Family feuds, suspected sites: explosive new episode of Bronwyn

In a special three-episode video series featuring the team behind Bronwyn and her loved ones, this episode delves into the darker side of the story.

This is about as stark as it gets.

A quiet suburban Sydney home, a slab of concrete and a myriad of red flags – that’s what brings Bronwyn Winfield’s family back to the home of Hedley Thomas, this time exploring the question that’s haunted them for over three decades:

Where is she?

“If Bronwyn is found at the house in Illawong, we know that Jon Winfield killed her. This is a site completely unconnected to her life… he’s the only connection.”

That’s the jaw-dropping statement from host Claire Harvey, moments after Bronwyn’s doting brother and experienced builder Andrew Read shares hand drawn sketches of the Illawong home in question, where Jon Winfield was working in 1993 at the time of her disappearance.

Bronwyn's brother Andrew Read sketches out the house at Illawong.

In the detailed drawing, Andrew points to the sprawling driveway in the garage, and the floor plan he obtained that revealed the true size of the site.

“There’s plenty of ability to hide someone,” he claims.

Bronwyn’s family have been here before though, something podcast creator Hedley Thomas is conscious of, following the deep dive search of Lake Ainsworth in June last year.

Hope and curiosity overwhelms the family that has been grieving for 31 years, as they unpack details and suspicions that Bronwyn may in fact be buried beneath the concrete.

Bronwyn Winfield vanished on Sunday, May 16, 1993 – the night her husband Jon says she walked out the front door, got in a car and was driven away, never to be heard from again.

Jon Winfield has always denied wrongdoing.

The family return for episode two for our special, video-only series of Bronwyn.

Today’s video is the second of three video-only instalments of Bronwyn, featuring never-before-seen footage behind the scenes of the podcast’s creation, and in-depth conversations between the journalists and Bronwyn’s family members, police, lawyers and listeners.

The episodes – filmed at Hedley Thomas’s home on the outskirts of Brisbane – will be available exclusively for subscribers to The Australian on our app and at bronwynpodcast.com.

Joining Bronwyn’s family is neighbour Melanie Taylor, who was 12-years-old when she recalls the “kind, beautiful” mother disappearing from her life forever.

Nolan, a close friend at the time to Bronwyn’s daughter Chrystal, recalls the ‘intimidating’ aura Jon Winfield exuded, and the suspicious circumstances she found Bronwyn’s daughter’s bedrooms in after she vanished.

Melanie Taylor joins Hedley Thomas to recount the last moment she saw Bronwyn, as a 12-year-old girl living next door.

“Still to this day, I remember going into that house, going into that bedroom of Lauren and Chrystal and seeing there were no sheets on the bed,” she tells Hedley Thomas.

“Those beds would have been made. They were used to living a clean lifestyle.”

It’s this revelation, among others revealed in the episode, that prompts Andrew to declare: “I truly believe that he knows he was seen.”

The episode navigates a series of truths and lies that have emerged since Hedley Thomas began researching the blockbuster podcast in 2023. From family feuds to never before seen footage, Episode 2 of the video special is live now at bronwynpodcast.com. The final episode will be released later in January.

The podcast investigation will return for Season 3 in February.

Catch up on episode one here.