Trace
ABC Radio
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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.
Available episodes
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Mar 31, 2022
Maria James inquest finding
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.
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Nov 3, 2021
S1 | The Inquest
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.
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Aug 12, 2021
S1 | Breakthrough in Maria James cold case
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.
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Dec 16, 2020
S2 BONUS — The Price
The Royal Commission has released its final report into defence lawyer turned police informer Nicola Gobbo.
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Sep 21, 2020
S2 08 | End game
We reveal the story of Nicola Gobbo's audacious bid to return to Australia.
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Sep 14, 2020
S2 07 | Reckoning
Everything unravels, for Nicola Gobbo and Victoria Police. Their secret is out.
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Sep 7, 2020
S2 06 | Whatever it takes
Nicola hits rock bottom, but Victoria Police wants her to take on a new role ... as a witness.
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Aug 31, 2020
S2 05 | Glittering prize
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.
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Aug 24, 2020
S2 04 | Rubicon
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.
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Aug 17, 2020
S2 03 | The darkest night
A drug house burglary smells of police corruption and a police informer is executed.
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Aug 10, 2020
S2 02 | One of the crew
As the gangland war explodes, both police and criminals start questioning Nicola's allegiances. Where do her loyalties lie?
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Aug 3, 2020
S2 01 | Nicola
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.
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Jul 27, 2020
INTRODUCING Trace season 2 - The Informer
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?
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Dec 3, 2018
S1 07 | Hope
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.
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Jun 12, 2018
S1 06 | Limbo
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.
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Sep 6, 2017
S1 05 | Wait
The fall-out from major revelations in the Maria James cold-case continue, as her sons make a desperate plea to the Coroner.
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Jul 12, 2017
S1 04 | DNA
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.
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Jul 5, 2017
S1 03 | Sins
A second person of interest emerges within the church. Rachael Brown investigates their past and discovers a dark and disturbing history.
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Jul 4, 2017
BONUS | How your leads are helping the investigation
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
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Jun 27, 2017
S1 02 | Confessions
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.
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Jun 20, 2017
S1 01 | Bookshop murder
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.
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Jun 16, 2017
S1 | Preview
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?
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