Dead Wrong podcast: The valley of guns and threats

SOMEWHERE in the hinterland hides the answers to a dark secret. Now new evidence reveals that the manager of a farm where a worker died of a gunshot wound had earlier threatened to shoot a neighbour. EPISODE 3 AVAILABLE NOW

• True crime podcast, Dead Wrong: Episode 2, The Smoking Gun
• Boss sent this letter after Jeffrey Brooks shot dead

THE manager of a farm where a worker died of a gunshot wound had earlier threatened to shoot a neighbour over a noise complaint, inquest evidence revealed.

Jeffrey Brooks, a 24-year-old aquaculturist, was found dead at the Beenleigh Crayfish Farm at Luscombe, south of Brisbane, on March 13, 1996.

Police investigating Jeffrey’s death determined the seasoned hunter accidentally killed himself by dragging an old gun - owned by the farm’s manager - towards his own body, holding it by the barrel. The farm manager, his wife and another worker were discounted as having been involved.

The bizarre shooting death has brought more questions than answers and family and friends have lived under a “thundercloud’’ ever since.

Now The Courier-Mail can reveal evidence that hostility was rife in the valley at Luscombe, as we launch the compelling third episode of the new Dead Wrong podcast.

An aerial photograph of the Beenleigh Crayfish Farm at Luscombe, south of Brisbane.

Neighbour Lance Glass provided testimony that he was subjected to chilling threats by the crayfish farm manager.

In his statement tendered at the inquest, Mr Glass recalled a dispute over the manager using a noisy bird-scaring device.

“I recall I confronted him about it and told him it was driving people mad in the valley,’’ he said.

Jeffrey Brooks died from a gunshot wound in 1996.

“After there was no action, every time he went down to turn the machine on, I would discharge my 12-gauge shot into the air … to let him know I wasn’t happy with the machine.

“One day I received a telephone call from him and he requested I come and see him otherwise he was going to shoot me.’’

Mr Glass told police that when he went to the manager’s shed, he was assembling a .22 calibre rifle dismantled on the desk

“The barrel was constantly pointing in my direction as he assembled it.

“I was not comfortable with this and kept pushing it away from my direction. I recall he said words to the effect ‘We have to resolve this because we will end up shooting each other’.”

The Courier-Mail is telling Jeffrey’s story in the true crime podcast Dead Wrong.

Click on the player above to listen here, or download from iTunes or find it on your preferred podcast platform.

Originally published as Dead Wrong podcast: The valley of guns and threats