The Missing Matter

In this final episode, Sally reflects on the emotional announcement that the reward for information into her mum Marion Barter’s disappearance has been increased to $1 million. After nearly three decades of searching, Sally travels to Sydney for the announcement at NSW Police Headquarters, speaks with Ben Fordham, and shares what this moment means for her family. She talks about the impact of Mari...

To close out the season, Sally and Joni come together for one final conversation about Marion's case, what’s been happening in the background, what new information has come to light, and where the investigation may go next. 

A psychic reading sends Sally to Mullumbimby looking for answers about her mum, Marian Barter — but this episode goes further. Sally also shares moving updates on Joanne’s decades-long grief for Andrew Inglish, Jason’s ongoing search for his father Nicola, and the growing momentum behind the Green Seat Project.

In this urgent bonus episode of The Missing Matter, Sally shares the story of Yvonne Whear, a 73-year-old woman who disappeared from her rural New South Wales property in February 2026 without explanation. As her family searches for answers, the episode explores the final known movements in Yvonne’s case, the growing concerns around missing persons investigations in the Northern Rivers, and the ha...

Hedley Thomas started his career as a copy boy at 17 and spent four decades chasing some of the world's biggest stories, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the Hong Kong handover, before finding his most powerful tool yet: the podcast. In this episode of The Missing Matter, Sally sits down with the award-winning investigative journalist and creator of The Teacher's Pet to explore how long...

In this deeply personal episode, Sally sits down with her daughter Ella to explore what it’s really like growing up in the shadow of a missing person. It’s a raw and honest conversation about family, identity, and the quiet impact of a story that never truly leaves you.

Former police officer turned investigator Graeme Crowley has spent nearly fifty years chasing justice. What began as a career in policing eventually evolved into something unexpected, true-crime podcast investigations that challenge official narratives and reopen forgotten cases. In this episode of The Missing Matter, Sally sits down with Graeme to explore how podcasting has become a powerful tool...

When 23-year-old Leisl Smith left home on the New South Wales Central Coast on August 19, 2012, she told her father she’d be back by five to feed her animals. She never returned. In this episode of The Missing Matter, Leisl's mother, Sandi Harvey, shares the story of the quirky, animal-loving young woman who preferred horses and swimming pools to crowded rooms—and the day her life changed fore...

****Content Warning****: This episode contains discussion of human remains being discovered. Listener discretion is advised. When Anna Jenkins vanished in Penang in December 2017, her family believed authorities would act swiftly. They were wrong. In Part Two of this gripping conversation, Greg Jenkins takes us deeper into the relentless three-year search that followed his mother’s final phone cal...

****Content Warning****: This episode contains discussion of human remains being discovered. Listener discretion is advised. Anna Jenkins went to the dentist in Penang on December 13, 2017. Hours later, she called her husband in panic, saying someone was trying to kidnap her. Then the line went dead. Police dismissed it. Suggested she’d wandered off. Ignored key CCTV. Refused to investigate proper...

In this episode of The Missing Matter, Sally sits down with Mindy a relentless behind-the-scenes super sleuth who played a key role in supporting the Dear Rachelle journey. Mindy shares what it’s really like helping families through missing and unsolved cases and how quickly a disappearance can spiral when authorities can’t keep pace. From media pressure to urgent real-time searching, this is a po...

Welcome back to Season 3 of The Missing Matter. On Friday, July 13, 2012, 37-year-old mother of three Sandrine Jourdan vanished from a property in Caboolture, north of Brisbane. Fourteen years later, she has never been seen or heard from again. In this episode of The Missing Matter, Sally is joined by Sandrine’s youngest daughter, Nikita, who shares what she remembers, the unanswered questions, an...

The Missing Matter is back. This Monday, February 9, we return with an all-new season. This season, Sally once again steps into the missing space having gentle, respectful conversations with those closest to the stories, giving voice to families, friends, and the people still searching for answers. Across the season we’ll dig deeper into the cases left unresolved, speak with voices you haven’t hea...

Sally's journey into searching for her mum has travelled the globe, and now so has The Missing Matter. In this episode of The Missing Matter, we travel to Nashville, Tennessee, to speak with Stephanie Tinsley, host of the investigative podcast Everything They Missed. Stephanie shares how witnessing the Alex Murdaugh murder case up close drew her into the world of true crime and exposed serious...

In this final episode for 2025 Sally sits down with Jay to reflect on the year and announce what's happening with The Missing Matter in 2026. 

In this episode, Sally speaks with Janette Hayden, whose 46-year-old son Scott vanished on 29 May 2025 near Taree, NSW. Scott’s behaviour had been shifting in the weeks before he disappeared—talking about God, training hard, eating clean, and struggling with his mental health. His family did what families do: they worried, they watched, and when things escalated, they went to police. More than onc...

In this episode of The Missing Matter, Sally sits down with Aaron Clear’s sister, Cassandra, to uncover the story behind her brother’s disappearance. Aaron vanished in early 2020, leaving behind only fragments of a life and a family searching for answers. Cassandra shares who Aaron was beyond the missing person posters  his childhood, his struggles, his dreams, and the moments that now carry the m...

In this episode of The Missing Matter, Sally sits down with her friend Chris D'Arcy, the lead behind Search Dog Sydney, the volunteer team called in when families have run out of options. Chris and his dogs work some of Australia’s most heartbreaking cases, from long-term missing searches to human remains detection, stepping in where systems have failed.  Together, Sally and Chris revisit thei...

In this episode of The Missing Matter, Sally uncovers the quiet, haunting disappearance of 18-year-old Andrew Inglis, who vanished from a Yamba caravan park in 1985 without a trace. What began as a normal summer holiday ended in one of Australia’s most overlooked missing-person mysteries  no search, no inquest, no public appeal, and a family left in limbo for nearly forty years. 

In this powerful and deeply informative episode of The Missing Matter, Sally sits down with forensic human identification specialist Dr. Jodie Ward, known by many as the matchmaker for the missing. Jodie led the AFP’s National DNA Program for Unidentified and Missing Persons, a ground-breaking initiative that uncovered answers for families left waiting for decades. Together, Sally and Jodie unpack...

In this deeply personal episode of The Missing Matter, Sally sits down with Kim Marshall to share the story of her sister, Bronwyn Winfield, who has been missing for more than 11,848 days. Bronwyn was reported missing by her estranged husband 11 days after she was last seen in May 1993. Together, Kim and Sally walk through Bronwyn’s final months her courage, her attempts to rebuild her life, the g...

More than 50 years after Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon vanished from Adelaide Oval, journalist Bryan Littlely is still chasing their story not for headlines, but for a promise he made. After decades in newsrooms, Bryan left behind the daily grind to follow one of South Australia’s darkest mysteries. Now, with a small team of volunteers and the girls’ sister, Suzie Ratcliffe, he digs through r...

In December 2005, 45-year-old Kathleen “Katie” O’Shea travelled from Melbourne to North Queensland to meet her first grandchild. She never arrived. Nearly twenty years later, Katie’s daughter Lily shares the story of her mother’s disappearance — a journey marked by unanswered questions, lost opportunities, and a family’s enduring hope for justice. This episode of The Missing Matter unpacks the inv...

On June 17th, 1985, William “Billy” Steffen vanished from North Hobart, Tasmania, leaving behind two young children, a tent burned on the beach, and decades of unanswered questions. Forty years on, his daughter Susie shares her memories, grief, and determination to uncover what really happened to her dad. From lost police records to missed DNA matches, this episode exposes the deep cracks in Austr...

Sally Leydon sits down with families still searching for their loved ones, stories that have faded from headlines but never from their hearts. In this episode, Sally speaks with Amelia Grozdanovski, whose mother, Lorrin Jane Whitehead vanished from Bannockburn, Victoria, in 2013. Together they revisit that day, the unanswered questions, and the emotional toll of living without answers. It’s a raw...