True Crime Tonight: The Disappearance of a Father and Son

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Warning, this is a true crime segment and not suitable for children. It contains references to sexual violence and suicide, which some listeners may find distressing. If you need support, you are not alone. Contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or visit lifeline.org.au for 24 hour support.

**Meshel Laurie** (0:20)
It's a voice that will send shivers down your spine.

**SPEAKER_5** (0:25)
Stabbed 19 times.

**SPEAKER_6** (0:27)
The suspects lured the victim into the woods.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:29)
Biggest legal dramas in Hollywood. Today is a major win to show what the system can do.

**Matthew Tankard** (0:34)
This is True Crime Tonight.

**Meshel Laurie** (0:37)
This is True Crime Tonight. I'm your host, Meshel Laurie, and I'm here with one of my producers, Matthew Tankard, also known as Matt Tankard.

**Matthew Tankard** (0:44)
Hey, Michelle.

**Meshel Laurie** (0:45)
Hi, and all the way up in the Vegas. That's right. Briz Vegas is our other partner in crime, if I may say so. Ruby Bartzis. Hi, Ruby.
And we're gonna talk about True Crime Tonight from Six or Seven every Sunday night we're here, but don't bring the kids, please, because this is a crime show. It's not for them. All right, coming up later this hour, Stephen Myers. Oh God, this guy's great. I can't wait for you to hear this guy. He was a bank robber, okay, but if you don't hold that against him, what a terrific fella. He's a good guy. Oh, he's a great guy.

**Ruby Bartzis** (1:19)
He's a great guy, yeah.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:20)
Interesting fella, and he really loves to talk about the guy that he did bank robberies with. He's still got a bit of hero worship for this guy. So we'll hear all about that in this interview, but I can't recommend him highly enough. I think he's a terrific guy. But up next is our message from a listener for the week, which is my favourite bit. Matthew, how do people do that?

**Matthew Tankard** (1:40)
So if you want to leave us a message, we take voicemails on our True Crime Hotline. You can find a link to do that in any Australian True Crime podcast episode show notes, or find us on Facebook or Instagram at Australian True Crime.

**Meshel Laurie** (1:53)
Do that and please get involved in that link because it's super fun. We're going to hear about it next.

**Matthew Tankard** (1:57)
This is True Crime Tonight with Meshel Laurie.

**SPEAKER_9** (2:01)
Hi, Matthew, Ruby and Meshel. Love the show. I'd like to recommend a brilliant documentary which is available on Stan, which is called The Cape. And it's about the disappearance of a father and son in the croc-infested waters of Cape York about 20 years ago.
Some of the words I'd use to describe it would be intriguing, haunting, spiritual, and a slice of Australian life and culture that most of us never get to see. So, highly recommended and enjoy.

**Meshel Laurie** (2:37)
Claire is so good at this. Like, she's literally left me with nothing left to say. Because I think all of those things about this documentary called The Cape, I don't know if you've seen it, Ruby, but I think you would like it because it's such a, I think anyone would like it, but it's such an interesting, as you said, slice of life. You see how some people live in Australia that we don't, most of us don't even realize exist. And they're living up in the Cape, in Cape York and they're fisher people, they're families who have licenses to fish up there. So like one guy was saying, it costs them over a hundred grand a month just to run the boat. But obviously they make more than that fishing. Like there's enormous amounts of money flowing through the hands of these people who live.
To look at them, you would think they don't have a dollar to their names. You would think these poor people have no money. They're living in huts, shacks, caravans. It's a really rough way to live, but they love it. They're not there because they have to be there. They're there because they love the way of life. So I couldn't agree more. And we spoke to the producer of the episode and she was like us. She's a producer from Sydney, who's gone up to make this documentary in the cave. Actually, let's play a little bit of the trailer. Check out the vibes.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:48)
It's a sordid tale involving two fishing families from the far, far north. Father and son Bevin and Brad Simmonds were last seen in Cape York.

**SPEAKER_5** (3:58)
My role from an investigative perspective, is this a kosher disappearance or is there a potential for third party involvement?