Unravel

If you're an Unravel and true crime buff, here's another podcast you'll love — The Eleventh.It's about what really happened during the biggest scandal in Australia's political history — the dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.This year marks the 50th anniversary of the dismissal and its effects are still being felt today. The Eleventh has all the elements of a great true crime podcast — chaos, ridiculous characters and even a love story.The first episode starts in 1972. Australia has an appetite for change, and Gough Whitlam exploits the mood of the nation to become Prime Minister, but not everyone appreciates the headlong rush into a more modern Australia. Pretty soon, the new government is making some powerful enemies.To hear the entire series, search 'The Eleventh podcast' on the ABC listen app and wherever you get your podcasts.* WARNING: This episode contains some strong language.To binge more great episodes of Unravel, the ABC's award winning investigative true crime podcast documentary series, search 'Unravel podcast' on the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.There you'll find previous series covering various crimes and crime-related topics including solved and unsolved murder cases, forensic analysis, gangland crimes, love scammers, con-artists, drugs, terrorism, neo-nazis, and miscarriages of justice — all investigated by some of Australia's best reporters and people who know the story best.

In 1988, Rudi Bremer's cousin Mark Haines was found dead on railway tracks outside Tamworth — the day after Rudi was born.Unravel explored Mark's story in our series Blood on the Tracks, culminating in a 2025 inquest into his death.Now, in a deeply personal episode of the ABC podcast Awaye, host Rudi sits down with Mark's siblings Lorna and Ron Boy, who continue to search for answers about what really happened to their brother.It's an intimate conversation about what it means to endure an inquest decades after losing someone you love, and you can find the full interview by searching for Awaye on the listen app or wherever you get your podcasts.For more on this story you can also go back and listen to the Blood on the Tracks series in the Unravel feed.To binge more great episodes of Unravel, the ABC's award winning investigative true crime podcast documentary series, search 'Unravel podcast' on the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.There you'll find previous series covering various crimes and crime-related topics including solved and unsolved murder cases, forensic analysis, gangland crimes, love scammers, con-artists, drugs, terrorism, neo-nazis, and miscarriages of justice — all investigated by some of Australia's best reporters and people who know the story best.

Blood On The Tracks investigates the suspicious death of 17-year-old Mark Haines, whose body was found on the railway line outside Tamworth in January 1988.

Thirty years of mystery surrounds the death of 17-year-old Mark Haines.It’s the summer of 1988. A train hits a person early in the morning on its way out of Tamworth. Straight away, something doesn’t add up about the scene where the body is found. A rail worker notices strange inconsistencies at the scene. If this was suicide, why is there so little blood?The boy on the tracks is Mark Haines, a Gomeroi teenager with friends on both sides of the tracks. We meet his uncle Don (Duck) Craigie, who has been tirelessly searching for answers since Mark’s death. He suspects foul play.We trace Mark’s movements on the night before his death, as he hits the town on a big night out with a bunch of friends, dancing, drinking and having fun. Mark’s friends and girlfriend say they left him in the early hours. Just after, a nearby resident hears voices on the street, what sounds like an argument, and a car driving dangerously.But the next few hours remain a mystery. How did Mark end up on the tracks?

Mark Haines' family challenge the police investigation. When Mark Haines dies, news of the teenager's death spreads quickly through Tamworth and beyond. His family are on summer holidays in different parts of the state and rush home to be together in grief.While the family mourns and Mark’s body is in the morgue, their town is in full party mode. The Tamworth Country Music Festival is on and Australia is celebrating 200 years of colonization. For Mark’s uncles, it feels like the death of a young Aboriginal boy is the last thing on anyone’s mind.The police come up with a theory that Mark might’ve killed himself ... but the family aren’t buying it. In the days and weeks ahead, his uncles return repeatedly to the train tracks looking around for answers. They’re worried the police have missed vital clues and they become convinced Mark met with foul play.In their quest to disprove the police theory, the family find an unlikely ally. The railway worker who first found Mark’s body on tracks is just as convinced the evidence out there on the tracks just doesn’t add up.

Violence erupts as Uncle Duck and the family confront their number one suspect.On the surface, Tamworth in 1988 is a typical Aussie town with rodeos, farmers and an active Country Women’s Association.  But beneath the friendly veneer, there’s a thriving criminal underbelly.  Large marijuana crops grow on the outskirts of town and there are reports of bikie gangs with links to corrupt cops on the take.The police investigation into Mark’s death has stalled allowing gossip and innuendo to take hold.  The family know Mark occasionally smoked marijuana, but now they’re hearing whispers that he might’ve have got on the wrong side of some serious criminals.It’s hard to believe, but it’s the first plausible explanation for Mark’s death they’ve heard.  The family decide to confront the man rumoured to have killed Mark... with ugly consequences.

The family's hopes for an answer at the inquest fade fast.Nine months after Mark’s death, an inquest is held. The family are hopeful it will give them answers, but the police won’t budge from their theory that he put himself on the tracks.As the hearing unfolds, the family find out just how mediocre the initial investigation was. Lost evidence, an unsecured crime scene ... and a forensic pathologist who ignores a key injury, medical evidence that could provide clues to how Mark died.One person is in the family’s corner though. The railway worker who found Mark on the tracks is adamant the police and the forensic pathologist have it wrong. He’s remained silent for the last thirty years but finally comes forward to set the record straight.

More than two decades have passed since the coronial inquest into Mark Haines’ death. The family have been forgotten about — until news reporter Allan Clarke arrives in Tamworth on a routine story and becomes convinced this is a major injustice.Allan’s reporting unearths fresh information. A mother comes forward with a story about her son’s involvement.Police aren’t quick to follow up. But, after a flurry of protests and phone calls ... the case finally starts to gain traction.

Allan and the team shift their focus to Tamworth and the truth starts to emerge from a fog of rumours. As Allan builds on the case, he discovers the police aren’t far behind.An eyewitness comes forward. Key witnesses are confronted for the first time. An alleged confession emerges which takes the investigation in a completely new direction.If it turns out to be true, this new lead could help finally solve the 30-year-old mystery.

Years of investigation have led to this moment ... a major breakthrough in the case, a potential answer to thirty years of mystery and pain for the Haines family.An alleged confession has revealed who might have placed Mark’s body on the train tracks on that summer night in 1988.Now it’s time to put the question to him — did he have anything to do with Mark’s death? Will Allan finally have some answers for Uncle Duck?

The story of Barrenjoey Road explores the disappearance of Trudie Adams in 1978 from Sydney’s northern beaches in 1978 leaving a family and community devastated.   When 18-year-old Trudie Adams goes missing hitchhiking home on Sydney’s northern beaches in 1978, a family and community are devastated.   The case exposes the dark underbelly of the “insular peninsula”… a world where surfers run drugs home from Bali, gangs of men prowl the beaches and predators have unchecked power.   The story of Barrenjoey Road explores why the case was never solved and takes us all the way to the top... to a criminal monster with links to organised crime and police corruption at the highest level. 

A heart breaking search for the hitch-hike girl. For a free-spirited teenager, growing up on Sydney’s northern beaches in the '70s was as good as it gets. Endless perfect surf breaks, days spent lounging on the beach with mates, parties every weekend. 18-year-old Trudie Adams was typical, hanging out with her girlfriends and looking forward to a trip to Bali.On a Saturday night out at the Newport Surf Club in June 1978, Trudie’s boyfriend watches her leave to hitch hike home. She never makes it.The laidback community quickly realise something is wrong. The popular teenager had no reason to go missing. Suddenly, the northern beaches don’t feel so safe anymore.Trudie’s disappearance exposes the dark underbelly of the "insular peninsula". There are drugs, crimes against women and, potentially, police corruption.Join investigative journalist Ruby Jones as she begins to unravel what happened to Trudie Adams.

Trudie Adams was last seen hitching a ride home from a dance in Newport on Sydney’s northern beaches. The last known person to see her alive was her boyfriend, Steve Norris. Or more accurately, her soon to be ex-boyfriend.Police label Steve as a person of interest in the days following Trudie’s disappearance. The couple were in the process of breaking up. There were rumours of an argument. Trudie already had a crush on someone else... could this be a motive?Then there was Trudie’s upcoming trip to Bali and a strange link to a drug dealer known for bringing back marijuana from there. Could Trudie’s death have something to do with drugs?Journalist Ruby Jones tracks down Steve Norris and the original detective on the case to re-examine what happened in the days immediately following Trudie’s disappearance.

A chilling visit to bushland where abducted hitch-hikers are taken. In the days and weeks after Trudie’s disappearance, a series of women come forward to the police telling similar, terrible stories about being targeted by two men on the northern beaches.At least 14 women have been abducted while hitchhiking or walking home. They are taken out to bushland, sexually assaulted and warned not to tell anyone. They don’t... until Trudie disappears. Many wonder if what happened to them had also happened to Trudie.The shadows of the bush are about to give up secret horrors... gunshots, a grave and an assault so depraved it could only have been committed by a criminal monster.

Despite the similarities between the disappearance of Trudie Adams and the assaults on fourteen women on Sydney’s northern beaches, the case goes cold for almost two decades.That is until 1992, when fresh eyes re-examine an old lead and police think they might be close to cracking the case.Is it the breakthrough they think it is? Ruby Jones sits down with a former detective who knows Trudie’s case better than anyone else

Neville Tween appeared at the inquest into Trudie’s disappearance in 2011. Unravel has been given access to Tween’s evidence — and for the first time ever, his voice is being aired.This is the man that multiple detectives think is responsible for the assaults on the northern beaches in the '70s, as well as the disappearance of Trudie Adams.As the evidence is presented against Tween — will he dig in, or fess up.

Investigating the link between a career criminal, Trudie ... and a corrupt cop.For decades, Neville Tween evaded scrutiny by law enforcement, despite being a well-known career criminal. But what if he was protected?Not long after Trudie’s inquest, Mark Standen — one of Australia’s most powerful law enforcement officers — went down as a corrupt cop. It turns out Tween was one of Standen’s informants.As Ruby Jones and Neil Mercer begin to examine the relationship between Standen and Tween, they discover Tween was more than just an informant.There are so many questions, but only one man who has the answers.With Standen behind bars, will a letter to him from our investigation team provoke a response?

It’s the lead Ruby and Neil have hoped for — a tip-off from an old law enforcement source about a potential burial site for Trudie Adams.Deep in Kur-ing-gai National Park is a place called Christmas Tree Hill and, rumour has it, a guy nicknamed "Chicken Wire Man" is responsible for disposing of Trudie’s body there.It’s time for one last trip to the bush.

19-year-old Belinda Peisley vanished after she left a Blue Mountains hospital, west of Sydney, on the night of September 26, 1998.The single mum-of-two disappeared within a year of inheriting a significant sum of money from a distant relative and buying a house in Katoomba, a small town in the Mountains.Six persons of interest were named in Belinda’s case. By piecing together the stories and evidence surrounding these six, Last Seen Katoomba, uncovers a dark underbelly of drugs and violence and a culture of fear and intimidation that still exists in this town. Twenty years on, some are still too scared to speak about Belinda’s case.The first episode of Unravel Season 3 lands on February 5.

Belinda Peisley's life descended into chaos after her 18th birthday when she received a big inheritance and bought her own place in Katoomba. Her family hoped the house would set her up for life but, instead, her new address became a magnet for a world of drugs and crowd of people who’d turn up at all hours.Six months later, Belinda disappeared. In the months before she vanished, Belinda told her family she was scared — even that she wanted to change her identity and leave town — but they couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to hurt her.Join reporter Gina McKeon as she travels to Katoomba to begin to understand what happened to Belinda Peisley.