissa Kaddik, who was linked to some of
Speaker 1: Sidney's most elite and her disappearance had millions of dollars
Speaker 1: and drama attached to it, or you may also remember
Speaker 1: Too Hayes, the Belgian backpacker who vanished from Byron Bay
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen and is still missing.
Speaker 2: His family's been left with mixed emotions, devastated about the
Speaker 2: unanswered questions, but hopeful our reward will one day flash
Speaker 2: out answers.
Speaker 1: Teo's story went international because of not just the many twists,
Speaker 1: but the potential impact on Australian tourism and the fear
Speaker 1: it instilled in every young person around the world, who,
Speaker 1: just like Too, had been saving up for what they
Speaker 1: thought would be the trip of a lifetime exploring this country.
Speaker 1: But sadly, Katie, the real Katie isn't linked to the
Speaker 1: country's most dramatic reality show, nor is she attached to
Speaker 1: anyone or anything high profile that may appeal to the
Speaker 1: mainstream media out there, which I believe is why no
Speaker 1: one is talking about this story. But Katie deserves as
Speaker 1: much visibility as those previous cases received. So if you're
Speaker 1: a journalist listening to this, or a podcast host, or
Speaker 1: an influencer, or just a regular normal person with your
Speaker 1: own private social media, please report on Katie, talk about
Speaker 1: Katie's Share this podcast, Share her picture, share anything together.
Speaker 1: Let's just help Katie's loved ones get her story out
Speaker 1: there to as many people as possible, and as for
Speaker 1: me personally, just to end this now. The more I've
Speaker 1: learned about Katie over the last couple of weeks, more
Speaker 1: I've realized how similar we both are. Not only are
Speaker 1: we both from England, but we've both found ourselves chasing
Speaker 1: adventure and romances from country to country. We've both spent
Speaker 1: years pursuing our creative passions, and we both at some
Speaker 1: point then settled in Sydney's Eastern suburbs and lived just
Speaker 1: minutes away from each other without ever realizing. Here's hoping
Speaker 1: this podcast series will have a happy ending