Podcasts · True Crime

Bronwyn

The Australian

45 episodes · in order

The Teacher’s Pet creator Hedley Thomas returns with a new podcast investigation for The Australian.

More about the show

Bronwyn Winfield disappeared 31 years ago from the idyllic surf town of Lennox Head. She was a devoted mother of two little girls, and was going through a painful separation from her husband, Jon Winfield.

Jon Winfield has always maintained Bronwyn just went away and denies any wrongdoing.

Subscribers to The Australian and registered users hear episodes of ‘Bronwyn’ first. Plus, you can read more about this case and see exclusive stories, maps, timelines, graphics, video and more at bronwynpodcast.com

If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can contact our team confidentially by emailing bronwyn@theaustralian.com.au

Episodes

  1. Introducing: Bronwyn

    · 0:43 · Trailer

    The Teacher’s Pet creator Hedley Thomas returns with a new podcast investigation for The Australian. Subscribers to The Australian and registered users hear episodes of ‘Bronwyn’ first at theaustralian.com.au/bronwyn.…

  2. Episode 1: Jon’s Castle

    · 1 h 12 min · S1 E1

    In an idyllic surf town, Bronwyn Winfield is a loving young mother determined to divorce her husband Jon and start again with her two daughters. She writes about her life and describes a deeply unhappy marriage. She…

  3. Episode 2: War of the Winfields

    · 1 h 04 min · S1 E2

    It’s a toxic relationship. Friends and family recall Bronwyn’s sadness and frustrations over what appears to be coercive control and emotional violence. Bronwyn’s efforts to keep the family home ‘immaculate’ while…

  4. Episode 3: The Lawyer's Advice

    · 1 h 10 min · S1 E3

    Jon's second wife reveals some home truths about her brief failed marriage and why she decided to file for divorce, triggering a bitter row over the house she and Jon built in Sandstone Crescent, Lennox Head. The house…

  5. Episode 4: A Strange Getaway

    · 1 h 13 min · S1 E4

    Bronwyn's estranged husband, Jon, hastily packs the family car for an unplanned drive through the night to Sydney with the two girls. His neighbour, Murray Nolan, hears the car's distinctive brakes and is surprised to…

  6. A special update on BRONWYN

    · 2:09

    An update from Hedley Thomas and The Australian. Read more about this case and see photographs, maps, timelines and more at bronwynpodcast.com. If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can…

  7. Episode 5: Detectives, Red Flags and Failure

    · 1 h 15 min · S1 E5

    Analysis of police internal running sheets and other files from 1993, when Bronwyn disappeared in Lennox Head, reveals remarkable red flags – yet local detectives still didn’t treat the case as probable foul play.…

  8. Episode 6: Fragile

    · 1 h 16 min · S1 E6

    As celebrities from Hollywood stars Chris Hemsworth to Simon Baker wax lyrical about Lennox Head, locals like Scruffy speculate about Bronwyn and the whereabouts of her remains. Analysis of a missing person report…

  9. Episode 7: Did Judy See Bronwyn’s Body?

    · 1 h 22 min · S1 E7

    A new witness emerges with a chilling account of seeing what she fears was Bronwyn Winfield's body wrapped in sheets in the back of a car, in a development that could change everything in the 31 year mystery. Retired…

  10. Episode 8: Mea Culpa

    · 1 h 06 min · S1 E8

    Bronwyn’s friends and loved ones reel as the revelation of Judy Singh’s sighting of what appeared to be a body wrapped in a sheet, being driven away by her estranged husband Jon Winfield in 1993, is understood.…

  11. Episode 9: The Lake

    · 56 min · S1 E9

    A short walk from the sandy northern beaches of Lennox Head is a lake loved by locals and visitors alike. It is deep only in a few places, but nobody can see the bottom - the waters of eerie Lake Ainsworth are always…

  12. Episode 10: Mothers

    · 1 h 28 min · S1 E10

    Distressing evidence from Jon Winfield’s first wife, Jennifer Mason, was part of the police brief which the then-Detective Sergeant Glenn Taylor believed would result in a prosecution over Bronwyn’s disappearance. A…

  13. From The Front: Pain and hope for Bronwyn’s family

    · 13 min

    In this episode of The Australian's daily news podcast, a family ‘curse’, an audacious scam, and a remarkable young woman helping to solve the mystery of Bronwyn Winfield’s likely murder. Find out more about The Front…

  14. Season 2 of Bronwyn is live now

    · 6:56

    An update from the Bronwyn team: Listen to a taste of Episode 13, which kicks off Season 2. The full episode is live now at bronwynpodcast.com, along with episodes 11 and 12. Read more about this case and see…

  15. A new episode of Bronwyn is live now

    · 5:28

    An update from the Bronwyn team: Listen to a taste of Episode 15, the latest in Bronwyn's second season. The full episode is live now at bronwynpodcast.com, where you can also see subscriber-only content like…

  16. Episode 13: Father's Day

    · 1 h 08 min · S2 E13

    A surprise message opens a long-closed door to Jon’s secret past. Sonia Lee has been listening to every episode in the Bronwyn podcast series while weighing the right time to come forward for the first time. She made…

  17. Episode 14: Jon's Own Words

    · 1 h 04 min · S2 E14

    What was going on in Jon’s marriage to Bronwyn leading up to the separation in 1993? Why did he suddenly take a flight from Sydney one Sunday afternoon to return to the house in Lennox Head when Bronwyn moved back in…

  18. Episode 15: Taking Flight

    · 1 h 13 min · S2 E15

    For 31 years, key parts of Jon’s story have been taken for granted. Even while he has been a longtime murder suspect, nobody challenged Jon’s claims that he made two long-distance telephone calls from the house at…

  19. Episode 16: A Family Divided

    · 1 h 02 min · S2 E16

    A politician and a leading newspaper speculate that a serial killer could have murdered Bronwyn and 66 other women on the New South Wales north coast over the past three decades. Bronwyn’s daughter Chrystal – who…

  20. Episode 17: A Strange Cheque

    · 54 min · S2 E17

    Police Commissioner Karen Webb and her top Homicide detectives come under fire. Bronwyn’s brother, Andy Read, calls out a lack of effort, urgency and competence in the police investigations of his sister’s case, which…

  21. Episode 18: Origin Story

    · 1 h 07 min · S2 E18

    Jon disparages Bronwyn’s mother Barbara as a sex worker. In one of his final comments in his 1998 interview with police investigating the disappearance of Jon’s estranged wife five years earlier, Jon’s smear of the…

  22. Episode 19: The Calling

    · 1 h 04 min · S2 E19

    The ‘smoking gun’ is data from the phone company about any local calls made from Sandstone Crescent on the night of May 16, 1993. Jon insists that Bronwyn made a couple of local calls, then a car came to pick her up…

  23. Episode 20: The Shire

    · 1 h 13 min · S2 E20

    Andy seeks expert advice about the x-raying of a concrete slab at a house in Illawong in The Shire – the place he refers to as God’s Country, where he and Bronwyn grew up. After getting more intel about a concrete…

  24. Live now: Special video episodes of Bronwyn

    · 5:11

    Go behind the scenes of the podcast in a very special new series of video episodes, live now at bronwynpodcast.com. Plus, you can read more about this case, see photographs, maps, timelines and more at the website.…

  25. Where is Bronwyn’s body?

    · 6:01

    Hear the Bronwyn team debate how to approach the biggest question: was Bronwyn concealed under a concrete slab in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire? This mini-episode is a snippet of a new instalment in our video-only series.…

  26. Episode 21: Concrete Evidence

    · 1 h 11 min · S3 E21

    Investigations reveal Jon’s fast work to get federal government welfare payments diverted from Bronwyn’s bank account to his account when she went missing. The single parent pension and other payments to Bronwyn to…

  27. Episode 22: Suburban Gothic

    · 59 min · S3 E22

    Lennox Head locals are suspicious of Jon’s motives with a well-off elderly woman who lives alone and has a terminal illness. Jon has been spending a lot of time at her ocean-facing house, helping with renovations and…

  28. Episode 23: Will Power

    · 1 h 14 min · S3 E23

    News of Jon Winfield’s windfall and changes to the Will of his near-neighbour, Bev, shock the Lennox Head community and galvanise Bev’s friends and relations. Bev’s cousin Cathy comes forward and says she was isolated…

  29. Episode 24: Listener Night

    · 1 h 09 min · S3 E24

    In this special live event recorded at the Art Gallery of NSW on a warm late summer evening, listeners and Bronwyn's family gather for a Q&A with the podcast team, including Hedley Thomas, David Murray, Matthew Condon,…

  30. Episode 25: Inquest Begins

    · 58 min · S3 E25

    For more than 140 years, the Lismore courthouse has stood firm through a procession of natural disasters. Withstanding everything nature has thrown at the town, the courthouse has witnessed a tragic roll call of cases.…

  31. Episode 26: No Way In The World

    · 1 h 02 min · S3 E26

    The inquest into Bronwyn’s disappearance hears that when detective Glenn Taylor attended Jon and Bronwyn’s former family home at Lennox Head, dozens of photographs lined the walls. Glenn only started investigating the…

  32. Episode 27: Megan's Court Showdown

    · 1 h 18 min · S3 E27

    Bronwyn’s friend and cousin Megan Read drops new bombshells while under oath on Day 2 of the inquest. Megan gives evidence at the coronial inquiry about having been told by Jon Winfield that he saw and spoke to Bronwyn…

  33. Episode 28: The Lawyer's Picnic

    · 1 h 08 min · S3 E28

    Jon’s lawyer Craig Leggat does his homework, analysing witness statements and other documents to discover significant and inconsequential flaws in the evidence. He knows that if things go badly in the inquest, Jon…

  34. Episode 29: Out Of Character

    · 1 h 07 min · S3 E29

    Bronwyn’s state of mind and powerful maternal instincts for her two daughters face a determined challenge as Jon’s side depicts the missing mother in a negative light. Bronwyn’s care for Chrystal and Lauren comes into…

  35. Episode 30: Mountains And Molehills

    · 1 h 03 min · S3 E30

    Did Bronwyn have a secret boyfriend with whom she was having a clandestine relationship before he spirited her away from her daughters and her Lennox Head home? Was Jon’s neighbour Murray affected by painkillers or…

  36. Episode 31: The Memory Hole

    · 1 h 14 min · S3 E31

    Jon’s daughter Jodie returns to the witness box for a searching cross examination on Day 4 of the inquest.She volunteers that she looked in the boot of the Ford Falcon on the morning that she says her father arrived at…

  37. Listen to The Australian's new podcast The Gangster's Ghost

    · 2:17

    Johnny 'The Magician' Regan was a murderer, pimp and psychopath, gunned down by three assassins in a grimy back lane in 1974. He was 29. In this new investigative podcast, The Australian's Matthew Condon investigates…

  38. Episode 32: Finally, A Finding

    · 1 h 28 min · S3 E32

    After a bizarre last ditch bid by Jon Winfield to curry favour from a Ballina detective, the coroner heading the inquest into Bronwyn’s presumed murder sums up the case against the surfing bricklayer. He describes…

  39. The Gangster's Ghost Episode 1: Dead Man Talking

    · 44 min

    The family of slain gangster Stewart John Regan has been frustrated by an unwillingness on the part of the NSW Police Unsolved Homicide Unit to share information about its investigation into his death. It's the same…

  40. Episode 33: The Legal Veil

    · 1 h 01 min · S3 E33

    After a break of almost three months between episodes, Andy and Michelle come away from a meeting for the loved ones of homicide victims with newly found patience and confidence in the restarted police investigation…

  41. Episode 34: A Cautionary Tale

    · 1 h 01 min · S3 E34

    Retired detective Glenn Taylor who has worked harder on Bronwyn’s case than any other police officer faces a problem. Will his video-taped formal interview in Ballina’s police station in 1998 with murder suspect Jon…

  42. Episode 35: Home Truths

    · 1 h 04 min · S3 E35

    Megan performs a dramatic backflip by changing her evidence about Jon’s moves in Sydney in the hours after his wife Bronwyn’s disappearance. Megan expresses doubts about whether Bronwyn's body was in the car’s boot…

  43. Episode 36: Forever Loved

    · 1 h 29 min · S3 E36

    In the final episode for some time, the owners of a Sydney property learn that the missing mother’s remains may have been concealed under concrete there. Andy, Michelle and Madi reflect on some of the major milestones…

  44. Hedley Thomas’ new podcast: Sick To Death

    · 18 min · Bonus

    A blockbuster new podcast from The Australian and our investigative star reporter Hedley Thomas: Sick To Death is the horrifying true story of a surgeon who made catastrophic mistakes - and went unchallenged by a…

  45. The Poisoned Wife – and a cop who didn’t buy her husband’s story

    · 17 min

    Journalist Hedley Thomas joins us with a special insight into where his blockbuster podcast investigation The Poisoned Wife is heading. After the 1986 murder of Rosslyn McQueen, the Homicide Squad rolls into tiny…

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