Bronwyn
Bronwyn Winfield disappeared 31 years ago from the surf town of Lennox Head. She was a devoted mother of two little girls and was going through a painful separation from her husband, Jon Winfield. Jon Winfield has always maintained Bronwyn just went away and denies any wrongdoing. The Teacher’s Pet creator Hedley Thomas returns with a new podcast investigation for The Australian.
Episodes
New show: The Flood
From The Australian, this is The Flood. The true story of 60 Australian men and women trapped in a submarine deep under the Indian Ocean when an explosion threatens to sink the vessel and send its crew to the bottom. In Episode 1: Explosion, the commander takes his submarine down to its deepest diving depth when a loud noise at the back of the boat changes the lives of everyone on board. An extrao
Hedley Thomas’ new podcast: Sick To Death
A blockbuster new podcast from The Australian and our investigative star reporter Hedley Thomas: Sick To Death is the horrifying true story of a surgeon who made catastrophic mistakes - and went unchallenged by a broken system. Hedley Thomas is here for a special episode to mark the launch of Sick To Death, available now in Apple Podcasts and at sicktodeathpodcast.com This is an episode of our dai
Episode 36: Forever Loved
In the final episode for some time, the owners of a Sydney property learn that the missing mother’s remains may have been concealed under concrete there. Andy, Michelle and Madi reflect on some of the major milestones over the past 18 months of podcast investigation. New evidence is discovered by Karina who finds the former owner of the hair salon where Jodie Winfield worked in May 1993. She
Episode 35: Home Truths
Megan performs a dramatic backflip by changing her evidence about Jon’s moves in Sydney in the hours after his wife Bronwyn’s disappearance. Megan expresses doubts about whether Bronwyn's body was in the car’s boot during a road trip from Sandstone Crescent to Sydney. Bronwyn’s brother Andy Read accuses Megan of inventing ‘fairytales’ in a bid to make herself mo
Episode 34: A Cautionary Tale
Retired detective Glenn Taylor who has worked harder on Bronwyn’s case than any other police officer faces a problem. Will his video-taped formal interview in Ballina’s police station in 1998 with murder suspect Jon Winfield be ruled out in the event of any prosecution? Lawyers and police say it is on the cards because Jon was not cautioned by police that he had a legal right to silenc
Episode 33: The Legal Veil
After a break of almost three months between episodes, Andy and Michelle come away from a meeting for the loved ones of homicide victims with newly found patience and confidence in the restarted police investigation into Bronwyn’s 1993 disappearance. They explain why. A former insider from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions discloses concerns she has held for a quarter century
The Gangster's Ghost Episode 1: Dead Man Talking
The family of slain gangster Stewart John Regan has been frustrated by an unwillingness on the part of the NSW Police Unsolved Homicide Unit to share information about its investigation into his death. It's the same police unit leading the investigation into Bronwyn Winfield's disappearance – and they say they're reluctant to share important files because they're concerned publicity from pod
Episode 32: Finally, A Finding
After a bizarre last ditch bid by Jon Winfield to curry favour from a Ballina detective, the coroner heading the inquest into Bronwyn’s presumed murder sums up the case against the surfing bricklayer. He describes Bronwyn’s predicament in May 1993, the plans she was making for herself and her two girls, and her resolve to be free from Jon. The coroner weighs and rejects Jon’s cla
Listen to The Australian's new podcast The Gangster's Ghost
Johnny 'The Magician' Regan was a murderer, pimp and psychopath, gunned down by three assassins in a grimy back lane in 1974. He was 29. In this new investigative podcast, The Australian's Matthew Condon investigates gangland’s last great murder mystery. Subscribers to The Australian and registered users hear episodes of 'The Gangster's Ghost' first at gangstersghost.com.au. Plus, you can re
Episode 31: The Memory Hole
Jon’s daughter Jodie returns to the witness box for a searching cross examination on Day 4 of the inquest.She volunteers that she looked in the boot of the Ford Falcon on the morning that she says her father arrived at the Shire hair salon, Intercutz, after the overnight drive from Lennox. If Bronwyn’s body was in the boot en route to be concealed somewhere in the Shire – a theor
Episode 30: Mountains And Molehills
Did Bronwyn have a secret boyfriend with whom she was having a clandestine relationship before he spirited her away from her daughters and her Lennox Head home? Was Jon’s neighbour Murray affected by painkillers or cannabis when he says he saw Jon leaving the house with his car’s engine and its lights off on the night Bronwyn disappeared? Was such a departure even unusual for Jon? The
Episode 29: Out Of Character
Bronwyn’s state of mind and powerful maternal instincts for her two daughters face a determined challenge as Jon’s side depicts the missing mother in a negative light. Bronwyn’s care for Chrystal and Lauren comes into sharp focus when Jon’s lawyer asks if it would have been out of character for the Lennox Head mum to go to a Saturday night party, leaving the girls home alon
Episode 28: The Lawyer's Picnic
Jon’s lawyer Craig Leggat does his homework, analysing witness statements and other documents to discover significant and inconsequential flaws in the evidence. He knows that if things go badly in the inquest, Jon faces a murder charge. But if defects in the evidence are properly highlighted, there’s a chance Jon can walk away. Bronwyn’s cousin Megan Read faces another torrid tim
Episode 27: Megan's Court Showdown
Bronwyn’s friend and cousin Megan Read drops new bombshells while under oath on Day 2 of the inquest. Megan gives evidence at the coronial inquiry about having been told by Jon Winfield that he saw and spoke to Bronwyn in Brisbane, several years after her disappearance. Jon’s lawyer starts a fierce cross examination of Megan in the witness box. Jodie also comes under renewed scrutiny f
Episode 26: No Way In The World
The inquest into Bronwyn’s disappearance hears that when detective Glenn Taylor attended Jon and Bronwyn’s former family home at Lennox Head, dozens of photographs lined the walls. Glenn only started investigating the unsolved case five years after Bronwyn disappeared, and Jon was still living at the same property in Sandstone Crescent. The pictures in the home included happy snaps of
Episode 25: Inquest Begins
For more than 140 years, the Lismore courthouse has stood firm through a procession of natural disasters. Withstanding everything nature has thrown at the town, the courthouse has witnessed a tragic roll call of cases. Cases such as the alleged shooting murder of local mother Carolyn Stuckey by her enraged husband, pharmacist Allan Stuckey. And cases like Bronwyn’s. In 2002, Bronwyn’s
Episode 24: Listener Night
In this special live event recorded at the Art Gallery of NSW on a warm late summer evening, listeners and Bronwyn's family gather for a Q&A with the podcast team, including Hedley Thomas, David Murray, Matthew Condon, Madi Walsh and Claire Harvey. Through panel discussion and thoughtful audience questions, we examine twists in the story so far, including the mystery of how Jon Winfield became
Episode 23: Will Power
News of Jon Winfield’s windfall and changes to the Will of his near-neighbour, Bev, shock the Lennox Head community and galvanise Bev’s friends and relations. Bev’s cousin Cathy comes forward and says she was isolated from knowledge of what had happened to her lifelong friend, Bev. Cathy describes having been ‘warned off’ by a gruff man using Bev’s phone after h
Episode 22: Suburban Gothic
Lennox Head locals are suspicious of Jon’s motives with a well-off elderly woman who lives alone and has a terminal illness. Jon has been spending a lot of time at her ocean-facing house, helping with renovations and an expensive makeover. As she’s dying, the woman buys two new cars and new furniture and appliances. Her two brothers are shocked when they finally get hold of her will af
Episode 21: Concrete Evidence
Investigations reveal Jon’s fast work to get federal government welfare payments diverted from Bronwyn’s bank account to his account when she went missing. The single parent pension and other payments to Bronwyn to help her raise the children were cut off quickly after Jon said it should be going to him. Andy Read says Jon’s actions were not those of someone expecting Bronwy
Where is Bronwyn’s body?
Hear the Bronwyn team debate how to approach the biggest question: was Bronwyn concealed under a concrete slab in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire? This mini-episode is a snippet of a new instalment in our video-only series. Watch the videos now at bronwynpodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Live now: Special video episodes of Bronwyn
Go behind the scenes of the podcast in a very special new series of video episodes, live now at bronwynpodcast.com. Plus, you can read more about this case, see photographs, maps, timelines and more at the website. If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can – contact our team confidentially by emailing bronwyn@theaustralian.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listene
Episode 20: The Shire
Andy seeks expert advice about the x-raying of a concrete slab at a house in Illawong in The Shire – the place he refers to as God’s Country, where he and Bronwyn grew up. After getting more intel about a concrete pour in May 1993, Andy and Madi visit and are more suspicious about what went on at the former building site in Illawong where Jon had been bricklaying. Jon’s friend at the time, builder
Episode 19: The Calling
The ‘smoking gun’ is data from the phone company about any local calls made from Sandstone Crescent on the night of May 16, 1993. Jon insists that Bronwyn made a couple of local calls, then a car came to pick her up and she disappeared. But if no local calls were made, his story falls over. Hedley and Karina hunt for local call data which fell between the cracks during previous police investigatio
Episode 18: Origin Story
Jon disparages Bronwyn’s mother Barbara as a sex worker. In one of his final comments in his 1998 interview with police investigating the disappearance of Jon’s estranged wife five years earlier, Jon’s smear of the grandmother of Lauren and Chrystal goes unchallenged until now. Kim Marshall and her brother Andy emphatically reject the labelling and explain Barbara’s mental illness struggles as dep
Episode 17: A Strange Cheque
Police Commissioner Karen Webb and her top Homicide detectives come under fire. Bronwyn’s brother, Andy Read, calls out a lack of effort, urgency and competence in the police investigations of his sister’s case, which has been hopelessly bungled all the way back to 1993. Commissioner Webb and her top Homicide detective Danny Doherty look uncomfortable and unwilling to talk about a case which has e
Episode 16: A Family Divided
A politician and a leading newspaper speculate that a serial killer could have murdered Bronwyn and 66 other women on the New South Wales north coast over the past three decades. Bronwyn’s daughter Chrystal – who still supports Jon Winfield – welcomes news of a possible serial killer instead of her step-father being responsible for Bronwyn’s presumed slaying. In stark contrast, other members of th
Episode 15: Taking Flight
For 31 years, key parts of Jon’s story have been taken for granted. Even while he has been a longtime murder suspect, nobody challenged Jon’s claims that he made two long-distance telephone calls from the house at Sandstone Crescent on the night Bronwyn was last seen alive. The first call, he claimed, was made to his daughter Jodie. The second one to his brother Peter. Hedley Thomas and Matt Condo
Episode 14: Jon's Own Words
What was going on in Jon’s marriage to Bronwyn leading up to the separation in 1993? Why did he suddenly take a flight from Sydney one Sunday afternoon to return to the house in Lennox Head when Bronwyn moved back in with her daughters? What did Bronwyn say and do when he turned up at the front door? What did they talk about when he went inside the house? Did he know that Bronwyn was getting legal
Episode 13: Father's Day
A surprise message opens a long-closed door to Jon’s secret past. Sonia Lee has been listening to every episode in the Bronwyn podcast series while weighing the right time to come forward for the first time. She made a promise to her grandmother on her death bed to tell the truth about her biological father when the time was right. A man she has never known— but is now hearing so much about. In a
A new episode of Bronwyn is live now
An update from the Bronwyn team: Listen to a taste of Episode 15, the latest in Bronwyn's second season. The full episode is live now at bronwynpodcast.com, where you can also see subscriber-only content like photographs, maps, timelines. If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can contact our team confidentially by emailing bronwyn@theaustralian.com.au If you need suppor
Season 2 of Bronwyn is live now
An update from the Bronwyn team: Listen to a taste of Episode 13, which kicks off Season 2. The full episode is live now at bronwynpodcast.com, along with episodes 11 and 12. Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com. If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can contact our team confidentially by emailing bronwyn@theaustr
From The Front: Pain and hope for Bronwyn’s family
In this episode of The Australian's daily news podcast, a family ‘curse’, an audacious scam, and a remarkable young woman helping to solve the mystery of Bronwyn Winfield’s likely murder. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kri
Episode 10: Mothers
Distressing evidence from Jon Winfield’s first wife, Jennifer Mason, was part of the police brief which the then-Detective Sergeant Glenn Taylor believed would result in a prosecution over Bronwyn’s disappearance. A dispute over the identity of her first daughter’s father resulted in Jon challenging one man to have his DNA tested. At Lake Ainsworth, on the northern edge of Lennox Head, locals join
Episode 9: The Lake
A short walk from the sandy northern beaches of Lennox Head is a lake loved by locals and visitors alike. It is deep only in a few places, but nobody can see the bottom - the waters of eerie Lake Ainsworth are always dark because of staining from the leaves of the Tea Trees which flourish on the foreshore. As a result of Judy Singh’s disclosures, Andy Read and locals including Murray and Scruffy f
Episode 8: Mea Culpa
Bronwyn’s friends and loved ones reel as the revelation of Judy Singh’s sighting of what appeared to be a body wrapped in a sheet, being driven away by her estranged husband Jon Winfield in 1993, is understood. Detectives fly north to take a statement from Judy. They drive her to her old home in Lennox Head as part of a renewed homicide investigation. Former neighbour Murray Nolan admits deep regr
Episode 7: Did Judy See Bronwyn’s Body?
A new witness emerges with a chilling account of seeing what she fears was Bronwyn Winfield's body wrapped in sheets in the back of a car, in a development that could change everything in the 31 year mystery. Retired nurse and former Lennox Head resident Judy Singh lived about 50m from the Winfields and says she tried to report what she saw from her upper level balcony to local police within weeks
Episode 6: Fragile
As celebrities from Hollywood stars Chris Hemsworth to Simon Baker wax lyrical about Lennox Head, locals like Scruffy speculate about Bronwyn and the whereabouts of her remains. Analysis of a missing person report made to police by her estranged husband Jon Winfield in late May, 1993, strongly suggests that Bronwyn is alive and telephoned Jon’s daughter Jodie to say she had moved to Queensland and
Episode 5: Detectives, Red Flags and Failure
Analysis of police internal running sheets and other files from 1993, when Bronwyn disappeared in Lennox Head, reveals remarkable red flags – yet local detectives still didn’t treat the case as probable foul play. After making fundamental errors with key evidence on the timing of phone calls, documents show that the cop in charge suggests Bronwyn has left the house voluntarily and retu
A special update on BRONWYN
An update from Hedley Thomas and The Australian. Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com. If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can contact our team confidentially by emailing bronwyn@theaustralian.com.au If you need support, Lifeline can be reached on 13 11 14.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode 4: A Strange Getaway
Bronwyn's estranged husband, Jon, hastily packs the family car for an unplanned drive through the night to Sydney with the two girls. His neighbour, Murray Nolan, hears the car's distinctive brakes and is surprised to see the Ford sedan quietly rolling down Sandstone Crescent with lights off and engine off at 10:40pm on Sunday, May 16, 1993. When Jon arrives in Sydney he says Bronwyn has gone away
Episode 3: The Lawyer's Advice
Jon's second wife reveals some home truths about her brief failed marriage and why she decided to file for divorce, triggering a bitter row over the house she and Jon built in Sandstone Crescent, Lennox Head. The house is close to where Bronwyn would build a house with Jon several years later. When Bronwyn decides to get a locksmith in and take her lawyer's advice to move back into the house, frie
Episode 2: War of the Winfields
It’s a toxic relationship. Friends and family recall Bronwyn’s sadness and frustrations over what appears to be coercive control and emotional violence. Bronwyn’s efforts to keep the family home ‘immaculate’ while raising children take a toll. Crumbs or soft drink spills on the floor anger Jon, who doesn’t want visitors and directs the children to play in the ga
Episode 1: Jon’s Castle
In an idyllic surf town, Bronwyn Winfield is a loving young mother determined to divorce her husband Jon and start again with her two daughters. She writes about her life and describes a deeply unhappy marriage. She tells friends and relatives that she fears Jon. Bronwyn discloses firm plans including an imminent meeting with a lawyer advising her about her separation from her estranged husband. J
Introducing: Bronwyn
The Teacher’s Pet creator Hedley Thomas returns with a new podcast investigation for The Australian. Subscribers to The Australian and registered users hear episodes of ‘Bronwyn’ first at theaustralian.com.au/bronwyn. Plus, you can read more about this case and see exclusive stories, maps, timelines, graphics, video and more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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