# A Families’ Fight For Answers After A Death In Paradise

An episode of [True Crime Conversations](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1469153910), 24 Jun 2026, 58 min.

Audio: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/3ea926be-9be7-482a-8ac3-a44f016e43d1/abaa347e-8ac5-454e-85f9-aa64005c285f/b9992426-b604-4418-8368-b472007236b8/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=6d9fdc19-147e-4f77-8d3f-aa64005e5923

When 40-year-old Australian hotel manager Jason Rigby was found stabbed to death in his luxury Fijian resort apartment, local authorities instantly ruled it a suicide. His devastated Gold Coast family refused to accept the narrative, launching their own relentless hunt for answers. After hiring a private investigator, they exposed critical gaps in the initial police investigation, including a mysterious knife and a missing phone, forcing the case to be reopened as a criminal inquiry. Jason's sister-in-law, Jess Rigby, is advocating for her brother-in-law. This story is about their families' exhausting fight against international red tape and the critical piece of evidence currently sitting with Australian authorities. LINKS If any of the contents in this episode have caused distress, know that there is help available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. Support independent women’s media and get our biggest offer of the year. Subscribe here for 30% off your annual Mamamia subscription. Code applied at the checkout. Offer ends June 30. GET IN TOUCH Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @truecrimeconversations Want us to cover a case on the podcast? Email us at truecrime@mamamia.com.au or send us a voice note. Make sure to leave us a rating and review on Apple & Spotify to let us know how you're liking the episodes. CREDITS Guest: Jess Rigby Host: Gemma Bath Senior Producer: Tahli Blackman Group Executive Producer: Ilaria Brophy Video Editor: Julian Rosario Audio Designer: Tegan Salder Mamamia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast. Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribe See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: It's eight am on December fourteen, twenty twenty four, at
[0:05] Speaker 1: the Crown Plaza resort in Fiji's Nadi Bay, and Arushi
[0:09] Speaker 1: Aurora is in the lobby, busy organizing the day's movements.
[0:13] Speaker 1: They've only recently opened and tourists are flocking to check
[0:16] Speaker 1: out the new resort. For staff, that means they've been
[0:19] Speaker 1: kept on their toes. Arushi notices her boss, Jason, entering
[0:24] Speaker 1: the room. He's dressed in his usual smart suit, but
[0:28] Speaker 1: he looks rough, like he hasn't slept all night. She
[0:31] Speaker 1: tells him so, but he just shrugs. What's happening today,
[0:35] Speaker 1: he asks instead. It's busy, she tells him, but we
[0:39] Speaker 1: have it under control. Jason nods and tells her he'll
[0:42] Speaker 1: see her at the morning briefing at the beach Club
[0:44] Speaker 1: at eight point thirty. When he leaves the lobby, it's
[0:47] Speaker 1: no later than eight point fifteen, but Jason never makes
[0:51] Speaker 1: it to the meeting. I'm Jemma Bath and you're listening
[0:59] Speaker 1: to True Crime Conversations, a podcast exploring the world's most
[1:03] Speaker 1: notorious crimes by speaking to the people who know the
[1:06] Speaker 1: most about them. Forty year old Jason Rigby was a
[1:10] Speaker 1: Gold Coast local moving to Fiji to take on the
[1:13] Speaker 1: role of second in charge at a brand new five
[1:15] Speaker 1: star resort. It was a dream job and he was
[1:18] Speaker 1: excited for the adventure. With two decades in hotels under
[1:22] Speaker 1: his belt, Jason thrived on the pressure and adrenaline of
[1:26] Speaker 1: helping get new things up and running smoothly, while of
[1:30] Speaker 1: course enjoying the picture perfect location of Fiji's newest slice
[1:34] Speaker 1: of paradise. But on that December morning, Jason never made
[1:39] Speaker 1: it to the morning briefing. His apartment was only one
[1:42] Speaker 1: hundred steps or so from the lobby, and it was
[1:44] Speaker 1: forty five minutes after a Roushie last saw him that
[1:47] Speaker 1: she got a frantic call from his best friend. This
[1:51] Speaker 1: is a case that is very much still open. Fiji
[1:55] Speaker 1: and police originally ruled Jason's stabbing death as a suicide,
[1:59] Speaker 1: a conclude his family never accepted. They've been fighting for
[2:04] Speaker 1: answers ever since. Today. We're speaking to Jason's sister in law,
[2:08] Speaker 1: Jess Rigby, that how hard her family has had to
[2:11] Speaker 1: fight to get anyone to even do the basics in
[2:14] Speaker 1: this case, to treat it as a crime, to investigate
[2:19] Speaker 1: as far as they're concerned, Jason met with foul play.
[2:23] Speaker 1: Here's Jess and a warning. This episode talks about suicide,
[2:28] Speaker 1: including a method of suicide, and won't be for everyone.
[2:32] Speaker 1: Please take care while listening and check our show notes
[2:34] Speaker 1: for support. Jess, thanks for joining us on True Crime Conversations.
[2:39] Speaker 1: Can you tell us about your family and how Jason
[2:43] Speaker 1: fits into the mix.
[2:45] Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so, thank you so much for having me
[2:48] Speaker 2: and talking about Jason's case and just as suppose giving
[2:53] Speaker 2: us the platform to share his name and who we
[2:56] Speaker 2: are and what we're doing. So Jason is my husband's brother.
[3:02] Speaker 2: He's the eldest of three brothers and we have four children,
[3:06] Speaker 2: so he's that fun uncle. He was kind of the
[3:09] Speaker 2: guy that I guess lived large and fully and wasn't
[3:14] Speaker 2: tied down with the normal constraints that our family is
[3:18] Speaker 2: like kids, weddings, marriages, all of that. He was living
[3:22] Speaker 2: life fully on his own terms. Went to Fiji for
[3:25] Speaker 2: this amazing job opportunity to open a brand new.
[3:28] Speaker 3: Hotel, and.
[3:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was just really at the top of his
[3:33] Speaker 2: career and excited about, you know, the prospects that that
[3:38] Speaker 2: offered him, and in terms of in our family. Every
[3:41] Speaker 2: time he'd come home for a visit. He has spoiled everyone,
[3:44] Speaker 2: brought gifts back for everyone and just was really present
[3:47] Speaker 2: with his time and like I said, the fun uncle
[3:50] Speaker 2: for sure.
[3:52] Speaker 1: So he's a Gold Coast boy and that's where he
[3:53] Speaker 1: grew up.
[3:54] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so we're all Gold Coasters. He grew up
[3:58] Speaker 2: on the Gold Coast, the usual kind of stuff like surfing,
[4:02] Speaker 2: did nippers growing up, you know, and really just studied
[4:07] Speaker 2: at Griffith University and got you know, what he needed
[4:11] Speaker 2: and kind of climbed the ropes in the hospitality industry.
[4:14] Speaker 2: So yeah, he's definitely a Gold Coaster. There's lots of
[4:17] Speaker 2: you know, we've got great photos of him surfing still
[4:20] Speaker 2: and he's probably more into the golf side as he
[4:23] Speaker 2: kind of got older and things like that.
[4:25] Speaker 3: But yeah, Gold Coast boy through and through.
[4:29] Speaker 1: Tell us about moving to Fiji and that opportunity was
[4:32] Speaker 1: that something he was excited about. Was that a new
[4:34] Speaker 1: kind of thing that he hadn't done before because he
[4:37] Speaker 1: was kind of he went over there to be second
[4:39] Speaker 1: in charge of a brand new resort. That's a big deal.
[4:42] Speaker 3: Yeah, it was huge.
[4:43] Speaker 2: He was so stoked on that and you know, he
[4:46] Speaker 2: was working in senior roles here in Gold Coast Hotels.
[4:51] Speaker 2: They were opening this brand new hotel and he really
[4:53] Speaker 2: wanted to be a part of that from the ground up.
[4:56] Speaker 3: So he was so excited to be there.
[4:58] Speaker 2: He'd been there twenty one months before or the incident,
[5:01] Speaker 2: and by all accounts, was, you know, loving life. A
[5:04] Speaker 2: lot of the people that worked with him always reported
[5:07] Speaker 2: that he's the kind of guy that would check in
[5:09] Speaker 2: on them, not just as their boss, but as a person,
[5:12] Speaker 2: and that, really, I guess is a testament to his
[5:15] Speaker 2: character and what we knew of him as well. So
[5:18] Speaker 2: it was like a lifetime opportunity.
[5:21] Speaker 1: Do you know what his general day to day look
[5:23] Speaker 1: like over there, because for most of us, we don't
[5:25] Speaker 1: really know what it means to be second in charge
[5:27] Speaker 1: of a hotel. We know that he was living on
[5:30] Speaker 1: the resort kind of campus, wasn't he What was he
[5:32] Speaker 1: doing with his days?
[5:34] Speaker 2: So basically, so, his actual title was executive assistant manager
[5:39] Speaker 2: and he was acting manager at the time of his
[5:42] Speaker 2: death because the general manager was away. But in terms
[5:46] Speaker 2: of the day to day, they have staff quarters which
[5:49] Speaker 2: are connected to the hotel but separate. He normally had
[5:54] Speaker 2: work Saturday mornings. Sundays were kind of his day off.
[5:57] Speaker 2: And he played lots of golf. There's so many photos
[6:00] Speaker 2: of him, you know, on this beautiful golf course where
[6:03] Speaker 2: it looks like a postcard and you know, the beautiful
[6:05] Speaker 2: Fiji background, So it definitely did a lot of golf.
[6:08] Speaker 2: We've got a fair few videos of him dancing at
[6:11] Speaker 2: this beach club, so I think he was definitely having
[6:14] Speaker 2: a bit of a good time. But when he was
[6:16] Speaker 2: at work, he was a hard worker and he's always
[6:18] Speaker 2: been that way, and so I guess the day to
[6:20] Speaker 2: day is really you know, him coming in for those
[6:23] Speaker 2: staff meetings in the morning, being across what needs to happen,
[6:26] Speaker 2: and I guess, yeah, working through that. So that's probably
[6:30] Speaker 2: my take on what that looked like. But he was
[6:32] Speaker 2: definitely having a good time as well as working hard.
[6:36] Speaker 1: Well, it was in Fiji, yeah, exactly, you got to
[6:38] Speaker 1: make the most of it. Did you know he had
[6:41] Speaker 1: a girlfriend and what did you know about her?
[6:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, our knowledge of the girlfriend was very minimal. The
[6:49] Speaker 2: first time that anyone in the family met Shavany was
[6:53] Speaker 2: when it was a month prior. He came back to
[6:56] Speaker 2: the Gold Coast in November twenty twenty four for Pete,
[7:00] Speaker 2: their dad's seventieth birthday and Shavine came with them, and
[7:04] Speaker 2: that was kind of the first time that anyone, you know,
[7:07] Speaker 2: even knew there was a girlfriend on the scene. That's
[7:10] Speaker 2: very Jason kind of you know, these boys in this
[7:14] Speaker 2: family don't talk about their emotions and their feelings until
[7:17] Speaker 2: it's really, you know, a thing, So there wasn't a
[7:20] Speaker 2: lot of information about her from the accounts of you know,
[7:24] Speaker 2: what she was like. She was very quiet and kind
[7:28] Speaker 2: of reserved, but the parents did kind of notice she
[7:31] Speaker 2: was a little bit I don't know if controlling is
[7:34] Speaker 2: the word, but the example I'll use is they left
[7:38] Speaker 2: the party early, which is very not on brand for Jason,
[7:42] Speaker 2: and he took a shopping at a big fair, which
[7:46] Speaker 2: just seems a bit out of character for Jason. I guess,
[7:49] Speaker 2: you know, in hindsight that, yeah, I think that that
[7:53] Speaker 2: kind of paints a bit of a picture on where
[7:55] Speaker 2: their relationship was at. But you know, we didn't think
[7:58] Speaker 2: it was that serious. He wasn't talking about it in
[8:02] Speaker 2: terms of you know, those those things, but you know,
[8:07] Speaker 2: I know that, yeah, I guess the family thought she
[8:11] Speaker 2: was quite quiet and reserve compared to Jason, who's quite
[8:16] Speaker 2: gregarious and the life of the party and that kind
[8:19] Speaker 2: of thing.
[8:19] Speaker 1: I want to ask you about his mental state. Was
[8:23] Speaker 1: there anything about his updates or even that visit in
[8:26] Speaker 1: November that made you think that something was wrong with him,
[8:30] Speaker 1: that he was having trouble.
[8:32] Speaker 3: Absolutely not.
[8:34] Speaker 2: He they went and stayed at this beautiful five star hotel.
[8:38] Speaker 2: I know he was in contact with their stepmother planning
[8:42] Speaker 2: about buying an investment property here. There was talk of
[8:47] Speaker 2: him going on holidays to Japan with Shivani. There was
[8:51] Speaker 2: nothing that we could see from any of the behavior
[8:54] Speaker 2: that would indicate anything, you know, out of the blue.
[8:59] Speaker 3: He might be a little bit.
[9:00] Speaker 2: Stressed about working hard and things like that, but just
[9:03] Speaker 2: that's just the regular day to day kind of stuff.
[9:05] Speaker 2: But you know, there's enough hit. Jason's the kind of
[9:08] Speaker 2: guy if something was a big deal or a stress
[9:11] Speaker 2: at work, he could get a job anywhere all over
[9:14] Speaker 2: the world. And he's the kind of guy to be like,
[9:17] Speaker 2: you know what, I'm out of here and just go
[9:19] Speaker 2: to the next adventure.
[9:21] Speaker 3: And yeah, I guess that's why this.
[9:23] Speaker 2: Ruling and everything that's transpired after that has never made sense.
[9:29] Speaker 2: And the more that we've dug into it, it's just
[9:31] Speaker 2: fallen apart and Yeah, I suppose that's what we've been
[9:34] Speaker 2: up against.
[9:37] Speaker 1: Can you pinpoint the last contact that he had with
[9:41] Speaker 1: a member of your family before he died.
[9:46] Speaker 2: I wouldn't know exactly, but the last like I said,
[9:49] Speaker 2: the last trip was in November and then he passed
[9:53] Speaker 2: in December. So that was probably the most contact that
[9:57] Speaker 2: we had. And it would have probably have been touch
[10:01] Speaker 2: points with his mum, because you know, that's what you do.
[10:04] Speaker 3: But I wouldn't know the exact date.
[10:07] Speaker 2: But there was nothing to suggest that there was any
[10:10] Speaker 2: troubles there or you know, anything that much of concern.
[10:14] Speaker 2: And he also wasn't the kind of guy to call
[10:16] Speaker 2: up and talk about any of that. He would be
[10:19] Speaker 2: calling up to talk about the good stuff.
[10:22] Speaker 1: Yeah. How did your family find out that he had died?
[10:26] Speaker 1: When did that news come through?
[10:29] Speaker 3: Yeah?
[10:29] Speaker 2: This is the probably the hardest part of the story
[10:33] Speaker 2: in terms of how we did find out. So it
[10:36] Speaker 2: was the day he died was the fourteenth. He actually
[10:39] Speaker 2: passed in the morning, and we didn't find out that
[10:44] Speaker 2: he was gone until later that evening through the surface
[10:47] Speaker 2: Paradise police leaving a note on his mother's door because
[10:52] Speaker 2: she was out at the time, asking for a callback.
[10:55] Speaker 2: She came home obviously went into a panic, started calling everybody,
[11:00] Speaker 2: had a couple of miscalls from her. I think she
[11:02] Speaker 2: was thinking the worst, that we've us and the kids
[11:04] Speaker 2: have been in a car accident.
[11:05] Speaker 3: You know, why.
[11:06] Speaker 2: Wouldn't the police say I need to come and see
[11:10] Speaker 2: you in person. That you know normally means it's pretty
[11:14] Speaker 2: pretty serious. So when she got ahold of us, she
[11:17] Speaker 2: was very relieved, but she was very, very concerned. Both
[11:21] Speaker 2: of the other brothers were living overseas at the time.
[11:24] Speaker 2: The younger brother, Ben lives in la As. He's an
[11:27] Speaker 2: actor there, and so we kind of calmed Robin down
[11:32] Speaker 2: and you know, tried to make sure, you know, surely
[11:35] Speaker 2: it'll be something else, it'll be you know, it's not
[11:37] Speaker 2: going to be that big of a issue. And you know,
[11:40] Speaker 2: we looked online on a Messenger group sent a message
[11:45] Speaker 2: in a group chat to the boys. They both had
[11:47] Speaker 2: the green little light up that looked like they'd been
[11:50] Speaker 2: online recently. So we were like, oh, yeah, it's all good,
[11:53] Speaker 2: you know, no, nothing immediate is a problem.
[11:57] Speaker 3: Ben responded.
[11:58] Speaker 2: We never heard back from Jason, and during that time,
[12:03] Speaker 2: I guess what had happened was Peter, their dad, because
[12:07] Speaker 2: Robin and Peter are divorced. Came over to Robin's department
[12:12] Speaker 2: and in that time, they were trying to call as
[12:15] Speaker 2: many people, and Robin reached out to Shavny multiple times
[12:19] Speaker 2: and eventually he answered the girlfriend and that's how they
[12:24] Speaker 2: found out that he was gone. And basically her story
[12:29] Speaker 2: and the narrative that was told from the start to
[12:32] Speaker 2: our family was Jason's gone. He walked to the bathroom,
[12:38] Speaker 2: I heard a thud, and he's gone, and basically went
[12:43] Speaker 2: on to tell a narrative that he'd been a really
[12:45] Speaker 2: dark place, and you know that that was kind of it.
[12:50] Speaker 2: And that's when we then got the call from their
[12:54] Speaker 2: parents to let us know that Jason was gone, and
[12:58] Speaker 2: we were also told at that point, I guess, and
[13:01] Speaker 2: that's the biggest emotional toll that's been there from the start,
[13:05] Speaker 2: and what we're still working through is not just that
[13:08] Speaker 2: he's gone, but that he'd stabbed himself to death and
[13:12] Speaker 2: it was self inflicted. And that's what we carried that night.
[13:16] Speaker 2: You know, we've lost Chris has lost his brother. You know,
[13:20] Speaker 2: they've lost their time, and even just the visual picture
[13:25] Speaker 2: of him doing that to himself, there's no words to
[13:31] Speaker 2: kind of try to wrap your head around that.
[13:35] Speaker 1: So the girlfriend told you that he'd done that to himself,
[13:39] Speaker 1: and then the Australian police confirmed that as well.
[13:44] Speaker 2: That was the story that the defat had reported to
[13:50] Speaker 2: the authorities here and that was you know what they
[13:53] Speaker 2: then confirmed. So it was being suspected suicide was the
[13:58] Speaker 2: wording that had been us from the I suppose the
[14:02] Speaker 2: consulate in Fiji reporting it through to the channels to Australia.
[14:07] Speaker 1: Let's rewind a little bit and try and tell a
[14:09] Speaker 1: little bit more of this story, because we have heard
[14:12] Speaker 1: a lot from one of Jason's colleagues, a Roushi, who
[14:18] Speaker 1: came to the scene not long after, and she kind
[14:20] Speaker 1: of tells a bit of the kind of perspective of
[14:25] Speaker 1: finding Jason. Can you tell us about how that all
[14:29] Speaker 1: played out as far as you're aware, how did finding
[14:33] Speaker 1: Jason unfold?
[14:36] Speaker 2: So again, what we've been told is that Shavanny was
[14:40] Speaker 2: in the room she'd stayed the night before at Jason's
[14:42] Speaker 2: staff quarters. He had gone to a staff meeting in
[14:47] Speaker 2: the morning and his suit came back for whatever reason,
[14:51] Speaker 2: to the apartment. There's been a couple of different stories.
[14:54] Speaker 2: She was either washing up or she was on the couch,
[14:56] Speaker 2: something along those lines. Jason's walked to the bathroom, She's
[15:01] Speaker 2: heard a thud, and that's when she says that he
[15:06] Speaker 2: stabbed himself and admitted suicide. So the next step after that,
[15:12] Speaker 2: Chavanni said that she called Ian Lovey, which is the
[15:15] Speaker 2: best friend, not the ambulance, not any kind of medical
[15:20] Speaker 2: you know, first aid responder.
[15:21] Speaker 1: She called Ian, and Ian also works at the hotel,
[15:26] Speaker 1: so he was a chef.
[15:27] Speaker 2: He is the executive chef at the hotel.
[15:29] Speaker 1: So she calls him. He comes to the apartment.
[15:33] Speaker 3: He then calls a Roushie.
[15:35] Speaker 2: Again, no one has called emergency services, and then a
[15:41] Speaker 2: Roushie has said that then she came to the room,
[15:46] Speaker 2: realized that, you know, what was going on, and called emergency,
[15:51] Speaker 2: you know, the ambulance and when what we've been told
[15:57] Speaker 2: and what was from the official defat report was that
[16:01] Speaker 2: Jason was actually still alive at this point and froming
[16:04] Speaker 2: at the mouth. So that's what is really hard to
[16:08] Speaker 2: sit with and what we don't understand.
[16:11] Speaker 3: Jason was alive.
[16:14] Speaker 2: We don't know how much time passed until somebody actually
[16:17] Speaker 2: called for medical assistance. And based on what Arushi said,
[16:23] Speaker 2: she didn't think that the injuries were as severe as
[16:26] Speaker 2: what they obviously were, and she didn't think that he
[16:29] Speaker 2: was going to lose his life. So what happened in
[16:32] Speaker 2: all of that chain of events, we don't know exactly.
[16:35] Speaker 2: All we have is what's been reported to us by
[16:39] Speaker 2: these people, and then what was reported from the hotel
[16:45] Speaker 2: management team to the consulate offices and then have been
[16:50] Speaker 2: sent through to us.
[16:52] Speaker 1: Do we know if a roushie Ian or Shavani did
[16:56] Speaker 1: any life saving measures themselves in that period of time.
[17:00] Speaker 2: It's not on any records or documentation that we've seen,
[17:04] Speaker 2: and nobody has said that to us or to any
[17:08] Speaker 2: of the people that have tried to reach out.
[17:09] Speaker 1: Did a Rushie notice anything unusual about that scene? She
[17:14] Speaker 1: is the only person we've heard in detail from so
[17:17] Speaker 1: that's why I ask about her version of events.
[17:20] Speaker 2: Yeah, Aarushie did say that she thought it was very
[17:23] Speaker 2: peculiar that the knife that she saw that you know,
[17:27] Speaker 2: had blood all over it was neatly placed on the
[17:31] Speaker 2: dining table, which seems like a peculiar place for it
[17:35] Speaker 2: to be. So if Jason had done that to himself
[17:37] Speaker 2: in the bathroom, that has been moved by somebody to there,
[17:41] Speaker 2: And yeah, that was her A large talking point that
[17:45] Speaker 2: she said in her interview was that really stuck out.
[17:49] Speaker 2: And she also said what she noticed is that, you know,
[17:53] Speaker 2: Jason always just dressed very sharply for work, normally always
[17:56] Speaker 2: in a suit. When she wore into the room, his
[18:01] Speaker 2: suit jacket was neatly hung over the chair, which, you know,
[18:06] Speaker 2: I think that that also read you're thinking about someone
[18:09] Speaker 2: planning to take their life. That's a lot of you know,
[18:12] Speaker 2: regular everyday steps that someone's done and then just on
[18:15] Speaker 2: a whim, decided to do that. So I think that
[18:18] Speaker 2: that in itself is just very bizarre.
[18:24] Speaker 1: Up next, Jess tells me what her husband, Chris, Jason's brother,
[18:28] Speaker 1: and his father uncovered when they traveled to Fiji in
[18:30] Speaker 1: search of answers about Jason's death. Do you know what
[18:36] Speaker 1: the police investigation that day looked like?
[18:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, So, what we've learned over time, and it has
[18:43] Speaker 2: taken a lot of time, was that the inspector from
[18:47] Speaker 2: the local Fiji police was on the scene and he
[18:52] Speaker 2: has reported to the Consulo official again that he was
[18:57] Speaker 2: on the scene and that Jason, you know, was a
[18:59] Speaker 2: liar at that point, but past then that once the
[19:02] Speaker 2: ambulance got there and This is pretty a pretty devastating part.
[19:07] Speaker 2: The crime scene was actually cleared approximately four pm that
[19:11] Speaker 2: same day that Jason died. We didn't even know that
[19:15] Speaker 2: he was gone by them, and the suspected suicide narrative
[19:22] Speaker 2: had already been reported to Consulate officials being reported to
[19:27] Speaker 2: the police, who it seems like took the people that
[19:32] Speaker 2: were on the scene at face value and kind of
[19:35] Speaker 2: concluded on the spot and on the day that no
[19:39] Speaker 2: criminal investigation kind of needed to happen. And I just
[19:43] Speaker 2: don't understand and the family doesn't understand how a crime
[19:47] Speaker 2: scene can be cleared, you know, from ten o'clock being
[19:52] Speaker 2: his time of death. Based on the reports we've seen
[19:55] Speaker 2: four pm that same day having been cleared Jason, there's
[19:59] Speaker 2: no old topsy being done.
[20:02] Speaker 3: I don't know.
[20:02] Speaker 2: We still don't know who was spoken to, who was interviewed,
[20:07] Speaker 2: if they were interviewed individually. Aarushi's statement was that police
[20:12] Speaker 2: spoke to Ian and Shavani together in the same location.
[20:17] Speaker 2: It wasn't, you know, one on one or anything like that.
[20:21] Speaker 2: And we've also never seen an incident report from the hotels,
[20:25] Speaker 2: so we don't know what transpired after his actual passing.
[20:30] Speaker 2: And there's just so many unanswered questions.
[20:33] Speaker 1: It's pretty shocking to he say that. I know, we're
[20:35] Speaker 1: dealing with a different country. They've got different rules and
[20:37] Speaker 1: different regulations in the way they carry out police investigations.
[20:40] Speaker 1: But there is no doubt that that it just doesn't
[20:47] Speaker 1: sound like anything was really done.
[20:48] Speaker 2: No, I think that, And again, you know, we want
[20:51] Speaker 2: to ensure that we've been working with these police and
[20:55] Speaker 2: you know, this country for a very long time now,
[20:58] Speaker 2: and we understand and we've learned that. You know, it's
[21:01] Speaker 2: not like what you see in the movies or what
[21:03] Speaker 2: you'd expect from Australia, but that suicide narrative really has
[21:10] Speaker 2: painted or I suppose diluted everything to do with this case,
[21:15] Speaker 2: and the narrative about suicide has was so publicly confirmed
[21:22] Speaker 2: in a very short amount of time, and that I
[21:26] Speaker 2: think has been the ongoing challenge for us as a
[21:30] Speaker 2: family to really overturn and to get answers for it.
[21:34] Speaker 2: And all that time, you know, any evidence that may
[21:38] Speaker 2: have been there, you know, all of those things about
[21:40] Speaker 2: having the crime team being properly you know, forensically reviewed.
[21:46] Speaker 2: We don't know what was actually taken. We've never seen
[21:48] Speaker 2: any police files. We've never seen any of that. But yeah,
[21:53] Speaker 2: it's it's been a nye there.
[21:56] Speaker 1: Let's discuss some of the evidence that we do know
[21:58] Speaker 1: about because you mentioned that knife, and you do know
[22:01] Speaker 1: that that knife didn't belong to that apartment. It wasn't
[22:05] Speaker 1: kind of something that came with the accommodation.
[22:09] Speaker 2: Yeah, and about Jason, he is not a cook. He
[22:13] Speaker 2: is not very house trained. He was ordering room service
[22:17] Speaker 2: every night, so that's just I guess a little bit
[22:20] Speaker 2: of background to him. He would not be the kind
[22:21] Speaker 2: of guy that would go out and purchase an expensive
[22:26] Speaker 2: kitchen knife. And that's what it was. And that's what
[22:29] Speaker 2: was uncovered when the sixty Minutes crew went with Chris
[22:33] Speaker 2: and Peter to Fiji, that the knife itself was not
[22:37] Speaker 2: from you know, the staff quarters set up, and that
[22:40] Speaker 2: it was purchased locally and Mandy who purchased it, how
[22:45] Speaker 2: it got to the room, We.
[22:46] Speaker 1: Don't know his phone that's also never been located.
[22:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's what we and again we have so
[22:54] Speaker 2: many questions about this. He had a personal phone, he
[22:56] Speaker 2: had a work phone. The work phone is the only
[22:59] Speaker 2: phone that we know has been handed to police, and
[23:04] Speaker 2: you know, the data trying to be extracted from that.
[23:06] Speaker 3: The personal phone we've never located.
[23:11] Speaker 1: Which is weird because all of us have our phones
[23:13] Speaker 1: on our body usually.
[23:15] Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I think there's just so many people that
[23:18] Speaker 2: were actually on the scene.
[23:21] Speaker 3: It could be anywhere.
[23:22] Speaker 2: It could be destroyed, and we do we do have
[23:25] Speaker 2: a witness statement, and again this is just a witness
[23:28] Speaker 2: statement that came after the fact through our private investigator
[23:32] Speaker 2: that we had to hire, saying that staff at the
[23:35] Speaker 2: hotel were heard to be kind of gloating about scrubbing
[23:40] Speaker 2: a phone.
[23:41] Speaker 3: So we don't know if that means.
[23:43] Speaker 2: Destroying the personal phone, scrubbing data from the work phone,
[23:48] Speaker 2: whatever that means. But there, Yeah, we're very concerned about
[23:54] Speaker 2: the phone information and we think that that would provide
[23:57] Speaker 2: a lot of the answers that were seeking.
[24:00] Speaker 1: To pause the story for a minute and just ask
[24:03] Speaker 1: you about the emotional toll this has taken because even
[24:07] Speaker 1: kind of extracting all of these details that you're telling
[24:10] Speaker 1: me about, what's that been like trying to get all
[24:14] Speaker 1: of this information from the other side of the world.
[24:16] Speaker 2: Look, honestly, Chris and I we have a really hectic
[24:21] Speaker 2: life as it is, and the rest of the family,
[24:24] Speaker 2: you know, have their own challenges and their own lives
[24:27] Speaker 2: as well. And I think the emotional toll, like what
[24:29] Speaker 2: I spoke about earlier, hearing that you've lost one of
[24:32] Speaker 2: the closest people in your life and then being told
[24:36] Speaker 2: that they've done such a destructive thing to themselves that
[24:41] Speaker 2: from the start, and it kind of almost puts that,
[24:44] Speaker 2: you know, bit of doubt in your mind that you
[24:46] Speaker 2: have to keep overcoming and keep working through. So that
[24:50] Speaker 2: was kind of what we started with. But I think
[24:53] Speaker 2: where we are today and that emotional toll. You know,
[24:56] Speaker 2: Chris and I and Peter as well, all work that,
[25:00] Speaker 2: we run our own businesses, we have four children. In
[25:03] Speaker 2: between all of that, we're reaching out to different departments,
[25:09] Speaker 2: whether that be in Australia in Fiji, looking through things
[25:12] Speaker 2: on social media, Facebook comments that came through, you know,
[25:16] Speaker 2: whether sixty minutes clip aired, and sending all of that through.
[25:19] Speaker 2: So the emotional toll is immense, and I think what
[25:24] Speaker 2: contributes to that is just how unsupported we feel and
[25:31] Speaker 2: that there is absolutely no guidance from anybody in any
[25:34] Speaker 2: agency in either country for a situation like this. Everything
[25:40] Speaker 2: that we've done and been able to find out has
[25:42] Speaker 2: come from the family pushing and not giving.
[25:46] Speaker 1: Up because the Fiji and authorities. What has your communication
[25:50] Speaker 1: been like trying to get information from them?
[25:53] Speaker 3: Yes, a nightmare.
[25:55] Speaker 2: So the case is now with the CID, which is
[25:58] Speaker 2: the highest police force in Fiji, that went to them
[26:05] Speaker 2: that originally they the cases with the local police station,
[26:10] Speaker 2: and Chris's account when I was talking him about that
[26:13] Speaker 2: recently was the police they barely even speak at these meetings,
[26:17] Speaker 2: Like Chris will go into the meeting with Peter and
[26:19] Speaker 2: then you know the third time when they're private investigator
[26:22] Speaker 2: came in and they're talking at them, asking them questions
[26:26] Speaker 2: about the case and what's happening with this, and it's very,
[26:29] Speaker 2: very hard to extract any communication. So once it's been
[26:34] Speaker 2: handed to the CID department, everything has kind of gone
[26:39] Speaker 2: through our Fiji legal team, and even that it's just
[26:43] Speaker 2: a very you know, they say Fiji time, this is
[26:46] Speaker 2: like next level Fiji time, and yeah, I guess in
[26:52] Speaker 2: that we then have to wait for that to come
[26:54] Speaker 2: back through from the CID to our lawyer and she
[26:57] Speaker 2: continues to chase that.
[26:58] Speaker 1: On our behalf defact or Queensland Police do they have
[27:03] Speaker 1: any authority in this situation.
[27:05] Speaker 2: That's what is so challenging. We're dealing with agencies that
[27:09] Speaker 2: have no jurisdiction. So our only experience to date with
[27:14] Speaker 2: the Queensland Police was when Chris and Peter brought Jason
[27:17] Speaker 2: home from Fiji. The first trip back, there was a
[27:21] Speaker 2: Queensland detective that met them, providing them with a card.
[27:24] Speaker 2: Obviously the Queenland Coroner was there to take Jason. We
[27:29] Speaker 2: have we since maybe a month or so later, did
[27:32] Speaker 2: call that police headquarters to ask about, you know, an
[27:37] Speaker 2: update or a contact person or just someone to talk
[27:41] Speaker 2: to I guess from Australia and what we can do here.
[27:43] Speaker 2: And to date we've never had anybody call us or
[27:48] Speaker 2: reach out to us or you know, they may not
[27:51] Speaker 2: have jurisdiction to do an investigation as such here, but
[27:54] Speaker 2: even just to have that point of contact to feel
[27:57] Speaker 2: as if someone in Australia had yeah cares de fact
[28:03] Speaker 2: defact has been our only contact. They were the people
[28:06] Speaker 2: that were communicating the information and sending reports through, especially
[28:10] Speaker 2: when it initially happened. But they really have made it
[28:15] Speaker 2: clear that we need to work with the Fiji authorities
[28:20] Speaker 2: and that that's the main channel and they really work
[28:24] Speaker 2: more so as an update form for us as a family.
[28:28] Speaker 2: You know, for court cases been set, they'll say the
[28:31] Speaker 2: confirmation that this court case has been set in Fiji,
[28:34] Speaker 2: it's been really it's it's beyond frusted, frustrating, and I
[28:38] Speaker 2: think that's you know, as much as the grief and
[28:40] Speaker 2: the sadness is there, it's just total anger and frustration
[28:45] Speaker 2: and all of that mixed in together. And a lot
[28:48] Speaker 2: of the people that were working in Fiji at the
[28:51] Speaker 2: time are Australian. The general manager that was the first
[28:56] Speaker 2: person to report to the consulate in Fiji about Jason's
[29:01] Speaker 2: death and that it was suspected suicide. The general manager there,
[29:06] Speaker 2: who also was not even in Fiji at the time,
[29:10] Speaker 2: he was in Japan. He was the first person to notify,
[29:14] Speaker 2: not anybody on the ground, which doesn't make sense in itself.
[29:21] Speaker 2: So you know, that's kind of and when we've approached anyone,
[29:25] Speaker 2: you know, individually, to talk. Chris and Peter also said
[29:28] Speaker 2: when they first went there to Fiji the first time,
[29:31] Speaker 2: when it initially happened, the energy in the hotel was
[29:35] Speaker 2: very closed off. But what has been said is that
[29:38] Speaker 2: there was definitely a notion at the hotel to not
[29:41] Speaker 2: speak with the family, to not speak to investigators and yeah,
[29:47] Speaker 2: don't We don't know who made that, but it sounds
[29:51] Speaker 2: like people are scared and being silenced and we don't
[29:56] Speaker 2: understand why that would be the case.
[30:00] Speaker 1: Definitely understand why you felt like you needed to hire
[30:03] Speaker 1: a private investigator. It makes a lot of sense given
[30:06] Speaker 1: what you've said. Yeah, have they been able to help
[30:09] Speaker 1: you at all? Have they've given you new evidence?
[30:13] Speaker 3: Yeah? Look, Phil's been great.
[30:15] Speaker 2: One of the big pieces of information that he was
[30:18] Speaker 2: able to help us with was he has a I
[30:21] Speaker 2: suppose data forensic person that he leans on, and they
[30:24] Speaker 2: were able to access Jason's Vibra account and WhatsApp account,
[30:31] Speaker 2: you know, I suppose remotely and that you know, gave
[30:33] Speaker 2: a lot more insight into what was happening in terms
[30:36] Speaker 2: of his personal relationships and you know, the lead up
[30:40] Speaker 2: to the incident. So that was really really powerful. And
[30:45] Speaker 2: when they went to Fiji that third trip, Phil did
[30:48] Speaker 2: go with them, and.
[30:53] Speaker 3: When they went to the.
[30:53] Speaker 2: Police station with that evidence, that was the first time,
[30:57] Speaker 2: which was six months after the fact, you know, losing Jason,
[31:01] Speaker 2: that they said that they would be looking into this
[31:04] Speaker 2: as a crime for the first time.
[31:07] Speaker 1: I can imagine that would have been a big win.
[31:09] Speaker 1: It's such a small win. Oh wow, they've treated it
[31:11] Speaker 1: as a crime, but like to hear those words, we're
[31:13] Speaker 1: treating it as a crime, we're actually investigating it. Yeah,
[31:16] Speaker 1: that was a big deal, right.
[31:17] Speaker 2: It was massive and that was kind of their reaction.
[31:20] Speaker 2: The boy's reaction was on camera with the sixty crew
[31:23] Speaker 2: because that was that meeting. I do think that having
[31:27] Speaker 2: filled our private investigator there them knowing that sixty minutes
[31:31] Speaker 2: crew was outside, you know, that pressure, I guess kind
[31:37] Speaker 2: of may made the action happen. And I don't think
[31:41] Speaker 2: we'd be where we are today without feel And we're
[31:44] Speaker 2: very Yeah, we're still working with him all the time,
[31:47] Speaker 2: and yeah, he's been there for us a lot.
[31:50] Speaker 1: Am I right that the messages that he was able
[31:53] Speaker 1: to uncover showed a bit of a crossover in Jason's
[31:57] Speaker 1: kind of relationships and love life.
[32:00] Speaker 3: Yeah, that's so.
[32:02] Speaker 2: There was another girl involved who isn't in Fiji anymore.
[32:07] Speaker 2: She's actually in Australia, but there was a bit of
[32:09] Speaker 2: cross over there three or four months. So there are
[32:12] Speaker 2: a lot of I guess theories or things going on
[32:16] Speaker 2: in the background that we don't know about, but that
[32:18] Speaker 2: could potentially, you know, have been cause for arguments or
[32:23] Speaker 2: cause for unrest in his relationship with Shabani.
[32:28] Speaker 3: But that's also very Jason.
[32:31] Speaker 1: Jason's death was considered a crime. Am I right that
[32:33] Speaker 1: there was discussion about an inquest.
[32:36] Speaker 2: Yes, So from our understanding and remembering that we are
[32:40] Speaker 2: not lawyers, we are very basic everyday ggoss, our understanding
[32:44] Speaker 2: is that because there is no coroner in Fiji, and
[32:50] Speaker 2: that that is kind of the regular practice for you know,
[32:54] Speaker 2: unnatural death or things of that nature, the police, the
[32:59] Speaker 2: local police refer it to the local magistrate for ruling. Basically,
[33:05] Speaker 2: so rather than investigate that, it's hand to the magistrate,
[33:10] Speaker 2: and we, based on feedback and talks without BG lawyer,
[33:16] Speaker 2: requested that that case be adjourned, you know, indefinitely, so
[33:20] Speaker 2: that the case could actually be investigated because there was
[33:25] Speaker 2: almost no case fire like, not a thin case file.
[33:28] Speaker 3: There was almost nothing in it.
[33:30] Speaker 2: So if that was to go to the magistrate and
[33:32] Speaker 2: a ruling be made on that day, you know, that
[33:35] Speaker 2: could have been a close case and we would have
[33:37] Speaker 2: had to work so much harder to overturn that if
[33:39] Speaker 2: they made a ruling on that day that wasn't favorable
[33:42] Speaker 2: to Jason.
[33:43] Speaker 1: That makes sense Yeah, so six months in, we've got
[33:47] Speaker 1: sixty minutes. You've got them over there to kind of
[33:49] Speaker 1: put pressure on the case. You've got your detective who
[33:53] Speaker 1: has managed to uncover new information. Touching on the sixty
[33:58] Speaker 1: minutes in investigation. Something I found really interesting watching that
[34:01] Speaker 1: is they got a specialist or an expert in to
[34:05] Speaker 1: kind of talk about suicidal stabbings and just how rare
[34:10] Speaker 1: they are. What did you learn about about that form
[34:15] Speaker 1: of suicide because for what I got, it's that it's
[34:19] Speaker 1: very rare. Jason didn't really fit the profile and it's
[34:23] Speaker 1: usually people that are quite psychologically distressed.
[34:28] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[34:29] Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I think watching that and having that expert,
[34:34] Speaker 2: you know, testify that that reconfirms what the family has
[34:37] Speaker 2: always felt. You know, that it's so rare and the
[34:41] Speaker 2: fact that that's what has happened basically should always be
[34:46] Speaker 2: investigated to ensure that you do not miss a homicide.
[34:50] Speaker 2: And you know, like you said, it's such a destructive
[34:54] Speaker 2: thing to do to yourself and accounts for you know,
[34:57] Speaker 2: such a small percentage of actual so sides that you know,
[35:02] Speaker 2: again knowing Jason and knowing what he was doing with
[35:05] Speaker 2: his life and who he was and having had no
[35:07] Speaker 2: mental you know, reported mental health doubts or on any
[35:10] Speaker 2: medication or anything that you know we know about to date.
[35:14] Speaker 3: It just really doesn't fit the mold.
[35:16] Speaker 2: So yeah, we were very I guess thankful, and that
[35:21] Speaker 2: was told so black and white to the public because
[35:24] Speaker 2: that in itself, you know when you said the emotional
[35:27] Speaker 2: told it's almost it's Jason's legacy. That story went to
[35:31] Speaker 2: the media and to the public that he did that
[35:35] Speaker 2: to himself, and you know, we just wanted to really
[35:39] Speaker 2: do right by him and his legacy because that's not
[35:42] Speaker 2: who he was and that's not the story. And yeah,
[35:46] Speaker 2: I suppose that's what's always been really pushing us to
[35:48] Speaker 2: make sure that we do right by him.
[35:51] Speaker 1: More of my conversation with Jess after the break that
[35:59] Speaker 1: sixty minutes investigation was a year ago, nearly a year ago,
[36:03] Speaker 1: and we're talking today. What progress have you seen in
[36:07] Speaker 1: the last year. Has anything happened?
[36:10] Speaker 2: Look, so, I think the progress is slow. It's challenging
[36:16] Speaker 2: that one thing that we do know has transpired is
[36:20] Speaker 2: that Shavanni, the girlfriend, was taken in for questioning undercaution,
[36:25] Speaker 2: which we were very excited about because I think it
[36:28] Speaker 2: takes a lot, especially in Fiji to get to that
[36:31] Speaker 2: point that they can actually interview under caution. That happened
[36:34] Speaker 2: a few months ago now though, and no charges were laid.
[36:38] Speaker 2: She was held for two days that we don't know
[36:40] Speaker 2: the basis of the interview or any of that, obviously
[36:43] Speaker 2: because it's an open case. But she was held for
[36:45] Speaker 2: two days, which you know is pretty substantial, and was
[36:49] Speaker 2: released pending further investigation. We've been told by the FIGCID
[36:54] Speaker 2: team that they will look to reinterview her under caution.
[36:59] Speaker 2: But the main blocker that the Fiji CID team need
[37:05] Speaker 2: is the phone forensics extracted from Jason's phone, and the
[37:11] Speaker 2: AFP have not been able to confirm whether they a
[37:16] Speaker 2: have extracted the information or b provide a timeline on
[37:20] Speaker 2: when that will happen. So that to us, and based
[37:25] Speaker 2: on any of the information that we have, seems like
[37:27] Speaker 2: the one I suppose blocker in this whole chain of events.
[37:32] Speaker 2: So that's kind of where we're at now in terms
[37:35] Speaker 2: of that. We don't know if anyone's ever interviewed Ian
[37:39] Speaker 2: the best Friend executive chef. We don't know if anyone
[37:43] Speaker 2: from the hotel has been interviewed outside of those two people.
[37:46] Speaker 2: The only confirmed into that we know of with the
[37:49] Speaker 2: police is Shavani.
[37:52] Speaker 1: And so that blocker you're talking about is currently sitting
[37:55] Speaker 1: with Australia Australian authorities.
[37:58] Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's why I think as well, we want
[38:01] Speaker 2: to shine so much on this case in Australia because
[38:05] Speaker 2: these agencies I think that you know, as Australians we
[38:09] Speaker 2: expect to happen, really haven't happened the way that we
[38:13] Speaker 2: thought they would. And how it works is the Fiji
[38:18] Speaker 2: police need to work through the avenues of requesting the
[38:22] Speaker 2: AFP's help. They have requested the assistance. It did take
[38:26] Speaker 2: a long time and a lot of pushing from our family.
[38:29] Speaker 2: We even offered to fly over you know, Phil's forensics
[38:33] Speaker 2: guy who said he could extract the data within five hours.
[38:36] Speaker 2: We offered that as an option. Obviously that didn't transpire,
[38:42] Speaker 2: and so the Fiji authorities did request AFP's support to
[38:47] Speaker 2: do that. So that that has happened, you know, that
[38:51] Speaker 2: was almost six months ago now wow, and the AFP
[38:57] Speaker 2: have not confirmed and we don't that I think what
[39:00] Speaker 2: they're I don't know if it's hiding behind got what
[39:02] Speaker 2: they've said in the last email to our lawyers was
[39:05] Speaker 2: that because it's an open investigation. They can't provide any
[39:09] Speaker 2: further detail around timelines or anything like that, but they know.
[39:12] Speaker 3: It's an important case.
[39:14] Speaker 2: We don't expect to be told the details of the
[39:19] Speaker 2: investigation or what's on the phone. All we want to
[39:21] Speaker 2: know is has it been extracted? And do the Fiji
[39:24] Speaker 2: police have it?
[39:26] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not really that much to ask for, is it.
[39:30] Speaker 3: We don't think so.
[39:32] Speaker 2: And I guess since then, and while we've been trying
[39:34] Speaker 2: to I suppose apply whatever pressure we can from Australia,
[39:38] Speaker 2: We've been running to you know, every single local members,
[39:43] Speaker 2: you know, the Oman's men, the AFP to try and
[39:47] Speaker 2: you know, even Penny Wong's office, anybody that will listen
[39:51] Speaker 2: to try and say is there a way that this
[39:53] Speaker 2: can be expediated because it looks like, based on what
[39:57] Speaker 2: we've been told from you know, our Fiji legal team
[40:01] Speaker 2: and the emails that we've received, that that is the
[40:04] Speaker 2: number one block here.
[40:08] Speaker 1: Are you also having trouble with Australian legal services and
[40:13] Speaker 1: trying to access them because of the cross country kind
[40:15] Speaker 1: of nature of this case and his death?
[40:18] Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, it's when I say it's a nightmare, it's
[40:22] Speaker 2: like every single door that we knock on and everywhere
[40:25] Speaker 2: we go it's a closed door or it's you know,
[40:28] Speaker 2: a ping pong to somebody else. So we have tried
[40:32] Speaker 2: every avenue that you could think of in terms of
[40:35] Speaker 2: finding a firm that has you know, cross border capabilities
[40:42] Speaker 2: that could not obviously pursue the case in Fiji. We
[40:47] Speaker 2: understand that that that needs to be handled because the
[40:49] Speaker 2: death happened in Fiji, but there are key witnesses and
[40:53] Speaker 2: key people and corporation in Australia that needs to be
[40:57] Speaker 2: looked into. In terms of the actual corporate complicity. We
[41:02] Speaker 2: don't know that, but we feel it needs to be addressed,
[41:06] Speaker 2: and we have approached at least I would say ten
[41:10] Speaker 2: firms here and we've either not had a response or
[41:14] Speaker 2: they've responded and said we wouldn't even know where to start.
[41:17] Speaker 3: We don't even know where to refer you to.
[41:20] Speaker 2: The only support that we were able to get earlier
[41:23] Speaker 2: on in the piece was to have a few emails
[41:26] Speaker 2: sent on our behalf from a lawyer to I HG
[41:31] Speaker 2: Corporate here in Australia asking based on you know, so
[41:35] Speaker 2: that they didn't I guess the strategy was to not
[41:38] Speaker 2: put them off guard. It was to ask for his
[41:41] Speaker 2: employment records and the incident report so that we could
[41:45] Speaker 2: see if his employment records showed that he was employed
[41:48] Speaker 2: in Fiji or if it was still based in Queensland
[41:50] Speaker 2: because that's where he was working previously. They did send
[41:54] Speaker 2: through the employment records, which we already had, but they
[41:58] Speaker 2: said that they do not hold any of the information
[42:01] Speaker 2: in terms of the incident reporter or any of that nature.
[42:03] Speaker 2: And to approach the local Fiji hotel An you said
[42:08] Speaker 2: the same thing.
[42:09] Speaker 1: It feels like everyone you talk to is shifting responsibility
[42:13] Speaker 1: onto the next person. Use the word abandoned before. Do
[42:18] Speaker 1: you feel like Jason is just being forgotten in this?
[42:22] Speaker 3: Absolutely?
[42:23] Speaker 2: And you know, like he it was such a huge personality,
[42:29] Speaker 2: a huge part of so many people's life, impacted so
[42:32] Speaker 2: many people in a positive way. And we just feel
[42:36] Speaker 2: if we weren't doing what we're doing, you know, by
[42:39] Speaker 2: approaching different people by you know, continuing to turn over
[42:43] Speaker 2: every stone we can. I think that that's kind of
[42:47] Speaker 2: and this is you know, just our opinion. They're hoping
[42:50] Speaker 2: we give up. They're hoping that we run into so
[42:54] Speaker 2: many blocks that there's nowhere else to turn and we
[42:58] Speaker 2: just you know, have to move on with our life
[43:00] Speaker 2: and unfortunately they pick the wrong family.
[43:04] Speaker 1: Now, but it feels like you guys have had to
[43:07] Speaker 1: turn into pseudo investigators, like you absolutely have. Yeah, like
[43:11] Speaker 1: you're investigating his death yourself.
[43:14] Speaker 3: And that's what's so hard about it.
[43:16] Speaker 2: We're here in Australia, the cases in Fiji, our lawyers
[43:19] Speaker 2: are in Fiji. We have no one here on the ground.
[43:22] Speaker 2: We're even thinking do we get another private investigator who's
[43:25] Speaker 2: on the ground in Australia to do these things, because
[43:28] Speaker 2: you know, we can't actively go and meet with these
[43:30] Speaker 2: people or go and have a conversation. We've tried that
[43:33] Speaker 2: and they lawyer up straight away. So Chris and I
[43:37] Speaker 2: and you know Peter as well. It's just there are
[43:42] Speaker 2: so many calls that happen after dinner or after kids
[43:45] Speaker 2: are in bed about we've reached out to this person,
[43:48] Speaker 2: what do you think about this theory? You know, have
[43:50] Speaker 2: you thought about that? Or we just reread this email
[43:53] Speaker 2: from you know, the few days after Jason passed, and
[43:57] Speaker 2: did you.
[43:57] Speaker 3: Remember that that happened? Because when you're in the.
[44:00] Speaker 2: Instant impact of the grief and the trauma, you're not
[44:03] Speaker 2: reading the details that you know that we've been able
[44:06] Speaker 2: to pull out after the fact, So yeah, we've absolutely Yeah,
[44:11] Speaker 2: we feel like was spoon feeding everyone every step of
[44:15] Speaker 2: the way.
[44:16] Speaker 1: So apart from that initial phone call with Schevanny when
[44:22] Speaker 1: the death happened, you haven't heard from either of them,
[44:24] Speaker 1: Ian or Shavanni because they're the main people that were
[44:27] Speaker 1: in that room. They are who we need to hear from,
[44:30] Speaker 1: and your Famili's tried to contact both of them since.
[44:33] Speaker 2: Yes, So they are also the closest to Jason from
[44:37] Speaker 2: what we've been told, his girlfriend and.
[44:38] Speaker 3: His best friend.
[44:39] Speaker 2: So we've never to date had any contact from Ian
[44:43] Speaker 2: and there has been numerous calls and messages sent to
[44:46] Speaker 2: him to request for him to call back to discuss anything.
[44:51] Speaker 2: He's never done that. He's never answered anything from our
[44:54] Speaker 2: private investigator. Obviously didn't answer the phone on a sixty
[44:58] Speaker 2: minutes call. He did reach out to Chris about maybe
[45:03] Speaker 2: a month after the fact, which was quite bizarre. It
[45:07] Speaker 2: was out of the blue. You know, we didn't have
[45:10] Speaker 2: her phone number. She told Chris on the call that
[45:13] Speaker 2: she got it from the hospital the Morgue where Jason was.
[45:17] Speaker 2: They gave out Chris's phone number, which is bizarre, and
[45:21] Speaker 2: what we were really shocked by at the time and
[45:25] Speaker 2: still to this day, is the contents of that phone call.
[45:28] Speaker 2: It was very reinstating the narrative about you know, Jason
[45:33] Speaker 2: shed everything with me. He was in a really dark place.
[45:37] Speaker 2: I don't know why the police wanted to test my
[45:41] Speaker 2: DNA because I've already told them everything. I'm actually quite
[45:45] Speaker 2: angry about that, which really really struck a chord with us,
[45:49] Speaker 2: because if you were there and your loved one that
[45:52] Speaker 2: you said you know you're in love with and spending
[45:55] Speaker 2: a life with, wouldn't you be doing anything and everything
[45:58] Speaker 2: to support whatever needs to happen for that case?
[46:02] Speaker 3: And she did.
[46:04] Speaker 2: She's really really pressing too, because what we did was
[46:07] Speaker 2: we had a service for Jason and then we waited
[46:12] Speaker 2: a little bit of time for his other brother to
[46:15] Speaker 2: get back for the ash scattering. And she was very
[46:21] Speaker 2: much so trying to push the point to be invited
[46:23] Speaker 2: to go to that and wanting to know the date
[46:26] Speaker 2: of that so that she could come and be a
[46:28] Speaker 2: part of that. And by that point we were very
[46:30] Speaker 2: suspicious and cautious of her. So, yeah, that was the
[46:35] Speaker 2: one and only time outside of the core of night
[46:38] Speaker 2: that it happened and we've never heard from her since.
[46:42] Speaker 1: There's just so many unanswered questions, isn't there like for
[46:48] Speaker 1: you to be this far in and to have this
[46:51] Speaker 1: little little detail, It's unbelievable.
[46:56] Speaker 2: It is unbelievable, and I think the thing is well,
[46:59] Speaker 2: it's not as if there isn't information there.
[47:02] Speaker 3: It's a huge hotel.
[47:03] Speaker 2: There should be so many witnesses, there are multiple people
[47:06] Speaker 2: on the scene. There is information that could be found,
[47:11] Speaker 2: like whereas the CCTV we have no idea. It didn't
[47:15] Speaker 2: happen in a remote location. And this mystery about what happened.
[47:19] Speaker 2: We know those things and to us it seems pretty
[47:22] Speaker 2: cut and dry about what needs to happen. And yeah,
[47:27] Speaker 2: I guess that's the frustration. It's eighteen months, it'll bit
[47:29] Speaker 2: two years in December, and that's why we're doing this
[47:33] Speaker 2: and why we want the case and we want everyone
[47:35] Speaker 2: to know Jason Rigby, and we want everyone, especially in
[47:38] Speaker 2: Australia to be aware of this because there's lots of
[47:42] Speaker 2: people that work abroad and build careers and do all
[47:45] Speaker 2: these amazing things, but you know, things don't really work
[47:49] Speaker 2: out the way you think that they do when you're
[47:52] Speaker 2: working in different countries, like that unfortunately.
[47:54] Speaker 1: Yeah, and look what happens when the unfortunate does happen.
[48:00] Speaker 1: In terms of that like cross country cooperation, I mean,
[48:03] Speaker 1: there isn't really much cooperation.
[48:06] Speaker 2: There's no you know, no textbook, there's no one guiding us.
[48:10] Speaker 2: There's no one you know, even being a point of
[48:13] Speaker 2: contact to you know, suggest have you tried this and
[48:16] Speaker 2: maybe you can approach these people. It's it's Chris and
[48:19] Speaker 2: I researching wherever we can, trying to find it out
[48:24] Speaker 2: as much information as we can. And you know, I'm
[48:26] Speaker 2: sure the family are doing that too, but you know,
[48:30] Speaker 2: we live this every single day, and it's just, yeah,
[48:35] Speaker 2: we're really i suppose grateful that Jason had the family
[48:41] Speaker 2: that he has to do this, because if he didn't,
[48:44] Speaker 2: or if it was you know, left to people that
[48:45] Speaker 2: were maybe a little bit older or uneducated with you know,
[48:48] Speaker 2: because there's so much to this. I'm lucky in a
[48:51] Speaker 2: sense that my sister is you know, a senior lawyer
[48:54] Speaker 2: and has kind of helped break things down and you know,
[48:57] Speaker 2: Layman's terms for us to understand because it's so technical.
[49:01] Speaker 2: And yeah, we're just figuring out every day and doing
[49:05] Speaker 2: the best that we can well.
[49:07] Speaker 1: As well as sending off all the emails, knocking on
[49:09] Speaker 1: all the doors. You're also running an Instagram page, yeah,
[49:14] Speaker 1: called Justice for Jason Rigby. You're writing a book that
[49:17] Speaker 1: includes Jason and your experience as a family and all
[49:21] Speaker 1: the grief. You were the one that administered the estate,
[49:25] Speaker 1: you organized his funeral. Jess, You've got a lot on
[49:27] Speaker 1: your plate. How are you You've got four kids?
[49:31] Speaker 3: Yeah, that's one.
[49:33] Speaker 1: That's a pretty big one. You kind of eluded before
[49:38] Speaker 1: about the late night calls and stuff because your husband
[49:40] Speaker 1: is also the one behind all of these emails and everything.
[49:44] Speaker 1: What kind of toll has has this fight taken on
[49:47] Speaker 1: your family and on your relationship and on your marriage.
[49:52] Speaker 2: Look, it has been and it still is, like every
[49:55] Speaker 2: day really challenging. They're you know, I think when grief,
[50:01] Speaker 2: for you know, traumatic events happen, it can either bring
[50:04] Speaker 2: families together or sometimes bring challenges to the surface even
[50:09] Speaker 2: more so because there is that spot light there, and
[50:10] Speaker 2: we've definitely experienced that. I think it's brought Chris and
[50:15] Speaker 2: I together because we are so united on this front.
[50:18] Speaker 2: It's brought Chris and his dad Peter really close together
[50:22] Speaker 2: because you know, there was a bit of tension there
[50:25] Speaker 2: prior to Jason passing, and they were able to really
[50:28] Speaker 2: rebuild that relationship and are united, you know, because of
[50:33] Speaker 2: their son and their brother. So that's been really positive.
[50:37] Speaker 2: But we just try, I guess, to focus on what's important.
[50:41] Speaker 2: We block out the noise, the things that aren't important.
[50:44] Speaker 2: We feel that we're on the right path and that
[50:47] Speaker 2: Jason is with us, and you know, we're just so
[50:52] Speaker 2: I think what keeps us going is he should have
[50:55] Speaker 2: been able to be a part of our kid's life.
[50:57] Speaker 2: He should have been able to fly back and you know,
[51:00] Speaker 2: watch how kids grow up. He has missed and that
[51:04] Speaker 2: we miss him being a part of And yeah, I
[51:08] Speaker 2: just think as well, he's my husband's brother. But you know,
[51:12] Speaker 2: I have siblings and loved ones, and you do whatever
[51:15] Speaker 2: it takes, and you know, we want to make sure
[51:18] Speaker 2: that you know, for on our death bed at the
[51:20] Speaker 2: end of it, that we've done everything that we could
[51:22] Speaker 2: possibly do.
[51:24] Speaker 1: What about your kids, your older kids, How do you
[51:26] Speaker 1: explain all of this to them?
[51:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, look, that's definitely a challenge. And we are a
[51:32] Speaker 2: blended family as well. So Chris's daughter, so she is
[51:36] Speaker 2: the eldest of the family and definitely had I guess
[51:41] Speaker 2: more of that strong relationship.
[51:43] Speaker 3: Being the eldest of the family. She was nine at
[51:45] Speaker 3: the time.
[51:47] Speaker 2: And you know, we told the kids, especially at the
[51:50] Speaker 2: start when you know, Dad had to fly to Fiji.
[51:53] Speaker 2: It was Christmas holidays. They just knocked off school. We
[51:56] Speaker 2: already had an airbnb booked. I took the four kids,
[52:01] Speaker 2: including the baby, you know, down to Kingscliff Chris Flute, Fiji.
[52:07] Speaker 2: You know, I was handling the kids. My family came
[52:10] Speaker 2: to help, and we at the start, we still said Jason,
[52:15] Speaker 2: you know, has passed and he's in heaven and it
[52:19] Speaker 2: was an accident and we don't know what happened. But
[52:22] Speaker 2: the older kids, do you know that our girls they're
[52:25] Speaker 2: nine and almost eleven now, and you know, they've seen
[52:28] Speaker 2: a sixty minute story and they do understand that. And
[52:31] Speaker 2: I think that, you know, over time, we don't. We
[52:36] Speaker 2: try to keep all of these conversations, I guess where
[52:39] Speaker 2: it's just Chris and I are or you know, while
[52:41] Speaker 2: they're at school and things like that, but they are aware,
[52:43] Speaker 2: and I think, you know, we try to be as
[52:45] Speaker 2: honest as we can, but keeping them emotionally safe at.
[52:49] Speaker 3: The same time.
[52:52] Speaker 1: Are you angry?
[52:54] Speaker 2: Absolutely, we are beyond like there's no words for it.
[52:59] Speaker 2: We're sometimes you just you know, we get into bed
[53:02] Speaker 2: after the chaos of bedtime and bathtime with four kids
[53:07] Speaker 2: and all of that, and you know, Chris works really
[53:09] Speaker 2: hard in his own business. It's a very physical job
[53:12] Speaker 2: as well, and you just go, we're just so tired.
[53:17] Speaker 2: And but then you get past that and you have
[53:20] Speaker 2: your little pity party and you put your big pants
[53:22] Speaker 2: on and you get to it and you know that, yeah,
[53:25] Speaker 2: you know, Jason's in all of these photos behind us,
[53:28] Speaker 2: and you know, I think he's with us on this
[53:30] Speaker 2: and that's what keeps us going. But we're definitely we're
[53:33] Speaker 2: like outraged that it just seems as though no one
[53:37] Speaker 2: cares and they are all tied by you know, red
[53:42] Speaker 2: tape and you know the whole cross border situation, and
[53:48] Speaker 2: we don't that they wish they could help, but they
[53:51] Speaker 2: can't help. And yeah, we're just going to keep pushing
[53:55] Speaker 2: and keep advocating for Jason and the case until we
[54:00] Speaker 2: where we need to get.
[54:02] Speaker 1: What are you hoping to get from this chat from
[54:05] Speaker 1: listeners hearing our conversation. How can we help? What can
[54:09] Speaker 1: they do?
[54:10] Speaker 2: I think, and you know, Chris and our family, we
[54:14] Speaker 2: want everyone to know Jason Rickby.
[54:16] Speaker 3: We want to know.
[54:17] Speaker 2: We want you to know that he was a love
[54:19] Speaker 2: family member, and that he was loving life. He was having,
[54:22] Speaker 2: you know, some of the best years of his life.
[54:25] Speaker 2: We want listeners to be as outraged about that we're
[54:30] Speaker 2: at the same position essentially eighteen months down the track.
[54:34] Speaker 3: You know, we live in Australia, We've got.
[54:36] Speaker 2: So many amazing things and support and you know, government
[54:40] Speaker 2: bodies and whatnot, and we're still in this, you know,
[54:43] Speaker 2: completely lost situation.
[54:46] Speaker 3: And you know, if.
[54:47] Speaker 2: There is the right person listening to this when you know,
[54:51] Speaker 2: for you to share this, someone that has some kind
[54:54] Speaker 2: of power or some kind of leverage to make the
[54:59] Speaker 2: call to Fiji or to have the meeting with the
[55:01] Speaker 2: right person to expediate this case, that would be you
[55:07] Speaker 2: know the dream.
[55:09] Speaker 1: Lastly, we've talked a bit about grief, but is it
[55:13] Speaker 1: hard to properly grieve when you are still so actively fighting.
[55:20] Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I think when we talk about grief, especially
[55:24] Speaker 2: you know, being parents and doing all the everyday things
[55:27] Speaker 2: that you need to keep doing after you know, something
[55:30] Speaker 2: so traumatic, Chris kind of deals with it in a way.
[55:35] Speaker 2: He goes quiet and goes into his little space and
[55:38] Speaker 2: you know, certain songs remind him of it. And you know,
[55:41] Speaker 2: I know he drives from the Gold Crest to Brisbane
[55:43] Speaker 2: quite a lot. He's got a little, you know, figurine
[55:45] Speaker 2: that looks like Jason in the car, and I know
[55:48] Speaker 2: he spends time and talks to him there, and I'm
[55:50] Speaker 2: sure that's where he has a lot of you know,
[55:52] Speaker 2: those that time with Jason and that grief. So I
[55:56] Speaker 2: guess the grief is there, and you steal the moments
[55:59] Speaker 2: that you can. My grief is obviously different being his
[56:02] Speaker 2: sister in law, but you know, I live with that
[56:06] Speaker 2: grief with Chris every day, and I think I just wish,
[56:12] Speaker 2: like anything, when he loves someone so much, that I
[56:15] Speaker 2: could help in some way or make his pain less
[56:19] Speaker 2: or you know. And I guess that's why I'm doing
[56:22] Speaker 2: this as his support person and you know, supporting his
[56:27] Speaker 2: brother and the family because you know of the love
[56:31] Speaker 2: that I have for Chris and our family and our children,
[56:34] Speaker 2: and it feels like the only thing that I can
[56:37] Speaker 2: possibly do to try and make things not better, but
[56:41] Speaker 2: get you know, the justice that Jason and the family deserve.
[56:45] Speaker 1: Well, your incredible Jess, thank you for joining us, Thank
[56:48] Speaker 1: you for telling us Jason's story and hopefully our listeners
[56:55] Speaker 1: can wrap their arms around you and help put pressure
[56:59] Speaker 1: on well at the most, it's the AFP.
[57:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and we just we want, I suppose everyone
[57:06] Speaker 2: to feel that emotional connection to you know that everyday
[57:10] Speaker 2: Australian guy like the Alaric and the fun guy at
[57:12] Speaker 2: the party, the fun uncle. I'm sure everyone in everyone's
[57:15] Speaker 2: family has a guy like Jason in their life.
[57:17] Speaker 3: And you know that this family.
[57:20] Speaker 2: Is not going anywhere, and any support and any shares
[57:23] Speaker 2: about the story and any you know, if you've got
[57:26] Speaker 2: any push or power or you know ability to help
[57:30] Speaker 2: in any way with the case, who would absolutely love
[57:33] Speaker 2: to hear from you.
[57:35] Speaker 1: Thank you to Jess for joining us on this episode.
[57:37] Speaker 1: You can find links to support the search for answers
[57:40] Speaker 1: in our show notes. If you enjoyed this episode, please
[57:42] Speaker 1: leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
[57:46] Speaker 1: It really helps people find out more about the show.
[57:49] Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back next week
[57:51] Speaker 1: with another true crime conversation.

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