Troubled Waters - Episode 1

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Speaker 1 Hi, it's Casey here. There's not long now until Casefile returns, with all new episodes dropping from July 19 onwards.

Speaker 1 In the meantime, you might have noticed something a little different here on the Case File feed.

Speaker 1 We've been releasing the first episodes of some of the other series we produce under the CaseFile Presents banner.

Speaker 1 The decision to do this came after something surprising kept cropping up in conversations I'd had with people at our recent live shows.

Speaker 1 Many Casefile listeners had no idea that we produce other shows outside of Casefile, and some had never even heard of Casefile Presents.

Speaker 1 The realization dawned on me that if someone is a big enough supporter of our show to come to a live event but hasn't heard of our production company, then clearly we need to do a better job of highlighting the other stories we've put so much care and work into.

Speaker 1 For those who don't know, Casefile Presents is our broader production platform. While CaseFile is our flagship show, we've also created a number of other podcasts under the CaseFile Presents banner.

Speaker 1 Our level of involvement differs from project to project, but we've played a direct role in all of them, whether that's financing, research, editing, music, or production.

Speaker 1 I even narrate a few of these shows myself.

Speaker 1 I first discovered the work of private investigator Julia Robson when listening to her hit podcast Chasing Charlie which was released in 2020.

Speaker 1 We connected sometime after that and during our chat Julia mentioned she'd been a longtime casefile listener but had no idea we were involved in producing other series or that casefile presents even existed.

Speaker 1 After listening to Chasing Charlie, I knew Julia was exactly the type of person I wanted to collaborate with, so I made sure to let her know to reach out if she ever had another story in the works.

Speaker 1 A few years later, Julia did indeed reach out, with troubled waters.

Speaker 1 In 2011, the body of 24-year-old Louisa Ioannidis was found in a suburban Melbourne Creek dressed in a pink dressing gown.

Speaker 1 Louisa was a strong swimmer and the water was shallow enough that she could have stood up even if she wasn't.

Speaker 1 Regardless, the police quickly concluded that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death and her story barely made the news.

Speaker 1 But Louise's brother Tass never accepted that explanation and more than a decade later, Julia Robson and producer Claire McGrath embarked on a fresh investigation into the case.

Speaker 1 What they uncovered is a gripping narrative full of intrigue.

Speaker 1 From an international kidnapping, a daring escape and a family's desperate bid to stay together, it all unravels into a downward spiral exacerbated by a toxic relationship, all the while revealing flaws in a family violence support system that desperately needs fixing.

Speaker 1 Troubled Waters is a powerful, deeply moving series that brings Louisa's life and the unanswered questions surrounding her death into full focus.

Speaker 1 We're releasing episode one here on the case file feed. If you like what you hear, you can find the rest of the series by searching for Troubled Waters wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 Now, here's episode one.

Speaker 2 This podcast contains content that may be upsetting to some listeners. Before continuing, please prioritise your own well-being and mental health.

Speaker 2 Please check the show notes for more detailed descriptions of the episodes.

Speaker 2 Have you ever heard a story about someone you've lost touch with? Perhaps a friend of a friend that just doesn't seem to add up.

Speaker 2 It's as if you're only getting pieces of the truth and the rest seems too exaggerated or too strange to even be true.

Speaker 2 It's like that childhood game of telephone where the message evolves and twists with each retelling. You say to yourself, this isn't right.

Speaker 2 So you do your own digging, maybe asking around, looking on social media, but there's no reliable way to confirm the accuracy of any of it.

Speaker 2 Imagine, for example, you hear that an old friend was in a tragic freak accident, but you haven't been in touch with them for years.

Speaker 2 You go online hoping to find a news report or something about the accident, but you find nothing.

Speaker 2 Eventually, you just convince yourself that wherever, whoever the story originally came from, must have been mistaken.

Speaker 2 But then, years later, that same story resurfaces, perhaps in a slightly altered form and you find yourself asking, did this really happen? And if it did, what am I meant to believe?

Speaker 2 This is one of those stories.

Speaker 3 Emergency services for hello, where do you need the police?

Speaker 3 I've just, I think I've seen what looks like a dead body in where?

Speaker 3 I just need to find out. Where is this, Ellis? Where is this place?

Speaker 3 paradise.

Speaker 3 We just came for a walk along the

Speaker 3 Darabin Trail Creek. We passed Northland.
And you don't think an ambulance is required? No, this fruit is gone, man.

Speaker 2 Episode 1. Locate and identify.

Speaker 2 Chances are, unless you've spent time in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, you've likely never heard of Darrabin Creek.

Speaker 2 I've lived and worked as a private investigator in Melbourne for over 15 years. Yet, it's this case, the mysterious death of a 24-year-old woman, that first introduced me to this body of water.

Speaker 2 I'm Julia Robson and I'm committed to working on cases that have been otherwise overlooked.

Speaker 2 Together with my producer, Claire McGrath, we're taking on a challenge that has all the elements of a Hollywood blockbuster.

Speaker 2 Tragedy, secrets, secrets, an extraordinary international rescue, and a fresh investigation that reveals startling new evidence.

Speaker 4 Honestly, I don't know a lot about the way she died, but all I know is it's mystery. Absolute mystery how she died.

Speaker 2 For those already familiar with this death, it's always been a topic of speculation and rumor, but over time has slowly stopped being told.

Speaker 4 There's a reason why you're suspicious about this case, even though it's been several years now. Well, you have every right to be suspicious about this case because it's suspicious.

Speaker 2 So with this podcast our goal is to re-evaluate certain aspects that have gone unquestioned for far too long. But first let's head back to the creek.

Speaker 2 Darrabin Creek winding through Melbourne's northern suburbs is a natural boundary connecting quiet neighbourhoods before joining the Yarrow River.

Speaker 2 During daylight hours the sheltered trails along the banks of the creek attract families, fitness enthusiasts, cyclists and dog walkers.

Speaker 2 With a keen eye, they may even catch a glimpse of a wedge-tailed eagle or kingfisher among the trees, although the distant hum of the freeway is never too far away.

Speaker 2 Despite all of its beauty, Darrabin Creek also has a reputation among some locals as a place to avoid after sunset.

Speaker 2 Accessible via dead-end streets, it offers only minimal lighting as darkness falls, making it a hotspot for late-night activities that raises safety issues when walking alone on the isolated pathways.

Speaker 2 And it's at Darrabin Creek, the Preston entrance of the Parklands to be exact, where this case begins.

Speaker 2 It was the 11th of October 2011 and newcomers to the area, Diane and Alice, were exploring their local backyard.

Speaker 2 Diane, originally from Ireland, and Alice, an ecologist, would often venture into remote natural areas that many of us might otherwise avoid.

Speaker 6 Yeah, we get a lot of cyclists coming along here and runners. And I think there's a football pitch up there where people play games and stuff.

Speaker 6 So it's pretty active around here, but I guess not a lot of people go down back where we went there. But we, like me and the nature lovers we are, we kind of went a little bit off track.

Speaker 6 It's very common for us to do that.

Speaker 2 Nearly 12 years later, Diane and Alice have returned to Darabin Creek with me to revisit the spot of their tragic discovery.

Speaker 6 Yeah, it was a nice day. It was probably a bit of a similar day to today.
We were enjoying the walk. We were worried about snakes.
Yeah. I mean I was.
I'm always worried about them.

Speaker 6 Yeah, still paranoid about all the things in Australia that can kill you.

Speaker 2 As we walk, Diane and Alice shared their vivid recollections of that evening in 2011.

Speaker 6 It was the kind of walk we were having, like a lovely, calm, not very breezy day at all. Sunny, bright, blue skies, sounds of birds.

Speaker 6 Yeah, you've got lorikeets and musk lorikeets and rainbow lorikeets around here. Oh, I think it's up further.
I don't think we're in the right spot. I think it's much further on.

Speaker 2 Back then, it was while strolling along the waterway around 6pm, dust settling in, they noticed something unusual in the creek.

Speaker 6 I saw a big thing in the water, and I kept saying, is that a teddy bear? It just looked wrong. I feel like my gut reaction was probably, is it like a person?

Speaker 6 But also like my second one was like, can't be a person. It's got to be like a teddy bear or something like that.
But it was something that had a form.

Speaker 6 I suppose that's the best way to describe it, because I was putting a form to it. It wasn't just a rock, and it wasn't just a bit of

Speaker 6 limb or, you know,

Speaker 6 tree stump or anything. It was a formed thing

Speaker 6 which alerted us. And Alice was probably more alert.
She was the one that probably went, oh, no, that's something more. She said it up there.

Speaker 2 Approaching the object, they soon realised it was definitely not a teddy bear.

Speaker 6 So as I said, I picked up a stick thinking, well, I don't know what I'm going to come up to, so I'll just, you know, poke it, whatever it is, just see if it's a teddy or a person.

Speaker 6 And so we made our way to the place and

Speaker 6 yeah, we kind of tried to get in a bit closer and we just we didn't need to use the stick to be honest. We could kind of observe much closer up that it was

Speaker 6 potentially i thought it was a female weren't quite sure initially but we kind of went in a bit closer to look

Speaker 6 and yeah we thought yeah that's that's a that's a person

Speaker 2 at this point any doubts were dispelled they had discovered a fully clothed body among the branches partially submerged in the water i could tell it was some i could see the hair at that point and skin and i knew like it was a person at that point there was a bit of hair like i remember seeing it kind of flowing out like this upon their discovery, they knew they needed to seek emergency assistance.

Speaker 2 In a quick thinking move, Diane found a discarded aerosol paint can nearby. She used it to mark the grass with pink paint, leaving the can as a guide and promptly dialed Triple Zero for help.

Speaker 2 The following is an excerpt from the actual emergency call.

Speaker 3 Is it moving or still?

Speaker 3 Is it in the river or is it still?

Speaker 3 So is it moving or is it still?

Speaker 3 It's in the river. Yeah but

Speaker 3 is it right up on the side though and against the side of it or is it flowing downstream in the river?

Speaker 3 It's still, it's not moving in the river. Okay but what I'm saying is is it floating or is it up against the side? It's up against the side.
It's up against the side okay. Yeah.

Speaker 3 On the same side as you?

Speaker 3 Yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 We're looking at the woman. She's on her side, looks like a woman to me, I don't know.
How far away from it are you?

Speaker 3 About five

Speaker 3 okay then are you are you happy to wait for the police you don't have to wait right near it no it's kind of like i'm not going to because what i'm going to do is i'm going to give them your phone number and they have any trouble finding you okay they're going to call you but i've let them know i do think i know where you are okay if you've walked about three kilometres from northlands all right

Speaker 2 just after 7pm only half an hour before sunset two police cars pulled into Blake Street, Preston and made their way down to the car park at a nearby sports stadium bordering the parklands by Darrabhin Creek.

Speaker 2 In one car, two divisional patrol constables, and in the other, an acting sergeant.

Speaker 2 Upon hearing about the discovery of a dead body, Diane and Alice might have expected a larger team of police detectives and specialists.

Speaker 2 They were certain it was a body, but it seemed the police needed to verify this themselves before escalating the situation.

Speaker 2 With police officers now in tow, Diane took the lead, guiding them through the parklands towards a footbridge over the creek.

Speaker 6 I can't remember what we spoke of, to be honest. I remember that we must have said something to prompt them to say, no, we have to wait for the dive squad, which I thought was a bit weird.

Speaker 6 I was like, the dive squad? It's 300 mil of water. Like, what are you diving after? That's what I was thinking.
Well, that's what you said. Oh, they're probably looking for evidence.

Speaker 6 You know, go check in the water. I said, oh, that probably makes sense.

Speaker 2 The officers, after thanking Diane and Alice, continued on their own, vanishing into the dense shrubbery. They soon found the pink aerosol can Diane had left lying in the grass.

Speaker 2 Looking over the steep bank into the creek they were confronted with a disturbing sight. A body partially submerged in the water clad in a pink dressing gown amidst the branches.

Speaker 2 Even for experienced officers, it was an unsettling sight as the appearance suggested the body had been in the water for some time.

Speaker 2 They decided to leave everything untouched, securing the scene for the detectives from the Criminal Investigation Unit, CIU, as well as calling in the water police.

Speaker 2 But what about the homicide squad? Yes, they were notified, but the responsibility for the scene rested with detectives from the CIU.

Speaker 2 The homicide squad's involvement hinged on whether the CIU detected any suspicious circumstances.

Speaker 2 Currently, the detectives were working with few clues. The body of a a young woman in a pink dressing gown, her slender build and long brown hair hinting at her age, somewhere in her 20s.

Speaker 2 One detective's examination led to an initial assessment of non-suspicious circumstances.

Speaker 9 The deceased was placed on a tarp and I examined the deceased for any wounds or signs of violence. There appeared to be no obvious signs of any types of wounds or trauma caused to the deceased.

Speaker 9 The deceased appeared to be female in her early 20s, wearing a sock on her left foot, no sock on her right foot, tight-fitting dark jeans, dark-coloured singlet tucked in, a red bra, a pink dressing gown, a tiger pattern hair clip, a bling-type ring on her right ring finger, and an anklet on her left ankle.

Speaker 9 It was deemed at this stage that the circumstances were not suspicious. I then contacted and updated the homicide squad in relation to the incident.

Speaker 2 The homicide squad would not be handling this case and it would remain with the CIU.

Speaker 2 But despite the absence of obvious injuries or suspicious items, you have to admit, it was still pretty odd. So why were the police so sure it wasn't suspicious?

Speaker 2 If it was a medical related matter, then sure, they can happen without warning. And we've all heard of stories where the fittest people out running have suddenly dropped dead due to cardiac events.

Speaker 2 But whoever this was clearly hadn't been out for a jog or cycle along the beautiful paths in her dressing gown.

Speaker 2 Ex-homicide detective Charlie Bazzina, in his his book The Job, Fighting Crime from the Front Line, sheds light on police decision-making in such cases.

Speaker 8 I was very selective about which scenes we attended. We couldn't afford to waste resources on a whim because it might have caused another genuine homicide investigation to suffer.

Speaker 2 The decision not to involve the homicide squad also meant no additional experts were called to the scene.

Speaker 8 The homicide squad has access to a selection of raft of forensic specialists, including a crime scene examiner, chemist, biologist, botanist, anthropologist, pathologist, entomologist, arson examiners, blood spatter experts, ballistics, gunshot residue and Clendenstein drug labs along with the police air wing and canine units just to name a few.

Speaker 2 We will be back after a short break.

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Speaker 2 The detectives noted debris in the trees indicating higher water levels in previous weeks, which led them to consider drowning as a cause of death.

Speaker 2 However, without knowing her identity, they couldn't progress further that night.

Speaker 2 Within the hour, the woman's body was transported to the mortuary and the scene was cleared.

Speaker 2 As darkness fell over Darrabin Creek, the woman in the pink dressing gown, still nameless, remained a mystery.

Speaker 2 The next day, a different detective in the CIU took on the formidable task of identifying the yet unnamed woman. But where would they begin?

Speaker 2 Starting with photographs taken at the creek from the previous day, the officer noted she was wearing only one sock on her left side, triggering a return back to the creek in search of the missing right.

Speaker 2 Despite an extensive search, it was nowhere to be found.

Speaker 2 A label in the dressing gown pointed to the Cotton On brand, but inquiries at a nearby store in Northland shopping centre revealed no recent purchases of such an item.

Speaker 2 There was also no reports of recent thefts of these either.

Speaker 2 Attention then turned to outstanding missing persons reports. For this task, the detective called in the assistance of a leading senior constable who we'll refer to as T.L.

Speaker 2 T. L.
was the obvious choice to help as he was one of the first officers on scene at Darrabin Creek the day before.

Speaker 2 This is also an officer we will come back to.

Speaker 2 According to police statements, and this is important, T.L.

Speaker 2 spent all of the 12th and 13th of October searching the Victorian Police Database for missing persons reports in and around the metropolitan area in an attempt to locate any outstanding missing persons.

Speaker 2 Surely there was a report of a woman missing in the Preston area somewhere in that list. But all roads led nowhere and it was back to square one.

Speaker 2 On the 14th of October, just three days after the body was discovered, a post-mortem examination was performed.

Speaker 2 While initial investigations by detectives didn't raise suspicions, perhaps the forensic pathologist could shed more light on the woman's fate. According to the pathologist, the body was described as

Speaker 9 that of an an adult Caucasian female measuring approximately 170 centimetres in length and weighing 54 kilograms.

Speaker 2 Given her youthful appearance, it was not surprising that there was no evidence of any significant disease process.

Speaker 2 A thorough examination revealed nothing to suggest her death was the result of a medical episode or health-related matter.

Speaker 2 Focus then shifted to any signs of injury on the body.

Speaker 2 It was noted that aside from some minor bruising on her legs and right arm, there was no evidence of trauma, particularly no injuries to her head or neck.

Speaker 2 With no medical or trauma-related issues emerging from the post-mortem examination, the forensic pathologist concluded that the cause of death was consistent with drowning.

Speaker 2 This now explained the how, but without identifying who she was, the police were still no closer to explaining why this happened. The mystery of her identity continued.

Speaker 2 It was around this time Diane and Alice who made the tragic discovery of the body in the creek reached out to police to find out if there had been any updates.

Speaker 6 And I was very upset that the police couldn't find anyone who belonged to her.

Speaker 6 For many reasons I was like for that poor person, they must have people who love them and worry about them. Even if they don't know she's missing, when they do find out, they're going to be upset.

Speaker 2 While still actively monitoring reported missing persons persons and exploring the option of a media release, on the 18th of October, one week after the discovery in the creek, police arranged for a door knock and letter drop within the surrounding residential area.

Speaker 2 When a Preston resident living in Seston Street came home and checked her letterbox, she discussed the letter with her family.

Speaker 2 Their collective concerns were enough to make contact with Crime Stoppers, reporting they believed the unidentified woman was their neighbour.

Speaker 2 So they said that they found a young female in the creek and they were trying to identify her just based off descriptions like hair, colour.

Speaker 11 And I went, oh no, no, come on.

Speaker 2 And when we read it

Speaker 2 and we knew straight away, oh my goodness, that's Louisa.

Speaker 2 Finally, a lead. Receiving this information, the detective working this case entered Louisa's name into the Victorian Police Database and identified a record of her fingerprints already in the system.

Speaker 2 A request was made to make a manual comparison between these records and the prints obtained during the post-mortem.

Speaker 2 At 7:55 a.m. on the 19th of October 2011, eight days after inquiries began to identify her, the body in the creek was formally identified as 24-year-old Louisa Ioannidis.

Speaker 5 Describe Louisa,

Speaker 5 ugly, fun to be around, smart,

Speaker 5 but very mischievous, you know, at the same time.

Speaker 2 This is Louisa's older half-brother, Anastasios, better known to his family, friends, and those around him as Tass.

Speaker 2 Louisa and Tash share the same beautiful mother, Helen.

Speaker 2 As the older brother of 13 years, Tass's relationship with Louisa took on more of a fatherly role than the typical sibling dynamic.

Speaker 5 So

Speaker 5 you felt like there was things that she was holding, things that she wouldn't say or something.

Speaker 5 Once you saw that smile, because she would always smile whenever we saw, you know, whenever we saw each other, I just held on to that and it made our conversation, in most cases, great.

Speaker 5 There were times in the early days that our relationship wasn't great because I had to step in and then try and give him some guidance.

Speaker 5 Stay out of trouble, go to school, stop wagging, you know, because there was a bit of that going on too. And just to keep away from

Speaker 5 scumbags, that's it.

Speaker 2 Those who knew Louisa all shared the same sentiment about her. She was a glamour.

Speaker 11 Oh, she was glamorous. Yeah.
They used to do my makeup. Even Louisa's sister, she used to do my makeup.
Come on, let's get you dressed and do your hair.

Speaker 11 So they were always, I'm like, where do you get your clothes? You got to teach me. So she was always ready for the whole day, like she was going to conquer the whole world.

Speaker 11 You never saw her not dressed at all head to toe. Her beautiful hair, her makeup.
She was just beautiful in and out.

Speaker 2 Tesla spoke to his sister on September the 26th, 2011, just two weeks before her body's discovery. Louisa had turned up at his house unannounced.

Speaker 2 She seemed down, not quite herself and didn't stay long.

Speaker 5 I do recall just her day as she was leaving, just turning around a couple of extra times just

Speaker 5 to see me and just to wave goodbye kind of thing. And then I stayed to the end until they actually got in their car and zoomed off and just to wave and that was it.

Speaker 5 And yeah,

Speaker 5 I don't usually wait. I just let people out the door and that's it.
But this time I remember. vividly just

Speaker 5 there on my porch and that porch that you saw.

Speaker 5 Just waved her off.

Speaker 5 That was the last time I saw Louisa.

Speaker 2 Tass was naturally protective over his naive yet courageous younger sister.

Speaker 2 Since the passing of their mother in 2009, two years before Louisa's death, he had tried to bring as much stability as he could to Louisa's life, helping her to find work and ringing her on a weekly basis.

Speaker 2 It was when she stopped answering Tass's calls and wasn't ringing him back that he really started to worry.

Speaker 12 For a period of time, for a week or two, I was trying to get a hold of her via her phone. They just kept just going straight to her message bank.
I also sent her emails as well.

Speaker 2 He eventually became so concerned that he drove over to her unit in Preston, hoping to find her out back playing with her puppy or feeding their mother's beloved parrot, Gina, who was a bird with an eerie ability to repeat every word she heard.

Speaker 2 When he arrived, however, he found the house locked up and Louisa nowhere to be found. The birdcage, once occupied by Gina the talking parrot, was empty, with the cage door left wide open.

Speaker 2 Louisa cared deeply for her animals and Tass knew in his heart something just wasn't right about all of this.

Speaker 2 He drove directly to Reservoir Police Station and explained his concerns about his missing sister.

Speaker 2 He provided as much information as he could to the officer, including a description and her address at Seston Street, Preston.

Speaker 2 It wasn't long before Tass received the worst possible news.

Speaker 12 A week or a few days later,

Speaker 12 I received a phone call from John, which is my mum's cousin that works in the police force, telling me that they located her body, located her in a creek.

Speaker 12 I remember that moment very vividly.

Speaker 12 I was in my car just heading to work. for my aunts and got me to pull over first, got pulled over.

Speaker 12 And at that that point I had an inkling that what I was about to hear was going to be truly terrible because we hadn't heard anything whatsoever. There he goes Tass.
They found her, she's dead.

Speaker 7 They found her in a creek.

Speaker 12 She was still in her rogue, in Rogue

Speaker 12 and I went into shock. I went into shock.

Speaker 2 Tass was visited by two CIU detectives who had been working relentlessly to identify Louisa. They credited a neighbour's Crime Stoppers tip for providing the crucial lead.

Speaker 2 Another officer, who we've previously referred to as T.L. and had attended both the scene and assisted in helping to identify the body, did not go to Taz's house.
If T.L.

Speaker 2 had gone, Taz would have recognised him immediately. So how would Tass have recognised him?

Speaker 2 Two days, two days before Louise's body was found in the creek, Taz had gone to the reservoir police station and reported her as missing. The officer he spoke with was none other than TL.

Speaker 2 Somehow, within two days of taking down Louise's details as a missing person and then attending a body found at Darrabin Creek, it seems that no connection was made by TL that they could be linked.

Speaker 2 This was despite the creek being only 450 meters away from her home.

Speaker 2 It would then be another eight days of searching by police, part of which was done by TL, before it was a neighbour who rang Crime Stoppers and gave police the lead they were looking for.

Speaker 2 It is truly hard to comprehend how such a vital link went unnoticed during that crucial period.

Speaker 13 You're kidding me. It can't be miscommunication.
It can't be said that the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing.

Speaker 2 This is Professor Kerry Carrington and you can expect to hear more of her forthright approach in upcoming episodes.

Speaker 2 Just a note here, we sought comment from Victoria Police well before recording, and the response they provided on the eve of recording date didn't really clarify this issue.

Speaker 2 We don't know exactly what T.L. or his colleagues would say about his apparent failure to join the dots.

Speaker 2 Meanwhile, Taz held his own reservations regarding how his sister's case had been handled.

Speaker 5 I knew what the police investigation had involved. They had

Speaker 5 related it all to just an accident. So of course

Speaker 5 I was pretty expecting, I was expecting the coroner's decision that it was going to come back as an accidental death.

Speaker 2 While police concluded there was no suspicious circumstances, concerns continued to linger for Taz.

Speaker 2 As the months went by and he worked through the emotions dealing with the passing of his tenacious sister, He decided he needed answers about how his sister came to be at the creek.

Speaker 2 He needed to know what had happened. A family friend explains.

Speaker 10 Tass was not happy with what the coroner came back with because he did not believe that Louisa drowned or whatever.

Speaker 10 And he wanted the case to reopen. And no one, the case closed, and they basically said that the finding was that she drowned.

Speaker 2 In 2013, a year after Tass had made a formal request for an inquest into his sister's death, he received a response from the the coroner advising it had been refused.

Speaker 2 TASS was advised that, based on the evidence made available to the coroner at that time, there was

Speaker 7 no apparent issues that would be likely to be elucidated by an inquest and no legitimate coronial purpose which would be likely to be served by holding an inquest into Miss Ewanitis's death.

Speaker 2 Since her death in 2011, TASS has continued to search for answers around his sister Louise's tragic passing.

Speaker 2 Do you believe she drowned?

Speaker 5 No, I don't. I mean,

Speaker 5 not on her own accord. Okay, because the river, the creek, was not deep as far as I'm concerned.
All right, she knew how to swim.

Speaker 5 And I don't buy that, that she just drowned in a little creek. I just, I don't buy it.

Speaker 2 Taz doesn't buy it. But do we share his doubts? What do other experts in their field think?

Speaker 2 Now, 13 years after her death, we step in to undertake a fresh investigation.

Speaker 2 We'll speak to those who knew her story, re-examine the evidence and explore all theories in our pursuit to find truth behind Louise's fate in the troubled waters of Dariban Creek.

Speaker 2 One thing is clear, from speaking to Tass, it's evident that attempting this on his own was taking a significant toll on him.

Speaker 2 How are you feeling?

Speaker 2 You've gone through a lot.

Speaker 5 Getting a little bit fatigued to be honest. Yeah.

Speaker 5 And that's been my problem since this illness as well. I'm getting very fatigued.

Speaker 5 But I do really want to finish so you know the matter can progress.

Speaker 2 Still to come on troubled waters.

Speaker 5 I kept the toilet on my listen mum be careful going there.

Speaker 10 Her brother and her mother supported her at the time and said go back and we will connect you with a few people we know there that will be able to help you.

Speaker 5 And yeah, sure enough it wasn't alright.

Speaker 1 Thanks for listening. If you'd like to hear the rest of Troubled Waters just search for it wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 It's a CaseFile Presents production created by the same team behind Casefile with the same high standards you've come to expect from us. We hope you find the series as compelling as we do.

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