Barrenjoey Road 01 | Saturday night on Barrenjoey Road

This is an ABC podcast.

If you go north along the coastline of Sydney, you end up on Baron Joey Road.

It follows the shores of the northern beaches out along a peninsula to a kind of clichéd Aussie paradise with yellow sands and perfect breaks.

The surf was right at the back door so yeah pretty much enjoyed that peninsula lifestyle.

We'd lay on the beach and then get hot then we'd go out there in the surf and annoy the boys.

On the way to school you'd go and check the surf and if the surf was good well you most likely wouldn't go to school.

Back in the 70s this place was its own little world.

It was just a series of beachside villages.

You know Lock Cruz here is like a country town sort of thing.

It was such a nice community.

Life wasn't quite so serious.

You look back on it and it's like you think, good grief, you know, it was paradise.

It was and still is a kind of paradise.

And that's what makes this story so jarring because no one here thought an 18-year-old girl could just vanish.

It was here at a dance at the Newport Certain Life Saving Club that Trudy was last seen on Saturday night.

40 years ago, Trudy Adams tried to hitchhike home on Baron Joey Road.

She hasn't been seen since.

She was last seen heading north towards Avalon where she lived.

We're always hopeful that in these types of matter that she will turn up.

At this stage, owing to the length of time and all the inquiries we have made, we do hold very great fears for her safety this time.

Something like that happens and it just changes everything, unfortunately, and we'll never ever get over it.

This is Unravel.

Each season of this podcast follows an investigative journalist as they look into an unsolved crime.

I'm Ruby Jones and in this season I'm trying to find out what happened to Trudy Adams and why her disappearance has remained a mystery for four decades.

I've been working on this investigation all year and what I've discovered is a world darker and way more wild than I could have imagined.

The 70s was a period of, particularly in the peninsula, of a lot of drug activity.

It had an impact because you think it's a nice safe area that you've grown up in for so long.

There was a lot of crimes that happened to girls.

Trudy Adams didn't just disappear.

She was almost certainly murdered.

And whoever killed her got away with it.

And I think they might have got away with a whole lot more.

There's organised crime, there's potentially police corruption, there's drug dealing and drug importation.

There's all these aspects to this mystery that are much bigger than just Trudy's disappearance.

There's been a lot written about Trudy over the last 40 years, but I've found something that was actually written by her, her own words.

It's a handwritten letter, it's two pages long, and Trudy wrote it on the very day that she went missing.

This letter shows how carefree, how innocent Trudy was.

Just an 18-year-old girl having fun, planning adventures.

Sure, sometimes taking a couple of risks like we all did or do

but nothing that we think will have life or death consequences the letter begins

dear norell how are you

it's addressed to a friend who's living in canberra

believe it or not i've actually found the time on a saturday mind you to write I went for a walk along Palmer.

It's all about what Trudy's been up to during that winter.

For example, over the last two weeks, I haven't been out much as it's been cold and often wet.

Instead, I sleaze in front of the open fire all night and Norrie usually comes around.

She's writing about Norrie, so that's Steve Norris, her boyfriend.

They were actually in the process of breaking up, but they were still hanging out.

We often knock over a bottle of wine, smoke ciggies, and gundangs.

I think that's like a clove cigarette.

Or even sneak outside for a quick scooby.

Later in the letter, there's this whole section about Bali.

Trudy's planning a holiday with some of her friends and it sounds like she's really looking forward to it.

Ooh, I can't wait.

Can you imagine when I land in Bali, step off the plane and see Jill and Annette, peace-dark Bali groovers, waving from the fence?

Trudy also writes about her plans for the night.

I'm going to Annette's for dinner and then going to a bop at Newport Surf Club.

I think a bop, I think a bop is like a dance.

And I think even the Bilgola bop band, underlined is playing.

Wee!

I'm going to dance to every bracket.

That night, Trudy arrives at the surf club just after 10 o'clock with a couple of friends.

They hang out in the car park listening to the radio.

Then they pay their $2 cover charge and they go into the surf club.

Inside it's loud, it's crowded, there's live music, and there's a whole lot of teenagers ready for a good time.

Trudy's at the dance for a couple of hours.

She's in a good mood, she has her bop.

She does tell a few people that her arm's sore because she's just got some injections for her trip to Bali.

So she's not planning on having a huge night.

Trudy's boyfriend Steve is also at the dance.

At one point, he has a conversation with Trudy at the top of the surf pub staircase.

Steve has said that he was asking Trudy for a dance,

but media reports at the time called it an argument.

As the night continues on, the weather changes.

It starts to rain.

Too crowded, too wet, too dank.

I think it was June, and it was

not what you would imagine: a beach party on a summer night.

Nothing like that.

At about midnight, one of Trudy's friends, Michael Cool, goes outside the surf club to get some fresh air.

He's with a group of people, and he says he can remember seeing Trudy leave.

We were outside chatting, maybe 10 or 15 people,

and I do recall her

leaving the area and walking through the car park.

That's the last time I saw her.

People watched her go.

It seems unbelievable now, but Trudy is on her way to hitchhike home.

It was a pretty normal thing to do on the northern beaches at the time.

There was no public transport late at night, and it was too far to walk.

Trudy's boyfriend Steve is also watching her walk away from the surf club.

He sees her cross over Baranjoe Road to a popular hitchhiking spot.

A car pulls up in front of her.

When it takes off again,

she's gone.

I'm heading up to the northern beaches now.

You've got to head up Barranjoy Road to get there.

It's basically the only way in and out.

It doesn't feel like anywhere else in Sydney.

The beaches are so beautiful, but they're also really empty.

The further up up the northern beaches you go, the more isolated the beaches are and the less people are on them.

And it's this kind of strange mix of suburban, but also,

you know, like proper stunning coastline.

So I'm going to meet two of Trudy's friends, Leanne and Anita.

Trudy had a lot of friends.

There was a group of them, 10 or so girls who all used to hang out, but none of them have ever spoken to the media before or done any interviews.

So I feel really lucky and really excited to talk to them.

I want to know what their life was like, the sorts of things they would all do, and

the places they would go together, and

you know, what sort of impact it had on these group of girls, having one of them sort of just disappear from their midst.

I think just up here on the left.

Is that it?

I think that's it.

In the summer holidays, we spent the whole summer holidays on the beach, every day, all day.

We'd come and go, but there's always a group there.

Getting great tans, I guess.

Yeah, because we didn't care then.

We used to put oil on and cook ourselves.

Oh, wow.

Anita and Leanne are both in their 50s now.

They've got blonde hair, they smile a lot, they're warm and friendly.

In the 70s they went to high school with Trudy.

They all went to Baron Joey High, which is just around the corner from where we are now.

It's at the top of a cliff overlooking Avalon Beach.

We used to think who would build a school on the beach because we'd do the cross-country run and disappear into the sandhills and not come back.

One time we got caught, didn't we?

Oh really?

By a teacher?

Yeah, they made us walk back through the school.

They took our bags and made us walk back through the school and stand outside the principal's office and we just had our bikinis on.

And so it was so embarrassing.

And then they gave us like a week's detention.

And the next week we were back out there on the beach again.

Anita and Leanne have some photos of them all hanging out back then.

Yeah, they're lovely pictures of Trudy.

She was a gorgeous girl.

That's a really sweet photo.

Yes.

Right out of the 70s.

The photos have that real 70s look, the high contrast and saturated bright colours, maybe a little psychedelic.

But the girls in the pictures are totally natural.

They look sweet, genuine, sometimes a little goofy.

There's one picture in particular that shows how close Trudy's group of friends were.

In this photo there's one, two, three, four, five girls and they're all lying in a circle together with their heads in the middle and they're holding hands.

It looks like it's the height of summer and they're just sprawled out on the hot concrete next to a pool.

There's dozens of photos like this and in most of them Trudy's front and centre.

You know what I used to find about Trudy?

She was one that would hold everyone else together.

Say for instance Leanne and I had a bit of a spat.

Trudy would be the one that would get us back together again.

She'd organise for us to go to her house.

She was the problem solver.

Yes, she was.

She was a bit of a

stable, like she was

the cement, the glue.

It's a big deal for Leanne and Anita to talk about Trudy,

to remember what it was like when they lost their friend.

When Trudy vanished, their lives changed for good.

I guess it sort of reminds you that, you know,

there's danger out there.

Yeah.

You know, it's not all kidory.

You know,

there's people that

aren't,

you know, the full quit or whatever

and are opportunists and will do what

they

will, I guess.

Yeah, after Trudy disappeared, did you feel you felt less safe at home?

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

Didn't want to go out, you know.

Yeah.

No, you didn't.

And there was no hitchhiking going on.

No.

That all stopped.

And I stopped, I never picked anybody up again, ever.

Because you just don't trust anyone anymore.

No.

Because we don't know what happened.

We don't know who did it.

We didn't know who.

who we could trust and whom we couldn't trust and it just yeah it changed your whole it made us grow up I think it did.

So, um, do you remember when the last time you saw Trudy was?

Maybe a week before?

Yeah.

Um,

yeah, sorry, can I just have a break?

Sorry,

sorry.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm fine.

The last time Anita saw Trudy was two days before she went missing.

Trudy came over to Anita's house for a chat.

She lived just around the corner from Anita.

She could walk from the back of my house directly through to her house.

We had a kitchen with a breakfast bar in the middle.

We used to sit at the breakfast bar all the time.

We always had tea.

And it was just, it was actually a bit of a ritual.

On this Friday afternoon, there's something that Trudy wants to tell Anita.

It was just, that was playing on her mind and she just wanted to talk about it.

Trudy brings up her boyfriend Steve.

She tells Anita that Steve's getting really serious about their relationship and the reason that's playing on her mind is because Trudy doesn't want to be tied down.

I think in those days we called it going steady.

He wanted to go steady, meaning be, you know, just those two an item.

She said she really wasn't interested in that with him.

So that was, she said to him, No, I don't want to go steady with you.

They chat about Steve for a while, and then Trudy goes on to tell Anita about her plans for the weekend.

She says she's going to the dance at the Newport Surf Club on Saturday night.

She said to me, Are you going to that dance?

And I had something else I can't remember, but that's it.

Yeah, that was what I remember anyway, the last time I saw her.

The morning after the dance at the surf club, Trudy's friends and family are starting to wonder where she is.

She hasn't come home and she hasn't phoned anyone either.

At first, Leanne thinks there must be a simple explanation.

I thought, well, first, I think what everyone thought that maybe she'd stayed over at someone's house and couldn't get to her parents or tell them what she'd, you know, that she,

well, she couldn't get to a phone or

to let her parents know where she was.

By mid-afternoon on that day, everyone is starting to realise that there could be something really wrong.

All of Trudy's friends are gathering at this barbecue.

It's a 21st birthday thing.

Trudy was really excited about the barbecue.

She wrote about it in her letter.

It's Steve Bryant's 21st tomorrow night, which should be a blazing range.

Hmm.

So, this isn't her boyfriend, Steve.

This is another Steve, Steve Bryan.

Had she mentioned him to you?

Yeah.

What did she say?

She didn't really have to say anything.

It was just

a given, a known fact, I think, that she was keen on him.

So they liked each other, Steve Bryan.

I think there was something there.

I mean,

chemistry, whatever.

Yeah, I think it was mutual.

So when Trudy doesn't show up at the barbecue, her close friends know that something's off.

Her family is starting to get frantic too.

And at nine o'clock that night, about 20 hours after Trudy was last seen, her mum Connie calls the police.

Connie tells them everything she knows.

And the next day,

Monday, the police put out a radio message.

The message goes out to officers in the area.

Trudejanette Adams, 5 foot 4 inches tall, medium to solid build, 9 stone, fair complexion, light brown hair, natural teeth.

Last seen wearing navy blue corduroy jeans, green blouse, black fluffy jumper, gold chain, brown shoes, brown purse, fears for safety.

The Monday after Trudy disappeared, Trudy's neighbour Anita turns up for work at the local news agent on Old Baron Joey Road.

She hasn't heard from Trudy since their chat a few days ago.

My cousin Debbie came in and said, have you seen Trudy?

I said I haven't seen her since Friday afternoon.

And she said, they can't, she's missing.

We can't find her.

That was the start.

Because Because then everyone was asking and looking and then the police were there and

going around and asking and speaking to everyone.

The next day, Tuesday, there's still no sign of Trudy.

On Wednesday, nothing.

And then her disappearance hits the papers.

The newspapers used to come out at lunchtime, the Sun and the Mirror.

The headlines start to pile up.

Help find Trudy, Trudy's ride to nowhere.

And that's when it had hit.

Heartbreak search for Hitchhike Girl.

Police fear for missing girl.

Because you'd see them and you'd think, oh no.

And then you'd start reading it.

Hitchhike killing fear.

May have been murdered.

Trudy was last seen outside the surf lifesaving club at Newport on Saturday night.

Trudy left the dance after having an argument with her boyfriend

and ran to nearby Baron Joey Road where she hitched a ride.

Her boyfriend said he later saw her laid down a car in Baron Joey Road near the corner of Nephthys.

The circumstances of Trudy's disappearance and indeed her fate remains a complete mystery.

And we all feel we're exhibits the iron daughter.

Everybody in Avalon.

And the district, the whole district is all these men.

But they also believe there's a strong chance they'll solve the mystery right here in the bush.

You know, this is not real.

This is our friend, one of the girls.

While this is going on, Anita is still turning up to her job at the local news agent.

and customers are coming in, seeing the papers, and they're making comments about Trudy, saying really hurtful things.

Stupid young girl, what was she doing, hitchhiking?

Just things like that.

Day after day passes with no sign of Trudy.

Her mum Connie decides to make a public appeal.

asking anyone who saw her daughter that night to come forward.

I would like anyone that could give any information whatsoever to do so.

Either a car that Fowlering in front of noticed her going towards Falm Beach to contact the Mona Vale police urgently.

Time is running out.

You think your main hurt might rest on a passer-by or a motorist who might have seen her?

I think someone may have seen her.

I've checked with the children that go to the dances.

And anyone that may have noticed something more, I'd really

please,

please contact the police.

In 40 years, no one's been able to work out what happened to Trudy.

Her body's never been found.

No one's been charged with her murder.

Trudy's friends have gone on to have long careers, busy lives, families.

But they've always wondered what Trudy would have become if she'd had the chance.

Do you remember what her other sort of plans and ambitions were at that time, what she wanted to do?

I think she wanted to be a journalist.

She did.

Yeah, so that was very much in the...

She wrote all the time, come to think of it.

She used to do like diaries and things, didn't she?

Or journals.

Sort of journals.

Yeah, journals.

That's what they were called.

Yeah.

Trudy's life is just on pause, aged 18.

when she was writing to her friends and dreaming of a holiday to Bali.

I tried to get a part-time job at Grace Brothers or David Jones as I desperately need spending money for Bali, but unfortunately no luck.

I can't stay as long because I haven't as much moolah.

In fact, at the moment none.

Shit, help.

Don't worry, I'll make it.

This letter was never sent.

It was found in Trudy's bedroom after she disappeared.

Drop a quick hello if you can so I know Canberra hasn't turned you into an ice block.

It would be good to see you again.

Good luck in your exams.

Kisses Trudy.

On the next episode of Unravel, Trudy's planned trip to Bali comes under scrutiny.

Trudy, Connie claims, might have been killed because she refused to be a drug courier on a soon-to-be-taken trip to Bali.

I'd say that she knew too much.

And Trudy's boyfriend Steve Norris starts to feel the pressure from police who are desperate for a lead.

He was the last person to see her.

Another point was that they had had an argument.

And this is where I take my investigation next.

I want to find out exactly what Steve saw that night.

on Baron Joey Road.

Oh, good day, is this Steve Norris?

Oh, hi, my name's Ruby Jones.

I'm a reporter.

I work on the documentary series.

If you were at the Newport Surf Club the night Trudy disappeared, or if you know anything more about Trudy Adams' case, I'd like to talk to you.

You can email me unravel truecrime at abc.net.au.

This season of Unravel is hosted by me, Ruby Jones, reporting by me and Neil Mercer.

Our TV production partner is Wild Bear Entertainment, with big thanks to Mark Radomski and Alan Erson.

Unravel's supervising producer is Tim Roxburgh, producers Ellen Lee Beder and Shane Anderson.

Sound design and composition by Martin Prouder with Tim Jenkins.

Gina McEwen and Angela McCormack are our our digital team.

Our intern is Alana Callas.

And Unravel's executive producer is Ian Walker.