Matty - Episode 1

Speaker 1 This episode is brought to you by Gab.

Speaker 1 It's that time of year again. The holidays are coming fast.
And if your kids are anything like mine, that list is already getting pretty long.

Speaker 1 And let's be honest, some of the things on that list make us stop and think, like a smartphone.

Speaker 1 What makes me nervous about kids having phones isn't the screen time, it's everything they can stumble across online.

Speaker 1 There's so much out there they're not ready for, and once they see it, you can't take it back. It's scary how easily they can end up in those corners of the internet without even meaning to.

Speaker 1 I just want my child to feel connected and included without being exposed to all that too soon.

Speaker 1 That's why I was so relieved when I found Gab.

Speaker 1 Gab offers phones and watches made just for kids. No internet, no social media, and just the right features for their age.
Kids want phones to feel independent and connected.

Speaker 1 As parents, we want to know they're safe. With Gab, you can have both and protect them from the scary stuff.
With the Gab's Tech-In Steps approach, kids get the right tech at the right time.

Speaker 1 From watches with the GPS tracking for the youngest explorers, to the perfect first phone with no internet or social media, to the teen phone with parent-approved apps.

Speaker 1 So get ready for a Christmas morning they'll never forget, the one where they get their first phone. And really, it's a gift for you too, because these kids say phones will give you peace of mind.

Speaker 1 Visit gab.com slash casefile and use code CaseFile for a special holiday offer. That's gabb.com slash casefile.

Speaker 1 Gab.

Speaker 1 Tech-in steps, independence for them, peace of mind for you.

Speaker 1 Stop spending hours in the kitchen and a fortune on takeout and delivery. SUVI is the simple solution that takes all the stress out of planning dinner.

Speaker 1 SUVI is a smart countertop oven and a flexible meal delivery service. And right now, SUVI is on sale.

Speaker 1 The SUVI kitchen robot has built-in refrigeration so you can set up dinner in the morning and SUVI will keep it cold until it's time to cook so you don't even have to be home to start it.

Speaker 1 With Tap to Cook technology, the oven knows just how to cook your meal. Just load the meals into the Suvi cooking pans, tap the card to your appliance, and set what time you want the food to be ready.

Speaker 1 Chef crafted meals are delivered right to your door. You can choose from over 50 meals with new options added each week.

Speaker 1 The Suvi kitchen robot fits on the counter and has 15 cook modes including air fry and slow cook. You use it to cook any recipe.
Try Suvi risk-free and come home to a hot home-cooked meal.

Speaker 1 Check out Suvi's Black Friday sale going on right now.

Speaker 1 Go to suvy.com/slash casefile to save $150 and get 16 free meals when you order. That's suvie.com/slash casefile.

Speaker 1 Save time, eat better with Suvi.

Speaker 1 Hi, it's Casey here. As you know, CaseFile will be back in 2026 for our 10th year with all new episodes.

Speaker 1 Earlier this year, you might have noticed that we released the first episodes of some of the CaseFile Presents shows we've produced in the Casefile feed.

Speaker 1 The decision to do so came after I learnt something surprising while talking with people at our live events.

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 It 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. Today, we're sharing another one of those shows, Matty.

Speaker 1 Matty was originally released in 2022 as a Spotify exclusive, meaning you could only listen to it on that specific platform.

Speaker 1 But now, for the first time, the entire MATI series is available available everywhere, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 Matty was the second podcast series we made in collaboration with Lauren O'Keefe from the Myst Foundation, previously known as the Missing Persons Advocacy Network, or MPAN.

Speaker 1 Lauren works tirelessly to support families of missing loved ones, and this series is a powerful example of what drives her work.

Speaker 1 Matty tells the story of Matthew Leveson, a 20-year-old who went missing in Sydney in 2007.

Speaker 1 His disappearance led to a decade-long fight by his parents, Mark and Faye Leveson, to bring their son home.

Speaker 1 The Leveson search uncovered many twists, countless hurdles, and years of stonewalling, along with moments of both good and bad investigative work.

Speaker 1 It's a story filled with heartbreak, perseverance, and the relentless pursuit of the truth.

Speaker 1 In Matty, Lauren O'Keefe documents the Levesons' determination in the face of unimaginable loss, showing the strength of a family's love and their refusal to give up, no matter how long it takes.

Speaker 1 We're releasing the first episode here on the case file feed. You can find the full series by searching for Maddie, that's M-A-T-T-Y,

Speaker 1 wherever you get your podcasts. Now, here's episode one.

Speaker 2 This podcast contains explicit language, sexual themes, and drug use.

Speaker 2 Have you ever had that terrifying experience at a crowded place where for just a few moments you've lost sight of your child?

Speaker 2 Your heart starts racing, adrenaline floods your body, and you are instantly and utterly desperate and vulnerable.

Speaker 2 Worried, sick.

Speaker 2 I want you to imagine if those few moments extended into an hour,

Speaker 2 a week,

Speaker 2 a year,

Speaker 2 or a lifetime.

Speaker 2 As you hear these words, hundreds of people will disappear. Mothers, brothers, daughters, husbands.

Speaker 2 No one's ever prepared to have a loved one go missing. It's a scenario usually confined to fictional storylines.
But it happens to all sorts of people, all around the world, for all kinds of reasons.

Speaker 2 It's a frantic situation and time is of the essence.

Speaker 2 Media opportunities are coveted, but those precious seconds of screen time or words on a page are usually limited to a few vital statistics.

Speaker 2 Your loved one is so much more than their height, date of birth or what they were wearing when they were last seen.

Speaker 2 My name is Lauren O'Keefe.

Speaker 2 When my brother Dan disappeared in 2011, he was 24 years old and because the circumstances weren't deemed suspicious, none of the police resources we'd been led to expect from TV shows were available to our family.

Speaker 2 We didn't know where to begin, but we knew we needed help. So on day three, I created a Facebook page to implore the Australian public.

Speaker 2 The support was unprecedented and prompted families of other missing people to reach out and ask for advice.

Speaker 2 So in 2013, I founded the Missing Persons Advocacy Network, MPAN, to create awareness for missing people in a way that humanises them and engages the public, as well as providing practical and emotional support to their families and friends left behind.

Speaker 2 I first met Mark and Faye Leveson at a support group morning tea in 2012.

Speaker 2 Even though their case was completely different to ours, their hope, tenacity and drive in a room bursting with grief, brokenness and exhaustion was the example I needed to see.

Speaker 2 That you could still function and maintain that determination long term.

Speaker 2 We stayed in touch over the following years, reaching out when we'd see each other's developments in the media.

Speaker 2 And when Matt was found on what would have been my brother's 30th birthday, I was struck with a deep and conflicting sense of relief and an overwhelming sadness.

Speaker 2 Their tireless, near-decade-long search was a remarkable but heart-wrenching testament of their unconditional love.

Speaker 2 Despite unimaginable hurdles, they accomplished exactly what they promised. To bring Maddie home.

Speaker 2 Missingness is an experience that stays with you, just below the surface, ready to be triggered by anything from a missed call from a private number to a poster on a telegraph pole.

Speaker 2 Most families close the public's door into their lives once the search is over. But Mark and Faye continue to share their son, their pain and their struggles.

Speaker 2 I wanted to understand why, as well as what that decade of their lives was really like behind all the publicity embellishing their nightmare.

Speaker 2 I also wanted to give them an opportunity to talk about the things that were missing from the public conversation: a chance for them to have their say without the restrictions, pressure, and scrutiny of the media spotlight.

Speaker 2 This podcast is dedicated to Maddie, his family, and families like theirs.

Speaker 2 No one is ever prepared for a loved one to suddenly disappear. That's the thing about missingness.

Speaker 2 When someone you love vanishes into thin air, every family that experiences it has to figure it out for themselves.

Speaker 2 Where do you start? What do you do? Who can help?

Speaker 2 Mark and Faye Leveson have endured untold hurdles in their search to find their son Matt and fight for justice.

Speaker 2 Over the past 15 years, the couple has done countless TV, print and radio interviews. But despite the extensive media coverage, the public only gets small clips.

Speaker 2 We only hear the buzzwords favoured by the media. distraught parents, grieving family, find our son.

Speaker 2 But how much does the world really know about the battles the Levesons tirelessly fought in their efforts to find Matt?

Speaker 2 There were so many other things happening in the background, things that no one would realize unless they were personally confronted by them.

Speaker 2 By allowing the Levisons to tell their full story, It's our hope to give the audience an insight into what families and friends of missing people go through.

Speaker 2 Financial challenges, administrative obstacles, the loss of friends, people trying to exploit your loss to their benefit.

Speaker 2 And perhaps the hardest thing of all, moving forward when you feel everything should be put on hold.

Speaker 2 Before getting into the story of when Matt went missing, I want to begin when the Levesons were still a regular family with regular highs and lows.

Speaker 2 This way we get to meet Mark and Faye away from the glare of cameras, Before they had to face press conferences and stand side by side, trying to contain their emotions so they could get their message across.

Speaker 2 And when we hear who they were, we have a much better understanding of how they became warriors for their son.

Speaker 1 I grew up in Beverly Hills in Sydney and just to the normal, quiet little suburban street. My stepbrother was much older than me, so I basically was an only child growing up.

Speaker 1 I was schooled locally at Beverly Hills North Primary School and sadly, Nguyen Boys High School, which is no longer there. It's now been closed.
My friends refer to me as a Nob.

Speaker 1 I'm a Nguyen old boy, and we get together at least twice a year, a bunch of us. I went to uni after school because I didn't want to have an office job.

Speaker 1 I wanted to be out in the outdoors and out in the open, and so I did surveying. I did a year of surveying and passed the first year, but after that first year, I just didn't like it.

Speaker 1 So I worked in an office again. Where I was working they offered me the chance to do a degree and I became an accountant.

Speaker 1 I started to see a few clients privately as well and my client base grew to the point where I left work and started my accountancy practice.

Speaker 2 Faye's upbringing was strict. Her father was of the view that education for his daughter wasn't necessary or important.

Speaker 2 Her role, as he saw it, was to marry and have babies.

Speaker 3 I had a very strict upbringing. My sister and brother were 10 and 11 years older than me, so it was a completely different generation.
Went to Catholic schools, went to fourth form.

Speaker 3 In fourth form, my dad thought that women should be barefoot and pregnant and education would be wasted on a female. So I left school and went to business college.

Speaker 3 and I only went halfway through it, left there and got myself a job as a Girl Friday in the city.

Speaker 3 And I didn't like traveling into the city by train, so I ended up getting another job in an accounts office.

Speaker 2 Ironically, Mark and Faye would start their lifelong love story at someone else's wedding. Hearing them recount their courtship is the stuff of romantic movies.

Speaker 2 Eyes locking across the table, dancing all night, kissing under the stars.

Speaker 1 In my street, I had a good mate across the road who's also a knob, and we still see him regularly and he would often have his cousins over as kids to play.

Speaker 1 We'd play footy or cricket in the street and I used to play with him and his cousins and then when his elder sister got married I was asked to their wedding.

Speaker 1 They asked their cousin to the wedding as well and that cousin you're sitting across from you right now is just fate.

Speaker 2 Oh my gosh, it was fate.

Speaker 3 It was fate and it was love at first sight and all the way home the car was in trouble from dad because Mark and I kissed and we were the talk of the wedding and we took the limelight off the bride and groom

Speaker 3 and it just

Speaker 3 went from there.

Speaker 1 43 years this year.

Speaker 3 Yep, we've been married 43 years this year.

Speaker 2 Just two and a half months after meeting, Mark and Faye got engaged. They kept their engagement a secret because Faye was only 17.

Speaker 2 In those days, the man asked the woman's father for her hand in marriage.

Speaker 2 As her 18th birthday got closer, Mark approached Faye's dad to ask his permission to marry her. Mark learnt the hard way that it was best to wait till the father of the bride wasn't holding a weapon.

Speaker 1 Back in those days, we thought to do the right thing to ask Lady's father for her hand in marriage, and

Speaker 1 I chose a bad time.

Speaker 1 He was cutting fish with a very large knife. and in the backyard.
I asked him and he spun me with this knife in his hand. I thought I'd done the wrong thing here, I'm sure.

Speaker 3 And he said, no.

Speaker 2 But didn't he want you to be barefoot and pregnant?

Speaker 3 He did. But

Speaker 3 I wasn't 18 yet.

Speaker 1 Right, okay.

Speaker 3 Mark couldn't give me the ring until I was 18 years old and we weren't to tell anybody we're thinking about getting engaged till after my birthday. So once I turned 18, we're engaged.

Speaker 3 And then he said, you're not getting married for another three years. We railroaded him.
We were married within 12 months.

Speaker 2 How did he take that?

Speaker 3 He went along with it. Begrudgingly, I think.
Begrudgingly, but yeah.

Speaker 2 Mark and Faye wanted to have children, but despite the constant questions from those close to them, they weren't in any rush. They were both so young and wanted to enjoy life.

Speaker 3 It got to the stage where I was 24 when I fell pregnant with Peter. And we were sort of getting, you've been married nearly six years.
When are you going to have children?

Speaker 2 Did you have a clear number in mind of how many kids you wanted to have? Was it sort of a plan? You're an accountant, so was...

Speaker 1 The odd thing was, I think we had the discussion. I wanted two, Faye wanted four.

Speaker 2 In the end, Faye and Mark compromised with three. Their firstborn, Peter, middle child, Matthew, and Jason, the baby, were all born just a few years apart.

Speaker 2 During Faye's pregnancy with Matthew, she had a premature labour scare.

Speaker 3 All the boys all came early. Maddie and Peter, they were both due Christmas Day and they were both in juice.
But with Maddie, I went into labour early. October long weekend, I went into heavy labour.

Speaker 3 And so Mark went from Picnic Point to the Sydney Adventist Hospital up at Waronga in under half an hour.

Speaker 1 It was a crazy ride because we couldn't have Matt, we didn't know he didn't know it was a boy that stayed, we couldn't have Matt that early.

Speaker 1 And we just erased up there, we went through red lights, speeding it up upwards of 140k up a major road called Woodville Road. Not as busy as it was these days.

Speaker 1 If cops see me and say, look, shoot me, I'll ship my tires, we're not stopping. And we got it there.
I didn't see any police at all.

Speaker 1 We got there in an amazing time and the staff were there at the front with a wheelchair and a syringe and stopped labour straight away.

Speaker 2 The injections prevented Faye from giving birth prematurely. She carried Matt for two more months before being given a date to be induced on the 11th of December 1986.

Speaker 2 The date was the same day her first son Peter was born and Faye was worried that her two boys would have to share a birthday.

Speaker 3 So I'm in hospital, I'm keeping my legs cross.

Speaker 3 As soon as it became midnight I said you can come any time now and they induced me and yeah he was born the 12th of December but I always said they were going to have separate birthdays, separate parties, separate cakes.

Speaker 3 So I kept to that promise.

Speaker 2 Three years later, in 1989, the Levesons' younger son Jason was born, completing the young family. He was born prematurely and the boys were very protective of their tiny baby brother.

Speaker 3 Matt and Jason were so much alike, they always locked horns. But when Jason was born, he was so prem, I had to stop going out with him because they were very protective of him.

Speaker 3 Why are they looking at him? And they tell people to stay away from him. They go to touch him or, oh, isn't he cute? How prim was he? And that stay away.

Speaker 3 But as they got older, they like typical boys, love-hate relationships, they lock lock horns. And

Speaker 3 Jason always accused Matthew of trying to drown him in the pool, but it doesn't tell you that he goaded him.

Speaker 3 But when it came to the crunch, if one of them was in trouble, they were always there. They were always there for one another.

Speaker 1 The odd thing was, there'd be times when, often actually, when the one, the boys would go and play at Felsa's house, a friend's place. And I'd get home and I said, what's happened to the kids?

Speaker 1 It's so quiet. And if ever one wasn't there, it didn't matter which one, it broke the cycle.
cycle.

Speaker 1 It was really, really odd. And if there's three there, it's odd.
Two there, it's really quiet.

Speaker 2 As Matt grew older, he reminded Faye of herself, with his stubborn personality and occasional quick temper.

Speaker 2 He adored animals and dreamed of becoming a vet one day. He loved chocolate, playing the piano and listening to Celine Dion.

Speaker 2 The Levesons raised their sons in the Sydney suburbs of Picnic Point and then Bonnet Bay. Bay.

Speaker 2 With three energetic boys on the go, their household was a noisy but loving one.

Speaker 2 Matt and his brothers fought often, but they loved each other fiercely.

Speaker 2 Did they all go to the same primary and high school?

Speaker 3 Yeah, they did.

Speaker 3 Well, they all went to the same primary school. Peter was in year six.

Speaker 3 Matt was in year four

Speaker 3 and Jason was in year two.

Speaker 1 One. One.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 the school they were going to at the time wasn't too good and it was sort of like thugs rule.

Speaker 3 So once Peter left the school we took them out and put them into a small school up the road where Maddie blossomed because Maddie was very introvert then.

Speaker 3 As a child he was introvert he wanted to do craft and that he wasn't into contact sports. He played tennis, but he didn't want any like football or anything like that.
So he was a bit

Speaker 3 kids would pick on him. We took them out of there and they blossomed.
They both blossomed. And then when they went to high school, they went to the same high school.

Speaker 3 It's funny because Peter and Jason didn't really like the high school, but Matt loved it. And his friends, they were fantastic.
They had a good group of friends.

Speaker 2 Matt's first girlfriend was a girl named Rachel. They were close friends, first and foremost.
And when their teen relationship didn't last, they remained really close.

Speaker 2 When he was 17, Matt came out to Rachel before he told anyone else. She kept his confidence as he figured out how to tell everyone.

Speaker 2 On the whole, people were supportive.

Speaker 3 So when Matt did come out at school, they were supportive of him, which was great.

Speaker 2 What about with your friends? Was there any issues?

Speaker 1 Not really.

Speaker 1 I think none.

Speaker 1 I think none, our friend.

Speaker 1 It's not like it was. It's

Speaker 1 friends of our age, I think.

Speaker 3 There was one, but we sort of drifted away from them but at that stage he was out of our lives which i was grateful for and there was one other that used to talk about them and once he found out that matt was gay that changed his whole perspective of things and when matt went missing there wasn't much media on it because we weren't allowed to go to the media but there was a small thing in one of the papers and it said young gay boy goes missing my mother read it and she said you didn't tell me matt was gay that's your first question?

Speaker 1 Your grandson's missing. Oh my god.
And you're asking, you didn't say he was gay?

Speaker 2 I was going to ask at that point,

Speaker 2 did your mother know? What about your parents, Mark?

Speaker 1 At that stage, they'd both gone. And

Speaker 3 they would have been very excited.

Speaker 1 It wouldn't have bothered them anymore. Okay, okay.

Speaker 3 The boys were their world. They wouldn't care.

Speaker 2 In the end, Matt chose to tell his mum and dad by letter. He felt that if he got it off his chest, he could focus all his attention on his upcoming high school certificate, HSC, exams.

Speaker 2 You can imagine the heart-in-the-throat moment when they got a text from Matt saying he had left a letter for them to read.

Speaker 1 Stop spending hours in the kitchen and a fortune on takeout and delivery. SUVI is the simple solution that takes all the stress out of planning dinner.

Speaker 1 SUVI is a smart countertop oven and a flexible meal delivery service. And right now, SUVI is on sale.

Speaker 1 The SUV kitchen robot has built-in refrigeration so you can set up dinner in the morning and Suvi will keep it cold until it's time to cook so you don't even have to be home to start it.

Speaker 1 With Tap to Cook technology, the other knows just how to cook your meal. Just load the meals into the SUV cooking pans, tap the card to your appliance and set what time you want the food to be ready.

Speaker 1 Chef crafted meals are delivered right to your door. You can choose from over 50 meals with new options added each week.

Speaker 1 The Suvi Kitchen Robot fits on the counter and has 15 cook modes including air fry and slow cook. You use it to cook any recipe.
Try Suvi risk-free and come home to a hot, home-cooked meal.

Speaker 1 Check out Suvi's Black Friday sale going on right now.

Speaker 1 Go to suvy.com slash casefile to save $150 and get 16 free meals when you order. That's suvie.com slash casefile.

Speaker 1 Save time, eat better with SUVI.

Speaker 1 Running your business on an outdated phone system is like trying to stream a movie on dial-up internet.

Speaker 1 Quo, formerly OpenPhone, is the modern solution that helps you work smarter, build stronger connections, and never miss a lead. Because your business and your customers deserve nothing less.

Speaker 1 As the number one business phone system, Quo makes communication simple. Work from anywhere, share one number across your team, and let AI handle call logs, summaries, and after-hours support.

Speaker 1 Whether you're on your own or leading a team, Quo keeps you connected and helps you deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Speaker 1 Quo is offering my listeners 20% off your first six months at quo.com/slash casefile.

Speaker 1 That's quo.com slash casefile.

Speaker 1 You can even keep your existing number for free. Quo.
No missed calls, no missed customers.

Speaker 1 Why choose a sleep number smart bed?

Speaker 3 Can I make my site softer?

Speaker 1 Can I make my site firmer?

Speaker 4 Can we sleep cooler?

Speaker 1 Sleep number does that. Cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side.
Your sleep number setting. Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night.

Speaker 1 It's our Black Friday sale, recharged this season with a bundle of cozy, soothing comfort. Now only $17.99 for our C2 mattress and base plus free premium delivery.

Speaker 1 Price is higher in Alaska and Hawaii. Check it out at a sleep number store or sleepnumber.com today.

Speaker 3 Just before his HSC, actually the night before the HSC started.

Speaker 2 Oh, what a stressful time.

Speaker 3 We thought he was going well in the HSC. There didn't seem to be any struggles or problems.
He was doing the best he could.

Speaker 3 And he went out. He was going to his partner's place at that stage, his first boyfriend.
And

Speaker 3 he sends us a text saying, I've left a letter on the desk. My heart sank.
So I go in there and his room was perfect. And here's this letter, this envelope.

Speaker 3 And I felt so sick in the stomach, I opened it up.

Speaker 2 The letter read,

Speaker 2 To dear mum and dad, I know this is not the most appropriate way of telling you what I'm about to say, but I cannot think of another way to do it, and I want to clear it up before the HSC so it doesn't worry me.

Speaker 2 I do not know what the outcome of this letter will be, but I hope you will love me and accept me for who I am.

Speaker 2 The rumours that you have probably been hearing and vibes you have picked up about me are true. I am gay.

Speaker 2 Please don't hate me as this is just who I am and it is the decision I have made. Nothing can change it as this is who I am.

Speaker 2 I love you so much and I will forever love you. I am writing to you in the hope that you can understand my life's choices and so I can try to be more open to you and not live my life as a lie.

Speaker 2 I want to be honest with you about me and my life.

Speaker 2 As you are reading this, please take into mind that this is very difficult for me to say. and that's why I found it easy writing to you.

Speaker 2 As you probably guessed by now, Daniel is my boyfriend and I do deeply love him.

Speaker 2 And he is my partner to the formal.

Speaker 2 Please do not worry about what my friends will say as they do know about me and Daniel and they have been so supportive over the last couple of months.

Speaker 2 I do have such great friends and I thank you for this because I would not have them without you letting me go to Innerborough School.

Speaker 2 I am so grateful for what you have given me in my life and my life yet to come. I will forever love you as my parents and I hope you will love me back.
Love always,

Speaker 2 Matthew John. Kiss hug, kiss hug, kiss hug.

Speaker 3 He was telling us that he was gay and thanked us for sending him to the school he was going to. His friends knew they were very supportive, but he had to get it off his chest before starting his HSC.

Speaker 3 So it just said, get your butt on.

Speaker 1 It didn't matter. It changes nothing.
It changes.

Speaker 1 Get out and keep studying.

Speaker 2 Of course, Matt's coming out wasn't a complete surprise to his family. They had seen the signs for years, since he was a small child, in fact.

Speaker 2 But after he came out officially, Matt seemed lighter somehow. He could focus on his studies, have a boyfriend, and release the stress of keeping his sexuality a secret.

Speaker 2 He could live his best authentic life.

Speaker 3 We knew, so it didn't really bother us at all. And he liked to be well dressed.

Speaker 3 It was good once he came out because, you know, it was on the table and it didn't matter. And he used to tell me, no, don't wear that, mum.
You know, he was my fashion

Speaker 3 stylist, but yeah.

Speaker 2 After the HSC was over, Matt left school and began a course in pathology. He was enthusiastic about his studies and wanted to continue them.

Speaker 2 However, as Faye explains, he had a few things stacked against him.

Speaker 3 He was doing that and he was really enjoying it, but unfortunately Matt wasn't a terrific speller.

Speaker 3 So that came against him in one of the exams and he had to sit the unit again because of the spelling.

Speaker 3 So after sitting for it again and did that unit again and he was one mark of passing, they took it off him for the spelling.

Speaker 2 In the end, it proved too difficult and Matt decided to drop the pathology course.

Speaker 2 He'd been working for a while at discount department store Big W and then got a job at a call center for NRMA Insurance.

Speaker 3 And he loved it, absolutely loved it. He loved the people there, they loved him.

Speaker 3 And yeah, but he always had a plan to get out of there and get into the computer side of things because he was a whiz at the computers. He set up all our computers down at work.

Speaker 3 He got the Microsoft book and read up on it how to connect a server and he put a server in at work and linked it all up got our computers up and running he had all our sound systems running here at home through the TV and that well he was the go-to person for the teachers you know when they would get new gear at school I'd say here's your camera Matt here's the manual learn then teach us

Speaker 2 Matt also loved traveling and always tried to get the best travel deals with his boyfriend Daniel

Speaker 3 he and Daniel loved to travel I didn't know there was such a thing. They'd have their laptops side by side and they get on Happy Hour.
I think it was Virgin or Jetstar.

Speaker 3 one of them have happy hour at certain nights and they get flights $29 down to Tasmania they got a flight over to New Zealand for I think it was under a hundred dollars so at midnight now they'd do when the specials came online they go whack whack and press their inner button and they get seats on the same

Speaker 3 and and daniel was at the time he was going to be a pilot so he was training out of bankstown

Speaker 3 and He didn't, Matt wasn't telling me that he was going up in the small plane with him when he was allowed to take passengers.

Speaker 3 And this particular day he shows shows me the photos look mum there's our house i said were you up in the plane with yeah

Speaker 2 here's your house from 5 000 feet with a trainee pilot yes

Speaker 2 oh my gosh

Speaker 2 despite their adventures together matt and daniel broke up by then another man had come onto the scene a much older man

Speaker 2 and right from the time he appeared The Levesons could see he was not a good influence on their young son.

Speaker 3 We knew things were a bit rocky. He went to Thailand with Daniel and when they came back they separated and I think at this time that Atkins was on the scene.

Speaker 2 And from the moment Atkins came on the scene there was trouble.

Speaker 2 When Matt's relationship with Daniel ended Matt was working as a supervisor at a Big W store in Menai, a suburb near the Levesons home in Bonnet Bay.

Speaker 2 Matt was a reliable employee, so when he didn't show up for a shift on the 13th of August 2006, his manager phoned Mark and Fay.

Speaker 1 He was working part-time at Big W. He loved that job as well, and there's some good colleagues there, and

Speaker 1 the manager called, I think it was Faye, one day, said, where's Matthew? And he said, well, we don't know, he's not home. And he hadn't turned up for work and they expecting him.

Speaker 1 Again, he loved it, so it wasn't like him to not be there.

Speaker 2 The Levesons were concerned. They tried calling Matt, but he wasn't answering his phone.
They reached out to all Matt's friends to see if they knew where he was.

Speaker 2 One of them said that Matt had gone out the night before to meet a guy called Mike, but no one was able to shed any further light on who Mike was.

Speaker 2 Matt's parents were at a loss. It was so out of character for him to just disappear.

Speaker 2 Eventually, they were worried enough to call the police.

Speaker 1 So we were concerned, so we rang the police and reported him missing, and they came out here and went through his room and looked for what they could see.

Speaker 1 And they were able to get from friends that Matt was with,

Speaker 3 do you recall who he was with, Farm?

Speaker 3 He went to the art nightclub. Like, we knew he was going to some nightclubs with school friends and other mates.
And one of his schoolmates said, oh,

Speaker 3 he was meeting a Michael there, a Mike.

Speaker 3 And we didn't know who this was. So we told the police that.

Speaker 2 Police soon discovered that Mike's full name was Michael Atkins and he worked as a security guard for the Sutherland United Services Club.

Speaker 2 While hunting down the contact details for Atkins, one of Matt's friends phoned the Levisons to say he'd spotted Matt's car on Allison Crescent in Menai, which was near the shopping centre where Matt worked.

Speaker 2 The Levesons hurried down to the spot. The car was locked but Faye had a spare key.
The police inspected the vehicle's interior.

Speaker 2 They found nothing of note and the Levesons were were permitted to take the car back home.

Speaker 2 Police visited Atkins at his workplace to ask if he knew where Matt was.

Speaker 3 And they finally got the name Michael Atkins.

Speaker 3 So when they phoned him, he said, oh no, I didn't see him. And then, oh yeah, I did see him.
I just said hello, short conversation, then we went our own way.

Speaker 2 At this stage, officers were simply making inquiries to find out where Matt was to ensure he was okay.

Speaker 2 No crimes had been committed and nobody was in trouble. Yet Atkins was lying to the police when he said that he and Matt only had a brief conversation.

Speaker 3 In actual fact, Matty went back to Atkins' place.

Speaker 3 And we didn't know that at this stage. And so Matt rang us the next morning, very angry, saying he was at a friend's place, at Emma's place, I think he said.

Speaker 2 Matt's angry phone call at around one o'clock in the morning did nothing to calm his parents. He said he was at Emma's house and his phone battery had died.

Speaker 2 He said he just needed some time and space to himself due to his recent breakup with Daniel.

Speaker 2 Faye didn't believe him and asked her son to visit the police station so he could update them as to his whereabouts. But Matt hung up on her.

Speaker 2 Faye's instincts were right. Matt wasn't staying with Emma.

Speaker 2 He was at the unit of Michael Atkins in Cronulla, more than a 20 minutes drive away, and had decided that he would be staying there indefinitely. He had no no intention of returning home.

Speaker 2 It's worth pausing here to examine who was Michael Atkins, the man who seemed to steal the Leveson son right out from under them.

Speaker 2 Michael Atkins was raised in a strict Catholic family. His boyhood included an all-boys Catholic school where he was bullied.

Speaker 2 In his mid-teens, Atkins dropped out of school and began an apprenticeship as an electrician.

Speaker 2 Several years later, he began training in ninjutsu and by the time he was 29, he was the third degree ninjutsu-sensei.

Speaker 2 For the lay person,

Speaker 2 this is three steps past a black belt.

Speaker 2 Around this same time, Atkins was still living with his mother near Cronulla. He was also in a relationship with his first long-term girlfriend.

Speaker 2 Eventually, the relationship ended as Atkins didn't want to get married or have children.

Speaker 2 As well as working as an electrician, Atkins found a part-time job as a mobile DJ.

Speaker 2 But he still wanted to make more cash, so he purchased a basketball gaming machine. This machine was installed at Sutherland Basketball Stadium, next to Warratower Oval in Sutherland.

Speaker 2 Remember that location. The Warratower Oval will come up again later in the podcast.

Speaker 2 In 2003, Atkins developed a strong friendship with a 17-year-old boy. It began online, but soon progressed to meeting in person.

Speaker 2 While the boy identified as gay, Atkins did not. It would take another two years for Atkins to accept his own sexuality.

Speaker 2 And once Atkins was out, he was really out.

Speaker 2 He quickly gained a reputation as a player and he spent time online talking to other young gay men.

Speaker 2 Matt was one of them. He too was 17 when he began chatting to Atkins, who by then was 41.

Speaker 2 It would take a couple of years for the two to meet in person, but once they did, things moved very quickly between Matt and Atkins.

Speaker 2 And in August 2006, Matt began living with Atkins in his Tonkin Street Cronulla apartment.

Speaker 2 Eventually, Matt confessed to his parents that he hadn't been staying with Emma, but rather he was now living with Michael Atkins.

Speaker 2 As a result of the anxiety he had caused his family by disappearing and not telling them of his move to Cronulla, Matt promised Mark and Faye that he would never go missing again.

Speaker 2 When things had settled down and it was time for Mark and Faye to meet Matt's new boyfriend, they were troubled. He looked like an old man.

Speaker 2 His taste in music matched their own, and they suspected he was closer to their age.

Speaker 2 Michael Atkins claimed to be 34 years old, but he was actually 43 by that time, 23 years older than Matt.

Speaker 2 But despite what Mark and Faye could clearly see, they faced the dilemma common to parents. Saying something against the partner often has the opposite effect.
Matt was strong-willed.

Speaker 2 If they voiced their concerns, it might cause a rift between them and their son.

Speaker 1 We went, had dinner one night down at Cronulla, wasn't it? I think, where we met Matt and his near partner. And

Speaker 1 this old man turns up,

Speaker 1 which we'll call it that, because his taste in music was phased in my taste in music.

Speaker 1 And Matt was of the belief he was about 10 years older than Matt, who was 20, but he was actually 43 at that stage.

Speaker 1 And telling all the young boys that he was much younger than he was, he'd hide his wallets so they couldn't see his real age. Black hair dye, Botox, buffed from the gym.

Speaker 2 So when you see this old man rock up with your son at this restaurant in Cronulla, what's your, like, were you able to control your facial expression?

Speaker 1 We had to for Matt because we thought if Matt's so strong-willed, and he was, if we said to Matt, Matt, you can't see this guy's too old for you, Matt would have just said, get nicked or something stronger and we'd lose touch with Matt.

Speaker 1 So we accepted him for Matt's sake.

Speaker 2 What was your impression? What were the discussions that you two were having between yourselves? coming back from that initial God, what do we do?

Speaker 3 And we sort of said, well, there's nothing because if we tell him that he can't, he's got to come home, you can't see him anymore, he's just going to tell us to get nicked, but not in those words.

Speaker 3 But what we did later find out, and I beat myself up and I still reckon we should have gone down there and dragged him home. For the first couple of months, Matt was living out of the boot of his car.

Speaker 3 He wasn't, in fact, had his clothes in Atkins' unit. He wouldn't let him in.
As such,

Speaker 3 Matt would have to wait outside the door for him to come home if somebody shut the main entrance.

Speaker 3 So Matt would have to wait on the front doorstep for him and we didn't know this till afterwards but for the first few months Matt was actually living out of the boot of his car.

Speaker 2 When they found this out, courtesy of one of Matt's best friends, Mark and Faye were horrified that Atkins could treat their son like that.

Speaker 2 The treatment didn't bode well, especially at the start of a relationship.

Speaker 2 When Mark and Faye met Atkins again, he seemed cold-hearted. But more worrying than that, this much older man seemed to have control over their son.

Speaker 2 When the couple came over to visit, Atkins would cut the visits short. And another thing that bothered the Levesons was that Atkins rarely gave them opportunities to see their son alone.

Speaker 1 You couldn't engage him in any deep conversation. He discussed his work with you, never discussed his background or family.
He was very shallow with what he would discuss.

Speaker 3 He was very cold, like anybody comes through the front door, we always give them that hug.

Speaker 3 And he was very, there was like this this cold thing you was like hugging an ice cube and you could tell he was very uncomfortable about it but he didn't like being here he wouldn't keep eye contact with you as soon as they finished their lunch or their dinner he's come on matt i've got to go i've got to go to work this one particular time i said no it's okay you go we'll take maddie home no no he's coming I stood my ground.

Speaker 3 I said, no, no, we'll. And poor Matt didn't want to say anything.
Matt would normally tell us, but when Atkins was around, he was very submissive.

Speaker 3 So eventually Atkins went, and Maddie didn't want to go home. He sat here for hours.
We took him home very late that night and he said, I'll have you and dad over for a cup of coffee one day.

Speaker 3 Well, that day never came. Atkins didn't like Maddie having friends in the unit, especially when he wasn't there.

Speaker 3 Rach went over there one day and Atkins didn't like it. So

Speaker 3 he was sort of living like a double life. Matt, I don't know what kept him there.

Speaker 2 By mid-2007, Matt had left his job at Big W and was working at the call centre for an RMA insurance. He and Atkins had been together for a year.
Matt worked from Tuesday to Saturday.

Speaker 2 He was well regarded there and had developed friendships with his colleagues. Matt was looking forward to celebrating his 21st birthday in December.

Speaker 2 He hadn't settled on the exact plans for his party, but he had settled on a present. He wanted to redesign a ring that his grandmother had left him.

Speaker 3 Coming up to Matt's 21st, grandma had left him a ring. He had a picture in one of the newspapers, and I think it was a Cartier ring, that he wanted that we're going to have the ring melted down.

Speaker 3 made up like that. I think it was just one of those thick bands with the diamonds around.
And we never got to see the photo. Because I kept saying to him, Matt, it's getting closer.

Speaker 3 If you want this ring made up, I need the photo. Yeah, I'll get it to you, mum, I'll get it to you, mum.
I said, okay,

Speaker 3 I know you've got friends and that. Do you want a combined party or do you want to go, are you going to go to ARC and have your party and then we just have a small family thingy?

Speaker 3 What do you want to do? And he couldn't make up his mind. We never, never got him

Speaker 3 to tell us exactly what... what he wanted to do.
But one night Atkins sat here when we had the mow for dinner. He goes, oh, we'll have a barbecue with a keg.

Speaker 3 Matt didn't drink beer.

Speaker 3 Matt would have wanted a theme party. And we had cocktail nights.
He used to cook sushi. He have his friends over and have sushi and he'd set the lounge room up like a little Japanese restaurant.

Speaker 3 And yeah, that's the sort of guy he was.

Speaker 2 In those final weeks, Faye realises now Matt had become subdued in her company when Atkins was around.

Speaker 2 And when he was saying goodbye, Matt would hug her for longer longer than usual. And the last hug was a long one, too.

Speaker 2 Mark and Faye Leveson saw Matt at a friend's 21st birthday party towards the middle of September.

Speaker 2 As Matt was leaving, he hugged his mum and told her he loved her.

Speaker 2 Matt's younger brother Jason last saw him about a week before he went missing. Matt had been to the gym and the two brothers talked for about 30 minutes.

Speaker 2 Matt told Jason that he had some photos from the recent Friends 21st and they could meet up soon so he could give them to Jason.

Speaker 2 A few days later, Matt was gone.

Speaker 3 With family get-togethers like birthdays and Christmas, Maddie loved it.

Speaker 3 So, and they'd always, we've since found out they would fight because Matt wanted to go and Atkins didn't and that last 21st we saw Maddie at.

Speaker 3 I rang them to find out if they'd left and he goes, oh no, the princess is doing his hair. He's running late.
In actual actual fact, they were fighting. He didn't want to go down there.

Speaker 3 So they turned up late.

Speaker 1 She luckily did because at the last time she saw Matt alive.

Speaker 3 And

Speaker 3 there was a couple there that were giving him a hard time because he was gay,

Speaker 3 the birthday boys friends.

Speaker 3 And then apparently Atkins and him had an altercation and Jason saw it.

Speaker 3 And Atkins pushed Maddie and Maddie pushed back and Atkins pushed him almost to the ground.

Speaker 3 Then they went outside and Matt had gone to work after that and told them outside, Atkins had pushed him against the brick wall. It was the brick wall or the bush out the front of the golf club.

Speaker 3 And we didn't know that.

Speaker 3 And so when it came time to go, when I said goodbye to Matt, he gave me the biggest bear hug.

Speaker 3 and said, I love you, mum. And it was like he didn't want to go.

Speaker 3 Because up in those few months before he died I said to Matt there's something going on because he'd come come to us and the the saying goodbye

Speaker 3 got more huggier tighter and we tried to get him on his own one day down at work and it got to the state that Atkins wouldn't let him out of his sight everywhere Maddie went Atkins wet and we tried to get him on his own in the office and the receptionist at the time was trying to keep Atkins out there and I took Maddie out to the

Speaker 3 kitchen and we're about to get into a conversation while going somewhere with it and next minute Atkins appeared and he shut up.

Speaker 2 On Saturday the 22nd of September 2007, Matt arrived for his usual shift at an RMA insurance.

Speaker 2 During the morning his mobile was ringing a lot but he didn't answer it. He told a colleague that it was Atkins, but that they were fighting.

Speaker 2 Matt said he'd tell her about it at lunch. The next time the phone rang, Matt didn't answer it.
Instead, he looked at the phone and said, fuck off, Mike.

Speaker 2 At lunch, Matt told his colleague that he was thinking of collecting his work bonuses and heading to London. He said, I've had enough of Mike's bullshit.
He's too jealous.

Speaker 2 When she asked what he meant, he said,

Speaker 2 He thinks he's God's gift to man and he can do whatever he wants, but if another guy shows any interest in me, he gets the shits. He wants threesomes and I don't want it.

Speaker 2 Matt shared his suspicions that Atkins was cheating on him and said he had decided to stand up to Atkins.

Speaker 2 As he drove off at the end of the day, the colleague heard the sound blaring out from Matt's car.

Speaker 2 In his usual fashion, Matt played his music loud. Louder than usual after his brother had installed a subwoofer that took up most of the boot space.

Speaker 2 After work, Matt was looking forward to a night out out clubbing with friends.

Speaker 2 As the night began, Matt, Atkins and Matt's brother Pete hung out for a little while at their mutual friend's house, Jack Smith and Sally White, in Inner Sydney.

Speaker 2 Jack Smith and Sally White are pseudonyms.

Speaker 2 The group then arrived at Ark Nightclub just before 11pm that night for their usual weekend of dancing and partying.

Speaker 2 Some of Matt's other friends were also there that night.

Speaker 2 Matt wore white cargo shorts with a brown tiger stripe pattern belt, white leather shoes and a tight black singlet with the boxing and fitness brand logo Morgan in white letters across the chest.

Speaker 2 Matt and Atkins left the Ark nightclub at some point in the early hours of Sunday the 23rd of September.

Speaker 2 The last time someone had contact with Matt was around 3.30am.

Speaker 2 This was a text message exchange between Matt and a friend who has been given the pseudonym John Burns.

Speaker 2 Matt was angry and that comes across in his messages, so there is a language warning. Here's the exchange.

Speaker 2 3.03 a.m. John to Matt.

Speaker 2 Hey babe, where are you?

Speaker 2 3.20 a.m. Matt to John.
Mike's having a fucking cry. He's taken me home and won't let me stay.
Fucking cunt.

Speaker 2 3.20 a.m. John to Matt.
Ah shit, that's not too good.

Speaker 2 3.31 a.m. Matt to John.
He needs to get over himself.

Speaker 2 3.32 a.m. John to Matt.
Oh well, I'm sure you'll be alright.

Speaker 2 But Matt wasn't alright.

Speaker 2 It's ironic that when Matt first came out as being gay, his parents feared for him.

Speaker 2 At the time, gay hate crimes were prevalent, and their son was young and good-looking, and they worried he'd be a target.

Speaker 2 Knowing what they do now, they wonder whether the danger actually lay much closer to home.

Speaker 3 Because when he came out, I cried. Oh, I did.
I cried for ages. And it wasn't because he was gay.
It was because I was fearing for him personally, his life.

Speaker 3 And I used to say to him, Matt, please be careful. I'm going to find you dead in the gutter somewhere.

Speaker 3 I used to always say that to him.

Speaker 3 Yeah, and those words now, I still, it still haunts me. It really still haunts me because, as I said, I think it was Jay said to me, Mum, he's only gay.
I said, yeah, I'm not crying because he's gay.

Speaker 3 I'm crying because I'm scared that something's going to happen to him.

Speaker 2 On the next episode of Maddie.

Speaker 2 At 7 a.m. Tuesday, the 25th of September, at consent a text message to Matt.
Where are you, baby? I'm really worried now.

Speaker 1 We started ringing around Matt's friends. Atkins, we'd run, but we had no answer back at that stage.

Speaker 2 Atkins didn't seem to look at all concerned.

Speaker 3 And he's walking up and down like a cage lion, and he's sweating and he's clammy.

Speaker 2 The receipt showed that two items had been purchased: duct tape and a Garden Master brand Mattic.

Speaker 1 They told Fane Eye that the case had been transferred to homicide.

Speaker 1 Thanks for listening. If you'd like to hear the rest of Maddie, you can find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 This episode is brought to you by Gab.

Speaker 1 It's that time of year again. The holidays are coming fast.
And if your kids are anything like mine, that list is already getting pretty long.

Speaker 1 And let's be honest, some of the things on that list make us stop and think, like a smartphone.

Speaker 1 What makes me nervous about kids having phones isn't the screen time, it's everything they can stumble across online.

Speaker 1 There's so much out there they're not ready for and once they see it, you can't take it back. It's scary how easily they can end up in those corners of the internet without even meaning to.

Speaker 1 I just want my child to feel connected and included without being exposed to all that too soon.

Speaker 1 That's why I was so relieved when I found Gab.

Speaker 1 Gab offers phones and watches made just for kids. No internet, no social media, and just the right features for their age.
Kids want phones to feel independent and connected.

Speaker 1 As parents, we want to know they're safe. With Gab, you can have both and protect them from the scary stuff.
With Gab's Tech-in-Steps approach, kids get the right tech at the right time.

Speaker 1 From watches with the GPS tracking for the youngest explorers, to the perfect first phone with no internet or social media, to the teen phone with parent-approved apps.

Speaker 1 So get ready for a Christmas morning they'll never forget, the one where they get their first phone. And really, it's a gift for you too, because these kids say phones will give you peace of mind.

Speaker 1 Visit gab.com/slash casefile and use code casefile for a special holiday offer. That's gabb.com/slash casefile.
Gab, tech-in steps, independence for them, peace of mind for you.

Speaker 5 You know Hannah and I love a good bed rotting session, reality TV, snacks nearby, and now I've leveled up with my self-care game with this Shark Beauty Cryo Glow, the number one skincare facial device in the US.

Speaker 4 Wait, I'm obsessed with it. I've had it for a while, actually, and it's the only only mask that combines high-energy LEDs, infrared, and under-eye cooling.

Speaker 4 I really need this because nothing wakes me up in the morning.

Speaker 4 You could do four treatments in one: better aging, skin clearing, skin sustain, and my favorite, the under-eye revive with insta-chill cold tech.

Speaker 4 You put it on and it just feels so good under your eyes. Like, I actually feel like I got eight hours of sleep.

Speaker 5 It's truly like a luxury spa moment while you're literally horizontal. It's perfect for post-workout, Sunday scaries, or when you just want to glow while rotting.

Speaker 4 To treat yourself to the number one LED beauty mask this holiday season, go to sharkninja.com and use promo code GigglySquad for 10% off your cryoglow.

Speaker 4 Beth sharkninja.com and use promo code giggly squad for 10% off your cryoglow.