On an unusually hot night in January 2019, a little boy’s lifeless body was found face up in a small town’s sewage oxidation pond.
To the police, it was an open and shut case: three-year-old Lachlan Jones had run away from his home in the Southland town of Gore, climbed a fence to the ponds, fallen in and drowned.
Case closed, no suspicious circumstances.
But for Lachie’s father, Paul Jones, and his supporters, his son’s death has left more questions than answers.
Could he have walked that far? Would he have headed to the sewage ponds? Why do none of the witness sightings times match? And how is it possible for a small boy to have no marks on his bare feet after traversing 1.2 kilometres over rough terrain?
As Newsroom’s investigations editor, I have spent three years covering this case, revealing multiple flaws in the police investigation and unearthing new evidence that raises serious questions about the circumstances surrounding Lachie’s death.
Now my investigations team and I delve even deeper into the case for this podcast series, with all nine episodes now available to listen and download.
Listen to the entire season
My first thought on that cold winter’s day in 2020 when I walked the route Lachie was meant to have taken was, how could a little boy have walked all this way on his own? It’s such a long way.
I realised then something wasn’t quite right about this case, and that’s when I decided to look into it.
In the first episodes of our nine-part series, I take listeners back to the beginning of our involvement with the case, the debacle of a police investigation and the substandard post mortem.
We introduce outside experts – such as experienced private investigator Glynn Rigby – to examine the case, and what we find is concerning.
Numerous flaws in the police case, including no timeline, no scene examination, delayed witness interviews, conflicting witness statements, lack of cellphone data and no marks on the boy’s feet are just some of the disturbing revelations.
“Obviously if matters aren’t investigated properly, whether they’re a homicide or a missing person or something more minor, you struggle then to rely on the police investigation to reach the right outcomes,” Rigby tells me.
The police eventually reopen the case, only to close it a year later with no new announcements. But this is just the beginning for our investigations team.
After months of legal wrangling we are finally able to facilitate the delivery of samples of Lachie’s organ tissues and other relevant post mortem documentation to Dr Alexander Kolar, an independent expert forensic pathologist in the UK who also conducts post-mortem examinations on cases of suspicious death and unlawful killing.
The results reignite the case.
In episode three the whole town of Gore gets drawn into the case as the local district council is charged in relation to Lachie’s death, and in the fourth episode we examine the rocky relationship between Lachie’s parents in the years and months before that fateful night.
In the fifth episode, we take an intensive look at the sad and strange happenings on Lachie’s last day alive – and the scene at his house the next day.
In episode six we examine what Lachie’s mother says in her police statement about the hours before and after he went missing – and why so many obvious questions were not asked.
Episode seven takes you inside the small town Gore courtroom to hear the disappointment, the heartache and Paul Jones telling it like it is. In our eighth episode we speak in-depth to an ex-police officer who tells it like it is about the culture in the Gore station and the strange direction the case took, and we take listeners to Lachie’s graveside in a celebration for what would have been his eighth birthday.
In the astonishing season finale, a decorated retired forensic detective from the US has spent more than 400 hours investigating the case. She says she is not going to stop until she finds the truth.
System failure
To create this in-depth podcast, we have analysed hundreds of pages of statements and other documents, conducting hours of interviews with Paul Jones and other key locals, as well as forensics experts, international and local investigators, local council members and former police officers, all of whom have cast further doubt on the police investigation and Lachie’s cause of death.
In The Boy in the Water, we unravel the case – and the secrets – in an attempt to find out what really happened to the kind and caring little boy who loved watching Blippi on YouTube and dressing up like a police officer.
The Boy in the Water follows the award-winning success of our 8-part podcast and video series Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me.
All nine episodes of The Boy In The Water are available on Newsroom, Apple, Spotify and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
The Boy in the Water is also produced and written by Bonnie Sumner and Judith Curran, edited by Paul Enticott and music by Age Pryor. If you want to get in touch with Melanie or the team, please send us a confidential message on Instagram or Facebook @MelanieReidInvestigates or email MRInvestigates@proton.me
To join the conversation and check out images related to the podcast, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
*Made with the help of NZ on Air*
