Episode 1: Jon’s Castle

Listeners are advised that this podcast series Bromwin contains coarse language and adult themes. This podcast series is brought to you by Me Headley Thomas and The Australian.

When we moved to Lennox head I was even more lonely. The house that was Bill became John's castle. In my prison.

Roman Winfield wrote these words shortly before she disappeared one Sunday night in May nineteen ninety three. She had been to see her GP a couple of days earlier and was in good physical health. Apart from having strained her hand. She was of sound mind and had no known mental illness. A brief period of post natal depression after the birth five years earlier of her second daughter was well behind.

Bromwin.

Where do you want to go.

Today?

Thirty one years since the sudden disappearance of a mother of two little girls.

I'm driving on.

A winding road south of Byron Bay to the house that Bromwin had called her prison. Past former dairy and sugar cane farms subdivided for residential housing estates and the Great Australian Family Dream. A three or four bedroom, two bathroom bricantile close to the.

Beach getting directions to Sandstone Crescent Lennox Head.

The Pacific Ocean is tantalizingly close. You can hear it, smell it, its saltiness. Linger on an easterly zephyr of a breeze. In luxury homes with views over smoothly curving coastline, binoculars.

Are at the ready for the first sightings of.

Humpback whales on their annual migratory journey from Antarctica. They perform in the warm waters of an aquatic backyard off the most easterly part of Australia's mainland and the lighthouse at Byron Bay. It's a quieter, gentler lifestyle in this place everyone calls Lennox. It's less crowded here, more chilled than the nearby more famous Byron Roman left indelible imprints on those who loved her, Yet her thirty one years

My idea of a lasting love is being able to tell your partner anything and it doesn't make a difference to your relationship. Trust, being kind to one another when you're down, supportive, having time for each other always, as well as time for other people.

Her family, friends and neighbors tell me she was determined to remain separated from her husband of six years, John Winfield, wanted to go her own way. She was pursuing a divorce. Her good friends in this idyllic beachside town in northern New South Wales supported her. They were all school mums with small children who played together. They shared instant coffees, morning walks, birthday parties, turns at babysitting and random catchups for a glass of wine and easy conversation. Bromwinn had

It was where.

Bromwin had grown up. She had close cousins there, including Megan Reid. She had her Auntie Leah and uncle John and her half sister Melissa. Her mother Barbara, and her half sister Kim Marshall lived another hour away in Tasmania. All of these family members talked regularly to Bromwin. Kim was about to travel north to Lennox because Bromwin had invited her to come and stay for a while.

Nobody had heard of any.

Plans by Bromwin to suddenly go away to disappear. Writing about the unhappiness of the marriage Bromin had decided was bad for her and her girls perhaps felt cathartic. Liberating the house in Lennox was a heavy burden.

I drifted away from John as he became more and more depressed about the house being less than immaculate and the death of his mother, the only woman he thought was perfect. I couldn't leave him at the time, as he was so unhappy and depressed and hated life, and probably me, I tried to plead and talk to him to open up and get things off his chest, but nothing would help him.

Friends and neighbors tell me John would obsess and see over the smallest things. No matter how hard Bromwin tried. The house could never be clean enough for John. A tiny spot on a tile, a crumb on the carpet, these could set him off. John was an introvert and a perfectionist. He had built the house with his bare hands. He was often unhappy when visitors dropped by. Sometimes he would appear hostile. Bromwin, on the other hand, was naturally sociable and welcoming.

She needed the.

Company and support of her friends. But the children would play with their friends in the garage to ensure no mess in the house, and all the while Bromwan walked around on eggshells. She worried about how John would react when people were over All of it took a toll. The tensions must have been unbearable at times. Their marriage was clearly doomed. On March twenty one, nineteen ninety three, Bromwin and John formally separated.

Eventually, I switched off and became cold inside. He had a heart of ice and always criticized me. No matter what I did. The man was cold and heartless and gave nothing but expected everything.

Bromwyn shared recollections and sorrows, hurts, and philosophical musings with her notepad. But for whom was she writing all of this in nineteen ninety three? Why had she begun to put it all down? Bromwin hadn't kept a journal before. Bromwin's family and friends tell me she lived for her two daughters, Crystal, aged ten, and Lauren five. She loved those girls to bits. Her devotion every day was obvious to all who knew her. The three were inseparable, and

My children have suffered from the environment that surrounded them. It is equally important to be honest with them and to tell them about their past, as you not only suffer from denying the truth, but so do they.

As I read all of it, some big questions are inescapable? Are Rombin's writings the artifacts of a woman looking back on the thirty one years of her life to that moment, a woman looking forward with her two girls to a happier, brighter future, as a newly single mum finally freed of the shackles and sadness she felt in an intolerable marriage to John.

I was surrounded by hate and abuse in various ways as a child, and am determined not to allow this to happen to my girls or myself ever again. No one will ever intimidate me again, nor will I allow anyone to force their opinions onto me, as this can cause damage to myself as well as my children. If love means not being trusted to be yourself, or thinking that everyone is out to own you paranoia, then it is not my idea of happiness.

Or are they the nuanced words of a woman who is writing with a plan to leave something personal and heartfelt behind for her loved ones. When Romwin wrote in her notepad in nineteen ninety three, was she intending to imminently and dramatically change everything by leaving everyone who loved her, including her daughters? Was she intending to vanish without explanation and never see or speak to them or anyone else?

She knew again.

Everyone has both good and bad, and I've confronted the bad in myself and realized I am human. We all make mistakes. I can forgive myself and will now live with my memories in peace. I will always remember the people I meet. I will be fine now. A little break for a few weeks, and everyone will see the old me look out.

Over months of visits to Lenox, nearby towns and villages, and the city in which she grew up, Sydney. I'm talking to people who knew Bromwin and seeking answers to these questions and more, talking to anyone who might shed light on what happened to Bromen on the night of May sixteenth, nineteen ninety three, when John was the last person to see her at the.

Home in Sandstone Crescent.

In this enclave worshiped by dedicated surfers and made affluent by Sea Change property owners, people who know more than they've let on before about Broman's fate are coming forward. Former police detectives are sharing information with me. Many hundreds of pages of evidence are being scrutinized for clues.

Here's one example.

On April two, nineteen ninety three, Doreen Strong from the Ballena Byron Family Support Service made a handwritten diary note about the first of several contacts with the newly singled Bromwin from the Life Lennox Head.

Bronwyn Winfield left husband ten days ago emotional violence, custody threats being to solicitor. Received advice regarding custody. Feels better but needs support. We are to call Monday regarding availability of appointment.

Bromwin saw three different solicitors after her separation from John. On March twenty one, nineteen ninety three, she sought advice about her rights in a planned property settlement with John, an intended division of their assets. The solicitor she had decided to stay with, Chrismkdebitt, was based in the nearby town of Lismore. Broman's next appointment in his office there

Crescent Head south on Balana Street.

In seven hundred meters at the roundabout, take this second exit onto North Creek Road.

A good wave is peeling this sunny afternoon. Board riders are carving across the face of swollen waves at a beach known as Boulders. Boulders Beach is still John Winfield's favorite location when he paddles out for a wave. Bromwin's husband didn't leave Lennox Head after she vanished, but why

Wish to advise that after careful consideration of the matter, referred to him by the coroner and following further investigation, the Director of Public Prosecutions is not satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to lay any charge against Jonathan Winfield at this time.

The prosecuting agency confirmed its decision in a letter of just one sentence. The letter went to the police who had reinvestigated Bromwan's case for the inquest. Roman's brother Andy Reid and his wife Michelle were astonished. They wrote to the office of the DPP in early two thousand and three.

We are writing to you on behalf of ourselves and the Reed family to formally request a full explanation as to why the Crown Prosecutor in Lismore and the Director of Public Prosecutions in Sydney have decided is not sufficient evidence to lay charge against mister Jonathan Winfield.

We feel that at the very least, we deserve better than a line or two informing us of this decision. It has taken ten long years to get the case to this point and we would appreciate a full written response to this matter at your earliest convenience.

No doubt you are aware that we are completely dissatisfied at the decision and have already taken steps to investigate the matter further through political and departmental channels.

The Director of Public Prosecutions in New South Wales at that time, Nicholas Cowdery, replied to Andy Reid.

The disappearance of your sister Bronwin Winfield in May nineteen ninety three has no doubt caused much grief to you and your family, and I offer my sympathies. My advice to police and the coroner, after very careful consideration of all the evidence presently available, is that there is not sufficient evidence to charge Jonathan Winfield or any other person. Bronwin's disappearance was not reported to the police for two weeks and was initially treated as a missing person inquiry.

John has never been charged with any offense in relation to his missing wife. John suggested to police that Romwin had left to start a new life with a new identity, probably with money from, in John's words, a wealthy sugar daddy. But nobody has ever reported having seen her, and in the two decades since Nicholas Cowdery wrote that letter in two thousand and three, there's still nobody behind his back.

Lennox.

Locals who know the story of Bromwin Winfield scoff at John's verse. I was on assignment and rushing from one interview to the next in Sydney when I heard her name for the first time. It was December twenty seventeen. Bromwin Joy Winfield had been missing for twenty four years. By then, she became real for me during my podcast investigation into the nineteen eighty two disappearance of another missing woman, Lynette Joy Dawson. At the request of Lynn's family, we

The best way to dispose of a body when you live in the bush is to put it in the bush, and that's what I think he did on the Friday night.

I'm sorrowful.

I lost a tear friend and I've carried it these and I miss her every day. I just want justice, and I'd love her little girls to know she didn't leave them, she was taken away from them by the person who was supposed to protect her.

I drove away from the interview in Julie's terrace house with my friend Rebecca Hazel. We headed west to meet Karl Milavanovitch, a retired deputy State coroner of New South Wales.

Come in, gets out of the head.

We're very sorry.

We just realized we pulled up it and we didn't bring the bottle of why a cake anything organized?

Come upstairs, please straight upstairs.

Carl had agreed to talk to me for my podcast investigation back then about Lynn's case. He remembered the evidence well because back in two thousand and three, fourteen years before Karl met me at his home, he had led an exhaustive coronial investigation. Carl watched and heard numerous witnesses give evidence under oath in a courtroom in Sydney. These witnesses recalled Lynn and Chris their Northern Beaches home, the

Matt Fordham.

He had done a lot of work to ensure the police brief of evidence was very solid. A highly committed Northern Beach's detective called Damian Loon, was sure that Chris Dawson had killed Lynn. Damien had been investigating the case off and on for several years, and his work comprised

Team, all the.

Circumstances, when you put them together, are just so remarkable that I just could not accept that Lynn Dawson would just disappear off the face of the earth without there being some human intervention. It just defies all logic that a mother would leave a four year old, a two year old, a family, a job, and friends and just disappear. It's just not normal human behavior for a woman with her intelligence, her community ties, the fact that she was employed,

Karl Milavanovitch has been a powerful advocate for murdered women like Lynn. But he told me something else of great importance. On that afternoon in December twenty seventeen, Karl spoke about the case of another missing woman, Bromwn Joy Windfield. I had not heard her name, nor anything about her nineteen ninety three disappearance until Karl raised it with me. There was very little publicity about Bromwin over the years. Her

I did an inquest of her. Lady called Bromwyn Windfield, and she had two kids as well, And she went to bed one night, and she disappeared next day. And there was some suggestion from a neighbor that they heard the car reversing down the driveway and scraping on the ground, like some suggestion there might have been something in the boot, but she was never found. The same thing happened there. He was in Sydney, the husband was in Sydney. She was up there. She went to see solicitor about organizing

Up there next day.

She disappeared I did the inquest at Lismore. I had a very competent counsel assisting. It was a strong case. I thought circumstantial evidence. Referred it to the DPP. They didn't run with it.

And when the DPP decides that they're not going to run, do they send to you or to the coroner's office a.

Letter explaining what No, there's no explanation in the DPP in terms of detail reasons.

For not proceeding.

How do we know that they haven't just misunderstood?

Well, I suppose that's always a possibility. At that stage of my career as Deputy State Coroner, I was probably just starting to do a number of missing persons cases that were historical ones. And it wasn't long after the inquest into Lynette Dawson's disappearance from and Winfield and a number of others that I was getting very concerned about historical missing person cases where clearly it was evident that they were probably homicides, and the attitude that the police

I asked Carl whether this meant that a significant number of women who had been classified by police as simply missing were more likely to have been murdered.

No doubt, no doubt. I've got no doubt about that. Absolutely. If you'd asked me this question nine years ago, before I retired, I would have given you a list of all their names. And I think the majority of the long term missing persons cases that are still outstanding even to this day involve the young women who have disappeared. Inevitably they are victims.

Of On the side, it was chilling to hear this conclusion, because it was also completely logical. I had a name, Bromwyn Winfield. I made a mental note to revisit her case properly. One day, I opened a folder to collect information about this other missing woman. In the second half of twenty eighteen, as weekly episodes of The Teacher's Pet were being released, I began hearing about Bromwyn Winfield from her family and friends and others. Each person who contacted

About Bromwin from Carl.

In July twenty eighteen, I got an email about Bromin's case from Matt Fordham, the former police officer who had done a huge amount of work with Karl Milavanovitch for his two thousand and two inquest, The same Matt Fordham who had handled Linn's case for Karl in two thousand and three. Matt sent me his formal written submissions which had been presented at Bronwin's inquest. These were a matter of public record, However, they were only lightly.

Reported in the media.

Here's a small part of the evidence Matt Fordham presented to the then Deputy State Coroner Karl Milavanovitch in two thousand and two. These are his words, it's not his voice.

Bronwin had expressed concern to her friend Alan Fisher about what would occur when Jonathan Winfield returned to Lennox from Sydney shortly before her disappearance. She stated that she was terrified about what he might do. A large number of witnesses described her as being a devoted mother who would not have left her kids. There is absolutely no evidence that anyone other than Jonathan Winfield had any motivation or opportunity to kill bronwin.

In August twenty eighteen, a woman called Deborah Hall reached out. She was Bromwyn's neighbor and friend at Sandstone Crescent, lennox Head for several years until May sixteenth, nineteen ninety three. In her email, she wrote, I.

Have watched and listened with great interest to the podcast and the recent media reports on Lyn Dawson. I really felt compelled to write to you and inform you of another missing person case that I was very heavily involved in back in the early nineteen nineties of my neighbor and good friend, missus Bronwyn Winfield of Sandstone Crescent, linox Head. This case was also investigated by police in a minor way in the initial days of her disappearing.

She explained what Carl had disclosed some months earlier, that his coronial inquiry had found that Bromwyn was dead.

Deborah added this inquiry deemed that a known person was responsible for her disappearance. It was recommended to the Director of Public Prosecutions to pursue it to trial. However, this never has eventuated, even though the coroner deemed there was enough evidence to convict this man. The reason stated by DPP was that as there was never a body found, they were not prepared to waste taxpayers dollars for a

The following month, a woman living in Kim Marshall emailed to tell me that her half sister, Bromwin Winfield, had been missing since May nineteen ninety three. When we spoke on the telephone, Kim told me that it was a homicide squad cold case, but it had gone very cold. Kim told me back then in late twenty eighteen.

I carry this load each week and have an obligation to try harder to find her body. I truly believe her body can be found.

At the time, Chris Dawson remained a free man, enjoying his retirement near the Beach on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, but he and the criminal justice system were under enormous pressure from the teacher's pet and listeners who had heard damning evidence of the system's failure. Failure not just for the absence of justice fall in, but for never even investigating a culture of grooming and sexual exploitation of Northern Beaches

Five, twenty eighteen.

Over the years since my folder of Bromwin Winfield files grew steadily Bromwin's half sister, Kim Marshall, and others who knew the Lenox mother of two girls stayed in touch. I heard from a woman called Fiona Husner, who as a child lived next door to Bromwin for years near Cronulla in the Shires south of Sydney. We met in Brisbane in early twenty nineteen at a bar called Felons to talk about the case. Fiona, who was very fond of her neighbor and babysitter, described what she called secrets

I wrote, I've.

Been interested in possibly investigating the disappearance and suspected murder of your sister Bromwin. A number of people who knew Bromin have urged me to do a podcast investigation similar to the Teacher's pet into the probable murder of Lynn Dawson. I understand that you have extensive files and reasonable suspicions about what happened. It's not something I could start without full cooperation from you and other members of the family.

Andrew Reed and Michelle Reid came to see myself in another detective in Ballina and said, look, can we have some fresh eyes look at this. We're just not happy that this is the elect as a missing person. We think there's more to it. And then when we started looking into the matter, I mean as a homicide investigator, it was abundantly clear, very early in the initially reinvestigation that it needed a lot more work done, and then a lot of formal statements.

Glenn had transferred north from Newcastle's major crime unit to be a detective in the coastal.

Town of Ballina.

When he heard about Bromwin, he was intrigued and then suspicious. Like Damian Lohne in Lynn's case, Glenn said he's or rat, but the trail had gone cold. The odds were stacked against the seasoned former homicide squad cop when so little had been done by other police in the five years immediately following Bromlin's disappearance.

I still believe that it was in the senior officer's mind that this woman had in fact just voluntarily decided to leave. It was fairly haphazard the investigation. There was very very little done. There was no statements ever taken from any particular person, like neighbors, I mean absolute critical areas like there was no forensic investigation of the home. There was no forensic investigation of the motor vehicle that Jonathan Winfield had taken within hours of arriving back from

Under many years.

Later I treated as a major investigation and strongly suspected that Bromin be murdered.

Yeah, your statement's very detail. They need they need to be thorough.

We're talking about the likely murder of a person, so they need to be thorough.

Did you believe that bronwin would leave her children and stay away at any sense?

All the people we took statements from in the reinvestigation, all Bromin's friends and close assationiates she absolutely adored her children. There is just no way that she would have left those children that night and not come back to the house. She was just so attached to them. She was seeking sole custodys of both the children. She was a very very good mother, according to everyone that we spoke to, absolutely totally out of her character to just walk out

And why was that not of you that existed in.

The police in nineteen ninety three when she disappeared.

It's really difficult to say, please didn't get extremely busy with other matters. Unfortunately, there's still other things happening with robberies and break and enders and sexual assaults and so forth.

But it should have been highlighted to.

A commander to say, look, we believe.

There's something more sinistery in this. We need more resources put into this. But for one reason or another, that wasn't done.

When we first met at his home, Glen urged a podcast investigation and he pledged his full support, but I didn't have time. Then Chris Dawson was waging a legal battle against the teacher's pet me and police. When Glenn Taylor and Bromwin's family and friends were quietly talking to me, Chris Dawson made a high stakes bid to avoid a murder trial. Altogether, he said the publicity from the podcast

Christopher Michael Dawson on the charts that are not about eight January nineteen eighty two, A dave you or elsewhere in the state of New South Wales, you did murder Lynnett Dawson if I find you guilty.

I met Matt Fordham for the first time that day in the Supreme Court in Sydney. Matt came to watch justice unfold better late than never. Investigating Lynn's nineteen eighty two disappearance had led me to Karl Milavanovitch in December twenty seventeen, and Karl would open the door to the nineteen ninety three disappearance of Bromwyn Winfield. And that's why

Turn left on the Sandstone Present. Then arrive at your destination.

This is where Romo's last scene live.

Arrived, and there's the house. You can't help but wonder what happened inside that night? What led to a woman disappearing more than thirty years ago?

Please to be morning.

Sorry it's taken almost six years.

Well that didn't about thirty plus time.

Deborah Hall has welcomed me inside her house at Sandstone Crescent. This is where she and her partner Murray raised their children and where their friend Bromwin Winfield lived next door until her May sixteenth, nineteen ninety three disappearance.

Can I get you anything?

He'd be great, Thank you. I've been up at Kingscliffe.

I didn't really be there, okay.

Dev Van Murray were important witnesses because they heard and saw things at key moments. Bromwin was very unhappy, and she had confided this and much more to deb as their friendship deepened. Murray the son of a police detective became highly suspicious and concerned for Bromwin at a very early stage. Their children, who used to play with Bromwin's two girls, have grown up, moved away, married, and had children of their own. They all return to Sandstone Crescent

Do you mind do if IAV run a recorder over this? So, yeah, thank you.

I don't have any problem with that, right, Do you have any other commitments this afternoon?

Roman's good friend told me her reaction while listening to Linz's case unfold in The Teacher's Pet in twenty eighteen.

Driving up the Coastarry nine and the current has put you on with the podcast on listen to this.

I'm like, what is it?

Titious pet? I had no idea, so I started listening and I'm like looking at him going are you hearing this?

This is this is almost our case.

I'm like going, this is like, this is Bromplin, this is Bromlin.

That was what prompted me to female you, and I hope you didn't mind doing that because it was so similar, and I thought I got to just put it out there, not expecting that because I know his man getting back to me, and when you're a finer, thought, oh okay, see obviously we're a little bit aware of this situation.

Deb and Bromwin had an easy rapport. They helped each other all the time. Bromwin received comfort and support from Deb and other friends from whom you'll hear they knew she was determined to walk from the ruins of her relatively brief marriage with John Winfield.

Watching Chris Dawson on TV is almost like watching John Winfield. How so similar in terms of good looking, I physique, everything.

You could almost be cloned. You two men.

Knowing John the way I knew John, I'm like, god, you know these guys are just on the same path.

Well, I was really glad that you rite.

I didn't want to overstep my mark and push anything when it's up to the family.

That kind of agree with that sort of thing.

So I'm just so frustrated by the fact that this beautiful woman who was a good friend of mine is no longer with us, and possibly at the hands of her husband.

And the fact that you know, the two girls had grown up without their mother. They've got kids of their own that she never got to meet. And from one was a very caring, very loving and beautiful person. She was a great mum. And this is why, in regards to what you've just done with the Dawson case, when I heard the story about her from one, she's almost an identical to how problem was. And there was no

The initial investigation. Marry, this is Headley.

Yeah you too. How are the waves today? Wasn't that good? I went out the wrong spot, Star, I should have off the point.

I went bowls Beach, I got smashed it.

Yeah. I've been here about half an hour just going through some of the events. Yeah.

She's a nice lady. Yeah, if you're sick, she brought out some suit because I remember when I had Dale, she came down with Lasagnea's And that's the sort of person she was. Yeah, she was a class even, really nice neighbor, beautiful lady.

Murray Nolan still goes to Boulders Beach for a look and oftener surf most days, and he usually sees his former neighbor John Winfield down there. Sometimes they paddle for the same wave. Other times they'll look out over the water from the car park and talk about what the weather might bring.

Murray liked Bromwin a lot.

He cannot avoid what he believes is the truth, but it's not in his nature to avoid and ostracize John.

John is perfectly civil and friendly to you. Yes, I'll still see him every day. I spoke him this morning. Okay, John, how I am a bit windy.

Swells up in a beautiful surfing sort of talk.

But I've seen him now, I reckon probably nine days out of ten I've seen where did you see it?

This wad?

He was just checking the surf. We're all went surfing. But does John know what you suspect he has done?

Yes, throw him under the bus with the corrency quarry. My role is to sell the trip, and he's ever raised that with you. No, and you just get out and talk to each other as if nothing's happened.

Yeah, he's wild with me.

Strange, isn't it.

Yeah, like we're quite friendly. It's a funny sat situation.

And what's your level of confidence that he did, in fact killed.

Nine point nine?

How about you did one hundred? See, Mary has a nicer nature than I have. I'll steer him down. I won't speak to him.

Debb is spreading documents and photographs across the table for me to read and copy.

Yeah, there's a fabis here I've got that's my statement. Oh that was Brian there. That was in a very good shot. That was one of my children's birthday party.

A service of Thanksgiving.

Yeah, so this has dated July two thousand and two.

Andrew wanted to have a bit of a memorial before her.

There was certainty that she instead my photograph.

All these you can.

It's a small community relatively, yes, but he stayed here the whole time, yes, yes, What do you think of that?

Does that suggest that perhaps he's got done to hide? He's not running away. He loves this place. He knows he's done nothing wrong.

I also think that he's very instillent as well, he doesn't speak to that many people.

I don't know what the outcome of all this will be. What's your hope.

My hope and the hope of many who knew and loved Bronwin is that new and illuminating facts emerge as a result of this podcast series, something that might finally resolve this sad cold case. If Bromwin went away, as John Winfield says, where and with whom did she go? If Bromwyn has been dead all these years, as a former deputy state coroner ruled, how did Bromwin die? And who, if anyone, bears responsibility for her death? And where is her body? I have approached John Winfield and asked him

Have previously made a sworn statement in nineteen ninety eight in which I answered four hundred and fifteen questions and as I said to George Radmore in twenty ten, I stand by these answers I gave.

Those are John's words from his email. It's not his voice, he answered questions in a nineteen ninety eight interview he agreed to do in Ballina Police station, soon after the then detective Sergeant Glenn Taylor had started to investigate Bromman's case properly for the first time. Twelve years later in twenty ten, another experienced detective, George Radmore, who was with the homicide Squad of New South Wales, led a reinvestigation.

There is a generational history of mental illness, both male and female in the Reed family.

Now.

Kim Marshall in Tasmania was the first member of Broman's family to contact me. That was back in twenty eighteen. Kim has been a terrier with the help of her half brother Andy Reid, in finding decades old documents and evidence from the case.

And Andrew has a box packed away, and Christa has a box packed away. Andrew has got masses of stuff, boxes that are in ceilings and boxes that are stacked, all that type of busy, and I love rummaging and getting everything together and putting in some type of chronological order for you. So I've asked them both to try and get access to their boxes, but I dare say it's going to be me physically being the hunter and gatherer getting there and going about my business.

Well, that sounds really good, Kim.

Missing police statements, which I had been asking members of the family about from the start of our contact, finally materialized. Bronwin's eldest daughter, Crystal had them.

Crystal has all the original statements in full, which is what Andrew's been looking for for a very long time.

Crystal actually has them.

I didn't believe that material would become available, so having that makes a very big difference.

Since Andy Reid, a builder and a popular community figure in Sydney's Southerlandshire near Qunella, sought the blessing of his niece Crystal to press forward with a podcast investigation. Roman's daughter is in her early forties. She's a single mum with mixed and complicated views about what happened to her own mother when Crystal was ten.

She just said to us, it's just time that she finds out and she wants.

To know what happened.

Endeavor to do whatever's needed to be done to try and find out the truth.

That she is terrified as losing the small relationship that she has with her sister Lauren. Lauren doesn't believe that John did it.

In June twenty twenty three, I asked Andy about the status of police investigations into Bromwin's disappearance.

Have you heard any more from the police.

No, we haven't heard anything.

Unless something turns up, we're basically at a dead end.

You know.

They weren't willing to investigate anything.

That was presented to them any further than what they already had.

They haven't bothered to.

Reach out or contact or anything for a long time now. The last detective for Newcastle was the last person that I used.

To liaise with.

So every twelve months just ring and asked a couple of questions and see if he's earning it into It's just that the same response now that's been no.

Activity on a cards.

No activity on a bank account, blah blah blah. Well it can't be anymore anyway, because the bank account was closed down.

When I spoke to Andy in June twenty twenty three, before I could start a reinvestigation of the case early the following year, he confirmed his strong view about who had killed his older sister.

Oh, nothing's changed, nothing's changed after the corral inquiry.

How do you reckon he would be viewing the development of these true crime investigations, particularly with podcasts into the disappearances or murders unsolved, and.

He'd be raddled. I'm sure he'd be rattled.

Yeah, which is good unless he sleeps at night.

The better off we all are.

Although Andy and other members of the family have been angered that police did not do much more soon after her disappearance, they have only praise for the first detective to seriously suspect foul play.

Did you speak to Glenn Taylor, Yes, I interviewed him.

That would have been two and a half years ago.

Just after we first met when I put you.

Onto him here.

Yeah, But I drove down and saw him at his house there. He had a little bit of paperwork and I took copies of that. I probably interviewed him for about two hours, and I've got that audio file.

He's always been very helpful with us too.

It was always so apologetic about how badly it was handled by the police in the first case, and I always said to him, would no no for you to apologize. You've only been part of getting it over the line of the Corona inquiry.

Later in this series you'll hear from Glen Taylor again about the work that he did to get a brief of evidence to the coroner. Glenn's efforts to get to the bottom of Bromin's disappearance are ongoing. Glenn vented his frustrations in a letter he wrote to Andy and Michelle in two thousand and three, one year after the inquest.

Now that I'm out of the New South Wales Police I can get my opinion regarding the original investigation. One word describes it disgraceful. The house in Sandstean Crescent should have been subject to a thorough and intensive crime scene investigation. The same for the Ford motor vehicle. There is nothing in the running sheets to indicate the vehicle was eva

Now some things have changed since June twenty twenty three, which was when Andy told me that homicide detectives were doing nothing about Bromin's case and that it had gone completely cold. It seems the police after years of inactivity and now getting active again.

Is that right?

This whole thing sort of stirred back up with us talking.

To you, and we were very curious, and we contacted the police.

Myself and Kim went and had a meeting.

A senior officer in the police unsolved homicide unit told Andy and Kim that Broman's case was being reviewed at the request of another veteran detective, George Radmore.

He put a very strong case forward upon his retirement and a request to have Broman's case reloked at they're in the process of doing a complete review that I'll give them.

The benefit of doubt because they're trying to get up to speed because they're still looking for their documents.

Shortly before the release of this first episode, Andy went to see top detectives from the Homicide Squad's unsolved unit. They had asked Andy to come to a meeting for an update on how their review of the case had gone.

Basically said, well, their hands are tried. We can't do any more than what we've done, and we don't have any new evidence as it stands.

Yeah, okay, he said.

Going Look, I cannot apologize enough for how badly the original investigation was handled. They've got no intention of putting any more work into it.

I'm aware that today is the anniversary of promise.

Can you believe it?

Thirty one years? Let's see where we get to after the podcast? Then? Is it named? Yeah? It is? What do you reckon? We're calling it?

Yeah?

I don't know one word. Bromwin.

Oh lovely.

You know a lot of people will start talking about Bromwin. This case never got any publicity.

Not really.

No, the Northern Star and that was it, and that was on a milk carton once she was on a milk cut. We won't have that problem this time. It'll get a lot of attention.

Yeah, that's the game change that encourages people to come forward. We'll hear from people we've never heard of before who listen and know something that helps.

I don't want to over promise, but I really hope it makes a difference.

Yes, with me.

Andy and Kim, Bromwin's siblings are adamant that they want the podcast to go ahead. They have been disappointed by official them too many times.

There is a lot more that the police could do. They've got the wrong mindset from back in the day. They've looked at the wrong things, and there's so many pieces of evidence that have never been presented.

Before Bromwin vanished, she was planning to welcome Kim to Lennox to the house at Sandstone Crescent for a rare visit.

I spoke to her every day on the phone about my plane flight, what time my plane would arrive, then I'd be getting on the Greyhound bus. We found the buses out together, what time the bus would arrive in Ballina. It's going to be so exciting. I'll be able to show you all my dresses in my wardrobe. Because I'd never had an adult experience with Bonnie, if that makes sense. It was always as the youngest child, but this time it was going to be adult to adult, and so

It was Kim who first alerted me to Bromwyn's storytelling her writings, and it was Kim who appreciated how the words Bromwin had left behind on those A four pages were used against her early on, when she no longer had a voice.

Letters that Bromwin wrote to Mum saying that she was scared for her life. There's enough circumstantial evidence.

Were those letters that she wrote to your mother.

The police won't give them back to me. They never ever ever ever find them or send them the story that she was writing. They've got the wrong idea about what's actually happened. Bromwyn wrote a beautiful story of her history. Okay, this big large pad which some people have copies of it. The police never gave me mind back. She actually wrote this beautiful chronological list of her history of everything. That

Kim insists that in the weeks and months after Bromwin first disappeared, police in Ballina, who has shown her writings, were persuaded that she wanted to leave her children, that she planned.

To go away.

They thought brom would have gone away for a rest because of this story that she'd written. The detectives asked us all these questions, but they asked the questions with a bias or a perspective already in place. They didn't actually investigate with an open mind.

Now I need to explain a little of the family history of Bromwin, her brother Andy Reid, and their half sister Kim Marshall. It is going to become more relevant later in this podcast series. You heard Kim make a fleeting reference to her mother, Barbara, being unstable. Barbara had postnatal depression, and in an extraordinary coincidence, Barbara disappeared too. Bromwan was a toddler aged two, and her little brother Andy was six months old.

Kim had not yet been born.

The circumstances were very different in Bromwin's mother's case because Barbara came back after getting treatment for her mental health challenges, and while Barbara was away some in her family knew where she was.

They were in touch with her.

But as you'll hear, a sad chapter of family history revolving around Barbara would directly influence the initial investigation into Bronwin's disappearance three decades later.

Her good to meet you, missus, reed Leah clea.

Hi, I've come to the Sydney home of Bromwin's aunt Leah Reid and her husband John Reid. They know the family history because they lived it. Bromwan's father Philip and Bromwin's uncle John were brothers.

John was very good to meet.

Thomas's eight eight and I said, Jimmy's going to expect his legs to go on.

No, no, he won't have a walking stick that way.

With some lovely photos here three children.

We've got a videotape there with problem with the father in the hospital.

We could never understand why she didn't try modeling, because she was tall and blonde and good looking.

You knew Bromman's mother, Yes, what do you recall about her?

Well, when he met her, she was a nurse in the local hospital and he had tom slatis, wasn't it? And he said the first thing he saw when he woke up was Barbara's face, and everyone thought, you know, what a marvelous match because she was a real country girl. She made pickles, she knitted, she did everything, and it seemed like, you know, a marriage made in heaven. And then she had Bromwin. We noticed after that she became

We've been joined by a young woman, Madison Walsh, who helped arrange this interview between her grandparents and me. She's very curious about Bromin's case and has been doing her own research, reading police statements and talking to relatives. Maddie is closest to Bromwin's eldest daughter, Crystal, and they are related, of course, and you're going to hear a lot more from Maddie in later episodes.

Barbara was there and then she wasn't.

Sounds like she was really struggling.

She was struggling, is she must have been?

It also sounds like a bit of like postnatal depression, which is very prevalent these days. But back in the day you would have just been labeled.

As well and in contact postnatal depression, so I know what that was about.

These sorts of issues were not as well understood.

They don't know about it.

I mean, the poor kids had a dreadful, dreadful doing.

She just took off.

We didn't know where she.

Was, and then she got in touch. She rang up and said that she couldn't cope with Andrew come and get him. She just disappeared.

I think they reconnected. From what I've seen and heard from was eleven and Andrew was no and then there it maintained contact ever since then. Barbara din't have custody of them, which she says is why she wanted to have another child, Kim.

And then many years later Bronwan disappeared. Did the family suspect that Roman.

Was just doing what her mother had done?

No?

Really, I didn't, well no, because she wasn't like nothing like Barbara.

We didn't ever think about it being like.

No.

I never thought it was, oh, you know, here we go again.

Barbara all over. Nothing happened to make us think that.

Certainly not me anyhow, I think if we thought there was anything wrong with Roman, we would probably would have thought it was just because of her dramatic childhood.

Roman was an exceptionally caring and loving mother, but when she disappeared in nineteen ninety three, the actions three decades earlier of her mother Barbara, who was suffering without appropriate treatment, were raised and relied upon to so doubt to impune Bromwin and suggest that she had abandoned her kids.

And did the police who were alerted.

To Bromin's disappearance in nineteen ninety three contact you in that time?

Now, I don't remember any police coming to us until that must have been nineteen ninety eight, and.

That's the first time you heard from police.

Yeah, hello, Hello, is that Meghan.

Another family member who will be prominent in upcoming episodes is Bromwin's cousin, Megan Reid, the daughter of John and Leah. Megan played a significant role in Bromwin's life, and they were in close contact before she disappeared from the get go.

When she was born, she used to stay with my family. We're only sixteen months apart, and we were as close as close her relationship with John.

I knew what it was like.

I knew I'd seen the bruises she showed my father.

It's written in his statement to me.

It's just so shocking because I used to speak to her when she was on that phone, and I could hear him yelling.

And screaming and being on the door.

I mean, surely other people heard it. Now, she was terrified of John, absolutely.

Terrified of him.

If he had made it incredibly clear that she would never get that house. The last thing she said to me was that the best thing she ever did was to move out and get away from him. She had asked my parents for money she needed to retain a solicitor. I just can't believe the timing. I don't understand to this day how Jonathan's walking around the streets.

It just astound me.

Of the incompetence of the police.

Lost all of the internets.

I can't even find it.

Can you believe that the Bungle dish show.

Barely they really have?

I've lived with it for thirty years.

Bronwyn is written and investigated by me Headley Thomas as a podcast production for The Australian. If anyone has information which may help solve this cold case, please contact me confidentially by emailing Bronwyn at the Australian dot com dot au. You can read more about this case and see a range of photographs and other artwork at the website Bronwyn podcast dot com. Our subscribers and registered users here episodes first.