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This podcast contains content that may be upsetting to some listeners. Before continuing, please prioritise your own wellbeing and mental health. Please check the show notes for more detailed descriptions of the episodes. Hey love. Hey Claire. I've just been round at Louisa's old address speaking to locals and I need your help with something. Sure. I don't know if there's anything in this, but it could be important. Okey dokey. I need you to go online and tell me if you can find anything at all in relation to another body being found in Darebin Creek only a couple of years ago. Okay, you have my attention now. Body in Darebin Creek. What's coming up Right, okay. Man's body being found in a creek Body was found in Darebin Creek at Bellfield after reports it was found floating in the water. Circumstances yet to be determined.
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So if that's true that someone was found in Darebin Creek only a couple of years ago. Yes. You are not going to believe what else I was told about that story. That individual was also last seen leaving Louisa's old address. No way. What kind of coincidence is that? Two people leave the same address and both of them end up dead in Darebin Creek. Episode 9 She's not the only one. As we press on with the investigation, the discovery of another body in Darebin Creek who was also last seen leaving Louise's old address is a shocking and unexpected development. This raises the question, although 10 years apart, could these two incidents be intertwined? Are we dealing with something resembling a copycat killing? Or is this just an astonishing coincidence? As Claire was able to find in 2021, news of a male body found afloat in Darebin Creek spread as far as newspapers interstate. Unlike Louise's case this time, the police were reportedly more cautious in their initial assessment, and the article indicated that that they were actively working to establish if the death was suspicious. Out of respect for the family's wishes, I'll be referring to this man by the alias Jacob Like Louisa, Jacob was only in his 20s at the time of his passing. And while they didn't know each other, had Louisa still been alive in 2021, then it's quite possible their paths may have crossed. They hung around people who shared similar groups of friends, but this is a pretty standard thing in the Preston Reservoir area. After Louise's death, the social housing unit she lived in with Jo was vacated and an associate of Jacob moved in. That's who Jacob had been visiting the night he was last seen alive and had left their place in the early hours of the morning. Similar to Louisa, what happened after he left the unit remains a bit of a mystery. Other than the eventual discovery of his body over two weeks later in Darebin Creek. Through conversations with Jacob's grieving family and delving deeper into the details of his case privately, the poignant truth is that beyond a truly extraordinary coincidence, there doesn't appear to be any concrete link between his story and Louisa's. Despite this lack of connection, I believe Jacob's story still holds value in helping Louisa's case. Although a decade separates these two tragedies, by looking at them side by side, perhaps it can help us understand how investigative approaches have evolved over this period of time. From what I've learned about Jacob, he's been remembered as a kind hearted young man who would always go above and beyond for his friends. His family told me that if Jacob had known his story could contribute to helping find answers to Louisa's death, he would have willingly lent his support. We'll touch on Jacob's case again later, but first let's look into the broader history of bodies found in Darebin Creek, which goes beyond these two incidents. In my research into deaths at the creek, I wanted to understand how frequently these events were occurring and the circumstances surrounding them. It's interesting because Darebin Creek actually stretches out for some distance. We're talking over 30 kilometres through the northern suburbs of Melbourne. But despite its length, there's a surprisingly low incidence of reported deaths in it. Looking at a time span of over 150 years, from 1870 to present day, there have been just 30 documented fatalities, including that of Louisa and Jacob. From these, the majority of deaths occurred before the year 1964 and were mainly children. Some of these early records point to drownings in a particularly deep part of the creek. Known historically as the Devil's Hole, this spot was once a popular swimming area and had depths exceeding three metres, all almost triple what we would usually see in the creek nowadays before it was filled in post 1960s Changes in Darebin Creek, including a decrease in the overall water level and more public awareness of water safety, likely contributed to the vast reduction in these tragic incidents. But this is also where things become interesting. From the records I've been able to uncover, after 1964, there have only been six reports of bodies found in and around Darebin Creek. Half of these were found to be homicide. Of note, all homicide victims were female. Tragically, one of these was a child whose mother was found guilty of infanticide after taking her 15 month old daughter down to the park, smothering her and rolling her into the creek. In another grim case, dismembered body parts of a 20 year old female were discovered in Parklands near the creek, with investigations revealing she was killed elsewhere and later disposed of in two different locations. Then in 2012, less than a year after Louisa, the body of a female was found in the creek encased in a nylon bag. Her mother in law was later convicted of murdering her at home with a hammer before stuffing her body in a wheeling bin and pushing it down to the Creek. Beyond these three homicide cases, there were three other deaths in or around Darebin Creek after the 1960s. This of course was Louisa Jacob and an adult male found in 1997 who had been on daily from a nearby mental health facility. This is where Louise's death stands out. Since 1964, not only is she the only female whose death wasn't classified as a homicide, hers seems to be the only case that could be attributed to drowning. In contrast, the deaths of the two males, one a decade before and the other a decade after Louisa's, were recorded as un unascertained. This means the forensic pathologists couldn't conclusively determine their cause of death. So why was drowning suspected in Louisa's case but not in the others?