WEBVTT - Cherylee |15 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:04.240 Okay, let me pass the tree and then we've got 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:05.080 a gate up here. 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:06.080 Yeah, gates open. 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.240 This is the sound of Nina and I back in 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.520 the car on the trail of Frank Abbott on this car. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.560 We'll get to the gate, and this is the sound 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:27.400 of us hitting an obstacle, or in this case, a 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.960 series of obstacles, big rough bumps and rocks in the 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:32.600 dirt road. 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.320 It's definitely not a way anyone goes regularly. 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:40.279 No, it's not calling it a road is probably overstating it. 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:42.080 No one has come out and screamed with this to 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.440 get off their properly. Probably not on someone's property. 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.600 Well, I also think that's because no one lives here. 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.920 To fully appreciate the situation Nina and I are now in. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.680 It helps to know that the car we're driving is 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:01.080 all most brand new. 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:03.680 Very high grass here that we're driving through. 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:09.080 The car also belongs to our employers, freaking right down, 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.959 and our bosses have absolutely no idea. 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:15.840 What we're up to. 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:17.880 What we're going to do is get to the gate 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:29.680 and then just check the underside of the car. Yeah, 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:34.000 But to understand why Nina and I have got ourselves 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:35.720 into this situation. 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:41.120 Dean's gone to move a fallen tree. Valliant effort. You 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:47.440 might do it. It's a full tree. 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:54.360 Car's fine, really objectively creepy looking forest. 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.480 To understand why we're bumping our way through this creepy 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:04.440 looking forest, and why we've ignored the advice of local 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:07.680 people who say you cannot get through on the road 0:02:07.760 --> 0:02:08.200 this way. 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:10.919 Now, well, the local kids said we couldn't get through 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:12.600 this way, Well they might be right. 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:13.320 They may be right. 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:18.880 To understand why you have to go back. 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.400 And I think at this point we run out of road. 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:28.960 Back to that witness statement from Irish Northam which was 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:32.960 released to us by the inquest into William Tyrrel's disappearance, 0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:37.800 I think we have to walk from him. The witness 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:41.519 statement we looked at in the last episode, which talks 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:46.000 about Frank Abbott and the unsolved murder of Margaret Cox. 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:52.600 Because that witness statement also talks about Frank and another 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:58.400 unsolved murder, this time of a teenage girl whose body 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:03.160 was discovered near a rough dirt road like this one. 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:09.040 So let's go for a walk, maybe lock the car. 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.360 I'm Danbox and from news dot com dot Au. This 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:50.200 is witness William Tyrell episode fifteen. Hry Lee, All right, 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:52.520 let's go back to the beginning. 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:53.360 What are we doing? 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.240 All right, So we're sitting in the car in Kendletown, 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:00.960 which is a village outside Tari on the north coast 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:03.920 of New South Wales. And the reason we're sitting here 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.240 is Iris Northam, who's the witness who gives evidence of 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.440 the inquest. In her statement, she says that Frank Abbot 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.440 would go the back road from Cundletown through Brimbin Road 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:19.880 which was partly forest, and make his way to Tarree. 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.120 And he'd also drive a back road from Cedar Party 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:27.640 onto Wingham Road which brings you back to Tarre. If 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.640 you're struggling to follow, the key thing is Frank Abbot 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.520 told Iris Northam that he drove the back roads. 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:38.839 He'd gone the back roads to avoid the police, according 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:39.320 to Iris. 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.320 According to Iris, but we also know from other evidence 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.600 of the inquest that Frank often drove cars without a 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:48.280 license and he often drove unregistered cars, so he had 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.440 a reason to want to avoid the police. Other people 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:54.520 we've spoken to have said the same, that people used 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:58.320 to drive the back roads through the forest between Cundletown 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:05.360 and Tarree. And that might be important because Iris also 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:09.400 said that another girl went missing from Tarree and her 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.080 body was found a few years after she went missing. 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.800 And Iris says her body was found in Brimbin Road. 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.799 Brimbin Road in the back road between Condletown and Tarree, 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.840 and Iris says she only mentions it because it's one 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.560 of the roads that Frank used to drive to avoid 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:32.200 being caught by the police. Now, Iris doesn't name that girl, 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:34.640 but she names her father. And you worked out that 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:40.080 that girl's a teenager called Showily Masters who was ultimately 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.880 found on a bush track not far from Brimban Reserve. 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.039 So what Iris is doing is she's the one making 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.760 the connection and the evidence before the inquest between Frank 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.880 and this girl's disappearance. But when I looked at a 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:59.839 map this back road from Condletown to Tarree, I don't 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:02.400 think you can drive a back road from Kendletown to 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.520 Tiree because on the map it doesn't seem to work. Yeah, 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.760 there's a river in the way and no bridge that 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.360 I can see. And if it's not possible, then everything, 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.040 Iris says there falls apart. There is no connection that 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:19.040 she's made between Frank Abbot and this girl's disappearance because 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.440 you can't drive this back road. So there's only one 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:24.760 way to test it, which is to try and drive 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:25.520 the back road. 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:26.680 So let's do it. 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:27.400 We're going to do it. 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:35.320 So we set out to test Iris's statement, can you 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:36.599 go this way? 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:40.480 What am I looking for? Brimmen Road? 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.919 Aiming to see if we can find the road Iris describes, 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.520 which she says Frank Abbot used to drive, and where 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.520 the body of a seventeen year old girl known as 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:58.280 Shirrilee Masters was discovered. Sharry Lee was a carefree, spirited 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:03.279 teenager who was crazy about horses and cats and dogs, 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.720 any animal really, and she was last seen around the 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:11.560 year two thousand in Taree, telling friends she was going 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:18.920 to hitchhike south. At first, our attempt to find this 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:21.480 back road doesn't go well. 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:34.880 Directions it's off Landsdowne right, Yeah. 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:32.760 Stuck. 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:39.800 In three hundred meters, Turn left onto Dinnison's where we going? 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:49.280 Oh, we're not too far away, and hilariously, it's the 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:50.960 other direction to the one. 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:51.640 We were driving it. 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.280 So we turn around, leave Cundletown behind us, and quickly 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:01.640 the road empties and starts heading to empty country. 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.400 Like there's no road markings after here. 0:08:06.440 --> 0:08:07.960 Where do we think we're going to turn off? 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:09.480 It could be this one here. 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.360 And my observation is this is quite far. 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:19.360 Yeah, you've got to really want to not meet the police. 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.680 Because this isn't the convenient way to go. 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:32.959 No, it's empty road, gum trees on one side, fields on. 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:39.760 Either side, horses. Okay. So the next question then is 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:41.160 can you get to Tari? 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:43.800 What straight are we looking for? 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:44.600 That was my una. 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.800 That's the street okay, looking at the map, that's the 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.240 one that I think is most likely a backway to Tari. 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:55.920 Had always just ask the local children. 0:08:57.040 --> 0:08:59.800 See, that's a really good ideas. 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:10.200 A bunch of kids here mucking around on motorbikes. Hey, guys, 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.439 is there a back road from here to Tarre without 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:18.240 having to go down all the way to the main road. 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:22.880 You have to go along the road, so none of 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:27.360 these turns on the right take you down there. So 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.760 the kids who live here and who muck around on 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.920 these roads on their dirt bikes, they seem to be 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:37.880 saying that Iris must be wrong because you can't drive 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:42.040 a back road from Kendletown to Tarree. Like she says, 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:49.600 thank you, guys. Nina and I decide to ignore the 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:53.120 locals and try to find a back road like the 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:55.440 one Iris describes anyway. 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.719 I reckon, we're on Summ's properly, not on the. 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.080 Property, but I don't know what is at the end 0:10:04.080 --> 0:10:04.560 of the road. 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:08.199 You got the map, Yeah, yeah, so this one that 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.720 one there the kids told us ended in the sewage works. 0:10:12.280 --> 0:10:14.360 One of them is going to take us to this. 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:16.200 This takes us right to the river. 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.120 Does it? And this is this is the only one. 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:20.680 This is the only way I think you could go 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:21.600 from having the place. 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:24.760 If we go down here and there's an old bridge, 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:26.160 it might be usable. It might not. 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.760 Then confirmed you could go. This way is a very 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.000 inconvenient way to go, but it's going to. 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:35.720 Be inconvenient because I don't know if we can actually 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:37.720 turn around once we start driving down here. 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:44.679 So let's go. As you know, this ends badly, car 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:45.480 will get to the game. 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.960 What Nina and I do discover is that the kids 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:59.640 on bikes were right. You definitely can't drive on a 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:04.040 back road between Kendletown and Tarre, as Iris says in 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:08.800 her statement to the William Tyrell in quest. So Iris's 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:15.040 statement is wrong except it turns out that that's not 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:17.560 quite what Iris was saying. 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:24.600 Yeah, but we're just doing a little bit more follow up. 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:27.080 Yeah, and some of the questions. 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:30.959 That we have that came out of the unrest, we 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:36.040 visit Iris and ask her specifically about this back road 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:37.040 you mentioned in. 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:39.120 Your statement as well, some of the back roads. 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.920 Oh. Yes, he used to do that because he said 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:47.520 they took me liscense away because of fines for different 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.960 things that I hadn't paid, and he said I couldn't 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:52.880 got on the highway in case they picked me up. 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:54.360 So I used to use. 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:59.319 The our fire tracks fire trials. 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:01.559 In Australia, a fire trails, a rough dirt road cleared 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:04.720 through the bush for fire crews to use in case 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:05.479 of a bushfire. 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:07.160 We're trying to drive them yesterday. 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:13.080 But we tell Iris the road that we tried to follow. 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:17.280 No, No, that's another one. Yeah, that's out near Candletown. 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:21.160 About another back road from Condletown to Taree. 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:27.920 Well, this one leads from. 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:29.920 You've got Iris gets a pen and paper and starts 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:31.480 drawing a rough map. 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:38.559 You've got John Throver there. Next down here is small 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:45.719 lane and from there it used to go through the 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:48.560 Forest to Lansdowne. 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:53.079 Suddenly we realize. 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.920 From Lansdowne it used to come into Candletown. 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.360 Nina and I had been on the wrong road. 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:06.160 To Brimbon Road and into the bushes and whatever. 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:11.040 We thought we'd been following the route in Iris's witness statement. 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:15.040 And from there around it comes out. I think it's 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:16.880 Young's but. 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:22.520 We were mistaken. We've been trying to follow Google maps. 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:27.040 Mostly, and from there they used to go along. 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.679 Wingham Row and the Iris is drawing on this piece 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:36.760 of paper on her kitchen table. 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:46.200 And turn left to go to the tendin Barling. It 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:48.960 isn't marked on our map, and the other one goes 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:49.520 to Brimbon. 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.240 I've been looking at a map one you've been saying. 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:54.600 So I've been looking at this map on my phone. 0:13:55.160 --> 0:14:00.880 That road you're describing takes you straight through the Yarret Forest, 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:04.520 the state forest there. But that's where that body you're 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.040 talking about, Chevroley masters. That's the rough area where she 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:08.680 was found. 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:11.760 Yes, so if Frank. 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:16.680 Did use to drive along this road, that would put 0:14:16.720 --> 0:14:19.920 Frank in the area where Chery's body was discovered. 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:23.080 He told us that's the way he went because he 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:26.360 didn't have a license, didn't want to get picked up. 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:30.680 So taking the map Iris has now drawn for us. 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:35.239 Nina and I decide again to go and try to drive. 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.200 It, and we'll give you a call if we guess. 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:41.080 How about that you could. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.240 Tell us that with us. 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.840 So this is the Old Port mcquarie Road, a few 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:10.160 kilometers north of Tare and we're here because bluntly, we're 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.920 looking for where the body of show Lee Masters was found, 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:19.360 which is in this forest. And all we really know 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.400 is from newspaper reports at the time that is described 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.880 as a rarely used bush track within a kilometer of 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:27.440 where you come off the sealed road. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.360 I mean she wasn't found for six years. 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:32.520 Yeah, it's rarely used. 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.680 But the problem with that newspaper report is I don't 0:15:35.760 --> 0:15:38.680 know if the reporter had actually been here because they 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:40.680 got the name of the road roll. They're called it 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:43.320 the Old Port Road and it's actually the Old Port 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:44.320 mcquarie Road. 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.640 It was written like they saw the crime scene tape. 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:55.040 Could it be that that looks like it might once 0:15:55.080 --> 0:16:03.040 have been a track? Do you have the descript Yeah, 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:08.200 it says the crime scene tape roped off a rarely 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.480 used bush track leading off the Old Port Road, not 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:16.520 far from Brimban Reserve. The track is located less than 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.080 a kilometer off the tarred Cedar Party Road, which. 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:21.680 Is the way we drove up to get here. 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:26.600 It could be if that is an old bush track. 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:30.200 Let me have a look. 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.520 I get out and walk into the forest following the 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.760 bush track, trying to see if it could be the 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:41.960 same place described in the old newspaper clippings as where 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:46.360 Cheryly's body was discovered. And if you're thinking this all 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:52.320 seems quite vague, well so are we. One thing we 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:57.400 are learning is there's so little known about Scherly's murder 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.320 it's almost as if she vanished. 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:10.440 Yeah, that's an old bush track. 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:15.840 It doesn't get much traffic, and there's no obvious gravesite 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.840 or anything, but I wouldn't expect one. What there is 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:21.760 is there's a bunch of stuff that's been flight tipped there. 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:26.160 So there's some old kind of old sofa cushions maybe, 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.600 and some kind of household. 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.600 It's said in the article that this is a popular 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:32.359 dumping area. 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.000 Yeah, people have been out there and just chuck stuff 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:39.720 in the bush. But I guess the significance of it 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:43.480 isn't so much that that might be the track where 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.720 Serie was found. As we know she was found in 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:52.960 this forest. We know she was found on this road. 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.159 And when we just were talking to Iris then and 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:59.280 the description she gave us of how Frank drove from 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:04.000 Condletown to Taree on back roads. The roads she described 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.080 the only way you can get between them are on 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:10.639 this old Port mcquarie road. So if her description of 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:15.600 how Frank drove at the time to escape the police 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:18.840 is accurate, then he had to come along this road, 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:24.560 which is where Cheverley Masters was found. But looking at 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:28.399 a map, I don't know if you can actually do 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:30.560 that loop through the forest. If you can, it's on 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.880 this road which is a dirt track, and the only 0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.240 way to find out if you can or not is 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:40.120 to keep going. But I don't know if this car 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:40.840 is going to make. 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:45.560 It more concerning. The phrase she used was roads and 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:46.520 fire trails. 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.320 Why it's more concerning if you're the owner of this car, 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:52.960 which are. 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:00.320 And there's a trail going there that way? 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.000 What's that That one's not even on the map. 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:05.159 That one looks like you could have driven on it. 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.240 You said this earlier. You're only going to know these 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:12.680 roads if you're a local. Yeah, so you're only going 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:18.600 to find this is a place to dispose of Shery's body. 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.520 And I hate saying it as bluntly as that. Sorry, 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:25.120 if anyone's listening that did know her. But you're only 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.760 going to use these places and come to these places 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.560 if you know of them, and you'd have to be 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:32.840 a local to do that. It doesn't make me think 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.560 one or two things. One is, if Frank Abbot's really 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:39.159 driving this road, then why is he so keen to 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:45.400 avoid police, like getting stopped for driving without a license. Okay, yeah, 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.600 you'd get in trouble for that, but driving this far 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:50.840 out of your way rather than taking the chance on 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:54.639 the three kilometer drive on the main road, it feels 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.160 like you really wanted to avoid police. 0:19:57.800 --> 0:19:59.440 But the other thing it makes me think. 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:04.320 Is all right, so you can't get through on these roads, 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.080 like Iris said, Frank told her he used to do, 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:12.440 so you can't do that. That doesn't mean that Iris 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.600 is wrong. It might mean that Frank was lying to Iris, 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.159 that he wanted to give her a different reason for 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.320 why he was driving on these roads, and maybe he 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:27.159 had a reason he wanted to disguise, not necessarily that 0:20:27.200 --> 0:20:30.439 he was involved in Sherly Master's murder. I'm not suggesting that, 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.040 but maybe there was something else he did up here 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.160 that he didn't want Irish to know about. 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.520 Yeah, but the problem is you can see. 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:40.399 On the map we're about to hit the end of 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:41.480 what Google says this. 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:44.520 Map is, and then there's a river. 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:50.359 And that river's problem because if you can't get through 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:53.280 on this road, like Iris says Frank used to in 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.560 her witness statement, then there is nothing to connect Frank 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:01.800 Abbott to the place where Showy's body was discovered. And 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:07.600 if Iris's statement is wrong about that, then maybe she's 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:12.880 also wrong about everything else, including the alleged links between 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:17.680 Frank Abbott and the unsolved murder of Margaret Cox, which 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:19.600 we looked at in the last episode. 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:25.560 All right, doesn't go through. 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:28.400 No, on the map, you can't get past the river. 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:31.239 But if we're going to find a way, it's going 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:37.000 to be just here, he says. 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:39.560 As he drives towards. 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:43.280 He says, as there's a massive close game. But the 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:51.080 thing about that closing gate road, old Port McQuary Road 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:53.080 goes beyond it and it's now. 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:58.400 A footpath authorized vehicles only, But. 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:01.760 How old is the gate, So we're talking thirty years ago. 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:06.520 Yeah, and if that gate wasn't there thirty years ago 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:11.120 when Shirrilee was murdered, maybe you could keep driving on 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:15.440 this road over the river for now. Nina and I 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:19.920 pull up at a little picnic area. It's completely empty. 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:23.480 I walk over to a wooden sign where there's a 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:26.160 map saying Brimbin Nature Reserve. 0:22:27.359 --> 0:22:29.280 Yeah, look at this. Look at this. 0:22:29.280 --> 0:22:31.199 This is the map on the I don't know what 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:35.400 is it nature Reserve information sign and shows So we're there, 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:37.040 see the end of the road of the picnic area, 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:39.639 but it shows that that old Fort mcquarie road turns 0:22:39.680 --> 0:22:42.800 into a footpath here and then it crosses the river. 0:22:42.960 --> 0:22:45.840 It says it's called the Tommy Owen's Crossing. And then 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:48.879 the track goes on through the bush here and missus 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:52.640 Kelly's Crossing and miss Kelly's crossing of the river further up. 0:22:52.680 --> 0:22:54.520 And then if you look on my phone and you 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:58.320 look at that bend in the river again, that takes 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:02.200 you back over it's the Awson River there and onto 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:07.080 dirt tracks in the forest that lead you back to 0:23:07.920 --> 0:23:08.800 Brimbin Rogue. 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.679 So possibly actually there was a way to drive through here. 0:23:14.640 --> 0:23:21.760 It's really out of the way, so maybe maybe you 0:23:22.040 --> 0:23:26.040 could once drive the whole way the way Frank told 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:27.479 Iris that he used to. 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:34.800 So it's only now that you can actually put Frank 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:39.240 Abbott as having been at the place where Sherrily Master's 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:42.960 body was found. So it's only now we've got that connection. 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:49.120 But none of this is proof of anything. Far from it, 0:23:49.680 --> 0:23:53.520 particularly because when Nina and I do get to the river, 0:23:54.440 --> 0:24:00.359 there's no way you could drive a car across it, at. 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:02.639 Least in its current state. 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:04.920 We can't drive that. 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:06.040 You can't get across that. 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:09.919 There is a bridge, but it's a narrow walking bridge. 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:12.560 Yeah, thirty years and floods. 0:24:13.359 --> 0:24:14.960 I don't know what it looks about, unless there's any 0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:17.120 evidence that there was a bigger bridge there once. 0:24:17.520 --> 0:24:20.880 When there's a library, what's your local library full. 0:24:20.720 --> 0:24:23.840 Of old maps? 0:24:23.080 --> 0:24:27.240 Yeah, So ever stopped researching. 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:32.919 We stopped recording and head back to the car, feeling subdued. 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:39.080 No bridge, no road, no connection between Frank wants driving 0:24:39.200 --> 0:24:43.399 this route through the forest where Chery's body was discovered 0:24:43.760 --> 0:24:46.720 after she was last seen in Taree in the year 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:47.760 two thousand. 0:24:57.160 --> 0:24:57.800 Back at our. 0:24:57.720 --> 0:25:00.800 Motel, I go to bed and wake up to a 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:02.240 text message from Nina. 0:25:03.160 --> 0:25:04.159 She wants to talk. 0:25:06.600 --> 0:25:08.000 Good morning, Good morning. 0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:13.280 So I did some reading about the town planning. I 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:16.280 am not the navigator, as we've established, so I. 0:25:16.280 --> 0:25:18.480 Need you to interpret this and tell me if I'm right. 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:20.760 Okay, So have a look. Do you want me? 0:25:21.040 --> 0:25:22.640 I want you to look at this email I sent 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:26.240 you in the middle of the night about town planning 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:30.840 in the early two thousands entire Okay, all right. 0:25:32.000 --> 0:25:34.200 So this is the email you sent, which she sent 0:25:34.280 --> 0:25:39.240 to me at on fairness, it was only ten past 0:25:39.280 --> 0:25:40.040 eleven at night. 0:25:40.200 --> 0:25:40.760 That's great. 0:25:40.840 --> 0:25:44.080 And it's the one title Brimban Reserve Development Plan in two. 0:25:44.000 --> 0:25:46.879 Thousand and five. Click click that link. So just click 0:25:46.920 --> 0:25:48.880 on that link. 0:25:49.000 --> 0:25:56.359 Yeah, okay, So it's the Brimbin Nature Reserve Plan of 0:25:56.440 --> 0:26:00.000 Management from the New South Wales National Parks and wild 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:02.919