Trace: Recent Episodes
ABC Radio
An investigative podcast hosted by ABC journalist Rachael Brown, Trace examines the fractures in Australia's criminal justice system, and the decades-long ripples they have caused.
Chinese restaurants are being firebombed in the dead of night. A campaign of terror is getting underway in Perth. The police arson squad is racing against the clock to stop the next attack. Along the way, there are buried weapons, stakeouts, secret informers, punks, ninjas, and political manoeuvres.In Firebomb, the deeply personal new season of Unravel True Crime, Crispian Chan investigates what really happened after his family's restaurant went up in flames. Search for the Unravel podcast now.
Someone Knows Something: The Abortion Wars is the latest investigation from our friends at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Documentary maker David Ridgen teams up with journalist Amanda Robb to examine the 1998 murder of Robb's uncle, a New York abortion provider, which exposed a network of violent anti-abortion activists.
A Victorian Coroner has failed to name a killer in the 1980 cold case of Maria James. Her sons are devasted. But there's still hope, in leads yet to be chased by police.
The new coronial inquest into the murder of Maria James has wrapped up. Will the Coroner be able to name her killer? And of the police exhibits that haven't disappeared, what DNA testing can be done? This episode nears us closer to the end of the James brothers' 41-year-fight for answers for their mum.
The discovery of a police exhibit - thought to be missing for around three decades - could finally help unmask the killer in the 1980 cold case of Maria James.
In 1975, Australia was transfixed by the disappearance of Juanita Nielsen.
Juanita was a journalist, fashion model, socialite and Sydney's most famous anti-gentrification activist.
46 years later, the new series of Unravel True Crime looks into Juanita's suspected murder – who might have killed her and why?
What made Juanita a target?
If you're a fan of Trace, you might like Unravel: Juanita.
The Royal Commission has released its final report into defence lawyer turned police informer Nicola Gobbo.
Nicola hits rock bottom, but Victoria Police wants her to take on a new role ... as a witness.
Nicola wants to be the best source ever, and she leads police to the biggest target of all: the mafia. Her double life is getting riskier, but she can't stop. This episode charts an addiction and a crash.
Nicola crosses the point of no return and becomes a police informer. She'll represent clients, while passing on the underworld's secrets to Victoria Police.
As the gangland war explodes, both police and criminals start questioning Nicola's allegiances. Where do her loyalties lie?
We meet Nicola Gobbo in a secret location, in hiding, now that her double life as a police informer is out, and she begins telling us her full story.
Lawyer Nicola Gobbo represented some of Australia's most dangerous criminals, all the while secretly working as a police informer. Why did she do it?
More than a year on from their plea for a new coronial inquest, the James brothers get a decision.
Will they finally get answers to the burning questions they've carried for 38 years about the murder of their mother?
And what about those items Trace has been given that might have DNA on them?
Can they identify the killer?
We take them to one of the world's best DNA labs, with some of the most sensitive equipment, to find out.
New evidence has been found. So can police test it for a trace of the killer? What happened to crucial documents? And a new confession.
It is nearly a year since the James brothers applied for a new coronial inquest into their mum's murder, but the case hangs in legal limbo.
The fall-out from major revelations in the Maria James cold-case continue, as her sons make a desperate plea to the Coroner.
There's a major break in the case, as Trace uncovers a police bungle in the murder of Maria James. But it only serves to throw up more questions than answers, as the James brothers continue their desperate search for justice.
A second person of interest emerges within the church. Rachael Brown investigates their past and discovers a dark and disturbing history.
Since Trace was first released, the ABC has received over 50 emails from the community with leads and tip offs. In this bonus update, reporter Rachael Brown follows up with two women who got in touch to say they saw men acting suspiciously around Maria's bookshop at the time of her murder. Send us your tips: trace@abc.net.au
Rachael Brown's investigation into the death of Maria James turns to the local Church, and Rachael tracks down a new witness who saw someone covered in blood around the time of Maria's death.
On a winter morning in June 1980, Maria James turned to her son Mark and looked him in the eyes. "If anything happens to me, look after your brother." Later that day she was found stabbed to death at the back of her suburban Melbourne bookshop.
June, 1980, suburban Melbourne: Mother of two Maria James is stabbed to death in the back of her bookshop. Her killer has never been found. Was it a scorned lover? A random stranger? Or was Maria's murder tied up in the sins of the Catholic Church?