Speaker 1: It's eight am on December fourteen, twenty twenty four, at
Speaker 1: the Crown Plaza resort in Fiji's Nadi Bay, and Arushi
Speaker 1: Aurora is in the lobby, busy organizing the day's movements.
Speaker 1: They've only recently opened and tourists are flocking to check
Speaker 1: out the new resort. For staff, that means they've been
Speaker 1: kept on their toes. Arushi notices her boss, Jason, entering
Speaker 1: the room. He's dressed in his usual smart suit, but
Speaker 1: he looks rough, like he hasn't slept all night. She
Speaker 1: tells him so, but he just shrugs. What's happening today,
Speaker 1: he asks instead. It's busy, she tells him, but we
Speaker 1: have it under control. Jason nods and tells her he'll
Speaker 1: see her at the morning briefing at the beach Club
Speaker 1: at eight point thirty. When he leaves the lobby, it's
Speaker 1: no later than eight point fifteen, but Jason never makes
Speaker 1: it to the meeting. I'm Jemma Bath and you're listening
Speaker 1: to True Crime Conversations, a podcast exploring the world's most
Speaker 1: notorious crimes by speaking to the people who know the
Speaker 1: most about them. Forty year old Jason Rigby was a
Speaker 1: Gold Coast local moving to Fiji to take on the
Speaker 1: role of second in charge at a brand new five
Speaker 1: star resort. It was a dream job and he was
Speaker 1: excited for the adventure. With two decades in hotels under
Speaker 1: his belt, Jason thrived on the pressure and adrenaline of
Speaker 1: helping get new things up and running smoothly, while of
Speaker 1: course enjoying the picture perfect location of Fiji's newest slice
Speaker 1: of paradise. But on that December morning, Jason never made
Speaker 1: it to the morning briefing. His apartment was only one
Speaker 1: hundred steps or so from the lobby, and it was
Speaker 1: forty five minutes after a Roushie last saw him that
Speaker 1: she got a frantic call from his best friend. This
Speaker 1: is a case that is very much still open. Fiji
Speaker 1: and police originally ruled Jason's stabbing death as a suicide,
Speaker 1: a conclude his family never accepted. They've been fighting for
Speaker 1: answers ever since. Today. We're speaking to Jason's sister in law,
Speaker 1: Jess Rigby, that how hard her family has had to
Speaker 1: fight to get anyone to even do the basics in
Speaker 1: this case, to treat it as a crime, to investigate
Speaker 1: as far as they're concerned, Jason met with foul play.
Speaker 1: Here's Jess and a warning. This episode talks about suicide,
Speaker 1: including a method of suicide, and won't be for everyone.
Speaker 1: Please take care while listening and check our show notes
Speaker 1: for support. Jess, thanks for joining us on True Crime Conversations.
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about your family and how Jason
Speaker 1: fits into the mix.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so, thank you so much for having me
Speaker 2: and talking about Jason's case and just as suppose giving
Speaker 2: us the platform to share his name and who we
Speaker 2: are and what we're doing. So Jason is my husband's brother.
Speaker 2: He's the eldest of three brothers and we have four children,
Speaker 2: so he's that fun uncle. He was kind of the
Speaker 2: guy that I guess lived large and fully and wasn't
Speaker 2: tied down with the normal constraints that our family is
Speaker 2: like kids, weddings, marriages, all of that. He was living
Speaker 2: life fully on his own terms. Went to Fiji for
Speaker 2: this amazing job opportunity to open a brand new.
Speaker 3: Hotel, and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was just really at the top of his
Speaker 2: career and excited about, you know, the prospects that that
Speaker 2: offered him, and in terms of in our family. Every
Speaker 2: time he'd come home for a visit. He has spoiled everyone,
Speaker 2: brought gifts back for everyone and just was really present
Speaker 2: with his time and like I said, the fun uncle
Speaker 2: for sure.
Speaker 1: So he's a Gold Coast boy and that's where he
Speaker 1: grew up.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so we're all Gold Coasters. He grew up
Speaker 2: on the Gold Coast, the usual kind of stuff like surfing,
Speaker 2: did nippers growing up, you know, and really just studied
Speaker 2: at Griffith University and got you know, what he needed
Speaker 2: and kind of climbed the ropes in the hospitality industry.
Speaker 2: So yeah, he's definitely a Gold Coaster. There's lots of
Speaker 2: you know, we've got great photos of him surfing still
Speaker 2: and he's probably more into the golf side as he
Speaker 2: kind of got older and things like that.
Speaker 3: But yeah, Gold Coast boy through and through.
Speaker 1: Tell us about moving to Fiji and that opportunity was
Speaker 1: that something he was excited about. Was that a new
Speaker 1: kind of thing that he hadn't done before because he
Speaker 1: was kind of he went over there to be second
Speaker 1: in charge of a brand new resort. That's a big deal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was huge.
Speaker 2: He was so stoked on that and you know, he
Speaker 2: was working in senior roles here in Gold Coast Hotels.
Speaker 2: They were opening this brand new hotel and he really
Speaker 2: wanted to be a part of that from the ground up.
Speaker 3: So he was so excited to be there.
Speaker 2: He'd been there twenty one months before or the incident,
Speaker 2: and by all accounts, was, you know, loving life. A
Speaker 2: lot of the people that worked with him always reported
Speaker 2: that he's the kind of guy that would check in
Speaker 2: on them, not just as their boss, but as a person,
Speaker 2: and that, really, I guess is a testament to his
Speaker 2: character and what we knew of him as well. So
Speaker 2: it was like a lifetime opportunity.
Speaker 1: Do you know what his general day to day look
Speaker 1: like over there, because for most of us, we don't
Speaker 1: really know what it means to be second in charge
Speaker 1: of a hotel. We know that he was living on
Speaker 1: the resort kind of campus, wasn't he What was he
Speaker 1: doing with his days?
Speaker 2: So basically, so, his actual title was executive assistant manager
Speaker 2: and he was acting manager at the time of his
Speaker 2: death because the general manager was away. But in terms
Speaker 2: of the day to day, they have staff quarters which
Speaker 2: are connected to the hotel but separate. He normally had
Speaker 2: work Saturday mornings. Sundays were kind of his day off.
Speaker 2: And he played lots of golf. There's so many photos
Speaker 2: of him, you know, on this beautiful golf course where
Speaker 2: it looks like a postcard and you know, the beautiful
Speaker 2: Fiji background, So it definitely did a lot of golf.
Speaker 2: We've got a fair few videos of him dancing at
Speaker 2: this beach club, so I think he was definitely having
Speaker 2: a bit of a good time. But when he was
Speaker 2: at work, he was a hard worker and he's always
Speaker 2: been that way, and so I guess the day to
Speaker 2: day is really you know, him coming in for those
Speaker 2: staff meetings in the morning, being across what needs to happen,
Speaker 2: and I guess, yeah, working through that. So that's probably
Speaker 2: my take on what that looked like. But he was
Speaker 2: definitely having a good time as well as working hard.
Speaker 1: Well, it was in Fiji, yeah, exactly, you got to
Speaker 1: make the most of it. Did you know he had
Speaker 1: a girlfriend and what did you know about her?
Speaker 2: Yeah, our knowledge of the girlfriend was very minimal. The
Speaker 2: first time that anyone in the family met Shavany was
Speaker 2: when it was a month prior. He came back to
Speaker 2: the Gold Coast in November twenty twenty four for Pete,
Speaker 2: their dad's seventieth birthday and Shavine came with them, and
Speaker 2: that was kind of the first time that anyone, you know,
Speaker 2: even knew there was a girlfriend on the scene. That's
Speaker 2: very Jason kind of you know, these boys in this
Speaker 2: family don't talk about their emotions and their feelings until
Speaker 2: it's really, you know, a thing, So there wasn't a
Speaker 2: lot of information about her from the accounts of you know,
Speaker 2: what she was like. She was very quiet and kind
Speaker 2: of reserved, but the parents did kind of notice she
Speaker 2: was a little bit I don't know if controlling is
Speaker 2: the word, but the example I'll use is they left
Speaker 2: the party early, which is very not on brand for Jason,
Speaker 2: and he took a shopping at a big fair, which
Speaker 2: just seems a bit out of character for Jason. I guess,
Speaker 2: you know, in hindsight that, yeah, I think that that
Speaker 2: kind of paints a bit of a picture on where
Speaker 2: their relationship was at. But you know, we didn't think
Speaker 2: it was that serious. He wasn't talking about it in
Speaker 2: terms of you know, those those things, but you know,
Speaker 2: I know that, yeah, I guess the family thought she
Speaker 2: was quite quiet and reserve compared to Jason, who's quite
Speaker 2: gregarious and the life of the party and that kind
Speaker 2: of thing.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about his mental state. Was
Speaker 1: there anything about his updates or even that visit in
Speaker 1: November that made you think that something was wrong with him,
Speaker 1: that he was having trouble.
Speaker 3: Absolutely not.
Speaker 2: He they went and stayed at this beautiful five star hotel.
Speaker 2: I know he was in contact with their stepmother planning
Speaker 2: about buying an investment property here. There was talk of
Speaker 2: him going on holidays to Japan with Shivani. There was
Speaker 2: nothing that we could see from any of the behavior
Speaker 2: that would indicate anything, you know, out of the blue.
Speaker 3: He might be a little bit.
Speaker 2: Stressed about working hard and things like that, but just
Speaker 2: that's just the regular day to day kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: But you know, there's enough hit. Jason's the kind of
Speaker 2: guy if something was a big deal or a stress
Speaker 2: at work, he could get a job anywhere all over
Speaker 2: the world. And he's the kind of guy to be like,
Speaker 2: you know what, I'm out of here and just go
Speaker 2: to the next adventure.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I guess that's why this.
Speaker 2: Ruling and everything that's transpired after that has never made sense.
Speaker 2: And the more that we've dug into it, it's just
Speaker 2: fallen apart and Yeah, I suppose that's what we've been
Speaker 2: up against.
Speaker 1: Can you pinpoint the last contact that he had with
Speaker 1: a member of your family before he died.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't know exactly, but the last like I said,
Speaker 2: the last trip was in November and then he passed
Speaker 2: in December. So that was probably the most contact that
Speaker 2: we had. And it would have probably have been touch
Speaker 2: points with his mum, because you know, that's what you do.
Speaker 3: But I wouldn't know the exact date.
Speaker 2: But there was nothing to suggest that there was any
Speaker 2: troubles there or you know, anything that much of concern.
Speaker 2: And he also wasn't the kind of guy to call
Speaker 2: up and talk about any of that. He would be
Speaker 2: calling up to talk about the good stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah. How did your family find out that he had died?
Speaker 1: When did that news come through?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: This is the probably the hardest part of the story
Speaker 2: in terms of how we did find out. So it
Speaker 2: was the day he died was the fourteenth. He actually
Speaker 2: passed in the morning, and we didn't find out that
Speaker 2: he was gone until later that evening through the surface
Speaker 2: Paradise police leaving a note on his mother's door because
Speaker 2: she was out at the time, asking for a callback.
Speaker 2: She came home obviously went into a panic, started calling everybody,
Speaker 2: had a couple of miscalls from her. I think she
Speaker 2: was thinking the worst, that we've us and the kids
Speaker 2: have been in a car accident.
Speaker 3: You know, why.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't the police say I need to come and see
Speaker 2: you in person. That you know normally means it's pretty
Speaker 2: pretty serious. So when she got ahold of us, she
Speaker 2: was very relieved, but she was very, very concerned. Both
Speaker 2: of the other brothers were living overseas at the time.
Speaker 2: The younger brother, Ben lives in la As. He's an
Speaker 2: actor there, and so we kind of calmed Robin down
Speaker 2: and you know, tried to make sure, you know, surely
Speaker 2: it'll be something else, it'll be you know, it's not
Speaker 2: going to be that big of a issue. And you know,
Speaker 2: we looked online on a Messenger group sent a message
Speaker 2: in a group chat to the boys. They both had
Speaker 2: the green little light up that looked like they'd been
Speaker 2: online recently. So we were like, oh, yeah, it's all good,
Speaker 2: you know, no, nothing immediate is a problem.
Speaker 3: Ben responded.
Speaker 2: We never heard back from Jason, and during that time,
Speaker 2: I guess what had happened was Peter, their dad, because
Speaker 2: Robin and Peter are divorced. Came over to Robin's department
Speaker 2: and in that time, they were trying to call as
Speaker 2: many people, and Robin reached out to Shavny multiple times
Speaker 2: and eventually he answered the girlfriend and that's how they
Speaker 2: found out that he was gone. And basically her story
Speaker 2: and the narrative that was told from the start to
Speaker 2: our family was Jason's gone. He walked to the bathroom,
Speaker 2: I heard a thud, and he's gone, and basically went
Speaker 2: on to tell a narrative that he'd been a really
Speaker 2: dark place, and you know that that was kind of it.
Speaker 2: And that's when we then got the call from their
Speaker 2: parents to let us know that Jason was gone, and
Speaker 2: we were also told at that point, I guess, and
Speaker 2: that's the biggest emotional toll that's been there from the start,
Speaker 2: and what we're still working through is not just that
Speaker 2: he's gone, but that he'd stabbed himself to death and
Speaker 2: it was self inflicted. And that's what we carried that night.
Speaker 2: You know, we've lost Chris has lost his brother. You know,
Speaker 2: they've lost their time, and even just the visual picture
Speaker 2: of him doing that to himself, there's no words to
Speaker 2: kind of try to wrap your head around that.
Speaker 1: So the girlfriend told you that he'd done that to himself,
Speaker 1: and then the Australian police confirmed that as well.
Speaker 2: That was the story that the defat had reported to
Speaker 2: the authorities here and that was you know what they
Speaker 2: then confirmed. So it was being suspected suicide was the
Speaker 2: wording that had been us from the I suppose the
Speaker 2: consulate in Fiji reporting it through to the channels to Australia.
Speaker 1: Let's rewind a little bit and try and tell a
Speaker 1: little bit more of this story, because we have heard
Speaker 1: a lot from one of Jason's colleagues, a Roushi, who
Speaker 1: came to the scene not long after, and she kind
Speaker 1: of tells a bit of the kind of perspective of
Speaker 1: finding Jason. Can you tell us about how that all
Speaker 1: played out as far as you're aware, how did finding
Speaker 1: Jason unfold?
Speaker 2: So again, what we've been told is that Shavanny was
Speaker 2: in the room she'd stayed the night before at Jason's
Speaker 2: staff quarters. He had gone to a staff meeting in
Speaker 2: the morning and his suit came back for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: to the apartment. There's been a couple of different stories.
Speaker 2: She was either washing up or she was on the couch,
Speaker 2: something along those lines. Jason's walked to the bathroom, She's
Speaker 2: heard a thud, and that's when she says that he
Speaker 2: stabbed himself and admitted suicide. So the next step after that,
Speaker 2: Chavanni said that she called Ian Lovey, which is the
Speaker 2: best friend, not the ambulance, not any kind of medical
Speaker 2: you know, first aid responder.
Speaker 1: She called Ian, and Ian also works at the hotel,
Speaker 1: so he was a chef.
Speaker 2: He is the executive chef at the hotel.
Speaker 1: So she calls him. He comes to the apartment.
Speaker 3: He then calls a Roushie.
Speaker 2: Again, no one has called emergency services, and then a
Speaker 2: Roushie has said that then she came to the room,
Speaker 2: realized that, you know, what was going on, and called emergency,
Speaker 2: you know, the ambulance and when what we've been told
Speaker 2: and what was from the official defat report was that
Speaker 2: Jason was actually still alive at this point and froming
Speaker 2: at the mouth. So that's what is really hard to
Speaker 2: sit with and what we don't understand.
Speaker 3: Jason was alive.
Speaker 2: We don't know how much time passed until somebody actually
Speaker 2: called for medical assistance. And based on what Arushi said,
Speaker 2: she didn't think that the injuries were as severe as
Speaker 2: what they obviously were, and she didn't think that he
Speaker 2: was going to lose his life. So what happened in
Speaker 2: all of that chain of events, we don't know exactly.
Speaker 2: All we have is what's been reported to us by
Speaker 2: these people, and then what was reported from the hotel
Speaker 2: management team to the consulate offices and then have been
Speaker 2: sent through to us.
Speaker 1: Do we know if a roushie Ian or Shavani did
Speaker 1: any life saving measures themselves in that period of time.
Speaker 2: It's not on any records or documentation that we've seen,
Speaker 2: and nobody has said that to us or to any
Speaker 2: of the people that have tried to reach out.
Speaker 1: Did a Rushie notice anything unusual about that scene? She
Speaker 1: is the only person we've heard in detail from so
Speaker 1: that's why I ask about her version of events.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Aarushie did say that she thought it was very
Speaker 2: peculiar that the knife that she saw that you know,
Speaker 2: had blood all over it was neatly placed on the
Speaker 2: dining table, which seems like a peculiar place for it
Speaker 2: to be. So if Jason had done that to himself
Speaker 2: in the bathroom, that has been moved by somebody to there,
Speaker 2: And yeah, that was her A large talking point that
Speaker 2: she said in her interview was that really stuck out.
Speaker 2: And she also said what she noticed is that, you know,
Speaker 2: Jason always just dressed very sharply for work, normally always
Speaker 2: in a suit. When she wore into the room, his
Speaker 2: suit jacket was neatly hung over the chair, which, you know,
Speaker 2: I think that that also read you're thinking about someone
Speaker 2: planning to take their life. That's a lot of you know,
Speaker 2: regular everyday steps that someone's done and then just on
Speaker 2: a whim, decided to do that. So I think that
Speaker 2: that in itself is just very bizarre.
Speaker 1: Up next, Jess tells me what her husband, Chris, Jason's brother,
Speaker 1: and his father uncovered when they traveled to Fiji in
Speaker 1: search of answers about Jason's death. Do you know what
Speaker 1: the police investigation that day looked like?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, what we've learned over time, and it has
Speaker 2: taken a lot of time, was that the inspector from
Speaker 2: the local Fiji police was on the scene and he
Speaker 2: has reported to the Consulo official again that he was
Speaker 2: on the scene and that Jason, you know, was a
Speaker 2: liar at that point, but past then that once the
Speaker 2: ambulance got there and This is pretty a pretty devastating part.
Speaker 2: The crime scene was actually cleared approximately four pm that
Speaker 2: same day that Jason died. We didn't even know that
Speaker 2: he was gone by them, and the suspected suicide narrative
Speaker 2: had already been reported to Consulate officials being reported to
Speaker 2: the police, who it seems like took the people that
Speaker 2: were on the scene at face value and kind of
Speaker 2: concluded on the spot and on the day that no
Speaker 2: criminal investigation kind of needed to happen. And I just
Speaker 2: don't understand and the family doesn't understand how a crime
Speaker 2: scene can be cleared, you know, from ten o'clock being
Speaker 2: his time of death. Based on the reports we've seen
Speaker 2: four pm that same day having been cleared Jason, there's
Speaker 2: no old topsy being done.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 2: We still don't know who was spoken to, who was interviewed,
Speaker 2: if they were interviewed individually. Aarushi's statement was that police
Speaker 2: spoke to Ian and Shavani together in the same location.
Speaker 2: It wasn't, you know, one on one or anything like that.
Speaker 2: And we've also never seen an incident report from the hotels,
Speaker 2: so we don't know what transpired after his actual passing.
Speaker 2: And there's just so many unanswered questions.
Speaker 1: It's pretty shocking to he say that. I know, we're
Speaker 1: dealing with a different country. They've got different rules and
Speaker 1: different regulations in the way they carry out police investigations.
Speaker 1: But there is no doubt that that it just doesn't
Speaker 1: sound like anything was really done.
Speaker 2: No, I think that, And again, you know, we want
Speaker 2: to ensure that we've been working with these police and
Speaker 2: you know, this country for a very long time now,
Speaker 2: and we understand and we've learned that. You know, it's
Speaker 2: not like what you see in the movies or what
Speaker 2: you'd expect from Australia, but that suicide narrative really has
Speaker 2: painted or I suppose diluted everything to do with this case,
Speaker 2: and the narrative about suicide has was so publicly confirmed
Speaker 2: in a very short amount of time, and that I
Speaker 2: think has been the ongoing challenge for us as a
Speaker 2: family to really overturn and to get answers for it.
Speaker 2: And all that time, you know, any evidence that may
Speaker 2: have been there, you know, all of those things about
Speaker 2: having the crime team being properly you know, forensically reviewed.
Speaker 2: We don't know what was actually taken. We've never seen
Speaker 2: any police files. We've never seen any of that. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's been a nye there.
Speaker 1: Let's discuss some of the evidence that we do know
Speaker 1: about because you mentioned that knife, and you do know
Speaker 1: that that knife didn't belong to that apartment. It wasn't
Speaker 1: kind of something that came with the accommodation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and about Jason, he is not a cook. He
Speaker 2: is not very house trained. He was ordering room service
Speaker 2: every night, so that's just I guess a little bit
Speaker 2: of background to him. He would not be the kind
Speaker 2: of guy that would go out and purchase an expensive
Speaker 2: kitchen knife. And that's what it was. And that's what
Speaker 2: was uncovered when the sixty Minutes crew went with Chris
Speaker 2: and Peter to Fiji, that the knife itself was not
Speaker 2: from you know, the staff quarters set up, and that
Speaker 2: it was purchased locally and Mandy who purchased it, how
Speaker 2: it got to the room, We.
Speaker 1: Don't know his phone that's also never been located.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's what we and again we have so
Speaker 2: many questions about this. He had a personal phone, he
Speaker 2: had a work phone. The work phone is the only
Speaker 2: phone that we know has been handed to police, and
Speaker 2: you know, the data trying to be extracted from that.
Speaker 3: The personal phone we've never located.
Speaker 1: Which is weird because all of us have our phones
Speaker 1: on our body usually.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I think there's just so many people that
Speaker 2: were actually on the scene.
Speaker 3: It could be anywhere.
Speaker 2: It could be destroyed, and we do we do have
Speaker 2: a witness statement, and again this is just a witness
Speaker 2: statement that came after the fact through our private investigator
Speaker 2: that we had to hire, saying that staff at the
Speaker 2: hotel were heard to be kind of gloating about scrubbing
Speaker 2: a phone.
Speaker 3: So we don't know if that means.
Speaker 2: Destroying the personal phone, scrubbing data from the work phone,
Speaker 2: whatever that means. But there, Yeah, we're very concerned about
Speaker 2: the phone information and we think that that would provide
Speaker 2: a lot of the answers that were seeking.
Speaker 1: To pause the story for a minute and just ask
Speaker 1: you about the emotional toll this has taken because even
Speaker 1: kind of extracting all of these details that you're telling
Speaker 1: me about, what's that been like trying to get all
Speaker 1: of this information from the other side of the world.
Speaker 2: Look, honestly, Chris and I we have a really hectic
Speaker 2: life as it is, and the rest of the family,
Speaker 2: you know, have their own challenges and their own lives
Speaker 2: as well. And I think the emotional toll, like what
Speaker 2: I spoke about earlier, hearing that you've lost one of
Speaker 2: the closest people in your life and then being told
Speaker 2: that they've done such a destructive thing to themselves that
Speaker 2: from the start, and it kind of almost puts that,
Speaker 2: you know, bit of doubt in your mind that you
Speaker 2: have to keep overcoming and keep working through. So that
Speaker 2: was kind of what we started with. But I think
Speaker 2: where we are today and that emotional toll. You know,
Speaker 2: Chris and I and Peter as well, all work that,
Speaker 2: we run our own businesses, we have four children. In
Speaker 2: between all of that, we're reaching out to different departments,
Speaker 2: whether that be in Australia in Fiji, looking through things
Speaker 2: on social media, Facebook comments that came through, you know,
Speaker 2: whether sixty minutes clip aired, and sending all of that through.
Speaker 2: So the emotional toll is immense, and I think what
Speaker 2: contributes to that is just how unsupported we feel and
Speaker 2: that there is absolutely no guidance from anybody in any
Speaker 2: agency in either country for a situation like this. Everything
Speaker 2: that we've done and been able to find out has
Speaker 2: come from the family pushing and not giving.
Speaker 1: Up because the Fiji and authorities. What has your communication
Speaker 1: been like trying to get information from them?
Speaker 3: Yes, a nightmare.
Speaker 2: So the case is now with the CID, which is
Speaker 2: the highest police force in Fiji, that went to them
Speaker 2: that originally they the cases with the local police station,
Speaker 2: and Chris's account when I was talking him about that
Speaker 2: recently was the police they barely even speak at these meetings,
Speaker 2: Like Chris will go into the meeting with Peter and
Speaker 2: then you know the third time when they're private investigator
Speaker 2: came in and they're talking at them, asking them questions
Speaker 2: about the case and what's happening with this, and it's very,
Speaker 2: very hard to extract any communication. So once it's been
Speaker 2: handed to the CID department, everything has kind of gone
Speaker 2: through our Fiji legal team, and even that it's just
Speaker 2: a very you know, they say Fiji time, this is
Speaker 2: like next level Fiji time, and yeah, I guess in
Speaker 2: that we then have to wait for that to come
Speaker 2: back through from the CID to our lawyer and she
Speaker 2: continues to chase that.
Speaker 1: On our behalf defact or Queensland Police do they have
Speaker 1: any authority in this situation.
Speaker 2: That's what is so challenging. We're dealing with agencies that
Speaker 2: have no jurisdiction. So our only experience to date with
Speaker 2: the Queensland Police was when Chris and Peter brought Jason
Speaker 2: home from Fiji. The first trip back, there was a
Speaker 2: Queensland detective that met them, providing them with a card.
Speaker 2: Obviously the Queenland Coroner was there to take Jason. We
Speaker 2: have we since maybe a month or so later, did
Speaker 2: call that police headquarters to ask about, you know, an
Speaker 2: update or a contact person or just someone to talk
Speaker 2: to I guess from Australia and what we can do here.
Speaker 2: And to date we've never had anybody call us or
Speaker 2: reach out to us or you know, they may not
Speaker 2: have jurisdiction to do an investigation as such here, but
Speaker 2: even just to have that point of contact to feel
Speaker 2: as if someone in Australia had yeah cares de fact
Speaker 2: defact has been our only contact. They were the people
Speaker 2: that were communicating the information and sending reports through, especially
Speaker 2: when it initially happened. But they really have made it
Speaker 2: clear that we need to work with the Fiji authorities
Speaker 2: and that that's the main channel and they really work
Speaker 2: more so as an update form for us as a family.
Speaker 2: You know, for court cases been set, they'll say the
Speaker 2: confirmation that this court case has been set in Fiji,
Speaker 2: it's been really it's it's beyond frusted, frustrating, and I
Speaker 2: think that's you know, as much as the grief and
Speaker 2: the sadness is there, it's just total anger and frustration
Speaker 2: and all of that mixed in together. And a lot
Speaker 2: of the people that were working in Fiji at the
Speaker 2: time are Australian. The general manager that was the first
Speaker 2: person to report to the consulate in Fiji about Jason's
Speaker 2: death and that it was suspected suicide. The general manager there,
Speaker 2: who also was not even in Fiji at the time,
Speaker 2: he was in Japan. He was the first person to notify,
Speaker 2: not anybody on the ground, which doesn't make sense in itself.
Speaker 2: So you know, that's kind of and when we've approached anyone,
Speaker 2: you know, individually, to talk. Chris and Peter also said
Speaker 2: when they first went there to Fiji the first time,
Speaker 2: when it initially happened, the energy in the hotel was
Speaker 2: very closed off. But what has been said is that
Speaker 2: there was definitely a notion at the hotel to not
Speaker 2: speak with the family, to not speak to investigators and yeah,
Speaker 2: don't We don't know who made that, but it sounds
Speaker 2: like people are scared and being silenced and we don't
Speaker 2: understand why that would be the case.
Speaker 1: Definitely understand why you felt like you needed to hire
Speaker 1: a private investigator. It makes a lot of sense given
Speaker 1: what you've said. Yeah, have they been able to help
Speaker 1: you at all? Have they've given you new evidence?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Look, Phil's been great.
Speaker 2: One of the big pieces of information that he was
Speaker 2: able to help us with was he has a I
Speaker 2: suppose data forensic person that he leans on, and they
Speaker 2: were able to access Jason's Vibra account and WhatsApp account,
Speaker 2: you know, I suppose remotely and that you know, gave
Speaker 2: a lot more insight into what was happening in terms
Speaker 2: of his personal relationships and you know, the lead up
Speaker 2: to the incident. So that was really really powerful. And
Speaker 2: when they went to Fiji that third trip, Phil did
Speaker 2: go with them, and.
Speaker 3: When they went to the.
Speaker 2: Police station with that evidence, that was the first time,
Speaker 2: which was six months after the fact, you know, losing Jason,
Speaker 2: that they said that they would be looking into this
Speaker 2: as a crime for the first time.
Speaker 1: I can imagine that would have been a big win.
Speaker 1: It's such a small win. Oh wow, they've treated it
Speaker 1: as a crime, but like to hear those words, we're
Speaker 1: treating it as a crime, we're actually investigating it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a big deal, right.
Speaker 2: It was massive and that was kind of their reaction.
Speaker 2: The boy's reaction was on camera with the sixty crew
Speaker 2: because that was that meeting. I do think that having
Speaker 2: filled our private investigator there them knowing that sixty minutes
Speaker 2: crew was outside, you know, that pressure, I guess kind
Speaker 2: of may made the action happen. And I don't think
Speaker 2: we'd be where we are today without feel And we're
Speaker 2: very Yeah, we're still working with him all the time,
Speaker 2: and yeah, he's been there for us a lot.
Speaker 1: Am I right that the messages that he was able
Speaker 1: to uncover showed a bit of a crossover in Jason's
Speaker 1: kind of relationships and love life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so.
Speaker 2: There was another girl involved who isn't in Fiji anymore.
Speaker 2: She's actually in Australia, but there was a bit of
Speaker 2: cross over there three or four months. So there are
Speaker 2: a lot of I guess theories or things going on
Speaker 2: in the background that we don't know about, but that
Speaker 2: could potentially, you know, have been cause for arguments or
Speaker 2: cause for unrest in his relationship with Shabani.
Speaker 3: But that's also very Jason.
Speaker 1: Jason's death was considered a crime. Am I right that
Speaker 1: there was discussion about an inquest.
Speaker 2: Yes, So from our understanding and remembering that we are
Speaker 2: not lawyers, we are very basic everyday ggoss, our understanding
Speaker 2: is that because there is no coroner in Fiji, and
Speaker 2: that that is kind of the regular practice for you know,
Speaker 2: unnatural death or things of that nature, the police, the
Speaker 2: local police refer it to the local magistrate for ruling. Basically,
Speaker 2: so rather than investigate that, it's hand to the magistrate,
Speaker 2: and we, based on feedback and talks without BG lawyer,
Speaker 2: requested that that case be adjourned, you know, indefinitely, so
Speaker 2: that the case could actually be investigated because there was
Speaker 2: almost no case fire like, not a thin case file.
Speaker 3: There was almost nothing in it.
Speaker 2: So if that was to go to the magistrate and
Speaker 2: a ruling be made on that day, you know, that
Speaker 2: could have been a close case and we would have
Speaker 2: had to work so much harder to overturn that if
Speaker 2: they made a ruling on that day that wasn't favorable
Speaker 2: to Jason.
Speaker 1: That makes sense Yeah, so six months in, we've got
Speaker 1: sixty minutes. You've got them over there to kind of
Speaker 1: put pressure on the case. You've got your detective who
Speaker 1: has managed to uncover new information. Touching on the sixty
Speaker 1: minutes in investigation. Something I found really interesting watching that
Speaker 1: is they got a specialist or an expert in to
Speaker 1: kind of talk about suicidal stabbings and just how rare
Speaker 1: they are. What did you learn about about that form
Speaker 1: of suicide because for what I got, it's that it's
Speaker 1: very rare. Jason didn't really fit the profile and it's
Speaker 1: usually people that are quite psychologically distressed.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I think watching that and having that expert,
Speaker 2: you know, testify that that reconfirms what the family has
Speaker 2: always felt. You know, that it's so rare and the
Speaker 2: fact that that's what has happened basically should always be
Speaker 2: investigated to ensure that you do not miss a homicide.
Speaker 2: And you know, like you said, it's such a destructive
Speaker 2: thing to do to yourself and accounts for you know,
Speaker 2: such a small percentage of actual so sides that you know,
Speaker 2: again knowing Jason and knowing what he was doing with
Speaker 2: his life and who he was and having had no
Speaker 2: mental you know, reported mental health doubts or on any
Speaker 2: medication or anything that you know we know about to date.
Speaker 3: It just really doesn't fit the mold.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we were very I guess thankful, and that
Speaker 2: was told so black and white to the public because
Speaker 2: that in itself, you know when you said the emotional
Speaker 2: told it's almost it's Jason's legacy. That story went to
Speaker 2: the media and to the public that he did that
Speaker 2: to himself, and you know, we just wanted to really
Speaker 2: do right by him and his legacy because that's not
Speaker 2: who he was and that's not the story. And yeah,
Speaker 2: I suppose that's what's always been really pushing us to
Speaker 2: make sure that we do right by him.
Speaker 1: More of my conversation with Jess after the break that
Speaker 1: sixty minutes investigation was a year ago, nearly a year ago,
Speaker 1: and we're talking today. What progress have you seen in
Speaker 1: the last year. Has anything happened?
Speaker 2: Look, so, I think the progress is slow. It's challenging
Speaker 2: that one thing that we do know has transpired is
Speaker 2: that Shavanni, the girlfriend, was taken in for questioning undercaution,
Speaker 2: which we were very excited about because I think it
Speaker 2: takes a lot, especially in Fiji to get to that
Speaker 2: point that they can actually interview under caution. That happened
Speaker 2: a few months ago now though, and no charges were laid.
Speaker 2: She was held for two days that we don't know
Speaker 2: the basis of the interview or any of that, obviously
Speaker 2: because it's an open case. But she was held for
Speaker 2: two days, which you know is pretty substantial, and was
Speaker 2: released pending further investigation. We've been told by the FIGCID
Speaker 2: team that they will look to reinterview her under caution.
Speaker 2: But the main blocker that the Fiji CID team need
Speaker 2: is the phone forensics extracted from Jason's phone, and the
Speaker 2: AFP have not been able to confirm whether they a
Speaker 2: have extracted the information or b provide a timeline on
Speaker 2: when that will happen. So that to us, and based
Speaker 2: on any of the information that we have, seems like
Speaker 2: the one I suppose blocker in this whole chain of events.
Speaker 2: So that's kind of where we're at now in terms
Speaker 2: of that. We don't know if anyone's ever interviewed Ian
Speaker 2: the best Friend executive chef. We don't know if anyone
Speaker 2: from the hotel has been interviewed outside of those two people.
Speaker 2: The only confirmed into that we know of with the
Speaker 2: police is Shavani.
Speaker 1: And so that blocker you're talking about is currently sitting
Speaker 1: with Australia Australian authorities.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's why I think as well, we want
Speaker 2: to shine so much on this case in Australia because
Speaker 2: these agencies I think that you know, as Australians we
Speaker 2: expect to happen, really haven't happened the way that we
Speaker 2: thought they would. And how it works is the Fiji
Speaker 2: police need to work through the avenues of requesting the
Speaker 2: AFP's help. They have requested the assistance. It did take
Speaker 2: a long time and a lot of pushing from our family.
Speaker 2: We even offered to fly over you know, Phil's forensics
Speaker 2: guy who said he could extract the data within five hours.
Speaker 2: We offered that as an option. Obviously that didn't transpire,
Speaker 2: and so the Fiji authorities did request AFP's support to
Speaker 2: do that. So that that has happened, you know, that
Speaker 2: was almost six months ago now wow, and the AFP
Speaker 2: have not confirmed and we don't that I think what
Speaker 2: they're I don't know if it's hiding behind got what
Speaker 2: they've said in the last email to our lawyers was
Speaker 2: that because it's an open investigation. They can't provide any
Speaker 2: further detail around timelines or anything like that, but they know.
Speaker 3: It's an important case.
Speaker 2: We don't expect to be told the details of the
Speaker 2: investigation or what's on the phone. All we want to
Speaker 2: know is has it been extracted? And do the Fiji
Speaker 2: police have it?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not really that much to ask for, is it.
Speaker 3: We don't think so.
Speaker 2: And I guess since then, and while we've been trying
Speaker 2: to I suppose apply whatever pressure we can from Australia,
Speaker 2: We've been running to you know, every single local members,
Speaker 2: you know, the Oman's men, the AFP to try and
Speaker 2: you know, even Penny Wong's office, anybody that will listen
Speaker 2: to try and say is there a way that this
Speaker 2: can be expediated because it looks like, based on what
Speaker 2: we've been told from you know, our Fiji legal team
Speaker 2: and the emails that we've received, that that is the
Speaker 2: number one block here.
Speaker 1: Are you also having trouble with Australian legal services and
Speaker 1: trying to access them because of the cross country kind
Speaker 1: of nature of this case and his death?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, it's when I say it's a nightmare, it's
Speaker 2: like every single door that we knock on and everywhere
Speaker 2: we go it's a closed door or it's you know,
Speaker 2: a ping pong to somebody else. So we have tried
Speaker 2: every avenue that you could think of in terms of
Speaker 2: finding a firm that has you know, cross border capabilities
Speaker 2: that could not obviously pursue the case in Fiji. We
Speaker 2: understand that that that needs to be handled because the
Speaker 2: death happened in Fiji, but there are key witnesses and
Speaker 2: key people and corporation in Australia that needs to be
Speaker 2: looked into. In terms of the actual corporate complicity. We
Speaker 2: don't know that, but we feel it needs to be addressed,
Speaker 2: and we have approached at least I would say ten
Speaker 2: firms here and we've either not had a response or
Speaker 2: they've responded and said we wouldn't even know where to start.
Speaker 3: We don't even know where to refer you to.
Speaker 2: The only support that we were able to get earlier
Speaker 2: on in the piece was to have a few emails
Speaker 2: sent on our behalf from a lawyer to I HG
Speaker 2: Corporate here in Australia asking based on you know, so
Speaker 2: that they didn't I guess the strategy was to not
Speaker 2: put them off guard. It was to ask for his
Speaker 2: employment records and the incident report so that we could
Speaker 2: see if his employment records showed that he was employed
Speaker 2: in Fiji or if it was still based in Queensland
Speaker 2: because that's where he was working previously. They did send
Speaker 2: through the employment records, which we already had, but they
Speaker 2: said that they do not hold any of the information
Speaker 2: in terms of the incident reporter or any of that nature.
Speaker 2: And to approach the local Fiji hotel An you said
Speaker 2: the same thing.
Speaker 1: It feels like everyone you talk to is shifting responsibility
Speaker 1: onto the next person. Use the word abandoned before. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like Jason is just being forgotten in this?
Speaker 3: Absolutely?
Speaker 2: And you know, like he it was such a huge personality,
Speaker 2: a huge part of so many people's life, impacted so
Speaker 2: many people in a positive way. And we just feel
Speaker 2: if we weren't doing what we're doing, you know, by
Speaker 2: approaching different people by you know, continuing to turn over
Speaker 2: every stone we can. I think that that's kind of
Speaker 2: and this is you know, just our opinion. They're hoping
Speaker 2: we give up. They're hoping that we run into so
Speaker 2: many blocks that there's nowhere else to turn and we
Speaker 2: just you know, have to move on with our life
Speaker 2: and unfortunately they pick the wrong family.
Speaker 1: Now, but it feels like you guys have had to
Speaker 1: turn into pseudo investigators, like you absolutely have. Yeah, like
Speaker 1: you're investigating his death yourself.
Speaker 3: And that's what's so hard about it.
Speaker 2: We're here in Australia, the cases in Fiji, our lawyers
Speaker 2: are in Fiji. We have no one here on the ground.
Speaker 2: We're even thinking do we get another private investigator who's
Speaker 2: on the ground in Australia to do these things, because
Speaker 2: you know, we can't actively go and meet with these
Speaker 2: people or go and have a conversation. We've tried that
Speaker 2: and they lawyer up straight away. So Chris and I
Speaker 2: and you know Peter as well. It's just there are
Speaker 2: so many calls that happen after dinner or after kids
Speaker 2: are in bed about we've reached out to this person,
Speaker 2: what do you think about this theory? You know, have
Speaker 2: you thought about that? Or we just reread this email
Speaker 2: from you know, the few days after Jason passed, and
Speaker 2: did you.
Speaker 3: Remember that that happened? Because when you're in the.
Speaker 2: Instant impact of the grief and the trauma, you're not
Speaker 2: reading the details that you know that we've been able
Speaker 2: to pull out after the fact, So yeah, we've absolutely Yeah,
Speaker 2: we feel like was spoon feeding everyone every step of
Speaker 2: the way.
Speaker 1: So apart from that initial phone call with Schevanny when
Speaker 1: the death happened, you haven't heard from either of them,
Speaker 1: Ian or Shavanni because they're the main people that were
Speaker 1: in that room. They are who we need to hear from,
Speaker 1: and your Famili's tried to contact both of them since.
Speaker 2: Yes, So they are also the closest to Jason from
Speaker 2: what we've been told, his girlfriend and.
Speaker 3: His best friend.
Speaker 2: So we've never to date had any contact from Ian
Speaker 2: and there has been numerous calls and messages sent to
Speaker 2: him to request for him to call back to discuss anything.
Speaker 2: He's never done that. He's never answered anything from our
Speaker 2: private investigator. Obviously didn't answer the phone on a sixty
Speaker 2: minutes call. He did reach out to Chris about maybe
Speaker 2: a month after the fact, which was quite bizarre. It
Speaker 2: was out of the blue. You know, we didn't have
Speaker 2: her phone number. She told Chris on the call that
Speaker 2: she got it from the hospital the Morgue where Jason was.
Speaker 2: They gave out Chris's phone number, which is bizarre, and
Speaker 2: what we were really shocked by at the time and
Speaker 2: still to this day, is the contents of that phone call.
Speaker 2: It was very reinstating the narrative about you know, Jason
Speaker 2: shed everything with me. He was in a really dark place.
Speaker 2: I don't know why the police wanted to test my
Speaker 2: DNA because I've already told them everything. I'm actually quite
Speaker 2: angry about that, which really really struck a chord with us,
Speaker 2: because if you were there and your loved one that
Speaker 2: you said you know you're in love with and spending
Speaker 2: a life with, wouldn't you be doing anything and everything
Speaker 2: to support whatever needs to happen for that case?
Speaker 3: And she did.
Speaker 2: She's really really pressing too, because what we did was
Speaker 2: we had a service for Jason and then we waited
Speaker 2: a little bit of time for his other brother to
Speaker 2: get back for the ash scattering. And she was very
Speaker 2: much so trying to push the point to be invited
Speaker 2: to go to that and wanting to know the date
Speaker 2: of that so that she could come and be a
Speaker 2: part of that. And by that point we were very
Speaker 2: suspicious and cautious of her. So, yeah, that was the
Speaker 2: one and only time outside of the core of night
Speaker 2: that it happened and we've never heard from her since.
Speaker 1: There's just so many unanswered questions, isn't there like for
Speaker 1: you to be this far in and to have this
Speaker 1: little little detail, It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2: It is unbelievable, and I think the thing is well,
Speaker 2: it's not as if there isn't information there.
Speaker 3: It's a huge hotel.
Speaker 2: There should be so many witnesses, there are multiple people
Speaker 2: on the scene. There is information that could be found,
Speaker 2: like whereas the CCTV we have no idea. It didn't
Speaker 2: happen in a remote location. And this mystery about what happened.
Speaker 2: We know those things and to us it seems pretty
Speaker 2: cut and dry about what needs to happen. And yeah,
Speaker 2: I guess that's the frustration. It's eighteen months, it'll bit
Speaker 2: two years in December, and that's why we're doing this
Speaker 2: and why we want the case and we want everyone
Speaker 2: to know Jason Rigby, and we want everyone, especially in
Speaker 2: Australia to be aware of this because there's lots of
Speaker 2: people that work abroad and build careers and do all
Speaker 2: these amazing things, but you know, things don't really work
Speaker 2: out the way you think that they do when you're
Speaker 2: working in different countries, like that unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and look what happens when the unfortunate does happen.
Speaker 1: In terms of that like cross country cooperation, I mean,
Speaker 1: there isn't really much cooperation.
Speaker 2: There's no you know, no textbook, there's no one guiding us.
Speaker 2: There's no one you know, even being a point of
Speaker 2: contact to you know, suggest have you tried this and
Speaker 2: maybe you can approach these people. It's it's Chris and
Speaker 2: I researching wherever we can, trying to find it out
Speaker 2: as much information as we can. And you know, I'm
Speaker 2: sure the family are doing that too, but you know,
Speaker 2: we live this every single day, and it's just, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're really i suppose grateful that Jason had the family
Speaker 2: that he has to do this, because if he didn't,
Speaker 2: or if it was you know, left to people that
Speaker 2: were maybe a little bit older or uneducated with you know,
Speaker 2: because there's so much to this. I'm lucky in a
Speaker 2: sense that my sister is you know, a senior lawyer
Speaker 2: and has kind of helped break things down and you know,
Speaker 2: Layman's terms for us to understand because it's so technical.
Speaker 2: And yeah, we're just figuring out every day and doing
Speaker 2: the best that we can well.
Speaker 1: As well as sending off all the emails, knocking on
Speaker 1: all the doors. You're also running an Instagram page, yeah,
Speaker 1: called Justice for Jason Rigby. You're writing a book that
Speaker 1: includes Jason and your experience as a family and all
Speaker 1: the grief. You were the one that administered the estate,
Speaker 1: you organized his funeral. Jess, You've got a lot on
Speaker 1: your plate. How are you You've got four kids?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's one.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty big one. You kind of eluded before
Speaker 1: about the late night calls and stuff because your husband
Speaker 1: is also the one behind all of these emails and everything.
Speaker 1: What kind of toll has has this fight taken on
Speaker 1: your family and on your relationship and on your marriage.
Speaker 2: Look, it has been and it still is, like every
Speaker 2: day really challenging. They're you know, I think when grief,
Speaker 2: for you know, traumatic events happen, it can either bring
Speaker 2: families together or sometimes bring challenges to the surface even
Speaker 2: more so because there is that spot light there, and
Speaker 2: we've definitely experienced that. I think it's brought Chris and
Speaker 2: I together because we are so united on this front.
Speaker 2: It's brought Chris and his dad Peter really close together
Speaker 2: because you know, there was a bit of tension there
Speaker 2: prior to Jason passing, and they were able to really
Speaker 2: rebuild that relationship and are united, you know, because of
Speaker 2: their son and their brother. So that's been really positive.
Speaker 2: But we just try, I guess, to focus on what's important.
Speaker 2: We block out the noise, the things that aren't important.
Speaker 2: We feel that we're on the right path and that
Speaker 2: Jason is with us, and you know, we're just so
Speaker 2: I think what keeps us going is he should have
Speaker 2: been able to be a part of our kid's life.
Speaker 2: He should have been able to fly back and you know,
Speaker 2: watch how kids grow up. He has missed and that
Speaker 2: we miss him being a part of And yeah, I
Speaker 2: just think as well, he's my husband's brother. But you know,
Speaker 2: I have siblings and loved ones, and you do whatever
Speaker 2: it takes, and you know, we want to make sure
Speaker 2: that you know, for on our death bed at the
Speaker 2: end of it, that we've done everything that we could
Speaker 2: possibly do.
Speaker 1: What about your kids, your older kids, How do you
Speaker 1: explain all of this to them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, that's definitely a challenge. And we are a
Speaker 2: blended family as well. So Chris's daughter, so she is
Speaker 2: the eldest of the family and definitely had I guess
Speaker 2: more of that strong relationship.
Speaker 3: Being the eldest of the family. She was nine at
Speaker 3: the time.
Speaker 2: And you know, we told the kids, especially at the
Speaker 2: start when you know, Dad had to fly to Fiji.
Speaker 2: It was Christmas holidays. They just knocked off school. We
Speaker 2: already had an airbnb booked. I took the four kids,
Speaker 2: including the baby, you know, down to Kingscliff Chris Flute, Fiji.
Speaker 2: You know, I was handling the kids. My family came
Speaker 2: to help, and we at the start, we still said Jason,
Speaker 2: you know, has passed and he's in heaven and it
Speaker 2: was an accident and we don't know what happened. But
Speaker 2: the older kids, do you know that our girls they're
Speaker 2: nine and almost eleven now, and you know, they've seen
Speaker 2: a sixty minute story and they do understand that. And
Speaker 2: I think that, you know, over time, we don't. We
Speaker 2: try to keep all of these conversations, I guess where
Speaker 2: it's just Chris and I are or you know, while
Speaker 2: they're at school and things like that, but they are aware,
Speaker 2: and I think, you know, we try to be as
Speaker 2: honest as we can, but keeping them emotionally safe at.
Speaker 3: The same time.
Speaker 1: Are you angry?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, we are beyond like there's no words for it.
Speaker 2: We're sometimes you just you know, we get into bed
Speaker 2: after the chaos of bedtime and bathtime with four kids
Speaker 2: and all of that, and you know, Chris works really
Speaker 2: hard in his own business. It's a very physical job
Speaker 2: as well, and you just go, we're just so tired.
Speaker 2: And but then you get past that and you have
Speaker 2: your little pity party and you put your big pants
Speaker 2: on and you get to it and you know that, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, Jason's in all of these photos behind us,
Speaker 2: and you know, I think he's with us on this
Speaker 2: and that's what keeps us going. But we're definitely we're
Speaker 2: like outraged that it just seems as though no one
Speaker 2: cares and they are all tied by you know, red
Speaker 2: tape and you know the whole cross border situation, and
Speaker 2: we don't that they wish they could help, but they
Speaker 2: can't help. And yeah, we're just going to keep pushing
Speaker 2: and keep advocating for Jason and the case until we
Speaker 2: where we need to get.
Speaker 1: What are you hoping to get from this chat from
Speaker 1: listeners hearing our conversation. How can we help? What can
Speaker 1: they do?
Speaker 2: I think, and you know, Chris and our family, we
Speaker 2: want everyone to know Jason Rickby.
Speaker 3: We want to know.
Speaker 2: We want you to know that he was a love
Speaker 2: family member, and that he was loving life. He was having,
Speaker 2: you know, some of the best years of his life.
Speaker 2: We want listeners to be as outraged about that we're
Speaker 2: at the same position essentially eighteen months down the track.
Speaker 3: You know, we live in Australia, We've got.
Speaker 2: So many amazing things and support and you know, government
Speaker 2: bodies and whatnot, and we're still in this, you know,
Speaker 2: completely lost situation.
Speaker 3: And you know, if.
Speaker 2: There is the right person listening to this when you know,
Speaker 2: for you to share this, someone that has some kind
Speaker 2: of power or some kind of leverage to make the
Speaker 2: call to Fiji or to have the meeting with the
Speaker 2: right person to expediate this case, that would be you
Speaker 2: know the dream.
Speaker 1: Lastly, we've talked a bit about grief, but is it
Speaker 1: hard to properly grieve when you are still so actively fighting.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I think when we talk about grief, especially
Speaker 2: you know, being parents and doing all the everyday things
Speaker 2: that you need to keep doing after you know, something
Speaker 2: so traumatic, Chris kind of deals with it in a way.
Speaker 2: He goes quiet and goes into his little space and
Speaker 2: you know, certain songs remind him of it. And you know,
Speaker 2: I know he drives from the Gold Crest to Brisbane
Speaker 2: quite a lot. He's got a little, you know, figurine
Speaker 2: that looks like Jason in the car, and I know
Speaker 2: he spends time and talks to him there, and I'm
Speaker 2: sure that's where he has a lot of you know,
Speaker 2: those that time with Jason and that grief. So I
Speaker 2: guess the grief is there, and you steal the moments
Speaker 2: that you can. My grief is obviously different being his
Speaker 2: sister in law, but you know, I live with that
Speaker 2: grief with Chris every day, and I think I just wish,
Speaker 2: like anything, when he loves someone so much, that I
Speaker 2: could help in some way or make his pain less
Speaker 2: or you know. And I guess that's why I'm doing
Speaker 2: this as his support person and you know, supporting his
Speaker 2: brother and the family because you know of the love
Speaker 2: that I have for Chris and our family and our children,
Speaker 2: and it feels like the only thing that I can
Speaker 2: possibly do to try and make things not better, but
Speaker 2: get you know, the justice that Jason and the family deserve.
Speaker 1: Well, your incredible Jess, thank you for joining us, Thank
Speaker 1: you for telling us Jason's story and hopefully our listeners
Speaker 1: can wrap their arms around you and help put pressure
Speaker 1: on well at the most, it's the AFP.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and we just we want, I suppose everyone
Speaker 2: to feel that emotional connection to you know that everyday
Speaker 2: Australian guy like the Alaric and the fun guy at
Speaker 2: the party, the fun uncle. I'm sure everyone in everyone's
Speaker 2: family has a guy like Jason in their life.
Speaker 3: And you know that this family.
Speaker 2: Is not going anywhere, and any support and any shares
Speaker 2: about the story and any you know, if you've got
Speaker 2: any push or power or you know ability to help
Speaker 2: in any way with the case, who would absolutely love
Speaker 2: to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Thank you to Jess for joining us on this episode.
Speaker 1: You can find links to support the search for answers
Speaker 1: in our show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, please
Speaker 1: leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Speaker 1: It really helps people find out more about the show.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back next week
Speaker 1: with another true crime conversation.