01 What Became of Jack? | Vanished

Summary

Podcast Summary: Unravel – Season 8, Episode 01: "What Became of Jack?" | Vanished

Release Date: May 25, 2026
Host: Rob Bergen (ABC Australia)

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Episode Overview

The latest season of ABC’s award-winning investigative podcast Unravel launches with “What Became of Jack?” Host Rob Bergen travels to regional Queensland to unravel the mysterious 2024 disappearance of 27-year-old Jack McLennan. In this first episode, Rob retraces Jack’s last known night, delves into the strange clues left behind, and sets the stage for an in-depth, community-powered investigation. The case's uncertainty—was it a crime, misadventure, or something darker?—sets a gripping tone and invites listeners' involvement.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Night Jack Vanished

• Rob Bergen visits Fixed Crossing (00:42):
  Rob describes the eerie, isolated spot in rural Queensland where Jack vanished, emphasizing the unnerving atmosphere and the lasting sense of unease.

  “It’s as if he’s been swallowed up by the night or something. And since that moment, as far as I know, nobody else has set eyes on Jack McLennan.” – Rob Bergen (01:47)

• Background on Jack: Jack, a fit and positive young man recently out of a breakup, had gone to Fixed Crossing with a mate to blow off steam.

2. The Family’s Perspective and Early Reactions

• Kelly Moody (Jack’s mother) recounts learning her son is missing (03:00 & 09:16):
  Initially, Kelly assumes Jack is just sleeping off a long night, but alarm sets in when his car is untouched and friends can’t reach him.

  “I couldn’t believe my son hadn’t returned to his car. And, you know, as a mum’s worst fear, that was setting in.” – Kelly Moody (10:52)

• Family dynamics and connection:
  Rob relates personally to Jack’s situation—both having worked as personal trainers and gone through tumultuous relationships—deepening his emotional investment (06:07–07:22).

3. The Search and Its Community Impact

• Massive police and community search (15:18):
  After 72 hours, a full-scale search launches, spearheaded by local police, SES, and volunteers like former rescue worker Heath Sander.

  “Once the three or four days had gone past, we knew that something major had happened…if he had wandered off then it wasn’t going to be good.” – Heath Sander (17:30)

• Disappointment with police handling:
  Jack’s father, Ross McLennan, voices frustration at the initial hesitation from authorities.

  “I think the police automatically, you know, have a bit of a misadventure element put on the whole thing…a bit slow to kick off with the search.” – Ross McLennan (17:57–18:17)

• The family’s heartbreak:
  The trauma and personal impact are palpable.

  “It’s something we only see on telly…not thinking in a million years it’s going to happen to you.” – Ross McLennan (18:48)

4. Strange Clues Surface

Clue 1: Shoes Found

• Jack’s white trainers are found with laces tied, as if he stepped out of them (23:41):

  “Now it’s gone up a level because why are his shoes here? He should have them on his feet…you’re walking in snake territory. Why would you take your shoes off?” – Kelly Moody (25:12)

• Family and police offer differing interpretations of this clue, deepening the uncertainty.

Clue 2: Hat Discovered

• Jack’s trademark black cap is found wet in Murgon—seemingly suggesting he made it back to town (27:54):

  “When the hat was found in Mergan, I thought maybe he had made it back…” – Heath Sander (28:46)

• Twist: Jack’s friend Chris says he dumped the hat, not realizing the implications or Jack’s subsequent disappearance (29:02–29:44).

Clue 3: Credit Card

• A farmer finds Jack’s credit card chewed and discarded in the bush—an unsettling sign (30:42):

  “We were just checking our cattle…and then we found a credit card…it was not a nice feeling.” – Troy, Olive Grove Farmer (30:42)

Clue 4: Wallet

• Jack’s empty wallet is recovered near the olive grove, with ID and phone missing (32:01).
  The locations of clues suggest no clear narrative—some are found miles apart, sowing confusion.

5. Family and Community in Turmoil

• Kelly’s determination and frustration:
  Continues searching, coordinates with police, and appeals to the public via social media and interviews.

  “I just want to bring him back, no matter what. I just need to find him. I can’t rest. And of course, no mother could.” – Kelly Moody (30:20)

• Community’s sense of threat:
  Rumors of foul play circulate, some warn not to dig too deeply.

  “There are villains in this story we were told by so many people.” – Kelly Moody (04:00)

6. Unresolved Theories and Ongoing Mystery

• No consensus or closure:
  Was it a crime, misadventure, or something else? The puzzling clues and their contradictory locations deepen the mystery.

  “There seems to be foul play, Rob, involved here. Nothing else makes sense of it…” – Ross McLennan (26:50) “To me, it feels like there’s a chance that someone else saw Jack after he vanished from fix.” – Rob Bergen (32:51)

7. Call to Action and the Journey Ahead

• Rob appeals to the public for information (33:14):
  He invites listeners to contact the show or Crime Stoppers, reinforcing the podcast’s participatory approach.
• Preview of next episode:
  Teases an exclusive interview with Jack’s ex-partner—the person closest to him before he disappeared.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Rob Bergen, on his personal connection:

  “I was starting to see a fair bit of my younger self in Jack.” (06:07)

• Kelly Moody, on Jack’s personality:

  “He just brings amazing positivity…so he’s just a generally happy, decent person, you know, just great.” (08:35)

• Sydney McLennan, on her gut feeling:

  “To be honest, I think Jack wouldn’t just walk off in the middle of the night. I’ve just picked up on things that other people haven’t that make it seem like it can’t be anything else but foul play.” (34:39)

• Community warning:

  “Don’t go there. You’ll get killed, you’ll get chewed.” – Advice Ross McLennan and Kelly Moody say they heard from locals (04:03–04:05)

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• Atmospheric scene-setting at Fixed Crossing: 00:42–02:25
• Family learning of Jack’s disappearance: 09:16–11:12
• Community and police search efforts: 15:18–17:57
• Jack’s character and family bonds: 19:18–21:18
• Discovery & implications of clues: 23:19–30:42
  • Shoes: 23:41
  • Hat: 27:54
  • Credit card: 30:42
  • Wallet: 32:01
• Community concern and crime theories: 04:00, 26:50, 34:39
• Host's call for public help and preview: 33:14–35:03

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Tone & Style

• Authentic, immersive, and empathetic—Rob cultivates a sense of shared investigation and refuses to leap to conclusions (“don’t draw conclusions because you haven’t heard all sides yet” (35:03)).
• Family and local voices offer raw, emotional testimony, balanced by the host’s reflective narration.

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Summary

Episode 1 of “What Became of Jack?” sets in motion a compelling true crime investigation anchored in community, family, and the unsettling ambiguity of a young man’s disappearance. Through evocative on-location reporting, emotional interviews, and the systematic unveiling of baffling clues, Unravel invites listeners into the mystery—and to participate in the search for truth.

Transcript

[Rob Bergen]

Shocking evidence, jury drama and witness cross examinations. The KSOV podcast takes you inside the biggest trials in the country, reporting the in depth detail of how courts work and who's in there. Each week we've brought you Erin Patterson's mushroom murder trial, the case of Toyah's murder in Cairns, a Canberra cold case, the two intruders, and many more. Search for the case of. It's on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts, ABC Listen, podcasts, radio,

[Kelly Moody]

news, music and more. Just before we start, this episode contains some strong language.

[Rob Bergen]

Okay, so it's nighttime and I'm in complete darkness out here in the bush. There's insects clinging to my eyeballs and I know there's a water hole just over there, but I can't really see it right now. I'm about three hours from Brisbane at a kind of picnic spot called Fixed Crossing. There is no one else around. And to be honest, I do feel a little bit uneasy being out here by myself. That's because about 18 months ago, at almost this exact time of night, in this exact spot, a man just suddenly disappeared. He was 27 years old. A local who lived in a town just down the road from here. His name was Jack McLennan. Jack was here to hang out with a mate. They sank some beers. Jack's first major relationship of his adult life had just broken down and he was here to try and blow off some steam, maybe forget about his worries. His mate says one minute Jack's like 20 to 30 metres away. They're chatting and they're joking. Then the next minute he turns around and Jack has just vanished. It's as if he's been swallowed up by the night or something. And since that moment, as far as I know, nobody else has set eyes on Jack McLennan.

[Ross McLennan]

He's just gonna.

[Rob Bergen]

As soon as I heard about the mystery of what happened that night at Fix Crossing, I felt compelled to find out more. There's no sign of him. No messages, no contact, no footage, nothing. Just gone.

[Kelly Moody]

I'm not out there just looking for a lost car or a lost dog. I'm looking for my son.

[Rob Bergen]

That night, Jack was in that raw moment after a fresh breakup. A moment that can be angry or heartbroken, but can also be full of freedom and new possibilities. Even though, you know, he was at the end of his relationship, you know he was not sad about it. He was just ready to move on. A lot of people go missing, but this case seemed different. Normally, when someone goes missing, they're found within two days. And normally they don't leave behind a series of strange clues just like Jack did.

[Sydney McLennan]

And I was like, oh, my gosh, guys, look at this.

[Troy (Olive Grove Farmer)]

And we're like, fuck, we're not going to hang onto this card for three days.

[Rob Bergen]

I was suspicious from the start.

[Sydney McLennan]

You don't really know what to believe, who to trust.

[Rob Bergen]

As one local said to me, people don't just walk off into the dark and disappear. People who knew him have started to worry. Maybe Jack stumbled onto something way darker than the thick scrub around Fixed Crossing.

[Kelly Moody]

There are villains in this story we were told by so many people.

[Ross McLennan]

Don't go there.

[Kelly Moody]

You'll get killed, you'll get chewed.

[Ross McLennan]

There seems to be foul play, Rob involved. Nothing else makes sense of it.

[Rob Bergen]

Is it a murder? Is it someone just gone missing? This case, it's still unfolding. It's still completely unresolved. And where it leads, I honestly don't know. In this podcast, you can follow my investigation every step of the way as I try and find out what happened that night at Fixed Crossing. I'm Rob Bergen, and this is what became of Jack. The latest season of Unravel. I gotta say, this whole story, it's not my usual patch. I'm not usually a crime reporter. For most of my career, I've actually been a sports journey. In recent years, I've been an ABC local radio producer based on the sunshine coast north of Brisbane. But no matter what I do, people usually say I am a bit like a dog with a bone. Once I'm in, I'm all in. Around Christmas of 2024, a couple of months after Jack disappeared, there was a totally unrelated story about a decaying old bridge which took me out to the area around Jack's hometown. And while I was out there, I chatted with some of the locals. What other significant moments in the life of the bridge have you seen or been a part of?

[Ross McLennan]

You know, I climbed over it, I swam under it, I fished off it, I shot mullet off it, which you can't do these days.

[Rob Bergen]

The other main reasons we get out there are typically when it floods or for the annual pumpkin festival. Gomeri is the pumpkin town of the

[Ross McLennan]

whole of Australia, I'd say. And the big pumpkin is there.

[Rob Bergen]

Yeah, it's a big pumpkin.

[Kelly Moody]

You can't put your arms around it.

[Rob Bergen]

But this one time when I went out there, there was a really different vibe. A few locals and other concerned people, they were holding a public meeting about Jack's disappearance. They seemed worried and they had their own little bits of information they wanted to share with me. The more I learned about Jack, the more I realized that we had a fair bit in common. When I was around Jack's age, apart from my work in the media, I juggled working part time as a personal trainer and my own love life at this time, it was really messy and confusing. Jack's story was kind of similar. He'd also worked as a personal trainer and had just been through a period where his first really serious relationship, it had basically imploded. I was starting to see a fair bit of my younger self in Jack. After that trip to the region, I found myself constantly wondering where Jack was and what had happened to him. I felt like if I didn't do something to help the family out, this story might struggle to get the attention it deserved. So one day I just picked up the phone and called Jack's mum. Yeah, hi, it's Rob Bergin from the abc. How are you?

[Kelly Moody]

Yeah, not too bad, mate.

[Rob Bergen]

Over the next few weeks, we spoke over and over again on the phone, probably 20 times in total.

[Sydney McLennan]

Hi, Rob.

[Rob Bergen]

Hey, Kel, how are you?

[Kelly Moody]

I'm having one of those crap days, man. We're just like, I hope my brain's going to work for you today.

[Rob Bergen]

Eventually, I drove the three hours back inland to her place and I decided that if I was going to investigate this, I was going to need to spend a lot more time in the towns around Fixed Crossing. And I was going to have to get Jack's mum to tell me everything she knew about what happened the night that Jack vanished.

[Kelly Moody]

So you want me to sit over here?

[Rob Bergen]

I sit down at the kitchen table at Jack's old family home and Kelly Moody, his mum, she sits across the table from me. And to begin with, the conversation is light hearted and a bit of fun. She pokes fun at my tattoos and we joke about how she called me on the way here to ask me for a carton of milk for a morning cuppa.

[Kelly Moody]

Thank you, Rob, for bringing my milk. Thank you.

[Rob Bergen]

Don't tell the ABC that I can see photos of Jack on nearly every wall in the house. Kelly's face lights up when she describes the effect Jack can have on people.

[Kelly Moody]

He just brings amazing positivity, you know, you just feel energy that's like, whoa, hi, Superman. And comes in. He's very demonstrative about his feelings. He'll hug you, give Mum a tap on the head, hello, mother duck. And he's quite funny too, you know, humorous. So he's just a generally happy, decent person, you know, just great.

[Rob Bergen]

But then the Mood changes when Kelly starts to tell me the story of how she first discovered Jack had gone missing. She hates retelling was the morning after Jack went out to the waterhole at Fixed Crossing and Kelly was getting ready for a road trip.

[Kelly Moody]

I remember trying to ring Jack because I had said to him, do you want to come?

[Rob Bergen]

The plan for the whole family was to drive to their aunt's place in northern New South Wales and he'd said

[Kelly Moody]

he'd take his car if he did because he loved coming to Unnijan's.

[Rob Bergen]

But Jack didn't answer his phone.

[Kelly Moody]

And I just put it down to a young fella. He's been out, you know, and he's sleeping in.

[Rob Bergen]

So Kelly's jumped in the car with her two daughters, Sydney and Bella, and they've headed off thinking Jack would follow them later on.

[Kelly Moody]

And I actually went on the Saturday morning not knowing Jack was missing.

[Rob Bergen]

It's a hot day and even hotter in the car.

[Kelly Moody]

We're really hot. I didn't have good air conditioning, so the trip wasn't good.

[Rob Bergen]

They're inching slowly down the Pacific Highway.

[Kelly Moody]

It's at least four hours on a good day and this was a slow trip because there was so much traffic.

[Rob Bergen]

Suddenly Kelly's phone starts lighting up with messages which she can't read or reply to because she's the one that's driving. Then her daughter Sydney's phone starts going off too. It's Jack's ex girlfriend, Carly. Carly was Jack's first serious adult relationship and until recently they'd been living together and building a life together. But they'd been arguing and in the last two weeks the arguments had reached a breaking point. They were still communicating constantly, but the relationship, it was pretty much over. Now, as Sydney and Kelly drive down the highway, Carly's texting to say she's worried she can't get a hold of Jack and his car hasn't moved in almost 24 hours.

[Kelly Moody]

I couldn't believe my son hadn't returned to his car. And, you know, as a mum's worst fear that was setting in, Kelly finds

[Rob Bergen]

a spot to turn off the highway, then pulls into a car park to get her head straight. She pulls out her phone and calls Jack's ex girlfriend back to find out more about what she knows.

[Kelly Moody]

She was quite worrying. On the phone she sounded stressed.

[Rob Bergen]

Carly says that Jack had been out with a mate from work called Chris, but she didn't know much more than that. At this point, Kelly's still hoping for the best.

[Kelly Moody]

My mindset was that he was with that fellow he was with that night because of the way he'd talked the night before. You know, he said, I'll just stay at my mate's house. So I figured he was there. I just thought I've got to talk to this person. And I started ringing his number, which he gave me.

[Rob Bergen]

This workmate. Chris answers the phone and he tells Kelly that he and Jack had been down at the waterhole at Fixed Crossing in the afternoon. It was warm and they drank some beers, swam in the creek and were just trying to take Jack's mind off his relationship troubles. They stuck around until after the sun went down and Chris says everything was going fine. That is until about 10pm when he says he turned around and Jack was just gone. He disappeared into the night. But Chris doesn't seem overly concerned.

[Kelly Moody]

According to him, nothing's a worry.

[Rob Bergen]

Chris seemed to think Jack had just decided to walk out of there and go have some fun somewhere else. But Kelly, she's not convinced and this does nothing to calm her down. She goes to the local police station and reports Jack missing. Kelly tries to reassure herself that the most likely thing is Jack's just had a big night with a mate and he'll soon surface on his own. She's still four hours away from home with her two daughters across the state border in New South Wales, so they decide to spend the night at their auntie's place before heading home the next day. And soon after Kelly gets back, she goes to the last place Jack was seen. Fixed Crossing.

[Kelly Moody]

I just wanted to go straight back out to where I thought Jack could have been. You've already got dread in your mind because you know this is where Jack was potentially for a few hours.

[Rob Bergen]

Fix Crossing is a tiny community of about 40 people. It sits in a region full of huge livestock, cotton and peanut farms along with big patches of bush. There's not much it fixed though, apart from a small school, a few houses and a dead end road that comes to a halt at a picnic spot next to the water hole. There's a shed and a drop toilet, a small weir, a rope swing and a few tables scattered around the place, but not much else.

[Kelly Moody]

I went down to the spot where I'd heard he was that day, which is a shed not far from the water, and went inside that shed to look for any signs of him.

[Rob Bergen]

It's a cream coloured tin shed and inside Kelly finds a beer bottle and I took it.

[Kelly Moody]

So it was a Great Northern beer bottle and I presumed it was Jack because it was within a Couple of days of him being there.

[Rob Bergen]

She feels like there's something sinister about this place.

[Kelly Moody]

It was really revolting actually. I looked down in the water at the rope swinging, I saw a snake in the water. I looked at that bushland and I'm going, oh my God, I hope you didn't walk out there because once you do start walking within even fifty hundred metres, you can't see everything around you. You're just looking at bush.

[Rob Bergen]

A sick feeling in her gut settles in the waist high grass. It looks tough to walk through. There are lantana bushes and thorny vines crawling up tree trunks and covering every fallen log. And once the sun goes down, Kelly says it feels almost menacing.

[Kelly Moody]

And I felt fearful. Just the noises, everything's quiet but you'll hear these animal noises and it's getting really dark out there. You're not seeing houses, you can't see anything. It's just pitch black.

[Rob Bergen]

It's a Friday night when Jack vanishes at Fix and most of the time, if someone's reported missing, they'll turn up within two days. So on Monday, Monday afternoon, when the whole weekend's gone by with no sign of him, a full scale police search roars into action. To begin with, police focus on the area around Fixed Crossing.

[Inspector Scott Stallet]

We are appealing to people that may have information, doesn't matter how small it is, but they may have some information they might think is irrelevant, but it might be very, very helpful for us.

[Rob Bergen]

But it's a battle against the elements. There's wild animals, heat, these deep dams and snakes, heaps of snakes. Word spreads in the community that Jack's missing.

[Heath Sander]

I was told that there was a missing person and I thought to myself, if he's missing, he could be anywhere.

[Rob Bergen]

Heath Sander is close to the most local local you've ever met. He lives just up the highway from Fix Crossing in a small town of about 2,000 people called Mergan.

[Heath Sander]

You can always take the boy out of Mergan, but you can't take Mergan out of the boy, I reckon.

[Rob Bergen]

Heath's the president of the local business association and the Rotary Club and a counsellor and he owns one of the main pubs in town. But crucially, he's also an ex search and rescue volunteer. During a search a few years back, he found the body of a young girl who drowned in flood waters. So he knows exactly what's at stake.

[Heath Sander]

I put myself in that picture and I thought to myself, well, someone needs to do something. So I put the call out.

[Rob Bergen]

Heath and a group of other locals are among the first to start looking for Jack.

[Heath Sander]

So I had actually my wife and three of our staff and myself and walked that section of road there just to make sure that, you know, he wasn't lying on the side of the road, injured or whatever to begin with.

[Rob Bergen]

The search turns up nothing of interest and as an experienced search and rescue volunteer, he, Heath knows they don't have much time. It's been three days since Jack was last seen at Fix and if someone's lost in the bush, Heath knows the chances of finding them alive starts to shrink pretty rapidly from here on in.

[Heath Sander]

Once the three or four days had gone past, we knew that something major had happened and that he had, you know, if he had wandered off then it wasn't going to be good.

[Rob Bergen]

Jack's dad, Ross, flies up from Tasmania where he lives, to help with the search. He and Kelly have been separated for more than 20 years, but they still get on well. When he arrives, he feels like police aren't taking things seriously enough.

[Ross McLennan]

I think the police automatically, you know, have a bit of a misadventure element put on the whole thing. A bit slow to kick off with the search. I mean, once it was underway, it was very, very good. The SES and the police were very good and they do one stage after the other.

[Rob Bergen]

Queensland police declined to answer my specific questions, but they provided a short statement saying that the coordinated search involved more than 160 personnel over 10 days and that the effort was extensive and multifaceted, incorporating both land and water based operations. Police eventually do send out a search helicopter, but to Ross it feels like it doesn't stay long enough. And as the hours tick by with the search turning up nothing. Ross can't believe this is happening to his family.

[Ross McLennan]

It's something we only see on telly in these sorts of stories and your heart goes out to the victims and you think, oh, the poor things, not thinking in a million years it's going to happen to you. And then I just think, oh, then I am thinking about what it's doing to me and Carrie and I think what poor Jack's been through, what he must have gone through on that night, that poor, poor beautiful man. And it just tears my heart out. Rob

[Rob Bergen]

Initially it's hard for me to get a sense of who Jack McLennan really is. A lot of the videos of Jack that his mum had were lost when her old phone stopped working and he didn't give much away on social media. I scour through the Internet trying to find any traces he's left behind. What's up guys, Jack here from Koncar.

[Ross McLennan]

Real quick.

[Rob Bergen]

Today I've got some. One of the few videos I can find of him is this brief how to guide for arm exercises that he's made for the gym he worked at. Okay, starting off we have dumbbell hammer curls. Nice and simple, keeping the hands in the neutral position. Position he's curling a pair of heavy looking weights. He's confident and seems genuinely enthusiastic about what he's teaching. And the last one for today is Ro Pammer curl. Alright, so we're really targeting the lower bicep and brachialis. Let me know what you think and I'll catch you guys in the next one.

[Sydney McLennan]

Even if he didn't know you, he used to stop and help people around. And in the gym he would always talk to new people and give them hints on how to use machines and what exercises to target different things.

[Rob Bergen]

Jack's sister Sydney says he got a real kick out of helping people and he helped her too. Sometimes when she came home from school, she'd find him doing yoga in front of the tv and I'd join him

[Sydney McLennan]

and we'd get our yoga mats out and sit in the lounge room and just do different poses together. And it would just be a time for meditation. And he loved all of that grounding stuff.

[Rob Bergen]

Right back from when Sydney was young. She'd been close to her brother even though there was a 10 year age gap between them.

[Sydney McLennan]

I just remember as a kid he treated me like his little doll because I was his baby sister, going into his room often, I would just go in there, sit there next to him and talk about our day. And he probably thought I was annoying, but just having that time together, I loved being in his presence.

[Rob Bergen]

Jack's disappearance hits Sydney hard. She's halfway through her year 12 exams when he goes missing and it completely derails her life.

[Sydney McLennan]

Yeah, so I only had about a month left of high school to do and yeah, during that time we were just going out looking through the bush.

[Rob Bergen]

As the family searches for Jack in the days after he goes missing, heavy rain starts to fall and it doesn't stop for three days. It makes the search even harder. It wipes out scents that could be useful for sniffer dogs and obliterates tracks and footprints. At night, Jack's sister Sydney listens to the rain at home with a growing sense of dread.

[Sydney McLennan]

Mum, My sister and I were all in the same bed and I was so upset because I was thinking if he's out there falling over in a paddock somewhere and he's getting all of this heavy rain and thunder and everything. I just felt so terrible because we weren't out there with him or finding him.

[Rob Bergen]

Around five days after Jack's last scene, with the rain still falling, as the family continues to search, the thought starts creeping in. They might be looking for a body.

[Sydney McLennan]

I wouldn't like to be the one to find him, if that makes sense. I wouldn't want to be. Yeah, that would be hard for me to come upon.

[Rob Bergen]

Just as the family is losing hope of finding any sign of Jack, the search suddenly changes completely when a series of strange clues start appearing. Four things that belong to Jack will be found. Four things Jack left behind, each one more confusing than the last.

[Kelly Moody]

Southern Queensland, 26 past 10. It's been one week south since missing

[Rob Bergen]

man Jack McLennan was last seen in the south.

[Kelly Moody]

Burnett Inspector Scott Stallet is leading that search and has more of an update for you, including some shoes of Jack's that have been discovered.

[Inspector Scott Stallet]

Promising sign. Several days ago where a pair of shoes would be located on a creek.

[Rob Bergen]

The first clue is Jack's white trainers. They were found, the laces still tied as though he just kind of stepped out of them and walked away barefoot.

[Inspector Scott Stallet]

So based on that, an assumption could be made that a direction of travel was towards the highway. Those shoes have been positively identified by a close associate.

[Rob Bergen]

So the theory seems to be that Jack could have been walking away from the Fixed Crossing picnic area towards the north, back to the nearest town, Mergan. He could have been intending on going either via the highway or a slightly more direct dirt back road on the other side of the creek. It's completely possible he was going to walk the roughly 5K's along either of those roads back to where his car was parked in Mergan. But whatever he did, he clearly never made it there.

[Inspector Scott Stallet]

So we can't discount the fact that, you know, Jack may have got a lift with someone or Jack may not want to necessarily be located at the moment for whatever particular reason. We are concerned with Jack's welfare. It's been nearly a week since he was last seen, so we are appealing to people that may have been information they can provide that would be appreciated as well.

[Rob Bergen]

Although the police say the discovery of Jack's shoes are a hopeful lead to the family, that explanation doesn't make sense and the discovery is an ominous sign. When his shoes are found, what's your initial reaction?

[Kelly Moody]

Fear. Now it's gone up a level because why are his shoes here? He should have them on his feet. You know, you're walking in snake territory. Why would you take your shoes off?

[Rob Bergen]

When Jack's dad, Ross, hears the news, he travels to the place they were found.

[Ross McLennan]

The shoes were found in a spot where it didn't make sense. Well, we're at the place where they allegedly were and where he started walking off into the darkness. Now, it was a very dark night by all accounts, no moonlight, so it's had his phone torch, I would imagine, because it would have been pitch dark. And he's apparently climbed through barbed wire fence into some paddock, which was just unforgiving. The vegetation like it's precarious in the daylight, let alone without a torch or anything. And why he would have gone through that fence, Nothing was making sense. Why would anyone kick their shoes off, tramping through this unforgiving country and make things worse for yourself?

[Rob Bergen]

To Ross, the whole thing feels off. For starters, even barefoot Jack should have been able to make it back into town. It was only 5 k's. He'd been known to walk distances much longer than that if he felt like it. And after all, he was a fitness instructor. Secondly, if he did get picked up on the highway, why hasn't anyone come forward to say so? It's been in the news for days. Why hasn't someone seen him? The shoes do not feel like a positive clue to the family.

[Ross McLennan]

There seems to be foul play, Rob, involved here. Nothing else makes sense of it and we just don't know why. He's such a loving guy, he's just such a giving guy, Jack. He never said a bad thing about anyone. Almost borderline naive, but in a beautiful way, a forgiving way, a compassionate way, and someone's taken advantage of him and we just can't understand it.

[Rob Bergen]

Then, the same day Jack's shoes are found, the police make a second startling discovery. But the family don't hear about it from the police. Jack's sister Sydney finds out through social media.

[Sydney McLennan]

Ross Mum and I were sitting at a cafe in Mergan and then I went onto Facebook and was just scrolling through and it came. I came across Queensland police services and they posted that Jack Tapp had been found about three blocks away from where we were sitting.

[Rob Bergen]

They'd found Jack's trademark black cap, the one he wore almost everywhere.

[Sydney McLennan]

And I was like, oh, my gosh, guys, look at this.

[Rob Bergen]

Sydney says they're learning the hard way that police might not always keep them up to date.

[Sydney McLennan]

And Mum was like, what? The police didn't even contact us to tell us this was his hat. How has someone confirmed it?

[Rob Bergen]

When I asked police about this, they decline to answer my questions. Kelly recognises the hat immediately and a whole new set of theories developed.

[Kelly Moody]

The hat was located up in Mergan, outside a church in the bush. And so now I'm going, oh, my gosh. When I first heard that, you know, I thought, oh, well, Jack's up in town. He's not in this horrible bush.

[Rob Bergen]

Heath Sander, the former search and rescue volunteer from Mergan, agrees that the hat could be a good sign.

[Heath Sander]

The fact that Jack's hat was found in Mergan and it was wet, I thought, well, he's definitely gone across the creek, you know, because the hat was wet. And when the hat was found in Mergan, I thought maybe he had made it back to Mergen.

[Rob Bergen]

But the family soon learns how the hat got there and their hopes of finding Jack in town quickly vanish. Chris, Jack's mate, had apparently found the hat in his own car and he tossed it into a nearby hedge. He says at the time that he did it, he wasn't worried about Jack, he was actually annoyed he'd walked off and left his soggy hat in the car. But when Jack didn't turn up, Chris says he was the one who told police where to find the hat. Kelly calls Chris again and asks for more details about what they did that night and where Jack might be. Chris knew Jack had just broken up with his girlfriend and he tells Kelly maybe Jack went on a date with someone new.

[Kelly Moody]

I was quite irate towards him just saying, don't be silly. My son did not walk off on a date. Especially when I, you know, I just know Jack, he wouldn't go on a date at, what, 9 or 10pm at night? That's. That's ludicrous.

[Rob Bergen]

Time starts to stretch painfully for Jack's family. Kelly spends nearly every day out at Fixed Crossing. But each day of searching, it's another disappointment. The family sets up a Facebook page urging people to get in touch and Kelly does interviews on local radio.

[Kelly Moody]

We've been searching all day today, up near Fix again. I just want to bring him back, no matter what. I just need to find him. I can't rest. And of course, no mother could.

[Rob Bergen]

But then, more than a month after Jack vanished, the a local olive grove farmer named Troy discovered a third baffling clue.

[Troy (Olive Grove Farmer)]

We were just checking our cattle on the ground and then we found a credit card. It actually was sort of the same colour as one of my bank cards, so I thought I'd just drop one of mine. I've picked it up and then Realised that it wasn't the same bank and read his name. And it was not a nice feeling.

[Rob Bergen]

It's Jack McLennan's credit card. Troy says it looks like it has some teeth or chew marks on it. It could be from a dingo or a wild pig or a crow. There's a whole bunch of wild animals out here making all sorts of ruckus, especially at night time. Troy keeps the card and marks the spot where he found it. Then he calls Crime Stoppers and put

[Troy (Olive Grove Farmer)]

a report in there and they just said, someone will contact you within the next three days. And we're like, fuck, we're not going to hang onto this card for three days. So we took it into the police station, reported it to them, and they came out that night, took the two police back there, detectives back there, and they did a drop point or whatever, GPS drop point on it, and then they came back the following day and then organized the search, tied ribbons in all the trees, dive the dams, Helicopters and drones doing grid searches around the creek.

[Rob Bergen]

As they're searching through the olive grove near where the card was found, police discover the fourth clue. It's Jack's wallet. But I'm told there's no money in it, no other cards, no driver's license and his phone. The one thing that might actually tell us what happened and where he went that night, it's nowhere to be found. And ever since then, silence. One thing you do learn when you work as a journalist is that a lot of people go missing. But to me, this story hit different. I feel a connection to Jack and to what he might have been going through around the time that he disappeared. I honestly haven't been able to stop thinking about the pain that his family must be suffering through. What sticks with me is the weird clues. I keep thinking about the shoes, the wallet, the credit card. There's just no obvious logic to the location of any of this stuff. The shoes were discovered on the western side of the water at Fixed Crossing, but his wallet and the credit card were found on the complete other side of where he disappeared, almost two kilometres away. If Jack's shoes suggested he was walking back into town on his way back to his car, then what was his wallet doing out here, way over in the other direction, on the other side of the creek, as if he was heading away from town. It doesn't add up and I can't let it rest. To me, it feels like there's a chance that someone else saw Jack after he vanished from fix. There's a chance that there's someone, some other chapter to this night that we're just not being told about. Something dark. I really want to find out what that might be. And I think you could play a part in this. If you saw anything the night Jack disappeared or if you know someone else who might have get in touch. Unravel true crimebc.net au or you can call Crime Stoppers on 1-800-333-TRIPLE-0. Maybe together we can bring some resolution to the family and work out what became of Jack. Next episode the first major interview with the person closest to Jack in the months before he disappeared. Someone who's barely spoken to the media before now. The partner he'd just broken up with.

[Sydney McLennan]

To be honest, I think Jack wouldn't just walk off in the middle of the night. I've just picked up on things that other people haven't that make it seem like it can't be anything else but foul play.

[Rob Bergen]

This season of Unravel is intended to be listened to as a whole. If you haven't heard all the episodes shouldn't draw any conclusions because you haven't heard all sides of the story yet.