WEBVTT - New Information and the Rabbit Hole 0:00:05.881 --> 0:00:07.281 Appodjay production. 0:00:11.121 --> 0:00:13.321 I didn't ever think I would open up my laptop 0:00:13.321 --> 0:00:17.041 again and start writing another episode about my uncle Dev's 0:00:17.441 --> 0:00:20.921 on a road just south of Broome in northwestern Australia. 0:00:22.201 --> 0:00:25.281 After we released the final episode, I was not hopeful 0:00:25.361 --> 0:00:29.761 anything or anyone would come forward with new information about 0:00:29.761 --> 0:00:34.041 my uncle's disappearance. My family was happy with the fact 0:00:34.321 --> 0:00:36.441 we were able to get the story out and the 0:00:36.481 --> 0:00:41.321 podcast had some success both here and overseas. We had 0:00:41.361 --> 0:00:43.840 set up a website to help show some of the 0:00:43.881 --> 0:00:47.841 details of his disappearance, and as part of that site 0:00:47.961 --> 0:00:51.400 we had a simple contact us page. We had a 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.721 few hundred emails from people wishing us well, some gave 0:00:54.761 --> 0:00:58.001 their own theories about what happened, and some just wanted 0:00:58.041 --> 0:01:01.841 to say they enjoyed listening to the podcast. That was 0:01:01.921 --> 0:01:05.561 until Tuesday night, the fourth of September, when my phone 0:01:05.561 --> 0:01:09.921 pined just before going to bed. It was an email 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:15.080 from the contact us page and it read, Hi, I 0:01:15.161 --> 0:01:17.600 knew Dead's in the seventies in Broom, where we both 0:01:17.681 --> 0:01:21.041 worked on building sites before he moved to Derby. I 0:01:21.121 --> 0:01:23.321 saw Dez in the evening of Saturday, the fourth of 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:27.241 August at the Broom Rodeo. He was very drunk and 0:01:27.321 --> 0:01:29.321 I was with children, so I didn't speak with him. 0:01:30.041 --> 0:01:33.041 He seemed to be with two couples aged in their twenties. 0:01:33.481 --> 0:01:39.601 They looked like travelers, possibly European. I'll stop reading the 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:42.680 email from there, but it was sent by a man 0:01:42.801 --> 0:01:46.441 called Peter Connolly. That man's name had never come up 0:01:46.881 --> 0:01:49.641 in all my time researching what had happened to my uncle. 0:01:49.681 --> 0:01:53.641 Des To say I didn't sleep the night I got 0:01:53.641 --> 0:01:58.201 this email is a massive understatement. I had so many questions. 0:01:58.801 --> 0:02:03.641 My head was spinning with theories, excitement, and a little 0:02:03.641 --> 0:02:07.361 bit to worry. Worried this might be a very large 0:02:07.401 --> 0:02:10.201 rabbit hole that I was about to dive back into 0:02:10.881 --> 0:02:13.841 and still get no more answers than where we left 0:02:13.881 --> 0:02:19.481 you in episode five. The main thing that went through 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:26.321 my mind was the actual time of my uncle's disappearance. Remember, 0:02:26.841 --> 0:02:30.361 Dez was last seen at three pm on the second 0:02:30.401 --> 0:02:33.641 of August by his road manager while working on his 0:02:33.761 --> 0:02:37.000 road roller, and at four pm when they returned to 0:02:37.001 --> 0:02:41.481 pick him up, he was no longer there. Luckily, Peter, 0:02:41.841 --> 0:02:44.960 who had sent the email, had left his number, so 0:02:45.001 --> 0:02:55.681 my next step was to give him a call. Hello, Peter, 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.000 it's appropriate to have a chat now. Yeah. 0:02:58.121 --> 0:03:00.441 Yeah, I'll just go and sit myself down inside. And 0:03:02.081 --> 0:03:05.520 you're lucky because I've just come in out doing a 0:03:05.561 --> 0:03:07.161 little bit of work this afternoon. 0:03:08.401 --> 0:03:11.721 So where do you live in Broom? 0:03:11.281 --> 0:03:11.361 Ye? 0:03:12.161 --> 0:03:15.281 Peter is seventy one years old now and has been 0:03:15.361 --> 0:03:18.441 living with the information he's about to give me for 0:03:18.441 --> 0:03:21.921 forty years. I'm not the only person who's told this 0:03:22.001 --> 0:03:25.841 story too, but we'll get to that later. The first 0:03:25.841 --> 0:03:29.440 thing I wanted to know was why, after all these 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:30.960 years did he get in contact. 0:03:31.321 --> 0:03:34.961 My daughter in law is a bit of a podcast freak, 0:03:35.841 --> 0:03:38.481 and she started talking about the guy that went missing 0:03:38.601 --> 0:03:41.961 him Room and I said to her, his name wasn't 0:03:42.001 --> 0:03:48.041 Dez Was? He said yeah. I then downloaded the podcast myself. 0:03:48.401 --> 0:03:50.201 I listened to it and I said, well, I've got 0:03:50.201 --> 0:03:52.641 a bit of information I think I should tell somebody. 0:03:53.561 --> 0:03:55.441 So that's basically where it comes from. 0:03:56.121 --> 0:03:58.081 I wanted to get a bit of a backstory from 0:03:58.121 --> 0:04:01.521 Peter on how he knew my uncle Daz, partly to 0:04:01.601 --> 0:04:04.641 try and verify that he actually did know him, and 0:04:04.761 --> 0:04:07.401 part lead to try and understand how they came to 0:04:07.441 --> 0:04:09.721 meet and how often they'd see each other. 0:04:10.241 --> 0:04:12.921 I met him in Broom. He was working for the 0:04:13.081 --> 0:04:17.161 building company that I was working for. I was a 0:04:17.161 --> 0:04:22.281 contract carpenter building the homes West houses here in Broome, 0:04:22.601 --> 0:04:26.760 and Des was also working for the same company. He 0:04:26.961 --> 0:04:31.001 was a vinyl four tiler at that the time, laying 0:04:31.601 --> 0:04:34.880 the vinyl four tiles and the units that we were building. 0:04:35.161 --> 0:04:39.080 And what year was that, very very early seventies. 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.201 And how long did you work together with him? 0:04:41.561 --> 0:04:46.041 Probably a couple of years. So I did know him 0:04:46.121 --> 0:04:49.640 reasonably well. He wasn't my best mate, Let's be honest 0:04:49.721 --> 0:04:52.361 that he was the sort of guy that I worked with. 0:04:52.801 --> 0:04:54.521 I walked into the pub and he was sitting at 0:04:54.561 --> 0:04:56.281 the bar. I'd go and to have a beer with him. 0:04:57.201 --> 0:05:01.161 We spoke to each other quite often, just a general mate. 0:05:01.281 --> 0:05:05.001 Okay, So before the information you gave me via email, 0:05:05.361 --> 0:05:07.400 when was the last time he saw Dez before that? 0:05:08.121 --> 0:05:10.681 Yeah, I've been trying to think. I ran into him 0:05:10.681 --> 0:05:14.320 in Broom again. This is after it moved to Derby 0:05:15.161 --> 0:05:17.681 and I seen him up near the hospital walking down 0:05:17.721 --> 0:05:20.880 the road one day and I stopped and talked to him. Now, 0:05:20.961 --> 0:05:26.281 this I reckon. This was maybe towards the end of 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:32.881 the seventies, maybe seventy seven, seventy eight. I stopped my 0:05:32.961 --> 0:05:35.640 car and had a good yarn with him. He seemed 0:05:35.721 --> 0:05:39.121 quite good. I can't really remember if he said why 0:05:39.161 --> 0:05:41.641 he was in Broom, but that's the last time that 0:05:41.721 --> 0:05:45.121 I seen him at the time before I recognized him, 0:05:45.121 --> 0:05:45.361 you know. 0:05:47.041 --> 0:05:51.321 So let's go to that time that you emailed me about. 0:05:51.481 --> 0:05:53.841 I'm sure it was a Saturday night because that's the 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.400 only time they have the radas on. I knew it 0:05:57.561 --> 0:06:02.640 was the next Saturday night after Dez went missing. So 0:06:03.361 --> 0:06:05.520 I kind of done a bit of research self, and 0:06:05.801 --> 0:06:08.080 I found out that that was the fort. 0:06:09.641 --> 0:06:14.161 So we're talking Saturday, the fourth of August nineteen seventy nine, 0:06:14.281 --> 0:06:18.441 and so it was a rodeo in Brow in Broom. Yeah, 0:06:18.601 --> 0:06:19.681 tell me what you saw. 0:06:21.001 --> 0:06:26.681 Well, I was at the rodeo with my children. I 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:31.281 had one son of my own and three other children 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.761 that I was looking after time. So I was standing 0:06:35.841 --> 0:06:38.840 there watching the rodeo. It's kind of an early evening, 0:06:39.201 --> 0:06:45.520 I exactly eight o'clock something along those lines, and I 0:06:45.641 --> 0:06:48.640 was standing kind of reasonably close, and I could see 0:06:48.721 --> 0:06:51.520 the bar, and I looked up and I could see 0:06:51.561 --> 0:06:54.681 Dais walking up to the bar. Now at this time, 0:06:54.761 --> 0:06:58.961 I noticed that he was really, really quite drunk. You're 0:06:58.961 --> 0:07:01.921 doing quite a bit of staggering. It looked like he 0:07:02.081 --> 0:07:06.561 was talking to two couples of people, to the degree 0:07:06.601 --> 0:07:10.281 that I thought he was actually with them. That I 0:07:10.321 --> 0:07:14.521 didn't make contact because I was with my kids, and 0:07:14.881 --> 0:07:16.601 I thought, the ms suffer are you're a bit too 0:07:16.681 --> 0:07:19.681 drunk to talk to tonight? This? So I just let it go. 0:07:20.121 --> 0:07:23.601 And so these people he was standing with by the bar, 0:07:24.481 --> 0:07:25.121 who were they? 0:07:25.161 --> 0:07:25.241 Do? 0:07:25.281 --> 0:07:25.521 You know? 0:07:25.801 --> 0:07:29.241 Well, look, they weren't local people from Broom. I knew 0:07:29.281 --> 0:07:33.961 that that I'd never seen them before. They looked like 0:07:34.201 --> 0:07:37.881 young European backpackers to me kind of saw in European, 0:07:38.081 --> 0:07:42.641 maybe German, Swedish, something along these lines. That was just 0:07:42.761 --> 0:07:45.681 the impression that I got, Like, like I said, there 0:07:45.921 --> 0:07:48.521 seems to be with them. I couldn't hear what he 0:07:48.641 --> 0:07:51.521 was saying, but I can see that he was talking 0:07:51.561 --> 0:07:52.441 to them in general. 0:07:53.321 --> 0:07:55.881 And you said it was a couple or a couple 0:07:55.921 --> 0:07:56.441 of people? 0:07:56.841 --> 0:07:59.721 Was two couples a girl or a guy and a 0:07:59.801 --> 0:08:00.481 girl or the guy? 0:08:00.641 --> 0:08:04.481 Okay? And did he look like they were friends or 0:08:04.561 --> 0:08:05.561 friendly or. 0:08:06.201 --> 0:08:22.281 I kind of got the impression that he was with them. 0:08:15.841 --> 0:08:20.561 So to recap. Peter says he saw Dez a few 0:08:20.641 --> 0:08:24.121 days after he went missing. He was talking with two 0:08:24.161 --> 0:08:26.521 couples and he was drunk. 0:08:27.241 --> 0:08:29.641 At that time. I didn't know that it was Dev 0:08:29.721 --> 0:08:30.401 that was missing. 0:08:31.561 --> 0:08:32.761 So when did you find that out? 0:08:33.081 --> 0:08:36.841 It was early the next week, may have even been 0:08:36.921 --> 0:08:42.201 on the Sunday. I can't quite remember if I heard 0:08:42.201 --> 0:08:45.321 it on the news or somebody told me, but it 0:08:45.401 --> 0:08:47.721 was early the next week that I heard that it 0:08:47.761 --> 0:08:50.561 was Dez, and bang, all of a sudden, I said 0:08:50.561 --> 0:08:53.081 to myself, well, I've seen him on Saturday night. I 0:08:53.641 --> 0:08:54.921 was positive that it was him. 0:08:55.361 --> 0:08:59.521 This new information has really blown me away to think 0:08:59.641 --> 0:09:02.921 that this podcast about my uncle Dez, who's been missing 0:09:02.961 --> 0:09:05.801 for forty years, was heard by some one's daughter in 0:09:05.881 --> 0:09:09.041 law and in conversation she brings it up and her 0:09:09.081 --> 0:09:10.001 father in law. 0:09:09.881 --> 0:09:12.201 Says, his name wasn't Dev, was it? 0:09:12.601 --> 0:09:16.281 That's my uncle Dez, the man we've been searching for 0:09:16.361 --> 0:09:20.921 answers for for about forty years. Peter says he did 0:09:20.961 --> 0:09:23.481 go to the police a few days after he found 0:09:23.481 --> 0:09:26.281 out that Dez was missing to report what he saw. 0:09:26.721 --> 0:09:29.001 At that time, I was a member of the local 0:09:29.081 --> 0:09:33.841 show council here and so I just messed us to 0:09:33.961 --> 0:09:36.761 kind of a liais with us quite often, so I 0:09:36.801 --> 0:09:40.761 did know him on a personal basis. I discussed it 0:09:40.801 --> 0:09:43.561 with him and said that i'd send him the rodeo. 0:09:43.761 --> 0:09:46.281 And he asked me if I made verbal contact with him, 0:09:46.601 --> 0:09:49.121 if I spoke to him, and I said I didn't, 0:09:49.241 --> 0:09:52.281 and explain the reasons why it was because I had 0:09:52.321 --> 0:09:55.641 the kids for me, and he said, well, look, it's 0:09:55.681 --> 0:09:59.601 not a true terification of Dez and it was basically 0:09:59.681 --> 0:10:04.001 left at that. Reflecting back on it again, now, I 0:10:04.041 --> 0:10:08.241 didn't make a statement of any sort, he didn't take 0:10:08.281 --> 0:10:11.481 any notes. I got a feeling that he might have 0:10:11.601 --> 0:10:16.481 just passed it all forgotten about this on reflection, that's 0:10:16.561 --> 0:10:20.001 what I kind of think, because he didn't write out 0:10:20.041 --> 0:10:22.121 a description or anything. 0:10:22.441 --> 0:10:26.801 Wow, this is amazing information, it really is, Peter, and 0:10:27.681 --> 0:10:30.761 I know the family and me being as part of 0:10:30.801 --> 0:10:34.881 the family, are grateful that you've come forward. How confident 0:10:35.001 --> 0:10:37.161 are you that it was dead that you saw at 0:10:37.161 --> 0:10:38.241 the rodeo that night? 0:10:39.521 --> 0:10:42.201 Well, look, no one can be one hundred percent that 0:10:42.361 --> 0:10:45.681 I'd say, you know ninety percent sure that it was dead. 0:10:46.761 --> 0:10:49.961 Theirs was a fairly outstanding sort of a guy. He 0:10:50.081 --> 0:10:52.721 wasn't the sort of guy that looks like anybody else, 0:10:53.321 --> 0:10:57.281 you know. He he had a unique look about him, 0:10:57.361 --> 0:11:00.961 and he was to me, he was very easy to recognize. 0:11:01.641 --> 0:11:03.801 And for the length of time that I knew him 0:11:04.321 --> 0:11:07.121 from the early seventies rugh It up to that point, 0:11:07.761 --> 0:11:10.801 even when he moved to Derby, I did see him 0:11:10.801 --> 0:11:14.481 from time to time, so I knew him over a 0:11:14.521 --> 0:11:18.361 fairly long period of time. So look, you know, i'd 0:11:18.361 --> 0:11:22.001 be ninety percent sure that it was dead. I was 0:11:22.081 --> 0:11:25.001 shocked when I found out that he was the guy 0:11:25.041 --> 0:11:27.481 that was setting from the main Rows. 0:11:27.801 --> 0:11:31.041 I'm thinking, surely the police would have a record of 0:11:31.161 --> 0:11:35.121 Peter reporting the sighting. You would hope so. But from 0:11:35.161 --> 0:11:38.121 Peter's memory, it sounds like the copper on the day 0:11:38.601 --> 0:11:40.801 was a little more relaxed than I was when I 0:11:40.841 --> 0:11:45.521 heard the information. I've emailed the detective you've heard in 0:11:45.601 --> 0:11:49.441 earlier episodes to chase up this information that will no 0:11:49.561 --> 0:11:52.641 doubt form part of a future episode when we get it. 0:11:54.361 --> 0:11:56.641 I recall him one of the many interviews I did 0:11:56.681 --> 0:11:59.521 with my mum and my Auntie Joy that there was 0:11:59.561 --> 0:12:02.761 a story that the Main Roads team actually didn't report 0:12:02.801 --> 0:12:06.281 des missing until Monday, when he didn't turn up for work. 0:12:07.201 --> 0:12:10.921 This was part of the Channel nine story around DES's disappearance. 0:12:11.601 --> 0:12:14.681 Thinking he may have quit work early, the foreman didn't 0:12:14.761 --> 0:12:16.881 raise the alarm until after the weekend. 0:12:17.721 --> 0:12:20.041 They thought that he had just knocked off early and 0:12:20.081 --> 0:12:23.441 maybe gone home to see family in Perth. No one 0:12:23.481 --> 0:12:26.561 from Main Roads called the family until Monday, the sixth 0:12:26.601 --> 0:12:29.921 of August nineteen seventy nine to ask if dev was 0:12:29.921 --> 0:12:33.361 with them. It was at this stage the police report 0:12:33.401 --> 0:12:38.961 was filed. August six was two days after Peter Connolly 0:12:39.041 --> 0:12:42.481 says he saw Dez very drunk hanging out with a 0:12:42.521 --> 0:12:47.841 few travelers at the Broom Rodeo. My family always thought 0:12:47.921 --> 0:12:51.521 the crucial time was that hour between three pm and 0:12:51.641 --> 0:12:54.841 four pm on the second of August, where Des was 0:12:54.961 --> 0:12:59.121 last seen standing by his roller. Now he could have 0:12:59.161 --> 0:13:03.601 gone missing any time after that point, potentially from a 0:13:03.641 --> 0:13:08.361 different location. That now opens up a whole bunch of 0:13:08.441 --> 0:13:14.601 new questions. This is what I was afraid of. Peter 0:13:14.721 --> 0:13:18.041 had lived with this information for forty years and it 0:13:18.161 --> 0:13:21.441 wasn't until this podcast that he had a way of 0:13:21.521 --> 0:13:22.401 telling his story. 0:13:23.161 --> 0:13:26.241 From time to time, I've seen something in the paper 0:13:28.041 --> 0:13:30.841 and I've kind of thought about it. It's something that 0:13:30.841 --> 0:13:34.961 hasn't left my mind. It's continuously been there. I often 0:13:35.001 --> 0:13:38.921 wonder actually what happened to him? Yeah, Like there were 0:13:39.001 --> 0:13:41.321 times that I thought, well, maybe I should dry and 0:13:41.361 --> 0:13:44.881 contact the family. I didn't really know how to go 0:13:44.961 --> 0:13:48.161 about that. I kind of thought, well, I've done all 0:13:48.201 --> 0:13:51.681 I can by going to the place. But on reflection, 0:13:52.041 --> 0:13:55.441 I really don't think they've done anything about it. There's 0:13:55.481 --> 0:13:58.881 been a few friends that I've told over time, both 0:13:58.881 --> 0:14:03.401 here and in Derby, but you know, no one seemed 0:14:03.401 --> 0:14:04.121 to know anything. 0:14:04.481 --> 0:14:06.881 I next told any of my family yet, because I 0:14:06.881 --> 0:14:09.841 wanted to chat to you first, obvious leader, to make 0:14:09.881 --> 0:14:12.881 sure that We've had lots of emails of different people. 0:14:12.921 --> 0:14:15.401 This is the first piece of credible information that's come 0:14:15.441 --> 0:14:19.721 through from the website. And so, Peter, you mentioned that 0:14:19.801 --> 0:14:21.681 you'd be happy to talk to the police again. 0:14:22.041 --> 0:14:25.001 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll quite prepared to make an. 0:14:26.521 --> 0:14:30.321 I want to tell my family, in particular my mum 0:14:30.441 --> 0:14:34.241 and my auntie Joy. I know the family will hear 0:14:34.281 --> 0:14:37.321 this podcast, so it's only right that I call them 0:14:37.681 --> 0:14:40.521 and let them know what I've found out before it's released. 0:14:41.481 --> 0:14:45.241 I'm also torn about recording the call to my auntie, 0:14:45.721 --> 0:14:48.081 who is the first person I think I would tell. 0:14:48.561 --> 0:14:50.961 Because I don't think Mum would handle it as well. 0:14:52.521 --> 0:15:09.201 I decide I'll sleep on it. 0:15:09.361 --> 0:15:14.761 Hello, honey, Joy, Oh yes, yeah it is how I Oh, 0:15:14.801 --> 0:15:16.321 I'm good thing you? 0:15:16.401 --> 0:15:18.081 Yeah, not too bad. Sorry I'm so late. 0:15:19.921 --> 0:15:21.281 I'm just sitting here being lady. 0:15:21.561 --> 0:15:22.961 Oh well yeah, that's a nice way to be. 0:15:23.481 --> 0:15:23.681 Yeah. 0:15:24.881 --> 0:15:26.321 We've got some more news, have you. 0:15:26.601 --> 0:15:31.561 I don't know if you know this information. So when 0:15:31.561 --> 0:15:35.241 we released the podcast, I set up a website and 0:15:35.601 --> 0:15:38.961 we had a really simple contact us page there that 0:15:39.041 --> 0:15:42.521 someone could send an email in or make contact with us. 0:15:43.761 --> 0:15:47.521 I got an email only a little while ago from 0:15:47.561 --> 0:15:52.241 a man called Peter Connolly. So, Peter Connolly believes that 0:15:52.321 --> 0:16:00.521 he saw Dez at the Broom Rodeo on the Saturday 0:16:00.601 --> 0:16:04.041 night after he was reported missing. Had you heard that before? 0:16:05.641 --> 0:16:06.641 I hadn't. 0:16:12.961 --> 0:16:15.801 When we left you in episode six, we had learned 0:16:15.841 --> 0:16:18.401 some new information from a man who reached out to 0:16:18.481 --> 0:16:21.521 us via the website we set up. His name was 0:16:21.561 --> 0:16:22.281 Peter Connolly. 0:16:22.881 --> 0:16:28.481 I was at the rodeo with my children. I had 0:16:29.601 --> 0:16:32.761 one son of my own and three other children that 0:16:32.841 --> 0:16:35.961 I was looking after time. So I was standing there 0:16:36.041 --> 0:16:42.641 watching the rodeo. It's kind of an early evening, eight 0:16:42.641 --> 0:16:47.561 o'clock something along those lines. And I was standing kind 0:16:47.601 --> 0:16:50.961 of reasonably close and I could see the bar, and 0:16:51.081 --> 0:16:53.521 I looked up and I could see Dais walking up 0:16:53.521 --> 0:16:56.601 to the bar. Now at this time, I noticed that 0:16:56.721 --> 0:17:00.481 he was really, really quite drunk. You're doing quite a 0:17:00.521 --> 0:17:03.881 bit of staggering. It looked like he was talking to 0:17:04.321 --> 0:17:08.120 two couple of people, to the degree that I thought 0:17:08.161 --> 0:17:12.600 he was actually with them. That I didn't make contact 0:17:12.921 --> 0:17:16.801 because I was with my kids, and I thought themself, 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:18.801 are you're a bit too drunk to talk to tonight? 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:18.920 This? 0:17:19.360 --> 0:17:22.360 So I just let it go. And so these people 0:17:22.521 --> 0:17:25.920 he was standing with by the bar, who were they? 0:17:26.001 --> 0:17:29.360 Do? You know? Well, look, they weren't local people from Broom. 0:17:29.681 --> 0:17:34.281 I knew that that I'd never seen them before. They 0:17:34.360 --> 0:17:38.721 looked like young European backpackers to me, kind of Northern European, 0:17:38.921 --> 0:17:43.440 maybe German, Swedish, something along these lines. That was just 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.801 the impression that I got. Like I said, there seemed 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:49.600 to be with them. I couldn't hear what he was saying, 0:17:49.961 --> 0:17:52.401 but I can see that he was talking to them. 0:17:52.441 --> 0:17:56.481 In general, my chat with Peter left many unanswered questions. 0:17:56.921 --> 0:17:59.681 Some of these questions had no real way of moving 0:17:59.801 --> 0:18:03.121 to a next step. For instance, Peter mentioned he saw 0:18:03.281 --> 0:18:06.920 Dez hanging out with too Foreign at the Broome Rodeo 0:18:07.120 --> 0:18:10.561 two nights after he was reported missing. It's going to 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.521 be nearly impossible to find any trace of those people. 0:18:15.201 --> 0:18:18.360 Were they known to Dez before the night? And where 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:23.360 are they now? The other question I had was did 0:18:23.441 --> 0:18:26.840 the police actually investigate this sighting of Dez at the 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.640 Broome Rodeo. From Peter's account of his visit to the 0:18:30.681 --> 0:18:34.200 police station over forty years ago, he didn't feel like 0:18:34.360 --> 0:18:39.761 they really did much with the information. Finally, did my 0:18:39.921 --> 0:18:44.160 family and in particular DES's sisters, my Mum and my 0:18:44.281 --> 0:18:48.761 Auntie Joy, have any idea of Peter Connolly's story? Had 0:18:48.801 --> 0:18:53.080 this come up in over forty years of questions? Let's 0:18:53.120 --> 0:18:56.441 pick up that call to my Auntie Joy from episode six. 0:18:57.241 --> 0:18:59.041 We've got some more news, have you so? 0:18:59.241 --> 0:19:05.761 Peter Connolly believes that he saw Dez at the Broom 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:11.440 Rodeo on the Saturday night after he was reported missing. 0:19:13.241 --> 0:19:14.721 Had you heard that before? No? 0:19:15.120 --> 0:19:15.160 Not. 0:19:17.001 --> 0:19:20.121 The story goes to Peter Connolly is that he saw 0:19:20.681 --> 0:19:24.880 Uncle Dez at the rodeo at about seven o'clock at night. Now, 0:19:24.961 --> 0:19:27.680 Peter was with his kids at the time, and he 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.001 was going to go and talk to Dez from what 0:19:31.120 --> 0:19:36.001 he says, but Des looked like he was pretty drunk. Oh, 0:19:36.681 --> 0:19:39.880 so he didn't go and talk to him. I asked 0:19:39.921 --> 0:19:45.761 him was he positive it was Uncle Dez, and he 0:19:45.921 --> 0:19:49.761 said he was ninety percent sure that the man he 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:56.961 saw that night was Uncle DA's. Now, the other thing 0:19:57.041 --> 0:19:59.600 that he said in the conversation I had with him 0:20:00.321 --> 0:20:04.481 was that Uncle dev was standing with two couples and 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:07.521 the couple weren't from Broom. Because Peter obviously is a 0:20:07.561 --> 0:20:11.761 Broom resident and knows most people there. These two couples 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:17.000 look like they were backpackers from either a European country. Oh, 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.321 and Das look like he was very friendly with them. 0:20:21.441 --> 0:20:22.520 What are your first thoughts? 0:20:24.921 --> 0:20:25.601 Unbelievable. 0:20:29.001 --> 0:20:30.161 Yeah, then. 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:33.360 I really don't know Jason, to be honest. 0:20:34.721 --> 0:20:38.001 The other thing that Peter Connolly said, because I asked him, 0:20:38.481 --> 0:20:41.961 did he report it to the police, And he said 0:20:42.001 --> 0:20:45.281 he went to the Broom police station and reported it 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.120 to an officer, an officer he knew at the time, 0:20:49.721 --> 0:20:53.841 because obviously they're all mates up there. And he sort 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.240 of said that. The officer sort of went, oh, did 0:20:56.281 --> 0:20:58.600 you talk to him? And Peter said, no, I didn't 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:02.640 talk to him because he was drunk. And then a 0:21:02.681 --> 0:21:05.721 police officer said that, well, how can you be sure 0:21:05.761 --> 0:21:06.241 it was him? 0:21:07.241 --> 0:21:09.881 Yeah, See, that's the thing, you just there's so many 0:21:09.921 --> 0:21:11.681 people look alike too. 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:12.281 But then. 0:21:14.481 --> 0:21:16.680 So Peter said that he'd worked with him for a 0:21:16.761 --> 0:21:19.440 couple of years. He worked together when they were building 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:23.761 homes west houses. Oh you and uncle Daz was a 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:26.161 vinyl floor layer. 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:29.720 Yeah, and that wasn't mentioned before. 0:21:30.001 --> 0:21:32.241 Well, yeah, Peter says that he knew das well. He 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:35.201 knew him well enough to sit with him at apart 0:21:35.281 --> 0:21:38.600 and have a beer. And he said Dez was also 0:21:39.321 --> 0:21:42.921 and obviously we know this des was very He wasn't 0:21:43.001 --> 0:21:45.721 the sort of person you could mistake for someone else 0:21:46.961 --> 0:21:51.241 because he was quite distinct, wasn't he. Yeah, And so 0:21:51.481 --> 0:21:53.880 then when he by the time he reached police, and 0:21:54.001 --> 0:21:56.401 I can only go off what Peter said, were still 0:21:56.441 --> 0:22:00.481 waiting to hear back from the from the detective. But 0:22:00.681 --> 0:22:05.481 from what I understand, Peter has gone to the police 0:22:05.481 --> 0:22:08.521 as sit as in you and from what he tells us, 0:22:08.961 --> 0:22:11.480 the police didn't really follow that up. 0:22:12.001 --> 0:22:13.600 Follow it up? That's bad. 0:22:15.761 --> 0:22:16.281 No, it's. 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:20.521 I really don't know what to think about it. If 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:25.321 that was so, surely the good even with those backpackers 0:22:25.360 --> 0:22:30.041 that he meant, Surely that somebody would have known something, 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:35.801 because Des didn't have all his Medicare cards and wallet 0:22:35.801 --> 0:22:38.601 and everything. We're still in his rooms, that's right. 0:22:38.761 --> 0:22:42.281 So if he was at the rodeo having a few drinks, 0:22:43.241 --> 0:22:44.281 who was paying for them? 0:22:44.681 --> 0:22:48.561 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, And to go to the rodeau he 0:22:48.681 --> 0:22:50.400 probably had to have an entrance spee. 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:56.641 Yeah, yeah, correct. And so do you think Uncle Dev 0:22:56.681 --> 0:22:58.241 would have been the sort of person that would just 0:22:58.521 --> 0:22:59.801 hang out with random people? 0:23:00.360 --> 0:23:03.961 I doubt it might have done. I mean, I couldn't 0:23:04.041 --> 0:23:09.041 say much about that because I mean it's been said 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:11.121 that he was a loner, but he might have been 0:23:11.481 --> 0:23:13.841 a loner but not alone sort of thing. 0:23:14.160 --> 0:23:16.960 There's one question that's sort of a few people had 0:23:17.001 --> 0:23:21.440 asked via the via the website, and now this new 0:23:21.521 --> 0:23:26.481 information has come forward. Would he have just gone off 0:23:27.360 --> 0:23:30.321 to not make contact with the family anymore? 0:23:30.400 --> 0:23:32.761 Do you think I would say? 0:23:32.921 --> 0:23:36.761 No, definitely not, because when he went up north, mum 0:23:36.961 --> 0:23:39.640 was very sick at the time. Calvin was only a 0:23:39.721 --> 0:23:43.721 baby then, And I've found a letter the other day 0:23:43.801 --> 0:23:47.080 actually that Mum had written and said this and his 0:23:47.360 --> 0:23:49.680 mate Colin had been in to see them, and he 0:23:49.840 --> 0:23:52.041 promised he'd be back in a couple of months to 0:23:52.120 --> 0:23:56.201 see Mum because she wasn't well. And I just can't 0:23:56.281 --> 0:24:00.521 see him just not contacting, particularly Gwen, because Gwen and 0:24:00.640 --> 0:24:05.600 DEA's were very close. You know, they had more in 0:24:05.761 --> 0:24:07.840 common I suppose you might say, with the speedway and 0:24:07.961 --> 0:24:11.840 things like that. So I just couldn't imagine he would 0:24:11.921 --> 0:24:16.480