Bronwyn

Who killed Rosslyn McQueen? Today’s launch day for something very special here at The Australian: a new Hedley Thomas cold case investigation. The Poisoned Wife is a podcast examination of how a 30-year-old pregnant mother died of strychnine poisoning in her own home - and nobody has been brought to justice. Who killed Rosslyn McQueen? How key witness in Rosslyn McQueen murder broke her 40-year silence on case Subscribers to The Australian hear new episodes first on Apple Podcasts, on The Australian’s app and thepoisonedwife.com, where you’ll find photos, videos, timelines, stories and more. See the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack, and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 faces a murder charge. But if defects in the evidence are properly highlighted, there’s a chance Jon can walk away. Bronwyn’s cousin Megan Read faces another torrid time in the witness stand because Jon and his lawyer see her evidence as the weakest link. Bruised but not beaten, Megan finally gets a reprieve, and then it’s the turn of Scruffy, his wife Maria, and Andy. Bronwyn’s brother shares his suspicions that the missing mother of two was dumped in a septic tank in Sandstone Crescent. 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 – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 unsolved case five years after Bronwyn disappeared, and Jon was still living at the same property in Sandstone Crescent. The pictures in the home included happy snaps of Jon and daughters Jodie, Chrystal and Lauren, but Bronwyn had been erased. Not one image in the house showed Bronwyn, the detective says. Jon’s lawyer Craig Leggat seizes his chance to question Glenn in the witness box, raising purported sightings of Bronwyn and other evidence he suggests points to the missing mother still being alive. But on the first day of the inquest, coroner Carl Milovanovich isn't convinced, saying that there were also still sightings of long-dead rockstar, Elvis Presley. With another four days of the inquest to go, the coroner gives his preliminary view that there isn’t any prospect in the world that Bronwyn has survived. 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 – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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, Madi Walsh and Claire Harvey. Through panel discussion and thoughtful audience questions, we examine twists in the story so far, including the mystery of how Jon Winfield became a beneficiary of Beverley Brooker's estate, and explore the status of the police investigation. There are deep reflections on toxic relationships, violence against women and coercive control, and Hedley reflects on efforts to have the site at Illawong searched.  As always, we find moments of humour — and enjoy an opportunity to thank the people who make it all possible: our listeners.   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 – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 an expensive makeover. As she’s dying, the woman buys two new cars and new furniture and appliances. Her two brothers are shocked when they finally get hold of her will after she dies and discover she has changed it to make Jon the new prime beneficiary and executor. Almost everything in her multimillion-dollar estate is left to Jon, a stranger to her brothers, who investigate legal action believing she was of unsound mind. 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 – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. Watch the videos now at bronwynpodcast.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 pour in May 1993, Andy and Madi visit and are more suspicious about what went on at the former building site in Illawong where Jon had been bricklaying. Jon’s friend at the time, builder Glenn Webster, discloses knowledge of his former family home and an area which would have been easiest to dig to conceal a body. A neighbour reveals something Chrystal told her about the boot of the Ford Falcon. It alarmed her at the time and has troubled her since 1993. Season 2 of Bronwyn winds down with Season 3 returning early 2025. A video being shot behind-the-scenes with Madi, retired detective Glenn Taylor, Hedley, Andy, Michelle, Deb and Murray's daughter Mel, Karina and others will come first. If you have information which may help solve this cold case, you can – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected] If you need support, Lifeline can be reached on 13 11 14.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 grandmother of Lauren and Chrystal goes unchallenged until now. Kim Marshall and her brother Andy emphatically reject the labelling and explain Barbara’s mental illness struggles as depression took hold. A deeply personal account of Barbara’s life story is told through her own statement to police. Bronwyn’s long-silent sister Melissa comes forward, shedding more light on Jon’s controlling nature and his jealousy of Bronwyn’s relationships with her friends and siblings. Inconsistencies and omissions in Jon’s 1998 account of his conversations with Bronwyn and their actions on the night of her disappearance are singled out for special attention by listeners who zero in on the detail and compare it with known evidence and Jon’s earlier versions. 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 – contact our team confidentially by emailing [email protected] If you need support, Lifeline can be reached on 13 11 14.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.