The 50 Year Secret

Episodes

Update episode: A missed opportunity

February 22, 2020 • 7 min

We reveal how police were told about the rumours Reg Wildbore’s own wife had said he committed the murder - and what happened next.

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Special Update Episode: I Need To Speak To Mitten

January 12, 2020 • 17 min

More people come forward with new evidence about Reg Wildbore, and his comments about speaking to lead detective Emmett Mitten.

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Episode 9: Suspicion

January 6, 2020 • 23 min

In the final episode of The 50 Year Secret we talk to Reg Wildbore's old boss about why he always believed Reg was guilty of murder, and ask police about the challenges of getting new information in one of New Zealand's oldest unsolved murder cases.

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Episode 8: A Bad Feeling

January 5, 2020 • 20 min

The last person to ever see Jennifer alive recalls the moment she saw the British tourist climbing into the car of the man who's believed to have killed her.

We retrace the route Jennifer took in her last hour alive.

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Episode 7: Leave It Alone

January 2, 2020 • 24 min

A confession, sex claims, and a statement putting Reg Wildbore practically at the scene of the crime the day Jennifer disappeared.

Had nobody tried to bring this to light before?

As it turns out, they did.

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Episode 6: Something In His Eyes

January 1, 2020 • 21 min

Reg Wildbore's former best mate Peter Johnston talks about Reg's strange behaviour and why it's not hard for him to believe he was capable of murder.

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Episode 5: D-Day Is Coming

December 31, 2019 • 19 min

Reg Wildbore had more than one secret, and they were all starting to catch up with him.

We take a look at the twists in his story and speak to his daughter, who reveals it's not the first she's heard of a confession to the murder.

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Episode 4: The Wild West Coast

December 30, 2019 • 21 min

It's 50 years on, but former lead detective Emmett Mitten still clearly remembers the challenges of the Beard case - from going three weeks without a shower, to getting reliable descriptions of the possible murderer and the infamous Vauxhall.

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Episode 3: Confession

December 29, 2019 • 21 min

A secret that had been bubbling under the surface in a small South Island town finally comes to light.

Ian Molloy speaks about the day his friend Reg Wildbore showed up on his porch and confessed to the unthinkable.

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Episode 2: The Sleeping Woman

December 27, 2019 • 20 min

Police spent precious days searching for Jennifer's body as it lay decaying under the Haast River Bridge.

We speak to Michael Hines, who was just four years old when he unknowingly stumbled across the crime scene.

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Episode 1: Gentle Giant

December 27, 2019 • 17 min

School teacher Jennifer Beard disappeared on New Zealand's West Coast while hitchhiking on New Year's Eve 1969. Nearly three weeks later her body was found under a bridge outside the tiny township of Haast.

Now a Herald investigation has uncovered new evidence that could identify her killer.

We take a look at the background of this 50-year-old cold case, and speak to the nephew of the police's main suspect, Gordon Bray.

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Trailer

December 19, 2019 • 1 min

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