WEBVTT - Listen to episode 1 of BRONWYN 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.519 Thanks for listening to episode one of Bronwen. We dropped 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:06.000 this in your feed because we thought you might like it. 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:10.360 To hear the rest, search Bronwen that's b r n 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.880 w y N wherever you listen, and to be the 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:17.520 first to know about all our investigations, subscribe at the 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:19.600 Australian dot com dot au. 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:25.919 Listeners are advised that this podcast series Bronwen contains course 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:30.080 language and adult themes. This podcast series is brought to 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:32.960 you by Me Headley Thomas and The Australian. 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.000 When we moved to Lennox head I was even more lonely. 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.920 The house that was built became John's Castle in my prison. 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.720 Bromwin Winfield wrote these words shortly before she disappeared one 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:22.240 Sunday night in May nineteen ninety three. She had been 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.120 to see her GP a couple of days earlier and 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.680 was in good physical health. Apart from having strained her hand. 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:33.360 She was of sound mind and had no known mental illness. 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.840 A brief period of postnatal depression after the birth five 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.840 years earlier of her second daughter was well behind. 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.800 Bromwin Where do you want to go. 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:48.720 Today? Thirty one years since the sudden disappearance of a 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.920 mother of two little girls. I'm driving on a winding 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.000 road south of Byron Bay to the house that Bromwin 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:59.960 had called her prison. Past former dairy and sugar cane farms, 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:04.560 subdivided for residential housing estates and the Great Australian family Dream. 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:08.520 A three or four bedroom, two bathroom ricantile close to the. 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:13.160 Beach, getting directions to Sandstone Crescent, Lenox Head. 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:18.520 The Pacific Ocean is tantalizingly close. You can hear it, 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:22.840 smell it. Its saltiness lingers on an easterly zephyr of 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:28.360 a breeze. In luxury homes with views over smoothly curving coastline, 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.160 binoculars are at the ready for the first sightings of 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:36.679 humpback whales on their annual migratory journey from Antarctica. They 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.960 perform in the warm waters of an aquatic backyard off 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:43.760 the most easterly part of Australia's mainland and the lighthouse 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:48.800 at Byron Bay. It's a quieter, gentler lifestyle in this 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:54.440 place everyone calls Lenox. It's less crowded here, more chilled 0:02:54.480 --> 0:03:00.360 than the nearby more famous Byron Roman left in dollible 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.880 imprints on those who loved her, yet her thirty one 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:07.360 years disappeared with barely a ripple in the wider world. 0:03:08.360 --> 0:03:13.040 Her life, her suspicious disappearance, and her highly probable death 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:17.480 have barely been reported, except from time to time by 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:23.320 regional TV and The Northern Star. The newspaper ceased publication 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:28.639 in print in twenty twenty, but Bromin left behind her writings, 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:33.280 her reflections on her life, her marriage and loved ones, 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:37.040 with the occasional underlining and crossed out word on sheets 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:42.720 of a four paper. They are poignant and compelling. All 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.680 these years later, I picture Bromwin writing in quiet moments 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.680 between getting her two girls ready for school and working 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.720 part time in a local takeaway store called Eden's down 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:54.680 near the Waves. 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.120 My idea of a lasting love is being able to 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:00.480 tell your partner anything and it doesn't make it difference 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:04.560 to your relationship. Trust, being kind to one another when 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.240 you're down, supportive, having time for each other always, as 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:09.640 well as time for other people. 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.600 Her family, friends, and neighbors tell me she was determined 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:19.600 to remain separated from her husband of six years, John Winfield. 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:24.240 Bromwin wanted to go her own way. She was pursuing 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.479 a divorce Her good friends in this idyllic beachside town 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.279 in northern New South Wales supported her. They were all 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:36.480 school mums with small children who played together. They shared 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:41.039 instant coffees, morning walks, birthday parties, turns at babysitting, and 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.839 random catchups for a glass of wine and easy conversation. 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:51.000 Bromwin had confided troubling things about her marriage. She was 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:54.400 close to her brother Andy and his wife Michelle, who 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.600 lived in Sydney, a one hour flight away. It was 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.720 where Bromwyn had grown up. She had close cousins there, 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:06.559 including Megan Reid. She had her auntie Leah and uncle 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:11.800 John and her half sister Melissa. Her mother Barbara and 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.920 her half sister Kim Marshall lived another hour away in Tasmania. 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:21.880 All of these family members talked regularly to Bromwin. Kim 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:24.719 was about to travel north to Lenox because Bromwin had 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.560 invited her to come and stay for a while. Nobody 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.240 had heard of any plans by Bromwin to suddenly go 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:37.960 away to disappear. Writing about the unhappiness of the marriage, 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.160 Bromin had decided was bad for her and her girls, 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:46.680 perhaps felt cathartic. Liberating the house in Lenox was a 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:47.479 heavy burden. 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.120 I drifted away from John as he became more and 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.039 more depressed about the house being less than immaculate and 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.279 the death of his mother, the only woman he thought 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.400 was perfect. I couldn't leave him at the time, as 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.960 he was so unhappy and depressed and hated life and 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:06.160 probably me. I tried to plead and talk to him 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.360 to open up and get things off his chest, but 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:10.360 nothing would help him. 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:15.000 Friends and neighbors tell me John would obsess and see 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:20.040 over the smallest things. No matter how hard Brommin tried. 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.880 The house could never be clean enough for John. A 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.120 tiny spot on a tile, a crumb on the carpet, 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:31.560 these could set him off. John was an introvert and 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:35.480 a perfectionist. He had built the house with his bare hands. 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:40.719 He was often unhappy when visitors dropped by. Sometimes he 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.880 would appear hostile. Bromwin, on the other hand, was naturally 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:49.240 sociable and welcoming. She needed the company and support of 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:53.240 her friends, but the children would play with their friends 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.400 in the garage to ensure no mess in the house, 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.640 and all the while Brommin walked around on a big shells. 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.240 She worried about how John would react when people were 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:08.960 over all of it took a toll. The tensions must 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:13.560 have been unbearable at times. Their marriage was clearly doomed. 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:19.120 On March twenty one, nineteen ninety three, Bromwin and John 0:07:19.280 --> 0:07:20.440 formally separated. 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.480 Eventually, I switched off and became cold inside. He had 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.200 a heart of ice and always criticized me no matter 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:32.480 what I did. The man was cold and heartless and 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:35.200 gave nothing but expected everything. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:42.080 Bromwyn shared recollections and sorrows, hurts, and philosophical musings with 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.720 her notepad. But for whom was she writing all of 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.600 this in nineteen ninety three? Why had she begun to 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:53.440 put it all down? Bromwin hadn't kept a journal before. 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.840 Bromwin's family and friends tell me she lived for her 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:02.440 two daughters, Crystal, aged ten, and Lauren five. She loved 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:06.440 those girls to bits. Her devotion every day was obvious 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.880 to all who knew her. The three were inseparable, and 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:14.680 Romin was a caring, nurturing mother. Nobody has suggested otherwise. 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.360 My children have suffered from the environment that surrounded them. 0:08:19.880 --> 0:08:22.200 It is equally important to be honest with them and 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.000 to tell them about their past, as you not only 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.000 suffer from denying the truth, but so did they as. 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:32.440 I read all of it. Some big questions are inescapable? 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.800 Are Brombin's writings the artifacts of a woman looking back 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.920 on the thirty one years of her life to that moment, 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:43.800 a woman looking forward with her two girls to a happier, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:47.840 brighter future as a newly single mum finally freed of 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.760 the shackles and sadness she felt in an intolerable marriage 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:52.240 to John. 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:56.199 I was surrounded by hate and abuse in various ways 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.520 as a child, and am determined not to allow this 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.560 to happen to my girls or myself ever again. No 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:06.000 one will ever intimidate me again, nor will I allow 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:08.480 anyone to force their opinions onto me, as this can 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:12.840 cause damage to myself as well as my children. If 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:16.480 love means not being trusted to be yourself, or thinking 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:20.680 that everyone is out to own you paranoia, then it 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:22.920 is not my idea of happiness. 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:26.480 Or are they the nuanced words of a woman who 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.800 is writing with a plan to leave something personal and 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:34.560 heartfelt behind for her loved ones. When Romin wrote in 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.400 her notepad in nineteen ninety three, was she intending to 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:43.559 imminently and dramatically change everything by leaving everyone who loved her, 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:49.240 including her daughters. Was she intending to vanish without explanation 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.040 and never see or speak to them or anyone else? 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:54.280 She knew again. 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.000 Everyone has both good and bad, and I've confronted the 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.199 bad in myself and realized I am human. We all 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:06.280 make mistakes. I can forgive myself and will now live 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:10.280 with my memories in peace. I will always remember the 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.319 people I meet. I'll be fine now. A little break 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.200 for a few weeks and everyone will see the old 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.040 may look out. 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:23.040 Over months of visits to Lennox, nearby towns and villages, 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:26.280 and the city in which she grew up, Sydney, I'm 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.520 talking to people who knew Bromwan and seeking answers to 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:33.760 these questions and more, talking to anyone who might shed 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:36.040 light on what happened to Broman on the night of 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:40.240 May sixteenth, nineteen ninety three, when John was the last 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:44.000 person to see her at the home in Sandstone Crescent. 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:50.160 In this enclave worshiped by dedicated surfers and made affluent 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:53.680 by sea change property owners, people who know more than 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.199 they've let on before about Broman's fate are coming forward. 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:02.680 Former police detectives are sharing information with me. Many hundreds 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.880 of pages of evidence are being scrutinized for clues. Here's 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:11.920 one example. On April two, nineteen ninety three, Doreen Strong 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:15.880 from the Ballena Byron Family Support Service made a handwritten 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.440 diary note about the first of several contacts with the 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.160 newly singled Bromwin from Lennox Head. 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:28.080 Bronwyn Winfield left husband ten days ago emotional violence, custody 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:33.360 threats being to solicitor. Received advice regarding custody. Feels better 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.920 but needs support. We are to call Monday regarding availability 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:37.640 of appointment. 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:43.720 Bromwyn saw three different solicitors after her separation from John. 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:48.160 On March twenty one, nineteen ninety three, she sought advice 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.240 about her rights in a planned property settlement with John, 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:56.079 an intended division of their assets. The solicitor she had 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.400 decided to stay with, Chris McDevitt, was based in the 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:04.080 nearby ten of Lismore. Broman's next appointment in his office 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:08.720 there was scheduled for Monday, May seventeen. I have a 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:11.520 copy of a page from her notepad with the time 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:15.800 Bromwin jotted down for the Monday meeting with Chris mcdebitt 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:22.040 eleven am. But Bromwin disappeared the night before Sunday, May sixteenth, 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.880 nineteen ninety three, and as she didn't meet her solicitor 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:30.080 or contact him ever again to make another appointment, the 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.400 plans that had been made for divorce and a sale 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:37.840 of the house were quietly shelved. John kept his castle 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:39.360 on Sandstone Crescent. 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:13.559 Heads south on Dalana Street in seven hundred meters at 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.440 the roundabout take this second exit onto North Creek Road. 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:23.199 A good wave is peeling this sunny afternoon. Board riders 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.120 are carving across the face of swollen waves at a 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:31.440 beach known as Boulders. Boulders Beach is still John Winfield's 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:36.239 favorite location when he paddles out for a wave. Bromwan's 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:40.160 husband didn't leave Lennox Head after she vanished, but why 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:47.360 would he? John has always emphatically denied wrongdoing. In two 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:51.319 thousand and two, a senior coroner made a formal finding 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.960 that Bromwin was dead, and he ended an inquest which 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.600 had traversed a large amount of evidence over five days 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:03.320 of hearings in a courtroom in Lismore. More importantly, the 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:07.480 Senior Coroner recommended to the Director of Public Prosecutions in 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:12.360 New South Wales that a known person, Bromwin's husband, John Winfield, 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:17.559 should be prosecuted over her alleged murder, but the DPP 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:20.000 firmly refused to prosecute. 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.880 I wish to advise that, after careful consideration of the 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:28.160 matter referred to him by the Coroner, and following further investigation, 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:32.440 the Director of Public Prosecutions is not satisfied that there 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:36.160 is sufficient evidence to lay any charge against Jonathan Winfield 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:37.080 at this time. 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:42.400 The prosecuting agency confirmed its decision in a letter of 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:46.640 just one sentence. The letter went to the police who 0:14:46.720 --> 0:14:52.520 had reinvestigated Bromwin's case for the inquest. Romman's brother Andy 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:57.200 Reid and his wife Michelle were astonished. They wrote to 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:01.480 the office of the DPP in early two thousand than three. 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.640 We are writing to you on behalf of ourselves and 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:09.160 the Reed family to formally request a full explanation as 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.440 to why the Crown Prosecutor in Lismore and the Director 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:16.480 of Public Prosecutions in Sydney have decided there is not 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:20.680 sufficient evidence to lay charge against mister Jonathan Winfield. 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.600 We feel that at the very least, we deserve better 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.520 than a line or two informing us of this decision. 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.480 It has taken ten long years to get the case 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.960 to this point, and we would appreciate a full written 0:15:34.000 --> 0:15:37.400 response to this matter at your earliest convenience. 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:42.440 No doubt you are aware that we are completely dissatisfied 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:46.280 at the decision and have already taken steps to investigate 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.960 the matter further through political and departmental channels. 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.720 The Director of Public Prosecutions in New South Wales at 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.640 that time, Nicholas Cowdery, replied to Andy Reid. 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:02.280 The disappears of your sister Bronwin Winfield in May nineteen 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.560 ninety three has no doubt caused much grief to you 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:08.080 and your family, and I offer my sympathies. My advice 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.720 to police in the coroner, after very careful consideration of 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.520 all the evidence presently available, is that there is not 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.720 sufficient evidence to charge Jonathan Winfield or any other person. 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:20.520 Bronwin's disappearance was not reported to the police for two 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:23.320 weeks and was initially treated as a missing person inquiry. 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:26.760 By the time it was dealt with as a possible homicide, 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:30.440 years had passed and any potential scientific evidence was long gone. 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.920 There is nobody and no known cause of death. While 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.520 Jonathan Winfield is the last known person to have seen 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.080 her alive, there is no evidence that he killed her 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.040 or had any role in her disappearance. Suspicion cannot be 0:16:44.080 --> 0:16:45.440 substitution for evidence. 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:50.440 John has never been charged with any offense in relation 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:55.120 to his missing wife. John suggested two police that ronwin 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.720 had left to start a new life with a new identity, 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:03.480 probably money from, in John's words, a wealthy sugar daddy. 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.840 But nobody has ever reported having seen her, and in 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:11.439 the two decades since Nicholas Cowdery wrote that letter in 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:16.840 two thousand and three, there's still nobody behind his back. Lennox. 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:20.480 Locals who know the story of Bromwyn Winfield scoff at 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:25.600 John's version. I was on assignment and rushing from one 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:28.440 interview to the next in Sydney when I heard her 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.560 name for the first time. It was December twenty seventeen. 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.280 Bromwin Joy Winfield had been missing for twenty four years. 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:41.480 By then. She became real for me. During my podcast 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:45.800 investigation into the nineteen eighty two disappearance of another missing woman, 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:50.840 Lynette Joy Dawson at the request of Lynn's family, we 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:55.320 now refer to her by her maiden name. She's Lynette Simms. 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.720 It was a hot and humid afternoon, just a week 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:03.920 before Christmas twenty seventeen, and I had spent several hours 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.800 talking to Lynn's friend Julie Andrew in her home near 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:12.480 the heart of Sydney. Julie made a powerful impression that day. 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:17.040 Six months later, when the podcast had a name, The 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:21.560 Teacher's Pet, and episode started to come out, listeners heard 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:26.720 Julie's commitment to justice for Limb. They heard her unwavering 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:29.920 certainty about Lynn's fate at the hands of her husband, 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:30.800 Chris Dawson. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.960 The best way to dispose of a body when you 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.200 live in the bush is to put it in the bush, 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:39.920 and that's what I think he did on the Friday night. 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:45.679 I'm sorrowful. I lost a tear friend and I've carried 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:54.520 these and I miss her every day. I just want justice, 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:57.240 and I'd love her little girls to know she didn't 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.080 leave them, she was taken away from them now the 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.320 person who was supposed to protect her. 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.320 I drove away from the interview in Julie's terrace house 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:11.120 with my friend Rebecca Hazel. We headed west to meet 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:16.480 Karl Milavanovitch, a retired deputy State Coroner of New South Wales. 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:20.680 Yeah, come in, get you out of the heat. 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:22.119 We're very sorry. 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:23.879 We just realized we pulled up it and we didn't 0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.280 bring the bottle of why a cake anything. We've got 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:26.880 that organized. 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:31.240 Come upstairs, please, straight up the stairs. 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.440 Karl had agreed to talk to me for my podcast 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:40.080 investigation back then about Lynn's case. He remembered the evidence 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:44.359 well because back in two thousand and three, fourteen years 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.600 before Karl met me at his home, he had led 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:53.520 an exhaustive coronial investigation. Karl watched and heard numerous witnesses 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:57.400 give evidence under oath in a courtroom in Sydney. These 0:19:57.440 --> 0:20:01.600 witnesses recalled Lynn and Chris, the Northern Beaches home, the 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:06.720 marriage and a schoolgirl will call JYC. There were many 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.240 who were adamant that Linn would never have voluntarily left 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:12.840 her two girls, who were just four and two at 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:17.360 the time. Among the witnesses were Lynn's friends and family 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:20.720 who knew her as an utterly devoted mother and wife, 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:25.560 and sister and daughter. All were questioned under oath in 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.040 the inquest by a police officer with expertise as a lawyer, 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.560 Matt Fordham. He had done a lot of work to 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:37.119 ensure the police brief of evidence was very solid. A 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:41.080 highly committed Northern Beach's detective called Damian Lone was sure 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:45.840 that Chris Dawson had killed Lynn. Damien had been investigating 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.760 the case off and on for several years, and his 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:54.000 work comprised most of the police brief of evidence. Chris Dawson, 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.200 a high school teacher and former first grade rugby league 0:20:57.200 --> 0:21:00.560 player with the Newtown Jets, had become in fat scituated 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:04.520 in nineteen eighty with the babysitter, his former student at 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:09.400 Cromer High School. Chris would move Jc into Lynd's bed 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:12.880 within a couple of days of Lynn's disappearance in January 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:17.080 nineteen eighty two, but Chris didn't give any evidence. In 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:21.280 the courtroom of the then Deputy State coroner Karl Milavanovitch 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:25.920 in two thousand and three, Chris exercised his right to silence. 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:31.520 A key witness was the former teenage babysitter, JC, who 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.880 had gone on to marry Chris Dawson, then flee him, 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:39.000 obtain a divorce and raise her concerns with police about 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:43.879 foul play. At the end of the coronial proceedings, Karl 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:48.359 Milavanovitch found that Lynn was dead and he recommended to 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.800 the Director of Public Prosecutions at the time, Nicholas Cowtery, 0:21:52.119 --> 0:21:56.480 that Christopher Michael Dawson be prosecuted for murder, but the 0:21:56.560 --> 0:22:01.320 DPP refused. Nicholas Cartery it was adamant that there was 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:06.520 not enough evidence, and nobody from that time on Carl 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:11.320 believed that Chris Dawson had evaded justice despite a compelling, 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:15.719 circumstantial case against him for the murder of his wife. 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:18.479 This is some of what Carl told me as I 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:21.560 sat in his lunder room in December twenty seventeen. 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.080 All the circumstances, when you put them together, are just 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:29.399 so remarkable that I just could not accept that Lyn 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:32.520 Dawson would just disappear off the face of the earth 0:22:33.160 --> 0:22:36.679 without there being some human intervention. It just defies all 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:39.880 logic that a mother would leave a four year old, 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:43.680 a two year old, a family, a job, and friends 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:47.760 and just disappear. It's just not normal human behavior for 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:52.240 a woman with her intelligence, her community ties, the fact 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:55.240 that she was employed, two kids, had a lovely home. 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:58.440 It just doesn't add up. And I was very disappointed 0:22:58.440 --> 0:23:02.560 that the police investigation was so poor initially, that Lynnette 0:23:02.600 --> 0:23:05.959 Dawson was just treated as another missing person and it 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:10.280 wasn't prioritized. They never looked at the issues of domestic violence. 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:13.000 They never looked at the reality or the possibility that 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:14.000 this was a homicide. 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:19.359 Karl Milavanovitch has been a powerful advocate for murdered women 0:23:19.600 --> 0:23:23.080 like Lynn, But he told me something else of great importance. 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:27.720 On that afternoon in December twenty seventeen, Karl spoke about 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:32.760 the case of another missing woman, Bromwn Joy Windfield. I 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:36.080 had not heard her name, nor anything about her nineteen 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:40.400 ninety three disappearance until Karl raised it with me. There 0:23:40.480 --> 0:23:44.040 was very little publicity about Bromwin over the years. Her 0:23:44.160 --> 0:23:48.439 case seemed to have fallen between the cracks. This is 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:51.840 some of what Carl matter of factly told me about Bromwin. 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:56.600 I did an inquest of her. Lady called Bromwyn Windfield, 0:23:57.040 --> 0:24:01.960 and she had two kids as well, and she went 0:24:02.119 --> 0:24:05.159 to bed one night and she disappeared next day. And 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:08.400 there was some suggestion from a neighbor that they heard 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:12.119 the car reversing down the driveway and scraping on the ground, 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:14.520 like some suggestion there might have been something in the boot, 0:24:14.600 --> 0:24:17.600 but she was never found. The same thing happened there. 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:19.560 He was in Sydney, the husband was in Sydney. 0:24:19.640 --> 0:24:20.360 She was up there. 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:23.879 She went to see a solicitor about organizing a separation, 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:26.840 got the locks changed to the house. He found out 0:24:26.880 --> 0:24:29.399 about it, drove up there next day she disappeared. 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:30.640 I did the. 0:24:30.600 --> 0:24:34.240 Inquest at Lismore. I had a very competent counsel assisting. 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:38.159 It was a strong case. I thought circumstantial evidence. Referred 0:24:38.200 --> 0:24:40.080 it to the DPP. They didn't run with it. 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:44.040 And when the DPP decides that they're not going to run, 0:24:44.560 --> 0:24:47.040 do they send to you or to the Coroner's. 0:24:46.680 --> 0:24:49.440 Office a letter explaining what No. 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:54.320 There's no explanation the DPP in terms of detailed reasons 0:24:54.920 --> 0:24:57.480 for not proceeding. How do we know that they have 0:24:57.760 --> 0:24:58.720 just misunderstood the. 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:02.679 Cats Well, I suppose that's always a possibility. At that 0:25:02.840 --> 0:25:05.560 stage of my career as deputy State coroner, I was 0:25:05.600 --> 0:25:09.280 probably just starting to do a number of missing person's 0:25:09.400 --> 0:25:14.359 cases that were historical ones. And it wasn't long after 0:25:14.680 --> 0:25:19.240 the inquest into Lynette Dawson's disappearance from and Winfield at 0:25:19.240 --> 0:25:22.240 a number of others that I was getting very concerned 0:25:22.880 --> 0:25:28.160 about historical missing person cases where clearly it was evident 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:32.359 that they were probably homicides, and the attitude that the 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:35.520 police had to the investigation of them. I think there 0:25:35.600 --> 0:25:39.040 was a systemic problem in the police department in how 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:44.359 they prioritized and trianged missing person's cases. So that was 0:25:44.760 --> 0:25:48.480 a systemic attitude the police had. You don't worry about 0:25:48.560 --> 0:25:52.520 investigating until you've got a smoking gun or some evidence 0:25:52.520 --> 0:25:55.000 of foul play. They'll turn up, or they've gone off 0:25:55.000 --> 0:25:56.680 with a boyfriend or something like that. 0:25:57.920 --> 0:26:01.560 I asked Carl whether this men that a significant number 0:26:01.720 --> 0:26:05.280 of women who had been classified by police as simply 0:26:05.359 --> 0:26:08.400 missing were more likely to have been murdered. 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:13.160 No doubt, no doubt. I've got no doubt about that. Absolutely. 0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:16.280 If you'd asked me this question nine years ago, before 0:26:16.320 --> 0:26:18.040 I retired, I would have given you a list of 0:26:18.040 --> 0:26:21.119 all their names. And I think the majority of the 0:26:21.200 --> 0:26:24.080 long term missing person's cases that are still outstanding even 0:26:24.119 --> 0:26:27.160 to this day involve the young women who have disappeared, 0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:29.240 and inevitably they are victims. 0:26:29.320 --> 0:26:33.320 Upon the side, it was chilling to hear this conclusion 0:26:33.760 --> 0:26:38.080 because it was also completely logical. I had a name, 0:26:38.480 --> 0:26:42.400 Bromwyn Winfield. I made a mental note to revisit her 0:26:42.440 --> 0:26:46.400 case properly. One day, I opened a folder to collect 0:26:46.440 --> 0:26:51.520 information about this other missing woman. In the second half 0:26:51.560 --> 0:26:55.040