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We’ll be launching season 2 of Fractured soon, but before we do, we are going to play you some extracts from a US documentary called The Syndrome. It’s a film that challenges the scientific validity of Shaken Baby syndrome and highlights the impact of wrongful convictions on families, featuring a group of doctors who consider the diagnosis to be junk science. It also reveals the history and politics behind Shaken Baby Syndrome in the US, drawing parallels with the discredited Satanic ritual abuse panic of the 80s and 90s. 

Also available to read today on newsroom.co.nz is an update on the couple at the centre of our Fractured case.

As mentioned in this episode, here are 33 different medical conditions that could be misdiagnosed as Shaken Baby Syndrome:

Sickle cell anemia, Meningitis, Vitamin C deficiency, Vitamin D deficiency, Vitamin K deficiency, Lobstein syndrome, Glutaric aciduria, Thrombocytopenia, Cryoglobulinemia, Reye's syndrome, Hemophilia, Dysphagic choking, Marfan syndrome, Von Willebrand's disease, Vascular malformations, Bacterial infections, Viral infections, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Menkes disease, Rickets, Terson syndrome, Osteogenesis imperfecta, Homocystinuria, Sudden respiratory distress, Venous thrombosis, Rebleed of a hematoma,  Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, Allagille syndrome, Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Congenital heart disease, Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, Henoch-Schonlein purpura, Other natural or accidental causes.

Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and listen to all three seasons of our award-winning The Boy in the Water podcast, Season 1 of Fractured, the explosive Powder Keg and Satanic Panic: Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me, all ad-free. Presented by investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz and search for Melanie Reid Investigates on Facebook and Instagram.

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As we prepare for season two of Fractured, we are publishing this special bonus episode. In 2019, Melanie Reid and the Newsroom team released a groundbreaking video investigation that exposed the practice of newborns being taken directly from hospital birthing units in New Zealand. As with our Fractured series, we questioned the policies, practices and actions of our state agencies. This story sparked four inquiries into Oranga Tamariki and an urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing. Now, for the first time, that pivotal investigation is available as an audio episode. Listeners can also watch the original video on Newsroom.

Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and listen to all three seasons of our award-winning The Boy in the Water podcast, Season 1 of Fractured, the explosive Powder Keg and Satanic Panic: Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me, all ad-free. Presented by investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz and search for Melanie Reid Investigates on Facebook and Instagram.

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In this special bonus episode, we talk to Peter Ellis’ sister, Tania, about what has happened since the Supreme Court quashed her brother’s convictions. Has his family received an apology from the government for the miscarriage of justice? And what about Peter’s four women co-workers whose lives were turned upside down for decades when they were also charged with child abuse and then discharged in the early 1990s? 

To watch the video version of this episode, click here, and to read the most recent update to this story, head to newsroom.co.nz or click this link.

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We’ve interviewed dozens of people about their experiences with ‘Chris the Kiwi’ Ashenden, his billion-dollar company, and his market-leading AG1. They have questions stemming from his history of criminal dishonesty, from the job losses as he quietly cut production costs, and from his scientific claims today that stretch credibility.

To find him, we’ve come all the way across the Pacific, from NZ to Chilé to Colombia…and now we discover Chris has flown out to Mexico. 

This is the final episode of our podcast, Powder Keg – and we’re going to do it. We’re flying into a blistering Mexico heatwave, and a scorching encounter with Chris on the streets of Playa del Carmen. Because, as we discover, Chris won’t be happy to see us.

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We’ve come 12,000 kilometres from Auckland to Medellín, on the trail of Chris Ashenden, the chief executive of AG1. We don’t have his number or his address, but we think he lives here.

Today’s Medellín is a vibrant city that’s attracting new investment and faces from around the world – but the legacy of drug lord Pablo Escobar and the paramilitaries still echoes in violence on the streets. You might expect us to pack Kevlar body armour for our visit. Instead, we pack our gym gear – because one thing we do know about Chris the Kiwi, is where he works out.

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The US Food and Drug Administration reveals it’s received 118 adverse event complaints from AG1 users – this year alone. In particular, there are 30-plus reports of liver harm in 2023 and 2024. 

The billion dollar company dismisses the liver harm complaints as “extremely rare”, saying it can be caused by a range of things such as alcoholic liver injury, viral hepatitis and autoimmune disease. The FDA hasn’t investigated the complaints to confirm whether they are indeed caused by AG1 – but some consumers and scientists are calling for an official investigation into this glamour product championed by superstar influencers.

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We talk to people like Andy and Lisa who’ve used AG1 – and they’re not happy. They want to know what’s in the green powder supplement, in what quantities – and whether there’s any scientific evidence it has any health benefits.

That’s a good question. So we bring in four world-leading university nutritionists and toxicologists to critique the research. They’re concerned there’s no gold standard large-scale clinical trial – and most of AG1’s published research is in a few controversial pay-to-play journals. The professors warn consumers can have little confidence there’s any credible science underpinning this expensive daily supplement.

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For years, AG1 has boasted of being ‘Made in New Zealand’. But where is its mystery factory? We track down a little-known contract manufacturing company in the sunny city of Nelson – and discover a much darker story.

Despite trading off New Zealand’s clean, green brand, AG1 has been quietly shifting its production to America. In the past year, this has cost nearly 180 New Zealanders their jobs – and piqued the interest of the country’s commerce regulator. If AG1’s 700,000 customers can’t trust the ‘Made in New Zealand’ claim – how can they trust the other claims on the label?

Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.

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Joe Rogan is one of the world’s wealthiest influencers – and we’re told AG1 is one of his best clients, paying him about $10 million a year to promote its popular green powder. Scientist Dr Andrew Huberman gets about $2 million. Gwyneth Paltrow, Formula 1’s Sir Lewis Hamilton, Olympic champion Allyson Felix … the list goes on.

AG1 is the OG of influencer marketing; it spends more on audio than just about any other company in the world. But are the company and its well-paid ambassadors being upfront? Some customers say they’ve been persuaded to drink a supplement that they now believe has impacted their health. The Food and Drug Administration has had 118 reports of harm from AG1 users and their doctors, this year alone. 

Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.

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A leaked recording reveals the Kiwi founder of billion-dollar supplements firm AG1 misrepresented his criminal history in public statements and in a meeting with the company’s president and staff, just this year. Chris Ashenden’s high-powered American lawyer claimed he had never been charged with a crime, or convicted of a crime, or been the subject of an arrest warrant – but none of those things was correct. 

We listen to the recording alongside Anita Mika, who lost her home in Chris’s property scheme. Her sister also lost her home – but she died without seeing justice done. ‘We can forgive, but we never forget,’ Anita says.

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Travelling to New Zealand’s southernmost city, with a chill wind that feels like it’s blowing off Antarctica, we discover it was a woman named Dee Chisholm who first blew the whistle on Chris the Kiwi’s criminal property schemes. 

But tracking her down won’t be easy…until we drive out to a small remote mining village called Nightcaps.

Everyone has secrets. And in this episode, we finally meet the protagonists – some might call them antagonists – who faced off in former police officer Chris Ashenden’s first clash with the law. It won’t be his last…the story of AG1, the world’s favourite green powder supplement, is blowing up big.

Each episode is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.

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We track down families who lost their homes in 'Chris the Kiwi’ Ashenden’s property dealings. And what happens next is what Powder Keg, the podcast, is all about – Ashenden, his unorthodox billion-dollar business and his magical mystery powder. 

All we know is that his company AG1 is headquartered at an address in Carson City, Nevada. If it comes to the crunch and he doesn’t front, we’ll need to go there to talk with the company’s founder.

What we didn’t know is the story of criminal offending that will emerge – a story that Chris the Kiwi didn’t want told.

Listen to the first 3 episodes now. Episode 4 is available first to subscribers to DELVE+. To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.

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When investigative journalist Jonathan Milne started slugging back an expensive, vivid green AG1 shake every morning to get in shape for his 50th birthday, he knew what the company’s chief science officer said – that the green powder product would make him healthier.

What he didn’t know about were the adverse reports to the Food and Drug Administration of liver damage, nor of the scrutiny by the courts, and now of a national regulator.

Episodes 1 and 2 of Powder Keg are live now, with Episode 3 also available for subscribers to DELVE+.

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Chris Ashenden and Jonathan Milne are both Kiwi blokes in their late 40s. Chris has an unrelenting personal ambition – it’s served him well. The business leader’s quest wasn’t for the Holy Grail, it was for a holy green drink.

Jonathan is an investigative journalist. What’s served him well is his doggedness. And when Chris wouldn’t front for an interview about the success of his green powder shake and his US$1.2 billion company, Jonathan began asking questions. 

At first, Chris’s AG1 supplement had been targeted at sportspeople and gym freaks – but by last year, we reveal he’d rebranded to target the widest possible market of middle-America…desk-bound 30- or 40-something mums and dads, anxious to get back in shape.

Episodes 1 and 2 of Powder Keg are live now, with Episode 3 also available for subscribers to DELVE+.

To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.

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Some stories grow from a green shoot; some explode like a powder keg. The global supplement market is worth $200 billion a year, and Chris Ashenden is a rock star of the industry. Yet in his home country of New Zealand, nobody had heard of him. Investigative journalist Jonathan Milne wanted to tell his story – but when Chris proved elusive, alarm bells began to ring. In the latest electrifying podcast from DELVE, we investigate the superstar endorsements, the science and the safety of the world’s favourite green powder, AG1. Listen to a story that will entangle the biggest names in audio, from Joe Rogan to Andrew Huberman to Gwyneth Paltrow. We follow the money, dig into the crimes and commission our own lab analysis. From the chill of the Southern Ocean to a record Mexican heatwave, from Colombia to the Caribbean, we chase down AG1’s founder to tell the story he didn’t want told. 

Episodes 1 and 2 launch Thursday, October 31, with Episode 3 also available for subscribers to DELVE+

To listen early and ad-free to this show, to our bonus episodes, and to award-winning podcast The Boy in the Water and Melanie Reid’s latest investigation, Fractured, sign up to DELVE+.

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Our final episode in this season coincides with world headlines about a man facing execution for the same diagnosis that imprisoned Zita. Shaken baby syndrome is being called “junk science” in the US, but it has upended the life Zita had hoped for in New Zealand. Now out of jail, she is battling her impending deportation with Immigration NZ, all while continuing to maintain her innocence. Will she get to see her daughter? Will the international experts come through in time? And why won’t Starship Hospital front up on this case? 

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Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz

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Things really start to wind up when Melanie and Bonnie have a major breakthrough and track down a UK paediatric pathologist who was at forefront of overturning murder charges in a high profile London case. She throws a whole new light on our case and will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew.

Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz

*Listen to the first eight episodes free. If you want to support our work and hear today’s Episode 9 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free.*

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How did moving to live in the dream country of New Zealand end up like this? Prison, divorce and a baby in the custody of the state.

Presented by award-winning investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz

*Listen to the first seven episodes free. If you want to support our work and hear today’s Episode 8 right away, become a subscriber to DELVE+. Sign up to DELVE+ to get early access to new episodes and receive exclusive bonus material, all ad-free.*

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Did some of Baby K’s fractures occur while on 24 hour watch in the hospital? What about the traumatic birth? “Doctors sometimes can and do get it wrong”…all this and more in the final address of Zita’s lawyer.  

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What is it like to be charged with child abuse in a foreign country? Zita finds out as she faces the might of Starship Hospital at her criminal trial.

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The NZ police investigation ramps up and, with their child taken, the couple have their house bugged, their phones tapped and just as they think it can’t get any worse…it does.

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Melanie and Bonnie meet the young couple at the centre of this case and they begin to unravel the complex cascade of events that led to a young mother being accused, convicted and jailed for two and a half years - and the daunting fight that lies ahead.

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What happens when the dream country, New Zealand, becomes a living hell? The Boy in the Water creator, multi-award-winning journalist Melanie Reid, is in the middle of another story when she receives an email that causes her to drop everything and get on a plane. After a year of extensive investigations, we now bring you that case.

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DELVE presents the new in-depth podcast from Melanie Reid Investigates about a controversial medical diagnosis from a New Zealand hospital and the cascade of events that followed. 

A baby taken, a mother jailed, a couple forced apart and facing deportation without their daughter. 

Crushed by the weight of multiple government departments working in lockstep, what happens when the dream of a new country becomes an unimaginable nightmare? 

In this new investigation, Melanie Reid and her team take the x-rays that were used to convict a young mother and put them before international experts, who tell us this case is just the tip of the iceberg of a factitious medical phenomenon leading to injustice around the globe.

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Fractured is presented by investigations editor Melanie Reid. Discover more at Newsroom.co.nz and search for Melanie Reid Investigates on Facebook and Instagram.

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On the final day of the coronial inquest into the death of three-year-old Lachie Jones, his mother has a statement read out in court, Lachie’s father addresses the Coroner and throws more shade on the police investigations - and the lawyers play their final cards for and against an accidental drowning.

We also introduce our scorching, brand new podcast investigation on DELVE, coming very soon!

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Jonathan appears via videolink from his new home in Australia to respond to allegations he threw his little brother Lachie in the pond, and the young man at the centre of the Facebook messages gets riled up during cross examination.

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Things get heated in court when the young woman at the centre of the messages that allege Lachie’s brother threw him in the pond testifies at the inquest - and she fires back at attempts to question her motive and undermine her evidence.

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A doctor from Starship Children’s Hospital is questioned on all the big mysteries in the case including that Lachie was found face up, had no water in his lungs and had no external injuries.

You can see an image of a cross section of the pond on our Facebook page and our Instagram page. 

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As the line-up of experts continues, we go on a crash course on the inner workings of the Gore sewerage ponds, and we hear yet another opinion on whether Lachie could have made it all the way out there by himself.

You can see an image of a cross section of the pond on our Facebook page and our Instagram page. 

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In today’s episode, The Depot, three months after giving evidence in the first phase of the inquest, Michelle Officer presents a new sworn statement that changes her account of her movements at the depot that afternoon, but a contractor who works from the same depot says Lachie and his mother weren’t there.

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Robin Bates, lawyer for the police, goes into full Crown prosecutor mode, as he tries to dent the findings, methodology and conclusion in former forensic detective Karen Smith’s report.

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Robin Bates, the lawyer representing the police, goes head to head with former forensic detective Karen Smith.

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In today’s episode, Staged As An Accident, Karen Smith details timelines, distances, witness statements and the 111 call, and explains how she reached her conclusion that Lachie’s death was staged to look like an accident. 

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Karen Smith lays out the system failures, biases and exactly what went wrong with the investigation into Lachie’s death - and questions why the NZ police are so obstinate in this case.

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A forensic pathologist and a retired forensic detective, both Americans, give evidence in the Invercargill courtroom and fiercely defend their views – one emphatic Lachie drowned, the other who says his death was staged.

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The controversy steps up a notch when a Wellington based forensic pathologist enters the frame and is intractable on Lachie’s cause of death.

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Speculation and hypothetical scenarios are thrown around the courtroom, as the absence of a forensic autopsy limits options.

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Dr Martin Sage, the man who says he could have and should have done the forensic autopsy on Lachie, takes the stand. He gives a rare window into the reality of forensic autopsies and we find out what he believes may or may not have happened to Lachie.

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Melanie Reid and her team make their way south for the second phase of the inquest, and on the first day a police dog expert is asked that if Lachie walked out to the ponds, why did the police dog not pick up his scent until 30 metres out?

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Following a tip-off, Melanie Reid heads south and gets the Facebook messages, the phone and the explosive interview.

The Boy in the Water is now part of our new investigative podcast channel, DELVE. 

Melanie Reid Investigates will be releasing gripping, in-depth podcasts on DELVE throughout the year.

If you would like to support our work:

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US-based Andrea Zaferes, who has investigated thousands of ‘body found in water’ cases, tells Melanie Reid what stacks up and what doesn’t when investigating suspected drownings. 

You can also watch a short video of Andrea explaining the positions bodies are commonly found in when they are in water, on our Facebook page and our Instagram page. 

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On the last day of phase one of the inquest, Detective Inspector Stu Harvey is cross examined about witness statements that weren’t taken, the reliability of eyewitness identifications, and any lessons he gleaned from the reinvestigation. Coroner Ho then wraps up the inquest for now. 

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The final witness to appear for this first phase of the inquest is the man who was in charge of the reinvestigation into Lachie’s death, Detective Inspector Stu Harvey.

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The police dog handler who found Lachie with his dog Gee gives his evidence in closed court.

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Bill Little, who’s been in the job for more than 30 years, sets the record straight about process, protocol and who is responsible for what. 

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The pathologist who conducted the post mortem on Lachie tells the inquest they didn’t even have the right equipment to do pediatric autopsies in Southland. 

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A former police officer who worked under Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley refutes her assertion that he was in charge of the investigation into Lachie’s death.

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The pressure is on to find out who was responsible, who was in charge, and who turned around the autopsy. 

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Senior Sergeant Cynthia Fairley, the police officer at the centre of the case, is in the witness box. 

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The first of the police officers scheduled to appear at the inquest takes to the witness stand, and we begin to hear about the confusion over who was in charge of the investigation into Lachie's death.

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The sighting of a mysterious shirtless man, what one of Lachie's preschool teachers remembers about him, and the two paramedics who worked on the little boy's lifeless body all feature in this collection of shorter witness testimonies.

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The police’s lawyer tackles Paul about making claims that Michelle and her sons had something to do with Lachie’s death.

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Paul is questioned about his relationship with Michelle and the events on the day and night leading up to Lachie’s death.

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You could have heard a pin drop in courtroom four when a new witness was asked why he thought something he saw could relate to the death of Lachie Jones.

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Kimberley Rogers, who says she was friends with Michelle Officer for 17 years, tells the inquest Michelle kept changing her story about Lachie running away. 

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The neighbours from the street who searched for Lachie, and the friends who were there that night, all take the stand. 

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The police hat, the yellow vest, who saw what, and what was accurate?

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Lachie's other brother tells the inquest about his family relationships, and his movements on January 29, 2019. You can also click here to see photos of the gate and fence to the sewage oxidation ponds on our Instagram.

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Hearing but not seeing Lachie, and the surprise on the 111 call.

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We hear from Lachie's brother for the first time as he is cross-examined about what happened that day and night.

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In this special bonus epsiode, Melanie Reid discusses the first days of the inquest with colleague Bonnie Sumner.

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Timings, layouts and lines of sight are all explored – and questions are raised about dope smoking.

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On day two of the inquest, Lachie’s mother goes head to head with Paul Jones’ lawyer as he puts it to her that she covered up her son’s death.

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The questioning of Lachie’s mother continues with a forensic examination of the day her son died.  

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Emotional scenes play out in the Invercargill courthouse on day one of the coronial inquest, when Lachie’s mother is cross examined by Paul Jones’ lawyer.

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From Melanie Reid Investigates comes the brand new season of The Boy in the Water. Listen as we follow the coronial inquest into the death of three-and-a-half year old Lachlan Jones, whose lifeless body was found face up in a sewage oxidation pond in the small town of Gore in January 2019.

We have been covering this case for more than four years now. In Season One we revealed multiple flaws in the police investigation and uncovered new evidence that cast serious doubt about the circumstances surrounding Lachie’s death. Then, in August 2023, the coroner announced he would be holding an inquest into Lachie’s death.

In Season Two, we take you directly inside the courtroom during the inquest to hear the voices and evidence of the key people involved in this gripping case.

Melanie and her team will be travelling to Invercargill at the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island to cover the three-week inquest in May 2024, followed by another two weeks in August. 

Season Two of The Boy In The Water is coming soon to newsroom.co.nz and wherever you get your podcasts.

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We reveal an important update from the coroner’s office, plus a radio interview with Melanie Reid on The Detail.

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Watch the video version of The American Detective, read about the police review into the case, and listen to our award-winning podcast Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me.

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In the astonishing season finale, a ‘big gun’ US retired forensic detective is on the case - and she’s not going to stop until she finds the truth.

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Lachie’s graveside birthday celebration, and an ex-police officer reveals the culture of bullying and burnout at the Gore police station.

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Inside the small town Gore courtroom - the disappointment, the heartache and Paul Jones tells it like it is.

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The twists and turns continue when we hear the police statements of Lachie’s mother, brother and a teenager who lived on the street.

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Mysterious and tragic circumstances surround the night Lachie’s body was found.

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Volatile relationships and police call-outs - what was going on leading up to Lachie’s death?

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The whole town gets drawn into the case as the local council is charged in relation to Lachie's death.

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The mystery surrounding the death of Lachie Jones deepens after our team sends lung tissue samples to an international forensic pathologist.

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Officials jump to an early and dubious conclusion when a three-year-old boy's body is found floating in a town's sewage ponds.

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Newsroom’s electrifying new podcast takes you inside a small town harbouring a big mystery. After the lifeless body of three-year-old Lachie Jones is found floating in an oxidation pond in the Southland town of Gore, police rule his death a tragic accident. But nothing is what it seems. Newsroom’s investigations editor Melanie Reid has spent three years covering this case, revealing multiple flaws in the police investigation and uncovering new evidence that casts serious doubt about the circumstances surrounding Lachie’s death. In The Boy in the Water, Reid unravels the case – and the secrets – in an attempt to find out what really happened to little Lachie Jones. The Boy In The Water is coming soon to newsroom.co.nz and wherever you get your podcasts.

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