Speaker 1: This is the case of Marion Barter, a mother teacher
Speaker 1: friend missing for twenty five years.
Speaker 2: You know, I know something that she was going to vanish,
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
Speaker 1: The bizarre circumstances surrounding her disappearance.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if it was intentional or there's something
Speaker 2: more foul afoot.
Speaker 3: If you could imagine a teacher coming straight from say
Speaker 3: little house on the prairie to the eighties, that was
Speaker 3: Marian Barter.
Speaker 2: What I say, whether you find Marian Barter dead or alive,
Speaker 2: I honestly believe somebody has that key piece of information.
Speaker 1: And the relentless quest of a daughter to find her mum.
Speaker 4: Something had happened, Something has happened to make her leave.
Speaker 5: I am one hundred percent sure, one hundred percent sure
Speaker 5: that somebody knows something.
Speaker 1: The lady vanishes, Episode forty six. I'm Alison Sandy and.
Speaker 6: I'm Brian Seymour. Back in twenty nineteen, Sally Leyden and
Speaker 6: I went to Luxembourg hoping to track down Fernande Remachel,
Speaker 6: the man who placed the personal ad in nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 6: At the time, we had no idea his identity had
Speaker 6: been stolen and used by Rick Bloom. We door knocked
Speaker 6: every home belonging to relatives of Fernande Remichel, including his
Speaker 6: ex wife Monique Cornelius.
Speaker 7: Monique Cornelius, this is Fernandra Remckel's first wife. We are
Speaker 7: knocking on the door, see ancient home and b if
Speaker 7: she knows anything about Marion, alright here we go, all
Speaker 7: right on him.
Speaker 6: I also recruited the editor of the Luxembourg Word newspaper,
Speaker 6: Tom Rudell, to help our cause, and we were in
Speaker 6: their newsroom when we tried calling Monique.
Speaker 3: Joh Mayem I saw monic Colins.
Speaker 6: Hello, Monique, is this Monique?
Speaker 1: Hello.
Speaker 6: My name's Brian. I'm a journalist from Australia. Since twenty nineteen,
Speaker 6: we have stayed in touch with Monique, who spoke with
Speaker 6: detectives and gave written evidence to the coroner that she
Speaker 6: had a short sexual relationship with Rick Bloom or Frederic
Speaker 6: de Hedeveri as she knew him in the early nineteen
Speaker 6: eighties in Luxembourg. He told her he was a special
Speaker 6: agent at the British Embassy, lied about his wife and
Speaker 6: child only David was born at that time, and urged
Speaker 6: her to sail away with him to start a new life.
Speaker 8: I love you, Monique.
Speaker 6: He also wrote her bizarre graphic love letters every moment, Yet,
Speaker 6: when questioned about them by counsel assisting the coroner Adam Casselden,
Speaker 6: mister Bloom still denied his relationship with Monique.
Speaker 8: Do you still maintain that you did not have any
Speaker 8: sexual relationship with Monique Cornelius?
Speaker 3: He ay?
Speaker 8: Do may I continue? I am crazy and I scream
Speaker 8: I have made it. Oh, you beautiful bastards, I have
Speaker 8: made it, Monique. I am crazy because you are the
Speaker 8: heaven I turned to after every storm. Monique, I am
Speaker 8: crazy and I have to tell you one more way,
Speaker 8: and I know that you accept the compliment. It is
Speaker 8: Australian and so explicit of our wild nature. But never mind, Monique,
Speaker 8: You're a song in a man's testicles. Do you still
Speaker 8: maintain that you did not have any sexual relationship?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 6: Monique ended the relationship and has remained in fear of
Speaker 6: Rick ever since. Now we can share with you.
Speaker 1: Why Hi, Monique, It's Alison Sandy from the Lady Vanishes.
Speaker 1: How are you.
Speaker 2: Okay?
Speaker 6: Alison Sandy recently spoke with Monique, who agreed to go
Speaker 6: on the record with this stunning information.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's the podcast. I was only ringing because I
Speaker 1: just thought you might have seen all the publicity recently
Speaker 1: in Belgium and Luxembourg, with all these other people speaking out.
Speaker 2: Give me a moment. I am not thinking already engled.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to know if you'd read any of
Speaker 1: the articles about other women who have been taken in.
Speaker 2: Them.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to thank you because your testimony, even
Speaker 1: though you didn't appear in person, just what you provided
Speaker 1: in your letters and your correspondence that you'd received from
Speaker 1: him was just so important. And you are helping others.
Speaker 2: Of course, madam, of course I that's why I did it,
Speaker 2: that no other women will be He is just someone very,
Speaker 2: very very dangerous. You know that also why I am
Speaker 2: I'm working together with our Luxembourgish police, the highest one
Speaker 2: we have here in luxembook, because I was afraid he
Speaker 2: would come and make and also is capable of anything.
Speaker 2: It's capable of anything, even killing.
Speaker 1: Do you seem to know him more than anyone else
Speaker 1: that we've spoken to.
Speaker 2: I know him. I know him, oh yes, I know
Speaker 2: him very good, with his character, his reactions, and that's
Speaker 2: why I say is a very for a woman, especially
Speaker 2: for a woman. He is a very very dangerous man,
Speaker 2: very dangerous, very dangerous. I can't I can't tell you.
Speaker 1: That he seemed to actually love you, which was bizarre because.
Speaker 2: He no, he lost money, nothing else, and for money,
Speaker 2: he has nothing but a little if he had little
Speaker 2: tension or how do you call it. He gets from
Speaker 2: the state because he participated in the war and with
Speaker 2: Australia with I don't know, in Asia somewhere, and his
Speaker 2: legs are and not good, not good for that, and
Speaker 2: therefore he gets from the Australian state. I think so,
Speaker 2: I don't know it. I think so a little. That's
Speaker 2: why he's living with his wife. Yeah. I immediately left
Speaker 2: him when I thought that he had a wife. No, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: I didn't know he was a fund in the in
Speaker 2: the and I didn't leave anything anymore.
Speaker 1: While I was taking in everything when he had to say,
Speaker 1: I was still in shock that she'd finally decided to
Speaker 1: open up to me, and I was just waiting for
Speaker 1: her to pause long enough so I could return to
Speaker 1: the bombshell information she told me only moments earlier. What
Speaker 1: makes you think he's capable of killing?
Speaker 2: He called me? But I don't know who is who
Speaker 2: he has kids in the one day he told me, look,
Speaker 2: this can't have already killed. And he showed me his
Speaker 2: son like that, killing with hands only, that you must
Speaker 2: be a real killer.
Speaker 1: Why did he tell you that?
Speaker 2: I don't know. He caught me very very muchy he
Speaker 2: did not manipulect me. I thought his manipulation. I thought
Speaker 2: he lied or manipulcted. There a moments in life, even
Speaker 2: if he was only a haunt where the past makes
Speaker 2: you open the mouth, if you thing of the past,
Speaker 2: it wasn't an a weak moment for him.
Speaker 1: I know you have provided letters and in the past
Speaker 1: you didn't necessarily want to be part like just talk
Speaker 1: at the inquest, do you think, because the inquest is
Speaker 1: still going to try to get him in jail, because
Speaker 1: he's not quite now, but he's three. He's very feeble.
Speaker 2: It's very promotion. He is also he is a master
Speaker 2: of the manipulation. He never, never, never says the truth,
Speaker 2: perhaps in a moment of weakness or but he manipulates everybody, everybody.
Speaker 2: He tells story story, story stories. Therefore, I say don't
Speaker 2: let him out anymore. That for the sake of other women,
Speaker 2: that they don't live the same destiny to me. He
Speaker 2: never did cut something, never never.
Speaker 1: Never, Here many recalls when she discovered was married with children.
Speaker 2: He always was good about me. But when I knew
Speaker 2: we went to the a roper where the aeroplanes landing
Speaker 2: and departing. What do you call that? How do you airport?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 2: He always went to the airport for phoning in Australia
Speaker 2: to someone who is now I know that it was
Speaker 2: his wife. And just like a haz, I went in
Speaker 2: the telephone cabin just besides his so I could hear
Speaker 2: all the phone what he was talking with that person.
Speaker 2: And he talked about Daisy donkey child and he talked
Speaker 2: to a woman and I heard that they were very
Speaker 2: close telecross. And after the phone called here, we went
Speaker 2: to drink or in a coffee and I asked him, Hey,
Speaker 2: who's the lady you talked about your child? A child?
Speaker 2: Do you have a child? Is that from me? I
Speaker 2: didn't know it, He hadn't told me, And yeah, you
Speaker 2: can have a child. I was always on my own.
Speaker 2: That was my salvation. I had my house, I had
Speaker 2: my job, I had my money. I didn't depend on
Speaker 2: him on nothing. If I didn't want to see him.
Speaker 2: I didn't. I told him no, no, leave me alone.
Speaker 2: And we we were not intimate with their shee, we
Speaker 2: were intimated. But I was free. I was always a
Speaker 2: free woman. And then did what I decided, not what
Speaker 2: he caused me, and that was my salvation. You know,
Speaker 2: he knows very good to speak, and she spoke. He
Speaker 2: is very good in story telling, in story tealist, and
Speaker 2: that I know. He told me he was a secret
Speaker 2: agent of the English embassy in Luxemburger. I believe, and
Speaker 2: I studied. I am not fallen on my head. I
Speaker 2: am more. I cannot say that a touch that I
Speaker 2: am very intelligent, but I am not idiot. But that
Speaker 2: is a fact. And I did my life also alone.
Speaker 2: I have organized and you know, I'm free woman. And
Speaker 2: that was my salvation, or you know, Megan, it was
Speaker 2: not easy to get trait of him in my in
Speaker 2: my brain. You know, he is a personality you you
Speaker 2: not meet in every corner of the road. He is
Speaker 2: focused on getting money, and therefore he is playing with
Speaker 2: the emotions of women. And that I is so disgusting
Speaker 2: of that that it's the last thing that I can
Speaker 2: understand from a man, that he is looking from the
Speaker 2: head to the truth. But that is only I don't
Speaker 2: I don't even know if he knows the who he is.
Speaker 2: I don't think so he had something in his sad.
Speaker 2: It's so uppen. Never seen a man like that. Oh no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: But I had in the beginning. I had trusted him too.
Speaker 2: He is a very good speaker. He knows the emotion
Speaker 2: of women. And I was not ridgy enough for you know,
Speaker 2: And I was young. I was young when forty years
Speaker 2: ago I had thirty thirty five years now and I
Speaker 2: was alone. I was divorcing for me. He was interesting.
Speaker 1: He takes advantage of well, I guess women who are
Speaker 1: divorcing or widows. It seems to be his mo o.
Speaker 1: But you were the one who got away. Did he
Speaker 1: ever try to take money?
Speaker 9: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yes, I got away. I got away. But because I
Speaker 2: was always always a free woman, My free will was
Speaker 2: it is my character. I don't let someone else think
Speaker 2: for me. I think for me and nobody else, fellow,
Speaker 2: And that's that's what saved me. And I won't when
Speaker 2: I am read here the story of missus Warner, I
Speaker 2: think of the lady who has two children. I your butter.
Speaker 2: It's better. It's better Marion, Marion will Well a sister,
Speaker 2: she had money. Yeah, women, he he manipulates until they
Speaker 2: are depending on him and they are not crazy, are
Speaker 2: married or or have no own job, no own house,
Speaker 2: or or the are older. Also also, I was young.
Speaker 2: I was thirty and thirty five when I knew him,
Speaker 2: I was strong. If I didn't, I didn't, I can't understand.
Speaker 2: But Marion, I can understand her very very good because
Speaker 2: he is a master of manipulation and she only is
Speaker 2: playing with emotions. And if you are playing with the
Speaker 2: emotions of an other old you you have very very
Speaker 2: very possibilities to enslave him, you know the person. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he has he can do that, he can manage that.
Speaker 2: My god, my god.
Speaker 1: I just want to say, you are extraordinary, Monique, and
Speaker 1: you are an inspiration to all of us that you
Speaker 1: have the courage to speak out about him.
Speaker 2: And I am Oh, yes, I have the courage. I
Speaker 2: have it. That is not a courage, that is a
Speaker 2: proud proud to say. You cannot do that with everybody.
Speaker 1: I tell Monique the inquest isn't over yet and ask
Speaker 1: if she reconsider her decision not to appear.
Speaker 2: I cannot tell more, because forty years is a very
Speaker 2: long time. And excuse me, madam, but I speak to
Speaker 2: the police of mute those words. I have written emails
Speaker 2: and ima image to us. They know everything I can say,
Speaker 2: but I cannot faith and to out for that. And
Speaker 2: I'm living alone here and in peace. I have forgotten
Speaker 2: this man. I have forgotten it for me. He is
Speaker 2: just dirt. He is dirt. He doesn't he doesn't have
Speaker 2: the right to live. He has taken so many he's part.
Speaker 2: He's fundamentally that. Don't touch him, you will burn your hands.
Speaker 2: I can't say you and every rooman should be very afraid.
Speaker 2: He should be in a poison for the rest of
Speaker 2: his life. I hope so, I hope so. I hope
Speaker 2: so even in the great in the tomb, when he
Speaker 2: is buried, he will try to manipulate to get out
Speaker 2: of there. I tell you, in life, when he opened
Speaker 2: the mouth, that is a lie, that its manipulation. He
Speaker 2: doesn't forget anything. I don't know what he has already done.
Speaker 2: But nothing good, nothing good. No, I hope you can
Speaker 2: understand me. He's out of my mind. He cannot touch
Speaker 2: me anymore, he cannot hurt me anymore. For me, he
Speaker 2: is dirt, just dirt you take and puts and put
Speaker 2: anywhere where he can. He cannover get back anymore. He's
Speaker 2: a bad man. Why he is so, He can tell
Speaker 2: you thousands, thousands arguments why he has become like that,
Speaker 2: And it tells the story of the jewels in the
Speaker 2: Nazy time. He's parents have been burnt, his parents that
Speaker 2: burnt in that scamps of the Nazi system. Nothing is true.
Speaker 2: Everything he says, everything, every word, every breath is many pullation.
Speaker 2: The coronal must be very strong and not be losing him.
Speaker 2: He can cry from emotion. He can please theater. He
Speaker 2: can You don't know what what your talenty is in
Speaker 2: manipulation and for a good woman, a woman that is
Speaker 2: vulnerable and innocent, for him that is not bringing nothing,
Speaker 2: just money, money, money, money. He has no regrets. He
Speaker 2: must have money, haven't He hasn't learned anything. He knows
Speaker 2: how to manipulate with it, with his body, with his
Speaker 2: bring with his money money money. You cannot imagine so profoundly.
Speaker 2: And he can speak like an angel or Daville, depends
Speaker 2: on the situation. He has a very big talent to maniput.
Speaker 2: It never seen that in all my whole life, never
Speaker 2: but profoundly, profoundly back.
Speaker 1: He stole your husband's identity too. That was one of
Speaker 1: the many alias.
Speaker 10: I only know that I know that well.
Speaker 2: We were not together anymore, we were separated, divorced.
Speaker 1: But was it surprising to you that when you learned
Speaker 1: that he'd stolen your ex husband's identity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I didn't. At a certain moment, I
Speaker 2: I thought that there's something wrong with this man. We
Speaker 2: were in divorce, but we spoke. I spoke with my
Speaker 2: husband and I said, I know there's something for someone
Speaker 2: I don't I have. I don't believe him so many
Speaker 2: I would like you to. I show you where he
Speaker 2: is living, and to go to him and tell him something,
Speaker 2: get in contact with him. And my husband did that
Speaker 2: from it. He was a psychology and that's why he
Speaker 2: said to him, imagine something saying that I have I
Speaker 2: have sent you to him for this or all that.
Speaker 2: And my husband and tech that and the other one
Speaker 2: had to ary his dole at such visit his identity card.
Speaker 1: This was a bit confusing, but it sounds like Fernande
Speaker 1: and Rick Blum did meet each other at least once.
Speaker 1: We thought that fand was actually the one with Marion.
Speaker 1: We mistook him for Frederick to Hellaberry and we're very sorry.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, but they're Fredavari shows his real character.
Speaker 2: You know, there is a man's life, a woman's life
Speaker 2: count nothing. They are in this world just to give
Speaker 2: him money. Yes, they're nothing. No person counts. And she
Speaker 2: can speak like a man who got sugar, a very
Speaker 2: set very He can change his personality perfectly from one
Speaker 2: woman to the other.
Speaker 1: My last question because I don't want to hold you
Speaker 1: up anymore because you have been amazing. It's so helpful,
Speaker 1: and this would get justice for all his victims, including you,
Speaker 1: because you were his victim. Even though you didn't give
Speaker 1: him money. He tried to manipulate you and he's affected.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, of course I know that now, and I
Speaker 2: had a very long time to understand his character and
Speaker 2: to be sure of what. But no, I am so
Speaker 2: sure of what I say. I feel it. I see
Speaker 2: it now. Even with the little brain I have, I
Speaker 2: can analyze it. When he opens the mouse, I know
Speaker 2: what she without speaking. I know what the rivided directions
Speaker 2: is going. Actually I can't feel it. I can't feel it.
Speaker 2: In the end, I could feel it and I I
Speaker 2: was this dastic, this pastic, and that's why I went
Speaker 2: to our police in Luxembourg and I said, I don't
Speaker 2: know exactly what she is doing, but I could speak,
Speaker 2: but I know nothing of concrete. You know that he
Speaker 2: has done. I don't know something some bad things concrete.
Speaker 2: If I've not seen something that I could say he
Speaker 2: stole that or that or that.
Speaker 1: I never you have done so much in just talking
Speaker 1: to me about this. And look you're right, no more,
Speaker 1: no more. You have done enough. You have spoken enough
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 2: That is what I don't do. Oh could fire my
Speaker 2: mind with it because I'm in freedom and in peace
Speaker 2: with my self, and I know not only missed my brain,
Speaker 2: but with my whole body. Maybe I found a body
Speaker 2: in my stomach, in my heart, in my head, everywhere.
Speaker 2: I know that that man isn't worth to breathe in
Speaker 2: this world. That I can't get. And that's no hate.
Speaker 2: That is just because yeah, and I am sure that
Speaker 2: he has done. He has it doesn't work, he earns
Speaker 2: no money, He's still from everybody. But don't let him
Speaker 2: out of prison. He is very capable of care.
Speaker 4: I know it.
Speaker 5: I know it's really hard for you very hard, very hard.
Speaker 2: But now I have found my freedom. If I had
Speaker 2: not opened my mouth, I would never have discovered the truth.
Speaker 2: That was well, the best thing that could happen to
Speaker 2: me was this communication with the police detective unsold Tommy Sito. Yes,
Speaker 2: that was the beast. I have psychologue chiply and in
Speaker 2: my brain and in my heart and everywhere. I had
Speaker 2: a chance to get out of that without any harm.
Speaker 2: And I know I can't tell you why, because I
Speaker 2: could not give him millions have I worked for my job.
Speaker 2: In my job, I had a good life, but not
Speaker 2: enough to satisfire that gangster. No. I think he was.
Speaker 2: He loved me a little bit. I think so, But
Speaker 2: that's why I did not. I always said I have
Speaker 2: a brain, and I think for myself. I don't let
Speaker 2: you think for me. Never, never I told him that.
Speaker 1: Well, I just want you to know that, you know
Speaker 1: it's speaking to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have done and I want my peace to madam.
Speaker 2: I want my peace. I have close to that. I
Speaker 2: have done the most I could do, but now I
Speaker 2: want to be free of it. I cannot tell you
Speaker 2: any thing more.
Speaker 1: There have been so many other ladies who have spoken
Speaker 1: out like you. There's Janet Oldenburg and Elaine in Belgium
Speaker 1: and his cousin, and that is very good.
Speaker 2: And a woman, I think that you can understand every work.
Speaker 2: I tell you. That's the truth, madam, that's the truth.
Speaker 2: I think if we women we must stick stick together,
Speaker 2: we must stick together. We are very strong. We are
Speaker 2: the strong because men. If we stick together, we are
Speaker 2: more tangical, we are more intelligent. We can see much
Speaker 2: more than a man who has one time only money, money, money, money.
Speaker 2: I know him, madam, I know what he's capable. That's
Speaker 2: why I want to close it.
Speaker 1: I then go on to tell me about this podcast
Speaker 1: and how now the whole world knows about with Bloom
Speaker 1: and what he's done.
Speaker 2: That is very good. And if one day you come
Speaker 2: to Luxemburg, you will enjoy it. Come here, Come here.
Speaker 2: I have an apartment over me that's empty. You can
Speaker 2: live at my house in all the first stage FLA
Speaker 2: for the one week, two weeks. I will surely in the.
Speaker 1: Place that she was, Like Marion, Monique was a teacher,
Speaker 1: but she specializes in languages, which explains why her English
Speaker 1: is so good.
Speaker 2: I speak a much better French than English because I
Speaker 2: have no exercised so well so, but lives me in
Speaker 2: the dark as good as you can. I am now
Speaker 2: an old lady and I want to get him out
Speaker 2: of my mind. That's what I told him. I never
Speaker 2: had told toward journalist, never, and I had many calls
Speaker 2: for it broadcast stations. I never told a single word,
Speaker 2: but now I totally because I'm strong. I have here
Speaker 2: my police in Luxembourg, and I have the police in Australia.
Speaker 2: If something happened to me, it was him.
Speaker 1: Nothing will happen to him, Manique, mark my words. I
Speaker 1: know this because I know Blum will never leave the country.
Speaker 1: If he does, he won't be able to get back in.
Speaker 1: More on that later.
Speaker 2: You are in a treasure to stick with you was
Speaker 2: also not a pleasure. That was a good recapitulation. I
Speaker 2: want him to be not on the surface of this work.
Speaker 2: He must be. Just get out. He's in dag as
Speaker 2: long as he rees believe me.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Monique, Thank you to a listen together.
Speaker 2: Is strong.
Speaker 1: I tried to call with Blum so I could put
Speaker 1: to him the allegations Manique made again, but got his
Speaker 1: answering machine message, so I text him this instead. Hello, Rick,
Speaker 1: it's Alison Sandy from The Lady Vanish's podcast. I've undertaken
Speaker 1: a long interview with Manique Cornelius. She says, you told
Speaker 1: her when you were together that you had killed a person,
Speaker 1: and you've done so with your own hands. I want
Speaker 1: to give you the rite of reply. Is this true?
Speaker 1: If not, why did you say that to her? This
Speaker 1: will be on the next episode of the podcast being
Speaker 1: released on Monday, So if you would like to respond,
Speaker 1: please let me know before then. Kind regards Allison. Unsurprisingly,
Speaker 1: I've heard nothing back. Not long before I spoke to Monique,
Speaker 1: Brian caught up with blums a strange daughter, Evelyn Reed.
Speaker 1: She is the daughter of Blum's third wife, Alona read
Speaker 1: Nie Kinsel when he went by the name of Willie Wooters.
Speaker 1: You may remember us telling you in an earlier episode
Speaker 1: that Alona was found slumped dead over the steering wheel
Speaker 1: of her car in nineteen seventy seven. There was no accident.
Speaker 1: She did not crash her car. She simply died at
Speaker 1: the will with the car intact on the roadside. It's
Speaker 1: still unknown what precisely killed her, but it was said
Speaker 1: it had something to do with her heart. She was
Speaker 1: just thirty one. Evelyn was only seven years old at
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 6: We have in the past trying to reach out to
Speaker 6: Evelyn without success. In fact, with the police investigation going on,
Speaker 6: we were advised to stay clear. It has only been
Speaker 6: in recent times since she spoke with a journalist from
Speaker 6: the Australian newspaper that she has also responded to us.
Speaker 6: Now in her fifties, we found a friendly, kind and
Speaker 6: forthright person, but one who is understandably guarded. Evelyn did
Speaker 6: not want her conversation with me recorded and she does
Speaker 6: not want her life to become the center of a
Speaker 6: media frenzy because the idea of it distresses her. But
Speaker 6: she has told me a number of shocking things about
Speaker 6: her past and things that she knows because he was
Speaker 6: absent throughout her childhood. When Evelyn was an adult, she
Speaker 6: reached out to Rick Bloom on a couple of occasions
Speaker 6: to try to find a connection and heal old wounds.
Speaker 6: While he is on her birth certificate as Willie Wooters.
Speaker 6: She found him through the Belgian consulate by the name
Speaker 6: Frederic de Heeverari. Now Rick Bloom told the inquest that
Speaker 6: he'd only ever seen Evelyn once when she was a newborn.
Speaker 6: According to Evelyn, that is a lie. After meeting with
Speaker 6: him many years ago, she was left feeling traumatized by
Speaker 6: his stories of torture, death and poisoning. He spoke about
Speaker 6: her mother, Ilona in a derogatory way, and she said
Speaker 6: he described ways to poison people. So when he gave
Speaker 6: her a bottle of champagne after one of their meetings,
Speaker 6: she took it straight to the police, fearing that he
Speaker 6: was trying to use it to poison her. She told
Speaker 6: me that she was made to feel like she was
Speaker 6: going crazy, that after spending a life feeling abandoned by
Speaker 6: anyone who was meant to show her love, she now
Speaker 6: had this idea that perhaps her own father had just
Speaker 6: tried to kill her. She said that her interaction with
Speaker 6: Rick Bloom made her question her ability to interpret reality,
Speaker 6: that it tipped her over the edge. She went into
Speaker 6: some kind of catatonic shock and she wasn't able to
Speaker 6: speak to people for some time. Other family members reportedly
Speaker 6: recalled Evelyn's fears when she received the champagne. Her half brother,
Speaker 6: who has chosen to remain anonymous, told the Australian newspaper
Speaker 6: he remembered specifically when Rick Bloom entered his sister's life
Speaker 6: and that she felt unsafe around him. He said she
Speaker 6: felt that the foil around the top of the champagne
Speaker 6: bottle had been moved and the cork tampered with. In
Speaker 6: the same article, The Australian's National Crime editor, David Murray
Speaker 6: quoted another relative, Marika Messereer, who remembered warning Evelyn to
Speaker 6: keep her money safe when she first met up with
Speaker 6: her father, describing Rick Bloom as a con man. Miss
Speaker 6: Messire also recalled that Evelyn's mother, Ilona Kinzel, was only
Speaker 6: nineteen when she fell in love with mister Bloom, but
Speaker 6: Ilona's mother was so suspicious she hired a private detective
Speaker 6: who found out that Rick was married with children. In fact,
Speaker 6: Rick Bloom, or Willie Wooters as he was then, had
Speaker 6: already been married twice. Against her mother's advice, Ilona continued
Speaker 6: the relationship until it ultimately failed for reasons that are unclear.
Speaker 6: Then Ilona left for Australia and met someone new, but
Speaker 6: Rick Bloom followed her. At the coronial inquest, mister Bloom
Speaker 6: told the court he and Miss Coinsell married in early
Speaker 6: nineteen sixty nine before he came on holiday to Australia.
Speaker 6: Records show they were married on May tenth, nineteen sixty nine,
Speaker 6: in Brussels. Just days later, they both traveled separately to Australia.
Speaker 6: As Rick Bloom explained, now.
Speaker 3: Because I came to Australia in April, I think, and
Speaker 3: I was married before coming. She arrived in Sydney on
Speaker 3: a migrant visa because that's what she wanted to do.
Speaker 3: And I arrived in per fornatrice visa at that point
Speaker 3: in tame who are married.
Speaker 6: Mister Bloom raised from Perth to Sydney to reconnect with Elona,
Speaker 6: whom we suspect had left him, claiming he planned to
Speaker 6: stay with her for a three month holiday, but you.
Speaker 3: Way for the lady friend in brothers and the immigrated together,
Speaker 3: except my wife was flun to Sidney whilst our girlfriend
Speaker 3: came with a Greek ship. I staid with her for
Speaker 3: the best part of two months, and then Ilona went
Speaker 3: to Melbourne with another man and apparently she died in
Speaker 3: a car accident or something like that.
Speaker 6: Evelyn told me she feels an emotional disconnect with the
Speaker 6: word dad and refuses to see him as that. What
Speaker 6: I can confirm is that She wants police to take
Speaker 6: her statement, and she hopes by speaking out that it
Speaker 6: will help others, because there are others. Evelyn is convinced
Speaker 6: of that, and at least one of them is here
Speaker 6: in Australia in Melbourne. She told me that one of
Speaker 6: the last times she saw Rick Bloom, he had her
Speaker 6: pick him up in her car. She remembers him laughing
Speaker 6: about someone giving him for forty or fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 6: when all they had was his mobile phone number, which
Speaker 6: he could easily change. Evelyn says the very last time
Speaker 6: she saw him was when she dropped him off at
Speaker 6: an address in inner suburban Melbourne, possibly q or Hawthorne.
Speaker 6: While she's only been in the company of Rick Bloom
Speaker 6: relatively few times, each time she met with him, Evelyn
Speaker 6: recalled being concerned by the things he had to say
Speaker 6: to her, pretending to act dumb so he didn't notice
Speaker 6: her reactions. She just wanted it all to go away.
Speaker 6: We realize that speaking with us and other journalists has
Speaker 6: caused anxiety for Evelyn and Evelyn. We are sorry for
Speaker 6: your understandable pain, and we are full of admiration for
Speaker 6: your bravery in coming forward to help others. Thank you
Speaker 6: so much, Evelyn.
Speaker 1: We've always suspected that there are more women out there
Speaker 1: who've fallen prey to Rick Blum's charms, being deceived and
Speaker 1: robbed of much of their money. Now, thanks to Evelyn,
Speaker 1: we believe there's at least one victim, possibly more in Melbourne, Australia.
Speaker 1: We don't have any names or the name Rick Blum
Speaker 1: may have been using at the time, and remember his
Speaker 1: list of aliases continues to grow, possibly as many as
Speaker 1: fifty now. But if you know of someone who was
Speaker 1: scammed of large sums of money by a man who
Speaker 1: seemed to disappear without a trace in the past twenty
Speaker 1: or thirty or forty years, please get in touch with
Speaker 1: us and report the matter to police. Our colleagues Tom
Speaker 1: Riddell and Yannick Lambert at the Luxembourg Work and Belgian
Speaker 1: journalist Peter Heiberrek have also been successful in tracking down
Speaker 1: another of Blum's victims. You may recall last episode we
Speaker 1: heard from Gulaine Dubois Danois she was jipped by Rick Blum,
Speaker 1: a man she knew was Frederick, and had her life
Speaker 1: savings taken by him before eventually she realized that she'd
Speaker 1: been scammed. After telling her incredible story, she mentioned that
Speaker 1: when she reported a case to police, she discovered that
Speaker 1: there had been another victim in Tournay, Belgium. This other
Speaker 1: woman had not only had her money taken from her,
Speaker 1: but had dyed her hair blonde, traveled to Barley with
Speaker 1: mister Blum and then been abandoned. To refresh your memory,
Speaker 1: here's a snippet of what Gulaine Duois Danois had to say.
Speaker 11: For example, the lady from Tourna, she changed her hair
Speaker 11: collar and he abandoned her Invalis.
Speaker 1: From what I know, I can.
Speaker 11: Only tell you what the Tourney police told me. When
Speaker 11: she came back from Bali, she filed a reporting Tournay
Speaker 11: since she lived there. She told them she had stopped
Speaker 11: to have any contact with her family after he asked
Speaker 11: her to, although her family helped her a lot since
Speaker 11: she was in Bali couldn't understand any English, so you
Speaker 11: can imagine, and she didn't have any money left because
Speaker 11: he had taken everything, absolutely everything.
Speaker 1: It turns out that woman from Tornay had a reason
Speaker 1: to trust Rick Blum. He was family. Remember how Rick
Speaker 1: Blum told the inquest that the reason for his numerous
Speaker 1: lengthy trips to Europe was to visit a cousin. It
Speaker 1: seems he wasn't so much visiting his cousin, but his
Speaker 1: cousin's lonely grieving widow, Tom Radell and Yannick Lambert tracked
Speaker 1: her down and spoke with her, getting an incredible account,
Speaker 1: while Belgian journalist Peter Heiberrek also reported on the story,
Speaker 1: producing six pages of coverage in the Flemish daily newspaper
Speaker 1: Nurse Blood. His front page spread revealed the many different
Speaker 1: aliases of Rick Blum and photographs of him over the years.
Speaker 12: For me, it was not a big story till the
Speaker 12: past couple of weeks was like whorld, Okay, this is
Speaker 12: more far more huge than I've expected. I convinced my
Speaker 12: editor and said, okay, this is a big story. We
Speaker 12: have to work on it and we have to Yeah,
Speaker 12: it was nice, but now we go full gus. There's
Speaker 12: one big problem I told you about. My dream is
Speaker 12: that the Belgium federal prosecutor will start an investigation. I said, okay,
Speaker 12: let's try and dig in the Belgium part of this case.
Speaker 1: As Rick Blum's mother came from a large family, he
Speaker 1: believes there will be plenty of people in Belgium who
Speaker 1: may recognize his face or one of his names.
Speaker 10: He still has family. I mean that they're a big
Speaker 10: family apparently because his mother she had a lot of
Speaker 10: siblings and there's a lot of cousins and aunts and
Speaker 10: nephews and whatnot. And can you imagine being part of
Speaker 10: this community and you go to the Tourney gas station
Speaker 10: and you see this front page. I mean that puts
Speaker 10: the pressure, right.
Speaker 1: I recently spoke with Peter, Tom and Yannick via zoom
Speaker 1: about how their investigations are going.
Speaker 12: Lovely to meet you all virtually, Good afternoon, Good morning everyone.
Speaker 1: You've obviously been working on a little bit as longer
Speaker 1: Tom and Yannick and then Peter, you've sort of been
Speaker 1: brought into it. How what did you think when you
Speaker 1: first learned about it?
Speaker 12: Well, actually it was Tom who contacted me a few
Speaker 12: months ago, I guess, And from the first meeting we had,
Speaker 12: I was like, okay, I was really surprised, and like,
Speaker 12: as a journalist, it's like, this is a huge story
Speaker 12: you have to investigate, and I was quite impressed about
Speaker 12: to work.
Speaker 10: So actually I was, they're quite impressed.
Speaker 12: And then we started together to that's the Belgian part
Speaker 12: of Billy Waters and Rick Bloom and that was quite
Speaker 12: fascinating for a journalist, or for a crime journalist like me.
Speaker 12: So yeah, it's an unbelievable story and we have to
Speaker 12: keep on going for the next couple of years.
Speaker 10: I guess. Yeah. I somehow managed to get him into
Speaker 10: the story without him thinking I was completely insane or something,
Speaker 10: because the story itself, when you tell somebody about it
Speaker 10: for the first time, or when you try to give
Speaker 10: a rundown what this story is all about. After a
Speaker 10: few minutes, when you hear yourself talking, you think this
Speaker 10: can't be right. This is so so extraordinary, with that
Speaker 10: many pathways where it's going. But luckily Peter believed me
Speaker 10: so to speak.
Speaker 12: Yeah, and it's quite a difficult story with all the
Speaker 12: fifteen names and all the countries he's been traveling too.
Speaker 12: So yeah, it's been quite a work, but it's it's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Well, I think that's the same with here. I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess that's why it's been so hard to initially
Speaker 1: get out the media to jump on board with it,
Speaker 1: because it is so bizarre. And Tom Brian met you
Speaker 1: back in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 13: Yeah, and I was peripherally involved at the time because
Speaker 13: I was sat in the office with my editor in
Speaker 13: chief who had also met Brian. But I wasn't involved
Speaker 13: in the story just then. And so yeah, I guess
Speaker 13: we but I've been aware of it, and so we've
Speaker 13: been sitting on it for some time and we couldn't
Speaker 13: really get anywhere with it. And I think it was
Speaker 13: I think it was the beginning of last year we
Speaker 13: just decided that let's get in like an initial like
Speaker 13: story out where we just right about the links we
Speaker 13: know between Rick Bloom, Frederica Hadavari whatever his name is,
Speaker 13: and Luxembourg. And I think that was the good decision
Speaker 13: to just do that, like without like doing like a
Speaker 13: Troup investigation. But that led to, you know, other people
Speaker 13: like Gillen's daughter in law contacting us, and so we
Speaker 13: were getting somewhere. So we started getting some I guess
Speaker 13: visibility for the story.
Speaker 1: Tom and Yannick met the widow of Rit Blum's cousin
Speaker 1: and her son in a restaurant in Belgium. She didn't
Speaker 1: want her real name used or to be recognized in photos,
Speaker 1: as only close family members know what happened. It was
Speaker 1: her son who convinced her to share her story in
Speaker 1: the hope that this fraud stuff may be brought to justice.
Speaker 1: So they settled on a pseudonym Charlotte and photographed her
Speaker 1: from behind. Tom and Yannick learned that Charlotte was sixty
Speaker 1: when our husband of forty years mckel died in twenty eleven.
Speaker 1: They had had a full life together, a grown up
Speaker 1: son and grandchildren. While she was still working, Michel had
Speaker 1: left her financially secure. Although family members took great care
Speaker 1: of Charlotte. Eventually, over time, everyday life returned, but Charlotte's
Speaker 1: life and home were a lot emptier and lonelier than before. However,
Speaker 1: there was one family member who continued to keep in touch,
Speaker 1: sending cards and calling often. He provided a sympathetic ear
Speaker 1: and was willing to listen. That person from Australia, cousin
Speaker 1: Willie aka Rick Blum, was related to Charlotte's late husband.
Speaker 1: While he wasn't someone Charlotte really knew, her husband had
Speaker 1: spoken of this cousin. After eight months of conversation, in
Speaker 1: March twenty twelve, cousin Willie came to visit, apparently to
Speaker 1: keep her company during her time of grief. He convinced
Speaker 1: her to take a trip to Bali with him because
Speaker 1: he told her she needed to get away, and she thought,
Speaker 1: why not take a vacation with a relative. It wasn't
Speaker 1: long before one hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of
Speaker 1: cash and valuables were taken, including Charlotte's wedding ring, a
Speaker 1: valuable stamp collection and a coin collection worth about twenty
Speaker 1: five thousand euros. Cousin Willie failed to return from a
Speaker 1: business appointment and Charlotte found herself abandoned in Bali. After
Speaker 1: managing to get home to Belgium, she reported to police
Speaker 1: in April twenty twelve, only to be told that it
Speaker 1: was unlikely cousin Willie would be extradited from Australia.
Speaker 10: There's a difference in her case from the other cases
Speaker 10: we know in that he was family so to speak.
Speaker 10: He is the cousin of her late husband, so he
Speaker 10: sent postcards every year for Christmas from holidays. She actually
Speaker 10: gave us one postcard from Ballei, which has nothing to
Speaker 10: do with her trip to Bali, but was earlier when
Speaker 10: one he sent to his cousin, so basically he was
Speaker 10: already someone for her. That still doesn't explain in my opinion,
Speaker 10: there's still the open question. I'm not a psychologist, I'm
Speaker 10: not a forensics expert. I don't have too much expertise
Speaker 10: or experience with those fraud cases. But in my opinion,
Speaker 10: there's still this huge question of how did this guy
Speaker 10: make it happen to approach people who within weeks give
Speaker 10: him like six figure amounts of money in cash with
Speaker 10: highly dubious pretexts like let's buy a house in Bali
Speaker 10: together and we split the cost fifty to fifty. But
Speaker 10: it needs to be in cash because of customs or
Speaker 10: taxes or whatever. Just trust me, it will be all right.
Speaker 10: Because he was a professional, they didn't have much of
Speaker 10: a chance for this thing to go any other direction. Apparently,
Speaker 10: if you just watch it from the result or from
Speaker 10: the end, it's incredible how efficient he was with this
Speaker 10: kind of stick. Yeah, he was on a mission. Still,
Speaker 10: how can it be that this guy gets that bag
Speaker 10: of money in no time?
Speaker 13: Basically, Yeah, what I would edit is as well as
Speaker 13: like with Charlotte, of course the relationship was different between
Speaker 13: her and Bloom, but also the way we talked to her.
Speaker 13: It came about in a very different way than than
Speaker 13: the previous woman and Gillian Donois, because she contacted us
Speaker 13: Delian or Gillian's daughter in law at first, so she
Speaker 13: was like very open to talk to us as well,
Speaker 13: whereas with wish a Lot, we had identified her based
Speaker 13: on certain elements that we've been aware of, and she
Speaker 13: was an initially very reluctant to talk to us. She
Speaker 13: didn't pick up the phone, and she thought we were
Speaker 13: trying to scam her with multiple phone calls something like that.
Speaker 13: So but it was actually her, her son, who convinced
Speaker 13: it to talk to us. And of course she was
Speaker 13: maybe at first a bit more reserved in her relationship
Speaker 13: to this whole story, but she she opened up and
Speaker 13: I think she she she knew it was important for
Speaker 13: her to reveal what had happened to her without feeling
Speaker 13: her full identity, of course, which which we respected, so
Speaker 13: which is totally understandable because it's such a difficult experience
Speaker 13: to talk about.
Speaker 1: Is she more traumatized do you think, then, Gulane? I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously they're all got an element of trying to recover from,
Speaker 1: you know, such an awful you know, like it's because
Speaker 1: these predators they really aim to attack their vulnerability, right,
Speaker 1: and and and they were all widows or single, so
Speaker 1: it's it's one of those things that you get lonely
Speaker 1: and you want to believe, right. So I guess with
Speaker 1: with her though, was she did she, you know, seem
Speaker 1: to struggle more with it?
Speaker 10: Do you think?
Speaker 13: I think it's difficult for me to say. I think
Speaker 13: that's not something she opened up about. I think it's
Speaker 13: hard to keep in mind that her experience was more
Speaker 13: recent than the other ones, so maybe it's it's more
Speaker 13: and more present to her still. And also because I
Speaker 13: think she was fine with not talking about it at all,
Speaker 13: and that's kind of how she managed to move on.
Speaker 13: That was my impression at least, So this kind of
Speaker 13: opened new wounds for her, whereas the other ones, Gilane
Speaker 13: seemed much more maybe proactively a certain in that regard.
Speaker 13: So that's all I can say. Whether she'd been more
Speaker 13: traumatized and the other I don't know. I think they
Speaker 13: were both pretty badly affected by it, but I think
Speaker 13: it's difficult to compare to the things, at least from
Speaker 13: my perspective.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think the family thing comes into play here
Speaker 10: once more, because when we were discussing how we would
Speaker 10: anonymize her name or how much of her identity we
Speaker 10: could reveal, whether she would like we had the photographer
Speaker 10: only taking pictures where you can see her from behind.
Speaker 10: She was saying something like, well, it's not so much
Speaker 10: for me, but it's still it's the name that my
Speaker 10: son and it's my son's family, right, So, because she
Speaker 10: could distance herself from that part of the family because
Speaker 10: it was basically her cousin in law, but she was
Speaker 10: she cared for her son's family name if you will,
Speaker 10: or identity and son. Well, he didn't seem like it
Speaker 10: faced him too much or basically he was all game
Speaker 10: with her to talk about it, et cetera. But there
Speaker 10: was her reason to say to us, please leave my
Speaker 10: or please get me another name, so to speak, right
Speaker 10: for the story, and that's I think that's still the
Speaker 10: big difference between those two women. As for trauma, I
Speaker 10: couldn't say either. I mean, we only met her for
Speaker 10: like three hours. It's hard to tell.
Speaker 1: What about some of the other stuff that's come out,
Speaker 1: you know, the poisons. Obviously you probably saw the latest
Speaker 1: article over here with this seeming obsession with poisons. You'd
Speaker 1: know about Alona Kingsley's third wife dying in a bizarre way.
Speaker 1: I mean, do you think it could be more sinister then?
Speaker 13: I guess just for I think it's also difficult to
Speaker 13: save for us. But there certainly are many more elements
Speaker 13: or proplines to be discovered, and even here in Luxembourg
Speaker 13: we have a couple of leads. Not'ssarily more sinister ones,
Speaker 13: but that point towards involvement in other types of frog.
Speaker 1: Perhaps we're hoping that as a result of Tom and
Speaker 1: Yannick's reports in German, English and French, and Peter's stories
Speaker 1: in Flemish, that there may be more people who come forward.
Speaker 10: We didn't do too deep of a dive into the
Speaker 10: community thing yet, but I see us coming back to
Speaker 10: Belgium maybe one or two more times.
Speaker 1: Tom in Yannick discovered that the reason Charlotte dyed her
Speaker 1: hair blonde is because cousin Willie arranged it while they
Speaker 1: were in Bali.
Speaker 10: He booked her the fullwareness treatment and the fact that
Speaker 10: he told the hairdresser what color to get. It's not
Speaker 10: her that told him that. According to Charlotte, that's entirely
Speaker 10: because she didn't speak English. So basically he managed all
Speaker 10: the appointments, and then he told the hairdresser about the color,
Speaker 10: and then she was kind of shocked when they actually
Speaker 10: went through with it. So she literally said, I looked
Speaker 10: like a canary. And her son said, well, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 10: I didn't recognize my mother when I picked her up
Speaker 10: from the airport, But he said it jokingly in a way.
Speaker 1: Charlotte said she never saw cousin Willie again after that
Speaker 1: hairdressing appointment. There has been conjecture about why Rick Blum
Speaker 1: has wanted women to change their hair color. Remember he
Speaker 1: wanted Janet Oldenburg to dye her hair blonde too, but
Speaker 1: her hairdresser refused. Did mister Blum have a preference for blondes?
Speaker 1: Was he trying to disguise someone's identity, or was there
Speaker 1: a more sinister reason linked to poisons. But think about this.
Speaker 1: Bleaching one's hair at the hairdresser can take a good
Speaker 1: couple of hours, and if the hair is quite dark
Speaker 1: and thick, the bleaching process can take even longer. Perhaps
Speaker 1: mister Blum wanted these women to have lengthy hair appointments
Speaker 1: so he could buy time and do things without the
Speaker 1: women knowing. That's the conclusion that Yannick and Tom came
Speaker 1: to it was.
Speaker 10: Kind of a cover story in the sense of, yeah,
Speaker 10: I'm sorry I have to leave overnight, but I'll be
Speaker 10: back tomorrow. You go to the hairdresser and to spind
Speaker 10: the massage and have a good time. I'm and also
Speaker 10: maybe while you while you're sitting in that hairdresser's chair
Speaker 10: waiting for your hair to be dyed, you don't go anywhere.
Speaker 10: You don't you don't do anything else in terms of
Speaker 10: trying to find out where he is or whether everything's okay.
Speaker 10: You don't have access to a telephone maybe during that time.
Speaker 10: So basically he bought himself some time, I suppose with
Speaker 10: this whole thing similar to what she also told us
Speaker 10: about the one with the safe combination. So basically all
Speaker 10: her papers or photocopies of her travel documents were in
Speaker 10: the hotel safe in her room, but he had the combination.
Speaker 10: It wasn't quite clear whether she never had it or
Speaker 10: whether he changed it before he left, but in any event,
Speaker 10: she couldn't access her travel documents for like two days
Speaker 10: until he sent the email to the hotel. So that's
Speaker 10: also basically along those same lines of buying himself time
Speaker 10: and freezing her in the hotel, so to speak, and
Speaker 10: in my opinion, the hair dyeing goes into that category
Speaker 10: much more than into any poison category. Maybe combine this
Speaker 10: with like a control freaked thing, so it's him who
Speaker 10: decides what his women look like. But that's also very speculative,
Speaker 10: and again I'm not a psychologist.
Speaker 1: It wasn't long after that hair appointment that Charlotte realized
Speaker 1: she'd been left high and dry in Bali. She couldn't
Speaker 1: speak English or Indonesian.
Speaker 13: I think she realized fairly quickly what was happening, and
Speaker 13: she had difficulties accessing her belongings in the hotel. But
Speaker 13: the hotel was sent by Rick Bloom the code to
Speaker 13: open the safe, so she was able to retreat a documents.
Speaker 13: And one of the issues she had in Bali was
Speaker 13: obviously she did she didn't speak English or didn't speak
Speaker 13: it very well at all, so she had to She
Speaker 13: likely found the local tour guy who spoke French more
Speaker 13: or less fluently, oh help her to get out of
Speaker 13: get out of the country. So it took us some time,
Speaker 13: so she was able to get to get back and
Speaker 13: to return to Belgium, where she i don't remember the
Speaker 13: exact time, but she almost right away I think fired
Speaker 13: the report with the police that she'd been defrauded.
Speaker 10: Yeah. Three days after she returned, she went to the police.
Speaker 1: Cousin Willie apparently left her a message that he'd taken
Speaker 1: her money because her late husband owed him. It was
Speaker 1: the first time she'd ever heard such a thing from
Speaker 1: Rick Blum, and she couldn't recall her husband, Michel, who
Speaker 1: had an exemplary career in banking, ever saying he owed
Speaker 1: anything to his cousin in Australia.
Speaker 10: And there's another thing about this email to the hotel.
Speaker 10: In the email to the hotel, he explained to her
Speaker 10: that he took the money because her late husband owed
Speaker 10: it to him, supposedly, And she said that can't be
Speaker 10: right because he never mentioned it and I don't know
Speaker 10: anything about it. And then it bawned on her that
Speaker 10: she's been had so to speak. Yeah, and then she
Speaker 10: she decided to get back home as quickly as possible
Speaker 10: and go to the police. And also in the police
Speaker 10: pilot says when she came back home, she discovered that
Speaker 10: she had been robbed because stuff was missing from her apartment.
Speaker 13: Like stem stamp collection, jewelry, and we have reached.
Speaker 1: Out to Charlotte via Tom and Yannick, but so far.
Speaker 10: She's not been in touch, not yet, I'm afraid, so
Speaker 10: we'll try again, but I haven't heard back yet. I
Speaker 10: send an I sent an email to her son explaining
Speaker 10: that everything is published now and send him a link
Speaker 10: to the to our French translation and explaining who you
Speaker 10: are and what she could expect from talking to you,
Speaker 10: et cetera. But also, I mean, we talked about you guys,
Speaker 10: and about the whole the whole publication history of the
Speaker 10: whole case already, so she I think she knew what
Speaker 10: she was into when she talked to us. But yeah,
Speaker 10: I haven't heard back yet. Can be for whatever reason.
Speaker 6: So so what did Rick Bloom have to say about
Speaker 6: these latest allegations. I tried calling mister Bloom, but I
Speaker 6: was diverted to his answering service. It seems he's had
Speaker 6: enough of talking to me. We did send a seven
Speaker 6: News reporter along to his home in East Ballina to ask.
Speaker 1: Rick, are you concerned about the evidence that's building up.
Speaker 6: We caught up with mister Bloom and his wife, Diane
Speaker 6: as they walked up to their house as usual, mister
Speaker 6: Bloom remained quiet. Are you worried that you might be
Speaker 6: arrested soon? So was Diane, although she did tell the
Speaker 6: crew to go away.
Speaker 10: Rick.
Speaker 6: Anyway, back now to Allison and her chat with our
Speaker 6: European colleagues Tom Yannick and the thanks Brian.
Speaker 1: After his articles were published, Peter was contacted by another woman,
Speaker 1: but it turned out to be a false lead. At
Speaker 1: this stage, from our understanding, there's no official investigation underway
Speaker 1: in Belgium.
Speaker 10: So I contacted.
Speaker 12: I sent my articles and also the articles published in
Speaker 12: Luxembourg and some Australian articles to the Federal Justice Department
Speaker 12: here and I'm still waiting for an answer if they
Speaker 12: will start an investigation in Belgium. I hope so, but
Speaker 12: it's not clear actually at the moment, At this moment,
Speaker 12: there's no real Belgium investigation going on. So in Belgia
Speaker 12: really have to find a prosecutor with the same interest
Speaker 12: like us, who really wants to dig in that story,
Speaker 12: in that old story. But there are plenty other things
Speaker 12: to do in Belgium to solve then going after Rick
Speaker 12: Plumus on the other side of the world. So yeah,
Speaker 12: it's difficult, but we have to try.
Speaker 10: We published a little call for witnesses so to speak,
Speaker 10: and said do you remember this man under the following
Speaker 10: names which were relevant to Luxembourg in our opinion, and
Speaker 10: also with based names like Sane.
Speaker 1: They've received messages from one man who remember playing soccer
Speaker 1: with Fernande Remarkael as a child, and others from people
Speaker 1: who remember the furniture store Rick Blum operated in Luxembourg.
Speaker 1: Then there were a few people who recalled an Australian
Speaker 1: television crew being in town a few years back, which
Speaker 1: was likely Brian and Sally, and someone who suggested Rick
Speaker 1: Blum's furniture shop may also have been involved in some
Speaker 1: shady business.
Speaker 10: It shows us that people read the story and that
Speaker 10: they actually made the right connections in a way. But
Speaker 10: it's nothing in there that you didn't already know.
Speaker 13: What is interesting about this shop that I just wanted
Speaker 13: to beily mention is that before that I spoke to someone,
Speaker 13: a reliable source from that village where I'm also actually from,
Speaker 13: that knew the shop that apparently he sold stolen goods
Speaker 13: in that furniture store, and I think that is something
Speaker 13: that we want to investigate a bit further as well.
Speaker 13: Where did you get these antiquities from? And how long
Speaker 13: did the shop operate forward? Who has knew something of
Speaker 13: the shop. So that's the lead I'm really trying to
Speaker 13: follow now, so maybe it will reveal some more. Yeah,
Speaker 13: I think there's all There were other reports from the
Speaker 13: time that we can't fully tie to him yet, but
Speaker 13: I think there's indications that he might have been involved
Speaker 13: in maybe something more organized and something a bit larger,
Speaker 13: But who knows so well.
Speaker 10: One thing, one thing we need to be careful with
Speaker 10: also is what Charlotte told us. It's a furniture business,
Speaker 10: a furniture family business, as in they make their own furniture,
Speaker 10: so it's new furniture so far as seats, whatever, furniture.
Speaker 10: But it's not necessarily an antique store that went down
Speaker 10: in that he operated in a But the source Jick
Speaker 10: was referring to actually said he sold couches that weren't his.
Speaker 10: So so it can be both, of course, But according
Speaker 10: to family history, because they would know Charlotte and her
Speaker 10: son would know about these things. They said, the parents
Speaker 10: already had a furniture a little factory making furniture and
Speaker 10: selling it back in the day.
Speaker 1: I suggest that Blum is like the original Tinder Swindler,
Speaker 1: referring to the British crime documentary about a real life
Speaker 1: fraudster who tricked women he met on Tinder into giving
Speaker 1: him money, except without the Tinder.
Speaker 13: It's interesting that you mentioned the Tinnersoner. We've watched it
Speaker 13: the other day and I just the paralys it's just
Speaker 13: so striking. It's it's actually, yeah, it fits perfectly almost.
Speaker 13: I would say it's kind of the pre digital Tinder Swindler,
Speaker 13: so without dating apps, but the kind of the methods
Speaker 13: very similar. And I guess there's there's some differences of course,
Speaker 13: in that the original Tin the Tinder Swindler of the documentary,
Speaker 13: he's been promising this like, you know, fantastic wealthy lifestyle,
Speaker 13: which Room hasn't been doing so much. It's just like
Speaker 13: kind of been advertising exoptic destinations, so to speak. And
Speaker 13: but yeah, I know it's very interesting also, I think
Speaker 13: psychologically to compare compared to each other, well, is that.
Speaker 1: That whole starting a new life thing and an adventure.
Speaker 1: But also at the same time he gets them out
Speaker 1: of their comfort zone, right, so if he gets into
Speaker 1: Bali or you know, out of their home territory. They
Speaker 1: rely completely on him, so it's it's you can see
Speaker 1: why it worked.
Speaker 10: That's actually also one of those things with Charlotte that
Speaker 10: don't make that much sense, because apparently she gave him
Speaker 10: the money while they were still in Belgium. So why
Speaker 10: still take her to Bali would be my question. You
Speaker 10: just you arrived at your target. Basically you're being handed
Speaker 10: two bags with fifty thousand euros each. What else can
Speaker 10: you want? Why still go to Bali and do all
Speaker 10: the Bali stuff other than maybe exercising control or disorienting
Speaker 10: your victim. Yeah, apparently, he asked her. At one point,
Speaker 10: he asked her whether she still had the passport of
Speaker 10: her late husband, which she refused. So she said, in Belgium,
Speaker 10: when you die, your passport is being sent back to
Speaker 10: the authorities and is destroyed. I guess, and I'm not
Speaker 10: even sure if that is true, but that's what she
Speaker 10: told him. So bottom line, he couldn't have the passport
Speaker 10: or of her late husband for whatever reason. He could
Speaker 10: have copied her documents from the safe. Of course, he
Speaker 10: might have had some advantage of her going to Bali
Speaker 10: or not. I don't know. It just struck me as
Speaker 10: a bit odd when you have one hundred thousand euros
Speaker 10: already to go to all the trouble.
Speaker 1: It does seem odd to take Charlot to Bali if
Speaker 1: he already has the money. But perhaps there was something
Speaker 1: else he wanted. Perhaps it was a way to delay
Speaker 1: her reporting him to authorities, leaving her abandoned in a
Speaker 1: foreign country, having defend for herself and find her own
Speaker 1: way home. Like us, Tom Yannick and Peter want to
Speaker 1: know what's happening with the inquest. While with made inquiries
Speaker 1: with the Coroner's office, at this stage we still don't know.
Speaker 10: Maybe a stupid question.
Speaker 12: Is it an option that we passed the numbers of
Speaker 12: gy Len and Charlotte to the to the prosecutor, or,
Speaker 12: to the to the police, the Australian police, or is
Speaker 12: it not an option or.
Speaker 10: K Len's I think already? I think. I think gi
Speaker 10: Len's daughter and lawyers in contact with the Australian Police.
Speaker 1: As far as I Tom Yannick and Peter are sure
Speaker 1: as chase up any leads they find around the other
Speaker 1: stories they have to pursue.
Speaker 13: I also know of another store that apparently had issues
Speaker 13: with Rick Blum, so that's we've been seeing. I'm planning
Speaker 13: on talking to the owners of that store as well
Speaker 13: in Luxembourg and maybe something else can can image from
Speaker 13: that foot. Yeah, we'll keep the update at there's a
Speaker 13: few potential leads, so I'm sure that we will discover more.
Speaker 6: Another thing. We are also in talks with podcast groups
Speaker 6: overseas looking at ways to have The Lady Vanishes translated
Speaker 6: into other languages across parts of Europe. But it's very
Speaker 6: early stages, and Sally is making progress on her plan
Speaker 6: to set up a support group for victims.
Speaker 1: Hello, Hello, how are you?
Speaker 6: She and Allison met up recently with Janet Oldenburg. The
Speaker 6: first discussion topic is Peter's article from Belgium.
Speaker 5: So they're all, well, when I did my report in
Speaker 5: the first place back in two thousand, it was it
Speaker 5: was only twenty five alis names. Yes at the inquest
Speaker 5: and he was about thirty ars or more and now yeah,
Speaker 5: the same now, so yeah, he certainly cropped up. And
Speaker 5: I had to laugh at the inquest because he was asked,
Speaker 5: why have you got so many earlies names? And you
Speaker 5: just shrugged his shoulders and then he said, well to
Speaker 5: get away from my part. But little does he realize
Speaker 5: it was just me at the whole world knows now.
Speaker 14: So plast is catching up.
Speaker 4: It makes me say, looking at my mum.
Speaker 5: And that photo, yeah, I know, I know so many
Speaker 5: good people from behind the scenes helping.
Speaker 14: I'm glad.
Speaker 1: I'm glad.
Speaker 4: Oh you are okay, like you you know, you met
Speaker 4: him as well. And I'm glad that I was thinking
Speaker 4: about this the other day, and I'm glad by me
Speaker 4: pushing and pushing, pushing, going something's wrong. I know something
Speaker 4: it's not right here, or found people like yourself and
Speaker 4: like Gislaine and Jeanette down in Sydney, and multiple people
Speaker 4: who have come forward now. And you know, when the
Speaker 4: police didn't really take you guys too seriously, I feel,
Speaker 4: you know, like you go and you do your statement
Speaker 4: and then that's just sort of all that happens. Some
Speaker 4: people like myself didn't even get to give a statement
Speaker 4: until twenty two years later.
Speaker 1: You've got other.
Speaker 14: Women who have just been fogged off as oh it
Speaker 14: was just you know, you're being silly.
Speaker 4: And you know, I'm happy that I've had a chance
Speaker 4: by telling my story and finding everybody that everyone's had
Speaker 4: a chance to tell their story of what happened, because
Speaker 4: it's not a nice thing to happen, No, regardless of
Speaker 4: what level it is, it's not nice, you know.
Speaker 5: Well, when the I realized he'd stolen things, my deeds again,
Speaker 5: I called in the police. But while I was waiting
Speaker 5: for them, I wrote down everything that we'd been, what
Speaker 5: was said, where we traveled, what time the planes everything,
Speaker 5: and so bothered, Hell is that that you did that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: And then policeman went back to the station and then
Speaker 5: he said, oh and he rang me up and he said, oh,
Speaker 5: detectives interested in your case.
Speaker 14: Yeah, well but they didn't pursue much from there.
Speaker 7: They did that.
Speaker 5: They just took your statement. And that's what.
Speaker 4: I mean, like, there's just no follow through and this
Speaker 4: is where we're at now doing their thing.
Speaker 2: So I don't know.
Speaker 1: Well, I thought the same. I went to the police.
Speaker 12: I thought that she would.
Speaker 14: Actually do things.
Speaker 4: And then I got a call a week later saying
Speaker 4: that they'd spoken to my mum and she didn't want
Speaker 4: anyone to know where.
Speaker 5: She was or what she was doing.
Speaker 14: So as a twenty four year old, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 14: what do I do now?
Speaker 5: And you know, so I passed it over to.
Speaker 4: My grandfather, and said, what's your advice? Like I still
Speaker 4: felt quite young, and I'm like not very knowledgeable in
Speaker 4: the world of the web, the world, and you know,
Speaker 4: I've certainly learned a lot of course.
Speaker 1: Now, yes, you believe though that this man is capable
Speaker 1: of what we now have found out.
Speaker 5: Well, I tend to believe what's in there because it's
Speaker 5: come to light with everything, and some of it correlates
Speaker 5: to Okay, the trip to Barley, for instance, that he
Speaker 5: undertake me to give me a nice time and all this,
Speaker 5: but he kept going off making home calls and things,
Speaker 5: and so I didn't see much of him at at
Speaker 5: the time. And what did he do in Amsterdam as well?
Speaker 4: And what did you think about when you heard that
Speaker 4: he got somebody else to dye their hair blonde?
Speaker 5: Yeah, although I didn't die blonde, but yeah, because I
Speaker 5: went to the hairdressers he wanted me to get, you know,
Speaker 5: and she couldn't do it because it was too much,
Speaker 5: too dark, because I was a dark ground.
Speaker 14: Then that I instantly thought of you when I heard
Speaker 14: Charlotte we're calling her when she mentioned that.
Speaker 4: She had her hair dyed blond and he'd booked her
Speaker 4: in and then her son actually said that when he
Speaker 4: went picked her up from the airport, she was so
Speaker 4: unrecognizable with her hair, he didn't recognize her.
Speaker 14: Oh, dear, that's quite telling, don't you think.
Speaker 5: Like, yes, yes, it's a pattern, definitely a pattern.
Speaker 1: Us Is there any suspicionist why he's getting I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't be making assumptions, you know, like we don't
Speaker 4: know for sure. He'd be the person to answer that question,
Speaker 4: but it seems a bit odd to me, especially with
Speaker 4: Janet's situation where she was getting a new passport.
Speaker 14: Seems a bit weird to me that somebody might try
Speaker 14: and get you to change your hair color.
Speaker 4: Yes, I don't know, Like if you actually think about
Speaker 4: it as well, if you are changing your appearance and
Speaker 4: going to a different country and then into Paula trying
Speaker 4: to find you, if you're missing very old.
Speaker 1: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like this?
Speaker 9: Yeah, when I did my.
Speaker 5: Report, and of course one of the things you said,
Speaker 5: when I was over in Hope bringing at my cousins
Speaker 5: and he was supposed to ring, and then he didn't,
Speaker 5: and then the following day he did and he said, oh,
Speaker 5: I said, how are you? He said, oh, oh, not
Speaker 5: very well. I'm in the hospital, I said, where, He said,
Speaker 5: lil And, and they'd been bashed up with guys with
Speaker 5: six baseball bats and everything was stolen, which meant, I
Speaker 5: think in his bag, in his briefcasey type bag. But
Speaker 5: it was a cross one. And and actually when I
Speaker 5: did the report to the police, they actually checked out
Speaker 5: into pol and there was nobody in the hospitals by
Speaker 5: that name in Little mm hmm, So that was a lie.
Speaker 15: Yeah, there's a lot of lies, a lot of just
Speaker 15: Jimmy rock up to your house like when you were home,
Speaker 15: and he didn't have any didn't look like he'd been
Speaker 15: hit with six faces.
Speaker 5: He came up the driveway in his singlet trailers and
Speaker 5: singlet and in his usual basebook cat Facebook cat white one,
Speaker 5: and he he got to the driver all these glasses
Speaker 5: by the way were just you know, a bit broken
Speaker 5: at the side, you know, to give the impression, and
Speaker 5: I reckon, you know, and I said, oh, you know,
Speaker 5: only he got there, stopped and went like this sight
Speaker 5: and then I in retrospect with now from what I
Speaker 5: know later you later, Yeah, it was just oh my goodness,
Speaker 5: I can't get no house. And and yeah, but I
Speaker 5: think even the barrister the inquest tweet that he was
Speaker 5: there to off my house. He thought I was still away,
Speaker 5: and he dropped in at my friends as right, he
Speaker 5: dropped in at my friends because one day when I
Speaker 5: had to drive into Ballina and my friend, I just said, oh,
Speaker 5: I just opted in at my friends of the road
Speaker 5: and he you know, my friend saw him and she
Speaker 5: just said to me it was a funny thing, she said,
Speaker 5: She said, be careful, and I introduced him. I said, oh,
Speaker 5: this is rick car. He didn't get out and so
Speaker 5: therefore and it was funny words. But he knew. Did
Speaker 5: I drop keys into her? Always if I was going
Speaker 5: away anywhere, I dropped a set of keys in case
Speaker 5: I lost the keys or something like that. And I
Speaker 5: said to her later after I twigged everything and all this,
Speaker 5: and I said to it over, oh, did he did
Speaker 5: he call in to see you or anything? She's because
Speaker 5: she told me he said where's jan And she said, well,
Speaker 5: she's home. And I said, what was his expression like?
Speaker 5: And she said, oh, it was just sort of so
Speaker 5: I just rolled his eyes, you know, because he doesn't
Speaker 5: show much expression. He's very cool, calm, and yeah.
Speaker 9: This is the first time you mean, jan can you
Speaker 9: tell me about how you're feeling. This is Janet obviously
Speaker 9: had very similar movements as.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm extremely grateful to you and very touched that
Speaker 4: you guys actually were brave enough to come and speak
Speaker 4: at the inquest and say your peace and say your
Speaker 4: memory of what's happened, because it's really giving my mum
Speaker 4: a voice as well. And I think for you particularly
Speaker 4: out of everyone, and now Galaine, who we've just met
Speaker 4: and we've just found out, the three of you in
Speaker 4: litting my mum all had very similar situations. So the traveling,
Speaker 4: like Jonie and I sat there with a map and
Speaker 4: actually pinpointed exactly where you went and exactly where my
Speaker 4: mum went, and it's.
Speaker 5: Pretty much in reverse.
Speaker 4: So just little tiny things like that have given me
Speaker 4: an opportunity, whereas four years before I go before we
Speaker 4: did the podcast and people were starting to take interest
Speaker 4: in what I was saying because for years I kept
Speaker 4: telling people. People knew, my friends knew that my mum
Speaker 4: was missing, and I would tell them what had happened.
Speaker 4: And you know, there's been quite a bit of tragedy
Speaker 4: with my brother and you know, all that sort of
Speaker 4: jazz as well. And I think so many of my
Speaker 4: friends were like, wow, this is a book. You know,
Speaker 4: you need to tell your story because this is I
Speaker 4: just can't believe what you're telling me, Like it just
Speaker 4: doesn't make any sense. And I always just had a
Speaker 4: gut feeling that after seeing the man in the car
Speaker 4: with her at the McDonald's, I just knew something wasn't
Speaker 4: quite right when she didn't come back. And then I
Speaker 4: found out about the name change not thirteen years later.
Speaker 4: So it's been a very long road for me. But
Speaker 4: you know, since we've done the podcast and all the
Speaker 4: people have come about saying, oh my gosh, I'm so
Speaker 4: happy that I've been able to tell my story because
Speaker 4: we found you, we found Glaying, we found Jeanette. By
Speaker 4: doing that, and people are actually sitting up, people who
Speaker 4: needed to are now sitting up and listening to what
Speaker 4: I'm trying to say in that something. Something has happened
Speaker 4: to my mum. Something is wrong with this pitch. So
Speaker 4: we need to find her, and we need to find
Speaker 4: out what's happened to her, not just for my benefit,
Speaker 4: but for my kids, my husband, her family. You know,
Speaker 4: I'm doing this for a multitude of people and a
Speaker 4: multitude of reasons. So so I am really grateful for
Speaker 4: you talking to us and you know, becoming part of the.
Speaker 14: Family that we've now created. Yeah, through the Blady Vanishers.
Speaker 5: So what's next.
Speaker 1: An opportunity to team up all these victims of love.
Speaker 2: This man.
Speaker 1: Has touched so many lives in the worst possible way.
Speaker 5: Of course.
Speaker 14: Well, I think it would be very healing to personally.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm hearing more things even today yesterday about
Speaker 4: how people having a voice is healing part of the
Speaker 4: journey for them. You know, they've they've said their piece
Speaker 4: at the beginning, they've been pushed to the side, or
Speaker 4: it's just been forgotten about. And you know, it's not
Speaker 4: a nice thing, not a nice thing what happened to
Speaker 4: you and to the others as well, you know, like
Speaker 4: I don't know what's happened to my mum. That's the
Speaker 4: scary part about it and the sad part about it,
Speaker 4: and that's why we keep digging. But you know, it's
Speaker 4: not nice what's happened. So I think it would be
Speaker 4: very healing. Like I've wanted to meet with you for
Speaker 4: such a long time and just say thank you for you. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and we're just fortunate that we both live here in
Speaker 4: Brisbane so we've had a chance to catch up. But
Speaker 4: you know, I think Jonie even said to me the
Speaker 4: other day how great it would be to get everyone
Speaker 4: together in some sort of forum and just you know,
Speaker 4: not even a forum that sounds too fabricated, but let's
Speaker 4: just come in together, have a cup of tea, have
Speaker 4: a hug and actually just you know, it's strength in numbers.
Speaker 5: I say this a lot, Yeah, especially for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've got so many people who care now, which
Speaker 4: is really lovely because for so long outside of Chris.
Speaker 14: And obviously yeah, there's lots of people who who care
Speaker 14: enough and check in with me. People send me messages
Speaker 14: even this morning thinking of you. I hope you're okay.
Speaker 4: Gosh, this must be crazy roll the post of few.
Speaker 4: But it's just nice to know that people do care.
Speaker 4: And it's also the embarrassment. I mean, we have that
Speaker 4: certain Ginett.
Speaker 14: And Mane, but also now Benique and Yeah, and.
Speaker 16: I mean everyone's indicated, which is great, but that group,
Speaker 16: don't you think, as you say, it's a healing group,
Speaker 16: but you know it's something that might help to be
Speaker 16: able to talk about.
Speaker 1: Obviously, Gilaine only speaks French, and I think Charlotte does too.
Speaker 9: But if we have interpretre, is it something that you
Speaker 9: can do a sort of zoom chatter or even that's
Speaker 9: something that you can patch up.
Speaker 5: I don't know, just to say where it's happening.
Speaker 14: Yeah, yeah, well I hope to.
Speaker 5: I want to go to Belgium.
Speaker 4: I've told everybody that from funds that were created, which
Speaker 4: I feel very blessed but very embarrassed at the same time,
Speaker 4: that that will happen. But I just said, maybe Jonie
Speaker 4: and I will go together and we will actually go
Speaker 4: and meet these people and meet the boys over in
Speaker 4: Belgium who have been helping tell the story and you know,
Speaker 4: live and breathe it now over there as well, and
Speaker 4: just to say thank you and just to meet them
Speaker 4: in person.
Speaker 14: And you know, I think that's healing for me through
Speaker 14: this process.
Speaker 4: Because I definitely feel like I know what's happened to
Speaker 4: my mum in my heart. But yeah, I think that
Speaker 4: would be nice. I mean, it would be nice if
Speaker 4: we could all get together, but obviously it's hard when.
Speaker 5: People across the world as well. That's something that with
Speaker 5: a group of victims. Yes, yes, I'd be in that yes,
Speaker 5: how do you another wone?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 5: Oh great, I'm very surprised that everything that he's done,
Speaker 5: he's a great manipulator. All right, I'll agree to that.
Speaker 5: But I just got on with life and whatnot. But
Speaker 5: I did go through my mind at times I wonder,
Speaker 5: what's you know, he's going to be caught and all
Speaker 5: this sort of thing, but my life. I did move
Speaker 5: from New South Wales. I thought, no, I needed to
Speaker 5: get out of there. After that, I feel a lot
Speaker 5: stronger of a sort of doing that report. It's a
Speaker 5: sixteen page report. So I'm glad I did. That's are
Speaker 5: to empowerment. It's like an empowerment and the should put
Speaker 5: it there and hopefully who's going to stop and help others? Yes, yes,
Speaker 5: if I can in this all this this has happened
Speaker 5: and that yeah, And to talk to those people just
Speaker 5: like it's all calming down for them and understanding and
Speaker 5: all the love surrounding everything that's healing. Some of them,
Speaker 5: like Janet, seem very shamed. You don't be ashamed defeating yourself,
Speaker 5: be strong, speak peace and just know that you're going
Speaker 5: to do now, Like.
Speaker 4: For those that way that are feeling still a bit
Speaker 4: like that, I think, you know, they need to know
Speaker 4: that we are here and we are strong, and.
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, you know, we've got a voice to Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think I would have felt worse if you'd have
Speaker 5: managed to get my house, I think. But there's a
Speaker 5: lot of women out there that they just had a
Speaker 5: lot of money stolen from them.
Speaker 14: Yeah, you know, and I think you've got locked at
Speaker 14: with that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that part of it. The detective of the day
Speaker 5: did say, oh, you got off lightly to shame. He
Speaker 5: doesn't show looking at the inquest. He just shrugs everything off. Oh,
Speaker 5: it's just an every day occurrence to him. Oh no
Speaker 5: he didn't do it. Oh no, no he did.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 5: He's not even remorseful at all. Very cruel man mentally.
Speaker 4: Well, I don't have any updates for anybody at this point.
Speaker 4: It's I would assume, based on what we were told
Speaker 4: in November, that they will potentially be doing more investigation.
Speaker 4: I mean I would I would hope, realistically to make
Speaker 4: a decision on whether someone is alive or dead, that
Speaker 4: we would potentially have all those witnesses give statements talk
Speaker 4: to the coroner, because I want the coroner to have
Speaker 4: all the information possibly camp.
Speaker 10: Yes, Last.
Speaker 5: Love us. Well, yes, I'd like him to be didn't
Speaker 5: put in jail and lived there for the rest of
Speaker 5: his life. Getting out's too good for him. I mean,
Speaker 5: I don't need to be nasty, but of course I've
Speaker 5: got to find some evidence and all this business with
Speaker 5: poisons and stuff.
Speaker 1: But he's given how much evidence of all at the very.
Speaker 4: Least, even if you take my mum out of the picture.
Speaker 4: Let's say, let's just park Marian being missing over in
Speaker 4: this side.
Speaker 5: Of the park.
Speaker 4: You've got a situation where we've been able to prove
Speaker 4: lies like Renoff Pubs is a perfect example. He sat
Speaker 4: there and said point blank he had nothing to do
Speaker 4: with that company. Yet his name's all over the documents
Speaker 4: that we were able to prevent provide the court. There's
Speaker 4: but there's links to Alona kinsell or her applications coming
Speaker 4: to Australia was the address of and of pubs in Belgium.
Speaker 4: You know, so I struggle a lot with That's one
Speaker 4: example of probably five that I could go off the
Speaker 4: top of my head. That frustrates me because regardless of anything,
Speaker 4: that's a purge charge in my opinion. And then you've
Speaker 4: also got the citizenship application that doesn't sit well with
Speaker 4: me because I have seen handwritten documents out of the
Speaker 4: National Archives file that say that he should have been
Speaker 4: convicted under the Citizenship Act because he actually fraudulently filled
Speaker 4: in his citizenship application by ticking that he had never
Speaker 4: been in prison.
Speaker 6: Many of you have been asking about the citizenship granted
Speaker 6: to Rick Bloom or Frederick de Hevery in nineteen seventy six.
Speaker 6: In a previous epis pisode, we detailed how he lied
Speaker 6: to immigration officials about his criminal record, and we had
Speaker 6: a legal expert explained that there is no statute of
Speaker 6: limitations to prevent authorities from revoking his citizenship. The details
Speaker 6: of this deception are contained in the National Archives material
Speaker 6: referencing Ritbloom and included in the police brief of evidence
Speaker 6: to the coroner. It took me days to sift through
Speaker 6: the three and a half thousand pages on the aging
Speaker 6: laptop provided by the Coroner's office as they kept watch
Speaker 6: over me. It was startling to read that in April
Speaker 6: nineteen eighty, the Immigration Department provided a full brief on
Speaker 6: Frederick A. Ker Willie's criminal history and path to citizenship
Speaker 6: for the Federal Minister of Immigration, asking whether his citizenship
Speaker 6: should be withdrawn. Then the Federal Police wrote to the
Speaker 6: Immigration Department in August nineteen eighty asking why a man
Speaker 6: with his criminal history had been granted citizenship in the
Speaker 6: first place, and even more surprising to read that in
Speaker 6: nineteen eighty one, the Department provided written advice that Frederick
Speaker 6: quote appears obtained citizenship by deceit. Prosecution proposed imagine if
Speaker 6: Ric's citizenship had been revoked, marying Barter would likely be
Speaker 6: alive or at least with her family to day. To
Speaker 6: add to the frustration, neighbors Ingrid Nwbath and Martin Mitzus
Speaker 6: told us last year they contacted emigration officials in two
Speaker 6: thousand and eleven after becoming deeply suspicious of Rick and Diane.
Speaker 6: They were told immigration officials would investigate, but we now
Speaker 6: know nothing was done because all the information they needed
Speaker 6: was in their own files. We sent questions to the
Speaker 6: Home Affairs Department asking if they were investigating Rick Bloom's
Speaker 6: citizenship and if they would deport him if it is revoked,
Speaker 6: and how many cases there have been where the Department
Speaker 6: has pursued a prosecution against a person for lying to
Speaker 6: obtain citizenship. Here is what they told US.
Speaker 17: The Department does not comment on individual cases or allegations.
Speaker 17: The Department takes all reports of fraud and criminality very seriously.
Speaker 17: All reports we receive are considered in light of legislative
Speaker 17: provisions in place at the time and acted on where appropriate.
Speaker 6: We hope that means they are considering the status of
Speaker 6: rich citizenship. We can tell you that since nineteen forty
Speaker 6: eight there have been sixty nine revocations of Australian citizenship,
Speaker 6: forty eight for serious offenses and twenty one for migration
Speaker 6: citizenship fraud. A person found to have obtained their citizenship
Speaker 6: by fraudulent means, even if it was fifty years ago,
Speaker 6: can have their status revoked and given an ex citizen visa,
Speaker 6: which means they can stay here, but if they leave
Speaker 6: the country they cannot return. Now back to the support.
Speaker 4: Group, we come back to government problems where you know,
Speaker 4: I just don't know why that action has.
Speaker 5: Not been taken.
Speaker 14: Is it because he's eighty three and they don't want
Speaker 14: to They think that I've got I have a lot
Speaker 14: that I'd like to say about.
Speaker 4: Perhaps so the fact that we're still before the coroner,
Speaker 4: and I'm very grateful to her for you know, doing
Speaker 4: a thorough job. Is still pursuing, you know, answers, and
Speaker 4: I just hope that everyone working for my mum essentially
Speaker 4: to find her. He's very conscious of the fact that
Speaker 4: this is not over yet and there's new information that
Speaker 4: keeps coming through, so we need to keep pushing for answers.
Speaker 14: And we get a lot of people commenting that he
Speaker 14: should be.
Speaker 4: Extradined back to Belgium, and you know, that's that's a
Speaker 4: very difficult thing to do. It's very there's a lot
Speaker 4: of red tape and you know, politics behind that sort
Speaker 4: of thing.
Speaker 14: And essentially he's here, you know, my mum is here.
Speaker 14: My mum's never left the country again.
Speaker 4: So I need him to be here and helped tell
Speaker 4: us what more he knows about, you know, him coming
Speaker 4: back into the country and being around the same time
Speaker 4: as my mum. And there are some firm timelines that
Speaker 4: we've been able to establish, and we have found people
Speaker 4: that weren't found by others, which we're hoping will actually
Speaker 4: help the coroner.
Speaker 6: He catch up with Janet and Sally was winding up now,
Speaker 6: but not before Janet reflected on why she ever trusted
Speaker 6: Rick Bloom. Her sentiments eerily similar to those of Monique Cornelius.
Speaker 5: It makes me wonder world what I saw in him
Speaker 5: in my first but I think as he came across
Speaker 5: so caring and loving and master manipulator. Yes, oh he is.
Speaker 18: Definitely likely and a way of saying things that make
Speaker 18: you think, oh okay, it's not right there.
Speaker 5: So you had a way of getting through that. You're
Speaker 5: the one that made the decision, you know, I thought
Speaker 5: about it.
Speaker 2: Newsla Chat.
Speaker 4: Mis Jewelry.
Speaker 6: If you knew Marion or have any information about her
Speaker 6: or her whereabouts, we'd love to hear from you. Our
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Speaker 6: The Lady Vanishes, and you can also message us here.
Speaker 6: You can also send us an anonymous tip at The
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Speaker 6: don't forget to subscribe. Please rate and review our series.
Speaker 6: It helps new listeners find us. Presenter and executive producer
Speaker 6: Alison Sandy, investigative journalist Seymour, producer and writer Sally Eels.
Speaker 6: Sound design Mark Wright, graphics Jason Blandford, Transcripts and translation
Speaker 6: Estelle Sanchez. The theme and much of the music by
Speaker 6: Nicholas Gasparini at the Dark Piano dot com. Thanks again
Speaker 6: to the Alliance Francais. This is a seven News production.