Unravel True Crime is a podcast where, each season, some of Australia's best journalists investigate unsolved crimes.

Season 1 is Blood On The Tracks.

It’s 1988. Just outside of Tamworth in country New South Wales, a freight train hits someone lying on the tracks. But when a rail worker looks at the body, the scene doesn’t seem to make sense. There is a towel under the head and hardly any blood. Why are the shoes on the body so clean when there is mud all around?

The tracks divide Tamworth in two. An Aboriginal community (nicknamed "Vegemite Village") on one side, a largely white population on the other. The boy on the tracks is Mark Haines, a 17 year-old Gomeroi teenager. Despite the strange evidence found at the scene of his death, the family feel like they're being ignored by police. An inquiry finds no answers and the mystery is left to fester, causing division and suspicion in the town.

Twenty-five years later, journalist Allan Clarke picks up the case the more time he spends with Mark’s family, the more he feel he’s becoming a part of it. Allan tells a story of a town divided, an investigation bungled, evidence lost...and critical leads never followed up.

We follow Allan through five years of investigation. His reporting sparks a resurgence of interest in the case that sees the file reopened, a review launched, a reward announced. During two trips to Tamworth our investigative team dives deeper and the thirty-year-old mystery finally begins to unravel.

As Allan gets closer to the truth, the story ends with a revelation no-one was expecting.

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About Allan Clarke

Allan is a Muruwari man and an award-winning investigative journalist, producer and presenter. His previous reporting on Mark Haines' death has led to the case being reopened, a police review of the initial investigation and the posting of a reward for information to be posted by authorities.

He has previously worked for BuzzFeed, SBS and NITV.

Allan’s recent work has largely focused on unsolved Aboriginal deaths in regional New South Wales and the intersection between the Indigenous community and the judicial system.

His extensive reporting on suicide and juvenile justice in remote communities was nominated for a Walkley Award and an Amnesty International Media Award. Allan’s three-part television series Cold Justice won a Kennedy award and a United Nations Media Award and was nominated for a Law and Justice Foundation award.

Credits

Reporter and presenter: Allan Clarke

Senior investigative producer and additional reporting: Suzanne Smith

Supervising producer: Tim Roxburgh

Producer and researcher: Emma Lancaster

Producer: Ellen Leabeater

Composer and sound design: Martin Peralta

Digital editor: Gina McKeon

Digital producer: Yale MacGillivray

Additional sound and vision: Greg Nelson

Executive producer: Ian Walker