Shortcut: What happened to 3-year-old Lachie Jones? - ATC International

Summary

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Australian True Crime – Shortcut: What happened to 3-year-old Lachie Jones?

Podcast Host: Bravecasting
Guests: Melanie Reed (Investigative Journalist), Bonnie Sumner (Investigative Journalist), Paul Jones (Lachie’s father)
Date: January 21, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode examines the mysterious 2019 death of 3-year-old New Zealand boy Lachie Jones, who was found face up in an oxygenation pond about a kilometre from his house. Although police quickly ruled it an accidental drowning, Lachie’s father, Paul Jones, believed there was more to the story and sought the help of journalists Melanie Reed and Bonnie Sumner, hosts of the true crime podcast Delve: The Boy in the Water. The Australian True Crime team brings them on for an in-depth discussion of the case, media investigation, and the complexities that have fueled ongoing speculation and controversy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Basic Facts and Early Police Response

• Discovery of Lachie's Body ([01:02]):
  • Melanie Reed describes the official story: police said Lachie left home alone and made his way over 1.2 km (later disputed as possibly 800–900 meters) to the pond, where he allegedly drowned.
  • Melanie voices early skepticism: “He was found face up, which is highly unusual. No water in his lungs, highly unusual. The police dog found no scent… just none of that sort of stacked up.” ([01:02])
• Father’s Relentless Pursuit ([01:55]):
  • Paul Jones was unsatisfied by the police investigation and persistently contacted journalists to get the story examined.
  • Melanie Reed recounts her first in-person encounter: “It was one of those situations where I kind of turned up and he took me on this walk. It was this incredibly gray, cold day. I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life... it was just like, wow, this doesn't stack.” ([02:43])

Contentious Family Dynamics and Alibis

• Parents' Relationship Status ([04:04]):

  • Paul Jones and Michelle Officer (Lachie’s mother) had a fraught history, including allegations of abuse and legal restrictions. By the time of Lachie’s death, those restrictions had been lifted, and Paul had stayed at the house, with apparent attempts at reconciliation.
  • Melanie Reed: “Text between each other were kind of bordering on, kind of a bit flirtatious… at the time… it wasn’t a hostile situation.” ([05:17])
  • The host notes Michelle denies any attempt at reconciliation, asserting at minimum they were “talking.” ([05:08])

• Mother's Account of the Night ([05:35]):

  • Bonnie Sumner recounts Michelle Officer’s police statement detailing how Lachie, in a soiled nappy, ran off twice that night. After an initial search, police were called at 9:36 pm. Lachie was found after 11 pm, approximately two hours after going missing.
  • Key detail: Lachie was found floating face up, with a replica police hat nearby.

Disputed Evidence and Unlikely Sequence of Events

• Improbable Circumstances ([07:46], [08:30]):

  • Reed lists improbable elements: a 3-year-old walking barefoot over a kilometer at night with no marks on his feet, full nappy, no water in lungs, and no scent trail for the police dog.
  • “They’re all possible, but when you pile them up… collectively, it’s pretty interesting when you stack them all up.” ([08:30])

• Police and Coroner Analysis ([09:12]):

  • The coroner considered Michelle Officer’s evidence “unreliable,” citing likely shame and embarrassment about her parenting, casting further doubt on the mother's timeline.
  • The host: “[He] felt as though she was ashamed of elements of her parenting, embarrassed, and so gave answers that were inaccurate because she thought it was what you were meant to do.” ([09:12])

Rumors, Allegations, and Theories

• Extreme Rumors and Social Theories ([03:16], [10:59]):

  • The host notes wild local rumors—claims that Lachie’s body was cold as if kept in a freezer, and even speculation about deliberate killing earlier in the day.
  • Accusations against Michelle Officer and her sons were put to them, including storing the body in a freezer and fabricating alibis.

• Coroner’s Findings ([11:31], [14:16]):

  • Coroner concluded Michelle Officer “had nothing to do with his death.”
  • Memorable quote (Legal Commentator): “I accept that a morally moribund mother who accidentally killed her child in a moment… might well panic and try to cover it up. But I do not think a natural reaction would be for her to pick up the phone and order a pizza with extra aioli.” ([11:36])
  • Melanie Reed outlines the journalists’ motivation: “Police really made such a rash conclusion that he had drowned… it was almost immediate… our job as journalists is really to ensure that we are putting these checks and balances in for the police…” ([13:30])

The State of the Investigation and Ongoing Questions

• Coroner’s Critique of Police Work ([14:16]):
  • The coroner’s strong criticism: “I do not accept that the police investigations correctly outline what occurred that evening. Indeed, I have found in many instances that the evidence does not support the propositions which the police presented as complicated, included fact.” ([14:16])
  • The case was subsequently referred to oversight agencies for further investigation (Independent Police Conduct Authority, the Medical Council, and a third police investigation).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Melanie Reed on the investigation’s oddities:
  “He was found face up, which is highly unusual. No water in his lungs, highly unusual. The police dog found no scent…” ([01:02])
• Paul Jones’s unwavering conviction:
  “I know my son didn’t walk out there on his own… not running out of a House at 9 o’ clock at night and jumping over some fence and jumped in a bloody pond was not what he was capable of.” ([04:10])
• Host on the string of unlikely events:
  “It creates this Swiss cheese effect that you’re talking about, that would have to work out perfectly for the Crown’s case to make sense…” ([09:12])
• Legal Commentator, on the unlikelihood of a planned cover-up:
  “But I do not think a natural reaction would be for her to pick up the phone and order a pizza with extra aioli.” ([11:36])
• Investigative team’s mission:
  “Our job as journalists is really to ensure that we are putting these checks and balances in for the police and for the establishment… the police case was very substandard and that’s really where we came in.” ([13:30])
• Coroner’s damning summary of police work:
  “I do not accept that the police investigations correctly outline what occurred that evening…” ([14:16])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:05-01:02 – Case intro and discovery of Lachie’s body
• 01:02-03:01 – Melanie Reed questions plausibility of official story
• 03:16-05:08 – Family dynamics and rumors about the night
• 05:35-06:56 – Michelle’s timeline, search, and police involvement
• 07:46-09:12 – Dissecting improbable elements and the coroner’s views
• 10:17-11:31 – Cross-examination of Michelle Officer and her sons
• 11:36-12:59 – Legal analysis and the mother’s account
• 13:30-14:16 – Journalists’ motivations and criticism of police
• 14:16-15:00 – Coroner’s statements and the path ahead

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Conclusion

The Lachie Jones case is steeped in both heartbreak and uncertainty, marked by initial police conclusions, a father’s doubts, inconsistent testimonies, improbable facts, and the dogged pursuit of truth by investigative journalists. Multiple inquiries and persistent public interest indicate that, despite the coroner’s findings, the case remains unresolved for many, keeping speculation and debate alive.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host]

On a warm evening in 2019, three year old New Zealand boy Lockie Jones was found deceased in an oxygenation pond about a kilometre from his house. Local police quickly declared it an accidental drowning, but the boy's father was unconvinced and remained so. He pursued the help of seasoned investigative journalists Melanie Reed and Bonnie Sumner. The show is called Delve the Boy in the Water and in the most recent season they took us, their listeners, inside the Coroner's court for a long awaited inquest. Melanie Reed and Bonnie Sumner join us to talk about the case. This is Australian True Crime. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created. The Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung People of the Kulin Nation and a Warning. This episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence.

[Melanie Reed]

It's about a little boy who was found face up in a sewage pond and the police said that he had drowned. He left home, apparently, according to the police, and went 1.2 ks down the road over the fence and he was found face up, which is highly unusual. No water in his lungs, highly unusual. The police dog found no scent, so it became a kind of pretty intriguing tale. What happened with us is that we just kept getting called by the little boy's father who's saying, look, something doesn't stack up here. I don't believe he's. You'll never in your wildest dreams know, be able to tell me or even imagine that he walked all that way with a full nappy at nine o' clock at night, barefoot, by the way, and with no marks on his feet. So just none of that sort of stacked up. And so every which way he turned, he was sort of closed down. The police did no, you know, get on with your life. The pathologist did it with a drowning and so he basically almost sort of bordered on harassing. Mish. Yeah, he decided I was the journalist who wanted to do it and then he just rang me repeatedly until one there was a period where I was down in Southland covering another story and look, you know, essentially I thought, look, I'm just going to go and see this guy. So it was one of those situations where I kind of turned up and he took me on this walk. It was this incredibly gray, cold day. I don't think I've ever been so cold in my life. And I grew up in a cold climate and we sort of did this kind of miserable wander through the mist from the little boy's house, blocky, where he'd been living all the way out over the gate, through the pickles, up the bank, da, da, da. All the way down into them for ages. And it was just like, wow, this doesn't stack.

[Paul Jones]

Just in close to the bank here.

[Bonnie Sumner]

He was found and you were here that night.

[Paul Jones]

I actually didn't see where he was found, but they put a stick out here where he was located.

[Podcast Host]

Having read the recent inquest findings, the coroner's findings, a lot of people have successfully disputed the father's ideas about what may have happened. A lot of other people's ideas. There's a lot of rumors. It's one of those stories, isn't it, where a lot of people have weighed in and said, oh, the body was cold when they found it. I think it was in a freezer. I think that he was killed earlier in the day. There's lots of wild rumours around the place. If we can go back to the relationship between Lockie's parents, because I think that's key in our understanding how this has become so contentious when the police have sort of said, well, it's Occam's razor, really. It's pretty simple. What can you tell us about Michelle, Officer Lockie's mum, and Paul Jones, his dad, and where they were at when this happened?

[Melanie Reed]

Well, Paul is a bit of a rough diamond, let's put it that way. Or he's like a likable rogue.

[Paul Jones]

I know my son didn't walk out there on his dad and I know what he was capable of. And not running out of a House at 9 o' clock at night and jumping over some fence and jumped in a bloody pond was not what he was capable of. He used to go to the swimming pool and sit on the edge because he knew he wasn't allowed in the water and until someone was with him. So why would he suddenly change his mentality?

[Melanie Reed]

I think they'd had a bit of a tumultuous relationship and there had been a court hearing where he was accused of being abusive and he wasn't allowed near the house, et cetera. He wasn't allowed to see Lockie, but that had all been revoked at the time, so things had brought out. And at the time he'd stayed two nights at the house and they were planning to go to Dunedin, which was a few hours away, to stay the weekend in the motel. So by all accounts, that looked like things were kind of improving.

[Podcast Host]

Well, he says that they were actually working on reconciling, doesn't he? She. Michelle disputes that, says, no, that was never the case. But at least they Were talking.

[Melanie Reed]

They were definitely talking. He'd stayed the night and the text between each other were kind of bordering on, kind of bit flirtatious as well. So I don't think at the time when Lockie disappeared that it wasn't a hostile situation between them, put it that way.

[Bonnie Sumner]

According to her police statement, this is what Lockie's mother says happened at around 9pm she'd looked at her clock. Lockie ran out of the house. He had a soiled nappy. She caught up with him and at her friend's house, the friend said she never actually saw him. But while they were talking, he ran off again. Both women returned to the mother's house before heading to the playground. They returned to look again around the mother's place and then at the friends. The women went along the street towards the river, speaking to people along the way. Before going down Grasslands Road. The mother says she climbed over a wooden fence beside the gate and went up on the bank looking for a bright yellow vest. At 9:36 she called 111. It was roughly half an hour that he'd been gone. At 11.15pm, around two hours since he'd gone missing, an officer and his police dog found Lachie floating in the water. There was no chance of reviving him. His little replica police had was a few meters from his body.

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[Bonnie Sumner]

Now.

[Podcast Host]

It does come across to me and I've come in at the very, not the end of the story, but very late stage story that it appears that it's at least possible that this terrible tragedy has happened and that Lockie's dad Paul is looking to blame somebody and is perhaps chasing shadows.

[Melanie Reed]

Well, I think the difficulty with the case is that there are so many things that are improbable. Okay, did he walk 1.2 K? Yes, it's possible, but it's not probable.

[Podcast Host]

But also in the inquest it was suggested that it wasn't that far. For one thing, that it was about 800 or 900 metres. If he went into the pond at the north end, that kids do that, and I must admit, when I was reading that evidence from his kinder teacher and other people just sort of saying, look, you know, yeah, a toddler can run that far if he Takes the mind to it. I kept thinking about the fact that my daughter stuffed a battery up her nose when she was two and a half. And after that I thought, okay, there's no rules here. These kids can do weird shit.

[Melanie Reed]

That's exactly right. That what we've got is a pylon of improbable sort of propositions, I suppose. Like they're all possible, but when you pile them up, they're possible but they're not probable. That's why I think the story's been quite intriguing for people, because you have to accept all of those things that he was found face up, that he had no water in his lungs, that the dog found no scent, that he went 1.2 K's with a full nappy, no marks on his feet. Now you can. You can write off all of those things, like individually, but collectively, it's pretty interesting when you stack them all up.

[Podcast Host]

I think also perhaps what maybe muddies the water and creates this Swiss cheese effect that you're talking about, that would have to work out perfectly for the Crown's case to make sense. What adds to that is Michelle, Officer Lockie's mum's evidence, which again, the coroner said was unreliable. He stopped short of saying she was lying about everything. But he said in particular, he found her evidence around her parenting unreliable. He felt as though she was ashamed of elements of her parenting, embarrassed, and so gave answers that were inaccurate because she thought it was what you were meant to do, for example. Oh, yes, Locky had a very strict routine. We had dinner at six every night and he was in bed at 7.30pm and her eldest son disputed that, or older son disputed all of that. So then the coroner said, well, it makes it hard then to know how accurate her evidence is around the night, doesn't it? Around what time she realised he was missing and how long he was unsupervised and all of those things.

[Melanie Reed]

I mean, that's what he found. Having listened to her on the stand for a couple of days now, we haven't had the privilege, I suppose, of being able to interview her. So it was pretty interesting for us as well, because we've repeatedly asked her to participate and she's refused. And so it was pretty interesting for us, being in that coroner's hearing, hearing how she responded to some of the allegations and to the coroner's questions, and indeed Paul Jones, her ex's lawyer, how she responded to him, which wasn't particularly favorable.

[Interviewer]

We're going to talk to Paul Jones, the father of Lockie now Your lawyer, he asked Lachlan's mother, your former partner, Michelle Officer, and her two older sons, that they were involved potentially in the killing of the boy and storing his body in a freezer before dumping it and devising fake alibis as well as neglecting her son. Now, those propositions were put to Michelle Officer and her two sons.

[Podcast Host]

There's a lot of evidence to dispute that.

[Advertisement Voice]

The coroner concluded his mother, Michelle Officer, had nothing to do with his death.

[Legal Commentator]

I accept that a morally moribund mother who accidentally killed her child in a moment, she, fit of violent exasperation, might well panic and try to cover it up. But I do not think a natural reaction would be for her to pick up the phone and order a pizza with extra aioli.

[Podcast Host]

Because she says that she it was a normal night around the place, long, long day. She's trying to change Locky's nappy at about 9ish, I think. Or maybe just before 9, he's doing again something toddlers do, which turns it into a game, which is very frustrating for parents trying to just get it done. So she abandons the napp, she leaves him at the table watching YouTube and she goes to help her older son Jonathan with his weights. When she comes back to the kitchen, she realises he's gone and she sees him out the kitchen window, running down the street. She knows it's his high vis vest that everyone talks about, his little vest. So part of, again, part of the weird stuff that has to happen is that Locky has to figure out how to open the door to get out, which apparently he'd never done before. And then when she catches up with him down the street, by the way, she decides to drop in on a neighbor down the street. The neighbor never actually spotted Locky in the kitchen while they were chatting, all of that. But again, you have to wonder, so how much of this unlikely scenario is actually down to inaccuracies in Michelle office's telling of how the night played out? Like, is it possible she left the door open because it was really hot? She said she left the front gate open because she went to buy pizzas. Is it possible she left him unattended for a while as all possible? Yeah, yeah.

[Melanie Reed]

I mean, that's why, I guess people find the story so compelling because all of these things are, is that possible? Is that likely? Could that have happened? Could this have happened?

[Podcast Host]

And it's what invites theories, isn't it?

[Melanie Reed]

Indeed.

[Investigative Journalist]

And I mean also what invites theories is, and this is the reason we really did this case in the first place. Was because police really made such a rash conclusion that he had drowned. I mean, it was almost immediate, really. And, you know, our job as journalists is really to ensure that we are putting these checks and balances in for the police and for, for, for the establishment, essentially. And so what we discovered was that the police case was very substandard and that's really where we came in.

[Melanie Reed]

If something did happen to that little boy and there has been a third party involvement, other people know.

[Investigative Journalist]

Yeah, I mean, I think the coroner put it quite well when he said, I do not accept that the police investigations correctly outline what occurred that evening. Indeed, I have found in many instances that the evidence does not support the propositions which the police presented as complicated, included fact. So that's what he said in his inquest findings. And so, you know, you just have to hope that the referral to the Independent Police Conduct Authority, the pathologist to the Medical Council and of course to the police for a third investigation, that we might get somewhere a bit further than we have right now.

[Podcast Host]

Thank you to our guests, Melanie Reed and Bonnie Sumner. Their podcast Delve the Boy in the Water, is available wherever you get your podcasts. If you need support after listening to this podcast, you can call Lifeline on 13 11, 14 or contact 1-800-Respect on 1-800-737732 or 1-800-Respect. Org AU. Indigenous Australians can contact 13 Yarn on 13, 9276 or 13yarn.org AU. The producers of this podcast recognise the.

[Legal Commentator]

Traditional owners of the land on which it's recorded.

[Podcast Host]

They pay respect to the Aboriginal elders.

[Legal Commentator]

Past, present and those emerging.