June 29, 2025 • 41 mins
In Luxembourg, Sally and Joni set out to meet Monique Cornelius — a key witness in Marion Barter’s case — but instead stumble on a detail that stops them in their tracks: As they trace old addresses, explore Luxembourg’s hidden banking secrets, and speak with locals in quiet villages, more strange coincidences emerge.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Appogie Production.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome back to episode eight of The Missing Matter, Jonie.
This is a big one because we go to Luxembourg. Yes, yes,
the place that neither of us had ever heard of,
I would assume until we started looking into this. So Luxembourg, well,
it's been a country of interest to me, obviously since
(00:39):
my mum's disappearance. Prior to that, I didn't really know
much about it. But this was my second trip there,
so I did know my way around a little bit.
It's not a very big city, so my memory of
it was quite good. However, that doesn't take away from
the fact that you still can get lost.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
You can no English.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
But we're heading to Luxembourg on Themburg leaving Brussels, which.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Is rainy, rainy, rainy. It's been very difficult to navigate.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We had a really good meeting today, so yeah, anyway,
we're heading We're heading away by bye Brussels. It was Tuesday,
the fifteenth of October, and we had left Brussels mid
afternoon for our four and a half hour train ride
(01:44):
to Luxembourg. The lady at the hotel had given me
instructions on how to catch the bus from the train
station to the hotel. We were staying down in the
spectacular old quarters of the Fortifications area, which is regarded
as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area is sunken
below the city and recognize for its exceptional military architecture
(02:09):
and strategic importance in European history. It was completely stunning.
I remember standing up there with Brian Seymour when we
went back in May twenty nineteen, looking down into there,
and we did do some footage down in there, and
the area is just beautiful. I just completely could see
how my mum would fall in love with the stories
and the history behind what Luxembourg is. However, it was
(02:34):
peak hour traffic. We got off the train, We've got
all our luggage, we get on the bus. We're sitting
in literally standstill traffic, weren't we And We've been on
the bus for about an hour, and I started to
get concerned because I thought we were going the wrong way. Yeah,
we could see different little suburbs counting down, remember on
(02:55):
the sign on the going time direction, and We're like,
just seems like we're going out into the suburbs and
I'm saying that far away from Luxembourg City.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It's we were in the.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Heart of the city, so I had very little battery
left on my phone once again, and I tried to
call the boutique little hotel reception because I knew she
was closing at six pm and we needed to let
her know we weren't going to make it there before
she left, so we had to organize for her to
leave the key for us somewhere. She apologized to me, saying,
oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I've given you the
(03:28):
wrong directions. So the buses that a standstill, but she
had told us to go on that bus and head
that way. She apologized, and we pressed the button to
let the bus drive, and know we wanted to jump off,
and we're literally with all of our suitcases jump off
the bus. We run across the road in all the
traffic and we were waving down the bus that's coming
(03:50):
saying please stop, please stop, we want to get on
the bus. After a massive day traveling, we finally made it.
Then the next challenge we faced was finding the key
and then getting our luggage up the staircase. Yes, that
staircase was a physical challenge, I must say.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I remember I.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Had my case turned sideways lifting it up onto each
step because I could not walk with my bag next
to me, so it was a case of either a
hold in front of me or drag it behind me,
which was kind of impossible because I think it weighed
twenty five kilos or thirty kilos something ridiculous. And I
think you captured that, which traditioned me. You were doing
(04:31):
very out of breath because we were up on the
top floor as well, what are.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You actually doing right now? Stick stepping around? There we go.
This a good challenge.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
God. I felt so privileged to even be staying in
such a place, just you know, the surroundings and where
we were at and that sort of thing. So it
was just be back in time. It's actually I would
encourage anybody to go and actually witness Luxembourg. It is amazing,
and I again felt very privileged to be back there
(05:14):
doing another search, just digging a bit deeper with a
bit more information that we have, because what people have
to remember too when they're listening to these episodes that
we're talking about. When I went with Channel seven, we
didn't know about reck Blum. We were looking for Fernand Ramkel.
So it was a Wednesday, and the next day we
had a big day planned. We decided that we were
(05:38):
going to first stop was to head out on the
bus to a place called it Zinc, which is a
little town in the commune of s ber and Esparage
in southern Luxembourg, with a population of only two four
hundred and fourteen people. So you can literally walk the
(05:58):
entire area in under an hour. It's cold, it's raining again.
We're rugged up with our puffa jackets. You can hear
a swagon along with a constantly and everything that we're
trying to capture.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I think.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I really hope she's home. I really hope she wants
to talk to us. I didn't send her an email
that would have to go.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
We're not sure if she checks the email or not,
because it's her old work email and she obviously hasn't
worked for a very long time, so we do know
she was using that email, but probably didn't check her
very regularly, so she might not.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Have seen it. I want to see if I could
find some flowers or something to bring. It doesn't look
too many shops for the next three plums. How did
(07:21):
you know that? Because it's awesome. Okay, so we will
training in lud to day. Good luck, we la, so
(07:44):
we will let you go up through the Liberation every year. Yeah,
and then we go left down.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Ruby Commerce, and then the Finance, and then we go
right at Ruby's.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Funny kind, I remember how.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You did that. So we arrive and we jump off
the bus and we decided to go straight around to Manique's.
We were really hoping that she'd be home and we
could just gently knock on the door. I had emailed
her like a month prior, just to let her know
(08:26):
that we were coming. I hadn't heard from her. But
at the same time, the email was an old email
address we didn't even know she received. It, didn't have
contact details for her.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Such a weird feeling.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Here we are should so hello Ago, So I can't.
I'm just not a breasting for this one time one
in my head right this second. Yeah, it's not sure
if you are. But what did he live in that
house around the corner nineteen eighty one? Unlikely that any
of the neighbors, but maybe if shed.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Not one member.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, I've looked and tracked all the names around him,
and unfortunately none of them are alive. The ones that
were contacted cannot recall and the parents cannot recall either.
There was a lot of young families. This was a
brand new subdivision when they moved in, so it was
(09:22):
getting sort of built around them.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Is that hard of that?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, that's it, Okay, So she's been here all this time, Sally.
He said that she lived from when he wrote the
letter in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
That's what I was, Manie.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
So we hoped to rock up with some flowers. I
was desperately trying to find somewhere to buy something for her,
even a cake or something, and there was just nothing.
There was no shops anywhere to be found. And what's interesting,
and you're here. When we were sort of recording ourselves,
it sounds like I've gone up and I'm like, we're
at the wrong place. So we went to the wrong house.
And when we've gone back since, we've had a look
(10:01):
at Google Earth and we've looked at the photo of
us standing with Channel seven at that front door. And
at the time I went with Channel seven, it was
just a black wall and there was nothing next to it.
But looking at it, it actually was something being built
next to it. And in today's world, there's actually another
house that's been built which is identical to the one
(10:23):
that Manique Cornelius lives in, and it has exactly the
same pathway up to the door. So for me, I'm like, no, no,
we were at the end, there was nothing next to us,
and I was really playing with my head a little bit,
and you were even like, yeah, I remember, I remember.
But we've gone back and had a look and we've
worked out that there was a new place being built
next door.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
So we went up to the front.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Door and we've standing there and we look at the
door bell and it says Cornelius and then above it
is the name Blum. I swear to girl, we must
have knocked on the wrong door when we came with Brian,
because we went up to that apricoc colored house and walked.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
There's footage of me doing it. Yeah, I know there is.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
We've gone to the wrong house, and you know what else,
we would have noticed the Blum and Cornelius on the door.
So just for those of you who weren't here and
couldn't see on her bell a little plark that is
(11:27):
actually engraved, so it's not just handwritten, but saying Blum
at the top and Cornelius at the bottom. So I've
taken a photo of it. What the hell is that about?
What the hell is that about? That is bizarre, but
you I'm going to look for that footage. Definitely colored door.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I remember it.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I'm pretty certain I remember just walking up like a platform,
which I mean that where I went death then was
a platform of sorts as well. So I might be wrong,
but my memory was that it was I walked up
and then a long kind of like a because I
remember standing there looking back at Paul because he was
she was using the camera from the car, and I
(12:16):
was looking back towards him.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
And Brian and I went up to the.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Door together and we would have like I would have
remembered if we'd seen a bell with Blum on it.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yep, what is that about? I'm going to ask her
about that.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So has Tom been to her house and Alison's been
to her house and no one's brought that up?
Speaker 5 (12:37):
I can't lean on.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Maybe so above it is the name Blum B l
U M.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It has residue all over it of sticky tape, which
would indicate to me personally that it's been covered with something.
And then above it, on the actual wall, it's written
Cornelius in handwriting with arrows pointing down to it, So
that kind of was a bit of a bombshell moment
for you and I. We were like, what the hell
(13:07):
does that mean? Why is there Blum and Cornelius on
the same face plate. It's on the same piece of metal.
There's not two separate pieces of metal. And they're engraved, yes,
so they must have been engraved at the same time.
And us knowing Rick Blum with the same spelling. That
was quite mind blowing for me. I was like, I'm
(13:29):
so confused, as so what this means and what is.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Going on here? And how do we work that out?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Because Rick Bloom didn't change his name too, Rick Bloom
until twenty Fifteen's interesting. And then I was going, oh, well,
how did we not notice this when we were here
in twenty nineteen. Well, Sally, that was because in twenty nineteen.
And this is something I have to struggle with as
I'm going through the story as well, because I'm constantly
(13:54):
going I know that now I've got to pull myself
back to what did I know in twenty nineteen as
opposed to what do I know now in twenty twenty five.
That's actually a very hard thing to do, especially when
you're constantly talking about it people and trying to rehash
the story, it can get a little bit messy in
your head. But anyway, we were there. We were just
our minds were blown there for a moment. So after that,
(14:19):
I guess our mind's a kind of spinning cell around.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Okay, what does this actually mean?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And of course I'm sort of thinking to myself, well,
how can we actually find this information and find out
who that individual was that was residing in that second apartment.
So we then walk off. We sort of think, I'm
not quite sure if Nick's home. We haven't seen any
rattling of the curtains or movement or anything like that,
(14:47):
so we walk off when we think to ourselves, okay,
let's look to see we'll actually physically walk between Menique's
house and Rick Bloom's house in its dish So obviously
it's not the apartment that we were at, or was
at another address, so we thought we'd go ahead and
do that. Well, I think something you and I had
talked about this before we went, and how the fact
(15:10):
that you had been able to establish that Rick Blum
lived with Diane and his kids at one point and
Manique Cornelius was in walking distance and we wanted to
sort of capture that and see what that was like.
So we went off on a trip and we said,
(15:31):
let's walk around to where we know that house to
be yes to me, it's actually quite astonishing in a
way that Monique was living obviously in a different place,
and she was literally two blocks away from Frederick Dehadavari
or Rick Bloom's apartment which was on the corner their
(15:52):
opposite the soccer field.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So we walked it, didn't we so there was it
was literally what was it like a two minute walk?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So why is that important? Do we think during kondos
well of the day if you live you is that
if you have someone who is willing to.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Carry out an affair extra manitial affair that close to
your family's home with a pregnant wife and.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
A newborn baby.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Especially I think in an area like this on a
plateau surrounded by forests, farmlands, etc. And I just wonder
if people would have even noticed someone bobbing in and
out of each home. It's just quite an interesting kind
of situation, I think, because we just wonder whether if
(16:43):
there was a willingness you actually do so you know
Marion's case could also be a learning from Marrying's space.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, just not to make assumptions, right, just to sit
there and say, if all my mum's money was coming
out of a bank account in Byron Bay, it seems
a little bit too.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Close for comfort. You know, I've said it a billion times.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
It's not like the money was coming out of a
bank account in Western Australia. Every single point of interest
is around that neck of the woods, Armadale, Grafton, Byron.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
It's not unthinkable, but there would be There would be
an okayness with having somebody very close to your family home.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
I mean, Jennet Oldenberg was only a short drive away,
so yeah, not a problem. Where was my mum not
a problem?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah? I'm glad we cleared that up because I actually
I was confused by that, because I did think this
is where they were living close.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
To each other. But then the love ness thing threw
me a little bit. Well, maybe we'll walk back.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
To Moniques and see if she's there. I'm really doubtful
that she's going to be there. We could always come
back again tomorrow if we wanted to.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
It's not that much of a ride here and back again.
I didn't find it too difficult.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I think it's wild to think and we're not going
to make any accusations about anything, but people can sort
of put them their own ideas into how that might
play out in a normal circumstance where you might choose
to have a relationship with another person that's within walking
distance in a population that is not very big. I mean,
(18:19):
we could hear the kids playing in the playground and
it was just quiet, and it was not bustling and
bouncing and where you could get lost. It was like, oh,
that person walked down the road and kicked a stone
and it hit a mailbox, like some that would be
something that would be captured because it's so quiet.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
It's actually a lot more built up now to sale.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So like in nineteen eighty it was a very very
brand new suburb too, so a lot of the stuff
that we saw when we were there wouldn't have even
been there, Like there was still houses being built there
from the ground up in the mid eighties. So it
was a very new, very quiet, very family oriented, kind
(19:01):
of small, little outlying address. And I probably would say too,
like Johnny and I just recently did a bit of
a drive around northern New South Wales, and what stood
out to me was the locations of some of the
choices that Rick Blum made as far as his housing goes,
(19:24):
and that covers all the way from Tasmania to Northern
New South Wales, Queens the UK to Queens like you.
If you look at all of the addresses, they are
just in the middle of absolutely nowhere, And it kind
of made me scratch my head to think, why would
you move there? Like, what would be the purpose of
moving to such a strange, remote, quiet location. I keep
(19:51):
saying someone somewhere or something.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
That is where we are now. Yep, that is Rick's
house and that is Menique's house back in nineteen eighty two.
So maybe go to Rix and then walk to Manique
because our us will be up around Linette's if we
can't get on, but we'll come back down.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So I think we got here and go up there
and come back, and we'll come back and see if
she's back here again. It's too far to come to
not check again. Would give it an hour or so.
She might be out getting groceries or something. He was
in radio, if he was of.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
The journalist radio he lived across the road. Yeah, I
wouldn't do that.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Now they're going to be fair looking at us. I
don't really want to upset anybody. Yeah, I'm going to move,
but I'll just get the napping out and everything. So
we've walked back and forth, We've done loops of its
itch to try and get a feel for the area.
(20:52):
We decide we go back to Monique and knock on
the door for a second time to see if she's
come home. Maybe she's gone out for the morning, Maybe
she'll be there when we get back.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
The houses there were up quite high.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You can see the wind turnbines in in the distance there.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
This would be the view from Moniques. Yeah, she feels
like it's going to rain. Probably should have suggested to
the umbrellas, good umbrellas. We just go back and get
on the bus.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
We've now gone back to Monique three times over a
few hours, but she just was not home. We decided
probably should eat something, so we googled where where was
the closest place to eat and there was a pub
of sorts down the bottom of the hill. So we
made our way down a very steep part of the
(21:50):
road and went into a pub where they were serving
fritz and steak. No one spoke any English, so we
were the only two women in there. There was a
couple of men and the lady who ran the pub.
We just sat there, ordered our meal and just hoped
for the best that it was actually going to come.
(22:11):
And then the lady actually came over, and I guess
we just launched into the whole scenario of why we're there.
I guess she would have been wondering why we were there,
you know, two ozzie Australian women who didn't speak a
word of Luxembourgish, French or German.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
So they were really great. Like.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
She then spoke to another man who we found out
was her husband, wasn't it, And they all seemed quite interested,
and she actually took a couple of the postcards and.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Put them up where people would pay and things like that.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
So yeah, so when we ate, and we were in
a bit of a rash, right because we wanted to
get back up the hill that your plant of fasciitis
was playing up, if I remember correctly, and my ankle
was a little bit dodgy. Yeah, so we walked back
up the road a bit. There was a gentleman sitting there,
and you walked over to ask him if he was elderly.
So you thought, oh, I might go on to to
(23:05):
him and see if he knows anything. So you went
up and showed him one of the cards, and I
think he saluted you or something nice.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Were just handing out our cards. So there's a.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Lovely old gentleman here that looks about the right age.
So Johny's just going to walk over there and ask
him if he's familiar. But you better hurry though, because
the boss is going to come. Oh this is intense.
It's interesting people reading these cards. No, he doesn't know him,
(23:41):
gives us another salute. It's a bit of a big ask.
He was only here for for two years, I guess,
but was in Luxembourg for longer, so you just never never,
never know.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's why we're here. Oh well, good to ask. Anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
It was time for Sally to once again go to
the ladies, so I said to Johnny, wait here, I'm
going to run down quickly back to the pub and
the bathroom, because there was literally nothing anywhere wherever we'd
been this day. And when I walked in there, the
lady had already popped the postcards that we'd left with
her up on the wall of the pub, so I
(24:17):
was very grateful there was that language barrier, but it's
so interesting when you actually try your best. So we
were trying our best to communicate with her in their language,
and she was trying to do the same for us,
And it was just nice to have that support and
people having the shock value of knowing that, you know,
we were there looking for potentially a missing person or
connectors to a missing person. You know, it's nice to
(24:40):
see people actually just wanting to help and wanting to
hear what we were there for and what we were doing.
So the buses in light five minutes, all right, So
we've just tried ringing Monique again. I literally just down
the bottom from where she is, but to get down
here was like a goat track, and then we just
(25:00):
don't want to. My ankle's actually feeling pretty good. I
think the wall the walking has actually helped it. Surprisingly. Yeah,
I reckon my heel too, but I don't I wouldn't trust.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It on that kind of road. It's pretty hard.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Anyway, We're going to go back up the top, which
is a little frustrating because we're gonna have to get
off the bus, walk around, knock on the door, and
if she's not there again, they'll have to wait for
the bus, which.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Could take another What are the buses' journey?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Are they half an hour in between every twenty and
every twenty that's not too bad. Well, we had an
hour last night, and this is weird. Everyone will think
I'm weird now. But Owen always said that if when
he comes back after life, oh did. I used to
talk about this a lot. I used to sit there
and say I would come back as a snake. S
(25:45):
was for Sally, S was for snake, and Owen would
come back as an owl, which was oh for our
and I remember being kids and we were talking about
what animal we would come back in life. When we
had an hour sitting perch during the inquest A kid,
you not, it was making a little house in our
(26:06):
back points on up the top.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I've got photos of it. He'd be out the front
at nighttime when.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
We were sitting on the deck, just looking at us.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
It was the most bizarre feeling.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
And then last night we arrived in Luxembourg and there's
a little happening outside the window.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
But yeah, we will head up there now and we'll
just see which's home.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And then I think we're going to head into Luxembourg
City and we're going to go on and have a
look at the bank that Monique mentioned that Rick Blum
told her when they were walking through there that that's
where he banks and that's where he keeps all of
his money.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Luxembourg is a haven for, you know, people who want
to hide money. It's a bit like Switzerland.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
We need to know where my mum's money went, and
I'm curious as to where that has gone.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
So if we can try and find that information, that
would be good. And I mean we've got Luxembourg. Who
comes to us journey, We've got Luxembourg as a point
of interest because my mum actually you know, said on
her passenger card that.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
She was leaving.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Hence, while we're leaving no stone unturned again to ensure.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
That we've cost every tea and dotted every eye.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
So from the pub, we hop back on the bus
and we go back up to Maniques to try her
for one last time, just thank you very much. Notice
(27:48):
a little weird.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
So we're just walking back to Meniques. Now there's no
cars in the driveway. Yeah, this is not looking not
looking promising anyway. We all, okay, let's ring the door.
(28:18):
Just do you want to draw her on the phone,
because I reckon too much knocking in it is.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I've got their phone number, so how.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
About we call her, so we'll go a bit further down.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
The bell, said Cornelius on it on the top of
the actual physical white bell.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
It said, Cornelius. I think maybe we go and do
our other.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Task and we call her on the phone and see
if she's around, because she might just be out.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
You can't see any movement.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It looks fairly dark in there, so there's all forest
and farmland, and this is like up high, a little plateau.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
How much would he have loved that? I mean, at
least we're backing it up with a call, so you
know what I mean. Good.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I remember, Oh my god, I remember, I remember us
being there journey and we weren't sure like we'd been
We'd sat in the park, we'd gone around to Rick
Blom's old house, we'd walked around the entire block, we'd
gone down and got something to eat. We'd now been
there for four hours trying to talk to Menique, and
(29:38):
she just wasn't there. And I was honestly thinking to myself,
all the eyes in the windows as well, So as
you're walking, I just felt as though if we're walking
up and down her street constantly, we moved and sat
in the park, remember, on the park bench, because we're like, ah,
there's eyes, like there's literally eyes on us. People are
(29:59):
probably wondering what are we doing.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
I just thought, if you were, yeah, fifty one, so
six years younger than my mom, so that would make
them seventy four.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
I domeber what she's doing today, probably loved them.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
So we get back to our hotel and I've rung
Monique a few times, but I haven't left a voice message.
But we get back to the hotel and I said
to Joonie, maybe we had put it, like a card,
one of Mom's cards into her mailbox, if you remember,
just to let her know we had been there. But
I thought now was the time to wring her and
just leave her a voice message. We rang her and
(30:51):
left a left a message just to say high that
we were in the area and if she was around
tomorrow maybe we could catch up and we'd be happily
able to come back out to see her.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Futsightist EMONI spot gonna Hi, Manique.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
It's Sally Laden here, Marion Barta's daughter. I popped out
yesterday to try and see if you're home. I sent
you an email a couple of weeks back seeing if
you would like to catch up.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
While I'm in Luxembourg. My number is plus six y one.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I am leaving Luxembourg today at one pm, but I
thought this morning if you were around and you'd like
to have a coffee and a catch up. I would
really like to meet you in person say thank you
for all your help in giving evidence at my mum's case.
My mum still is missing, so you're an important part
(31:53):
of the story for me and I'd really love to
meet you if possible.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
But I hope you have a good day.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Just One of the other things that I wanted to
do while we're in live Uxenbourg was going to the
and I'm going to totally butcher. This again was the
City Judiciar and that was to look to see whether
they had any information on the two registered companies of
mister Bloom in Luxembourg. That was a very bizarre experience
(32:25):
for me. So Sul was outside talking to someone on
the phone. So I went in the front door and
it was pitch black, so there was no lights anywhere.
I wondered, you know, what was going on here, because
I expected to be a court building. I went into
the lift and that was again pitch black. So I
went up, pressed the button. I got my torch phone
out and pressed the button of level two, went up
(32:47):
to level two and it was again just pitch black.
I found a light switch as I came out of
the lift, so I managed to turn the lights on
and then I found the door where I wanted to
go on it, and I knocked on the door this
big buzzer buzz really really loud, and then I went
(33:07):
in and it was literally like this massive hive of activity,
bright lights, people everywhere, people running their papers from left
to right to center to ring bowels.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
It was like an absolute hive of activity.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
So it was just quite bizarre, like coming in from
the dark, silent, and then boom, all of a sudden,
he had these massive lights. Anyway, it all worked out, okay,
it wasn't the back entrance. They just explained to me
that they have really extreme power saving approaches within the
court precinc themselves and so if there's no one in there,
(33:44):
then it's black. So I managed to see one of
the registrars there, so she was more than happy to
help me. She searched for both of the companies that
Rick Bloom had registered within Luxembourg or was part of,
I should say, and she said, too old. I don't
have any information. I can confirm that both were bankrupt
(34:07):
and that's why the documents are here from both of
those companies. There may be stuff in archives, but it's
likely to be in pay per form and pretty much
impossible to access. So she said, sorry, I can't help anymore,
and I left. Well, that doesn't surprise me more doors shut.
(34:30):
Luxembourg's a bit of a locked city. I've heard that
many many times, where it's kind of like the Swiss banks,
you know, just if you want to do anything, you
go to Luxembourg. So we go back down that was
actually situated and perched just up the top of the
Unesco area, and we sort of had to catch a lift,
didn't we. It was literally outside the courthouse. Took us
(34:51):
straight down and where our hotel was and we bunk
it in for the night. The next morning we woke up,
we went downstairs and had breakfast. It was actually such
a beautiful little place, wasn't It was a time our hotel,
but we had a lovely lady who was the manager
of the hotel, Francois, and she took an interest into
(35:14):
why we were visiting Luxembourg. Francois did mention that she
had actually lived near Alan, so the day before she'd
said that she was going to go and actually have
a look and try and find the address, so that
that is what she had done. So she let us
know the next day that she'd gone there to actually
(35:36):
check it out, which was awesome of her.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I assure you that helps you went to along. So
what happened that dues where we wanted to go. It
doesn't exist anymore. And this is this house.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
In fact, that was an odd hours before. A new
park has been bat nict two weeks okay, but this
is the one hundred and third because there is no
more thirteen. They replaced the all the numbering and numbering,
but they check, I said, booka maps, but this showed
(36:18):
me the thirty one also lays.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
On the side said no thirty one said one said
two d one.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
And so before we left, we pulled all the luggage
down the stairs and they allowed us to store it
just because we had one more thing we needed to
do in Luxembourg before we left. So inside where the
tea room was or the kitchenette where they would serve
us breakfast, they actually had a visitor book, and in
(36:50):
there I actually wrote the missing matter, Marion Matters, and
I left one of mum's cards inserted on the page
and just wrote a little note explaining that my mum
was a missing person and if anyone had any information
then they were reading this, please reach out and let
us snow. As our time came to an end in Luxembourg,
we just have one last job to tick off our list,
(37:12):
which was the Bank International. So the reason why we're
going to go into the bank in Luxembourg City was
because we had heard that Rick Bloom had stated that
him and Monique were walking in Luxembourg City and he
actually pointed to the bank and said, look, Monigue, that's
where I put That's where all my capital is.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
So of course we carry like I've got my big bag.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
It's heavy, I've got my laptop, all the documents, and
because Johnnie will tell you, I did not want to
put that bag down anywhere after trying so hard to
get out all the documents.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
It was super important. I just could not risk it
being left behind.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
So the bank has moved from where it originally was
back in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
So I got my files with me.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
That's where my bags ody, with mum's probate documents and
her will and everything and everything in Ramachel to.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Hopefully allow us access to her file. She's got one of.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Her there's a bank account with her name on it,
in the name of Ramachel or Ramachuel, would be kind
of and what a good to name. All right. We've
had to walk a fair way into the city from
where we were, and unbelievably we arrive and the bank
(38:41):
is shut not just close for the day, but completely
shut down, with fencing and signs all over it saying
under restoration, under construction and once again no cigar. Okay, Well,
in true fashion, it's like I'm having deja vous. That
was when I came with Brian and nothing was open
(39:02):
and no one was home to the bank that Joney
checked this morning and it was a fully functioning, operational
bank online. We've arrived, it's all barricaded up where there
is papers all over the windows, stuck with sticky tape
close close, clothes not open, and we literally, if I
(39:23):
could look across, we're back to where we were yesterday,
where number four was, So I literally can see that
from here where we're standing.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
So that's ironic. We were literally here. Yeah, right, and
then so this is all shut.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Down, and then Joney's is what we've been standing here.
Joney's done a check and it's only ATMs now.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
So my power of.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Attorney document is it's been quite useless over here. Brought
all those documents with me and.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
No cigar.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
So all right, so we need to work out what
you want to do. Now do you want to I
will walk back down this way. I guess we'll walk.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Back the way we came, dearing me, hearing me, Yeah,
did you take a photo? Watch this?
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Doctor though, I might just take a photo.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
As well, so I've got it as well. But that's
just mental.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
So the Bank of Switzerland, well referred to as Similar Switzerland, is.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
No longer no longer available.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Anyway, I can't say we didn't come and try because
we are here, yeah, and it is not here, so.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Anyway, oh well, hi, going, So we leave Luxembourg. That's
(41:18):
carry seven.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
We've got to go all the way to the back
in the next episode of The Missing Matter. So we're
off to Lille in northern France. So we had a
few things we wanted to do there. Jonie, we wanted
to go to archives. I was not feeling well, so
we swapped rolls and you went and did it on
(41:40):
your own. And we ventured straight up to the police
in Law because we wanted to address a few things
with them and bring some awareness. And I could not
believe when we arrive what we saw
Appogie Production.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome back to episode eight of The Missing Matter, Jonie.
This is a big one because we go to Luxembourg. Yes, yes,
the place that neither of us had ever heard of,
I would assume until we started looking into this. So Luxembourg, well,
it's been a country of interest to me, obviously since
(00:39):
my mum's disappearance. Prior to that, I didn't really know
much about it. But this was my second trip there,
so I did know my way around a little bit.
It's not a very big city, so my memory of
it was quite good. However, that doesn't take away from
the fact that you still can get lost.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
You can no English.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
But we're heading to Luxembourg on Themburg leaving Brussels, which.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Is rainy, rainy, rainy. It's been very difficult to navigate.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
We had a really good meeting today, so yeah, anyway,
we're heading We're heading away by bye Brussels. It was Tuesday,
the fifteenth of October, and we had left Brussels mid
afternoon for our four and a half hour train ride
(01:44):
to Luxembourg. The lady at the hotel had given me
instructions on how to catch the bus from the train
station to the hotel. We were staying down in the
spectacular old quarters of the Fortifications area, which is regarded
as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area is sunken
below the city and recognize for its exceptional military architecture
(02:09):
and strategic importance in European history. It was completely stunning.
I remember standing up there with Brian Seymour when we
went back in May twenty nineteen, looking down into there,
and we did do some footage down in there, and
the area is just beautiful. I just completely could see
how my mum would fall in love with the stories
and the history behind what Luxembourg is. However, it was
(02:34):
peak hour traffic. We got off the train, We've got
all our luggage, we get on the bus. We're sitting
in literally standstill traffic, weren't we And We've been on
the bus for about an hour, and I started to
get concerned because I thought we were going the wrong way. Yeah,
we could see different little suburbs counting down, remember on
(02:55):
the sign on the going time direction, and We're like,
just seems like we're going out into the suburbs and
I'm saying that far away from Luxembourg City.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
It's we were in the.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Heart of the city, so I had very little battery
left on my phone once again, and I tried to
call the boutique little hotel reception because I knew she
was closing at six pm and we needed to let
her know we weren't going to make it there before
she left, so we had to organize for her to
leave the key for us somewhere. She apologized to me, saying,
oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I've given you the
(03:28):
wrong directions. So the buses that a standstill, but she
had told us to go on that bus and head
that way. She apologized, and we pressed the button to
let the bus drive, and know we wanted to jump off,
and we're literally with all of our suitcases jump off
the bus. We run across the road in all the
traffic and we were waving down the bus that's coming
(03:50):
saying please stop, please stop, we want to get on
the bus. After a massive day traveling, we finally made it.
Then the next challenge we faced was finding the key
and then getting our luggage up the staircase. Yes, that
staircase was a physical challenge, I must say.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
I remember I.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Had my case turned sideways lifting it up onto each
step because I could not walk with my bag next
to me, so it was a case of either a
hold in front of me or drag it behind me,
which was kind of impossible because I think it weighed
twenty five kilos or thirty kilos something ridiculous. And I
think you captured that, which traditioned me. You were doing
(04:31):
very out of breath because we were up on the
top floor as well, what are.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You actually doing right now? Stick stepping around? There we go.
This a good challenge.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
God. I felt so privileged to even be staying in
such a place, just you know, the surroundings and where
we were at and that sort of thing. So it
was just be back in time. It's actually I would
encourage anybody to go and actually witness Luxembourg. It is amazing,
and I again felt very privileged to be back there
(05:14):
doing another search, just digging a bit deeper with a
bit more information that we have, because what people have
to remember too when they're listening to these episodes that
we're talking about. When I went with Channel seven, we
didn't know about reck Blum. We were looking for Fernand Ramkel.
So it was a Wednesday, and the next day we
had a big day planned. We decided that we were
(05:38):
going to first stop was to head out on the
bus to a place called it Zinc, which is a
little town in the commune of s ber and Esparage
in southern Luxembourg, with a population of only two four
hundred and fourteen people. So you can literally walk the
(05:58):
entire area in under an hour. It's cold, it's raining again.
We're rugged up with our puffa jackets. You can hear
a swagon along with a constantly and everything that we're
trying to capture.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I think.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
I really hope she's home. I really hope she wants
to talk to us. I didn't send her an email
that would have to go.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
We're not sure if she checks the email or not,
because it's her old work email and she obviously hasn't
worked for a very long time, so we do know
she was using that email, but probably didn't check her
very regularly, so she might not.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Have seen it. I want to see if I could
find some flowers or something to bring. It doesn't look
too many shops for the next three plums. How did
(07:21):
you know that? Because it's awesome. Okay, so we will
training in lud to day. Good luck, we la, so
(07:44):
we will let you go up through the Liberation every year. Yeah,
and then we go left down.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Ruby Commerce, and then the Finance, and then we go
right at Ruby's.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Funny kind, I remember how.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
You did that. So we arrive and we jump off
the bus and we decided to go straight around to Manique's.
We were really hoping that she'd be home and we
could just gently knock on the door. I had emailed
her like a month prior, just to let her know
(08:26):
that we were coming. I hadn't heard from her. But
at the same time, the email was an old email
address we didn't even know she received. It, didn't have
contact details for her.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Such a weird feeling.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Here we are should so hello Ago, So I can't.
I'm just not a breasting for this one time one
in my head right this second. Yeah, it's not sure
if you are. But what did he live in that
house around the corner nineteen eighty one? Unlikely that any
of the neighbors, but maybe if shed.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Not one member.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yes, I've looked and tracked all the names around him,
and unfortunately none of them are alive. The ones that
were contacted cannot recall and the parents cannot recall either.
There was a lot of young families. This was a
brand new subdivision when they moved in, so it was
(09:22):
getting sort of built around them.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Is that hard of that?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, that's it, Okay, So she's been here all this time, Sally.
He said that she lived from when he wrote the
letter in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
That's what I was, Manie.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
So we hoped to rock up with some flowers. I
was desperately trying to find somewhere to buy something for her,
even a cake or something, and there was just nothing.
There was no shops anywhere to be found. And what's interesting,
and you're here. When we were sort of recording ourselves,
it sounds like I've gone up and I'm like, we're
at the wrong place. So we went to the wrong house.
And when we've gone back since, we've had a look
(10:01):
at Google Earth and we've looked at the photo of
us standing with Channel seven at that front door. And
at the time I went with Channel seven, it was
just a black wall and there was nothing next to it.
But looking at it, it actually was something being built
next to it. And in today's world, there's actually another
house that's been built which is identical to the one
(10:23):
that Manique Cornelius lives in, and it has exactly the
same pathway up to the door. So for me, I'm like, no, no,
we were at the end, there was nothing next to us,
and I was really playing with my head a little bit,
and you were even like, yeah, I remember, I remember.
But we've gone back and had a look and we've
worked out that there was a new place being built
next door.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
So we went up to the front.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Door and we've standing there and we look at the
door bell and it says Cornelius and then above it
is the name Blum. I swear to girl, we must
have knocked on the wrong door when we came with Brian,
because we went up to that apricoc colored house and walked.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
There's footage of me doing it. Yeah, I know there is.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
We've gone to the wrong house, and you know what else,
we would have noticed the Blum and Cornelius on the door.
So just for those of you who weren't here and
couldn't see on her bell a little plark that is
(11:27):
actually engraved, so it's not just handwritten, but saying Blum
at the top and Cornelius at the bottom. So I've
taken a photo of it. What the hell is that about?
What the hell is that about? That is bizarre, but
you I'm going to look for that footage. Definitely colored door.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
I remember it.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
I'm pretty certain I remember just walking up like a platform,
which I mean that where I went death then was
a platform of sorts as well. So I might be wrong,
but my memory was that it was I walked up
and then a long kind of like a because I
remember standing there looking back at Paul because he was
she was using the camera from the car, and I
(12:16):
was looking back towards him.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
And Brian and I went up to the.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Door together and we would have like I would have
remembered if we'd seen a bell with Blum on it.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yep, what is that about? I'm going to ask her
about that.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So has Tom been to her house and Alison's been
to her house and no one's brought that up?
Speaker 5 (12:37):
I can't lean on.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Maybe so above it is the name Blum B l
U M.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
It has residue all over it of sticky tape, which
would indicate to me personally that it's been covered with something.
And then above it, on the actual wall, it's written
Cornelius in handwriting with arrows pointing down to it, So
that kind of was a bit of a bombshell moment
for you and I. We were like, what the hell
(13:07):
does that mean? Why is there Blum and Cornelius on
the same face plate. It's on the same piece of metal.
There's not two separate pieces of metal. And they're engraved, yes,
so they must have been engraved at the same time.
And us knowing Rick Blum with the same spelling. That
was quite mind blowing for me. I was like, I'm
(13:29):
so confused, as so what this means and what is.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Going on here? And how do we work that out?
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Because Rick Bloom didn't change his name too, Rick Bloom
until twenty Fifteen's interesting. And then I was going, oh, well,
how did we not notice this when we were here
in twenty nineteen. Well, Sally, that was because in twenty nineteen.
And this is something I have to struggle with as
I'm going through the story as well, because I'm constantly
(13:54):
going I know that now I've got to pull myself
back to what did I know in twenty nineteen as
opposed to what do I know now in twenty twenty five.
That's actually a very hard thing to do, especially when
you're constantly talking about it people and trying to rehash
the story, it can get a little bit messy in
your head. But anyway, we were there. We were just
our minds were blown there for a moment. So after that,
(14:19):
I guess our mind's a kind of spinning cell around.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Okay, what does this actually mean?
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And of course I'm sort of thinking to myself, well,
how can we actually find this information and find out
who that individual was that was residing in that second apartment.
So we then walk off. We sort of think, I'm
not quite sure if Nick's home. We haven't seen any
rattling of the curtains or movement or anything like that,
(14:47):
so we walk off when we think to ourselves, okay,
let's look to see we'll actually physically walk between Menique's
house and Rick Bloom's house in its dish So obviously
it's not the apartment that we were at, or was
at another address, so we thought we'd go ahead and
do that. Well, I think something you and I had
talked about this before we went, and how the fact
(15:10):
that you had been able to establish that Rick Blum
lived with Diane and his kids at one point and
Manique Cornelius was in walking distance and we wanted to
sort of capture that and see what that was like.
So we went off on a trip and we said,
(15:31):
let's walk around to where we know that house to
be yes to me, it's actually quite astonishing in a
way that Monique was living obviously in a different place,
and she was literally two blocks away from Frederick Dehadavari
or Rick Bloom's apartment which was on the corner their
(15:52):
opposite the soccer field.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So we walked it, didn't we so there was it
was literally what was it like a two minute walk?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
So why is that important? Do we think during kondos
well of the day if you live you is that
if you have someone who is willing to.
Speaker 4 (16:12):
Carry out an affair extra manitial affair that close to
your family's home with a pregnant wife and.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
A newborn baby.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
Especially I think in an area like this on a
plateau surrounded by forests, farmlands, etc. And I just wonder
if people would have even noticed someone bobbing in and
out of each home. It's just quite an interesting kind
of situation, I think, because we just wonder whether if
(16:43):
there was a willingness you actually do so you know
Marion's case could also be a learning from Marrying's space.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, just not to make assumptions, right, just to sit
there and say, if all my mum's money was coming
out of a bank account in Byron Bay, it seems
a little bit too.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Close for comfort. You know, I've said it a billion times.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
It's not like the money was coming out of a
bank account in Western Australia. Every single point of interest
is around that neck of the woods, Armadale, Grafton, Byron.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
It's not unthinkable, but there would be There would be
an okayness with having somebody very close to your family home.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
I mean, Jennet Oldenberg was only a short drive away,
so yeah, not a problem. Where was my mum not
a problem?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah? I'm glad we cleared that up because I actually
I was confused by that, because I did think this
is where they were living close.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
To each other. But then the love ness thing threw
me a little bit. Well, maybe we'll walk back.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
To Moniques and see if she's there. I'm really doubtful
that she's going to be there. We could always come
back again tomorrow if we wanted to.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
It's not that much of a ride here and back again.
I didn't find it too difficult.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I think it's wild to think and we're not going
to make any accusations about anything, but people can sort
of put them their own ideas into how that might
play out in a normal circumstance where you might choose
to have a relationship with another person that's within walking
distance in a population that is not very big. I mean,
(18:19):
we could hear the kids playing in the playground and
it was just quiet, and it was not bustling and
bouncing and where you could get lost. It was like, oh,
that person walked down the road and kicked a stone
and it hit a mailbox, like some that would be
something that would be captured because it's so quiet.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
It's actually a lot more built up now to sale.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
So like in nineteen eighty it was a very very
brand new suburb too, so a lot of the stuff
that we saw when we were there wouldn't have even
been there, Like there was still houses being built there
from the ground up in the mid eighties. So it
was a very new, very quiet, very family oriented, kind
(19:01):
of small, little outlying address. And I probably would say too,
like Johnny and I just recently did a bit of
a drive around northern New South Wales, and what stood
out to me was the locations of some of the
choices that Rick Blum made as far as his housing goes,
(19:24):
and that covers all the way from Tasmania to Northern
New South Wales, Queens the UK to Queens like you.
If you look at all of the addresses, they are
just in the middle of absolutely nowhere, And it kind
of made me scratch my head to think, why would
you move there? Like, what would be the purpose of
moving to such a strange, remote, quiet location. I keep
(19:51):
saying someone somewhere or something.
Speaker 6 (19:54):
That is where we are now. Yep, that is Rick's
house and that is Menique's house back in nineteen eighty two.
So maybe go to Rix and then walk to Manique
because our us will be up around Linette's if we
can't get on, but we'll come back down.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So I think we got here and go up there
and come back, and we'll come back and see if
she's back here again. It's too far to come to
not check again. Would give it an hour or so.
She might be out getting groceries or something. He was
in radio, if he was of.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
The journalist radio he lived across the road. Yeah, I
wouldn't do that.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Now they're going to be fair looking at us. I
don't really want to upset anybody. Yeah, I'm going to move,
but I'll just get the napping out and everything. So
we've walked back and forth, We've done loops of its
itch to try and get a feel for the area.
(20:52):
We decide we go back to Monique and knock on
the door for a second time to see if she's
come home. Maybe she's gone out for the morning, Maybe
she'll be there when we get back.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
The houses there were up quite high.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You can see the wind turnbines in in the distance there.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
This would be the view from Moniques. Yeah, she feels
like it's going to rain. Probably should have suggested to
the umbrellas, good umbrellas. We just go back and get
on the bus.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
We've now gone back to Monique three times over a
few hours, but she just was not home. We decided
probably should eat something, so we googled where where was
the closest place to eat and there was a pub
of sorts down the bottom of the hill. So we
made our way down a very steep part of the
(21:50):
road and went into a pub where they were serving
fritz and steak. No one spoke any English, so we
were the only two women in there. There was a
couple of men and the lady who ran the pub.
We just sat there, ordered our meal and just hoped
for the best that it was actually going to come.
(22:11):
And then the lady actually came over, and I guess
we just launched into the whole scenario of why we're there.
I guess she would have been wondering why we were there,
you know, two ozzie Australian women who didn't speak a
word of Luxembourgish, French or German.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
So they were really great. Like.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
She then spoke to another man who we found out
was her husband, wasn't it, And they all seemed quite interested,
and she actually took a couple of the postcards and.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Put them up where people would pay and things like that.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
So yeah, so when we ate, and we were in
a bit of a rash, right because we wanted to
get back up the hill that your plant of fasciitis
was playing up, if I remember correctly, and my ankle
was a little bit dodgy. Yeah, so we walked back
up the road a bit. There was a gentleman sitting there,
and you walked over to ask him if he was elderly.
So you thought, oh, I might go on to to
(23:05):
him and see if he knows anything. So you went
up and showed him one of the cards, and I
think he saluted you or something nice.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Were just handing out our cards. So there's a.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
Lovely old gentleman here that looks about the right age.
So Johny's just going to walk over there and ask
him if he's familiar. But you better hurry though, because
the boss is going to come. Oh this is intense.
It's interesting people reading these cards. No, he doesn't know him,
(23:41):
gives us another salute. It's a bit of a big ask.
He was only here for for two years, I guess,
but was in Luxembourg for longer, so you just never never,
never know.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's why we're here. Oh well, good to ask. Anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
It was time for Sally to once again go to
the ladies, so I said to Johnny, wait here, I'm
going to run down quickly back to the pub and
the bathroom, because there was literally nothing anywhere wherever we'd
been this day. And when I walked in there, the
lady had already popped the postcards that we'd left with
her up on the wall of the pub, so I
(24:17):
was very grateful there was that language barrier, but it's
so interesting when you actually try your best. So we
were trying our best to communicate with her in their language,
and she was trying to do the same for us,
And it was just nice to have that support and
people having the shock value of knowing that, you know,
we were there looking for potentially a missing person or
connectors to a missing person. You know, it's nice to
(24:40):
see people actually just wanting to help and wanting to
hear what we were there for and what we were doing.
So the buses in light five minutes, all right, So
we've just tried ringing Monique again. I literally just down
the bottom from where she is, but to get down
here was like a goat track, and then we just
(25:00):
don't want to. My ankle's actually feeling pretty good. I
think the wall the walking has actually helped it. Surprisingly. Yeah,
I reckon my heel too, but I don't I wouldn't trust.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It on that kind of road. It's pretty hard.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Anyway, We're going to go back up the top, which
is a little frustrating because we're gonna have to get
off the bus, walk around, knock on the door, and
if she's not there again, they'll have to wait for
the bus, which.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Could take another What are the buses' journey?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Are they half an hour in between every twenty and
every twenty that's not too bad. Well, we had an
hour last night, and this is weird. Everyone will think
I'm weird now. But Owen always said that if when
he comes back after life, oh did. I used to
talk about this a lot. I used to sit there
and say I would come back as a snake. S
(25:45):
was for Sally, S was for snake, and Owen would
come back as an owl, which was oh for our
and I remember being kids and we were talking about
what animal we would come back in life. When we
had an hour sitting perch during the inquest A kid,
you not, it was making a little house in our
(26:06):
back points on up the top.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I've got photos of it. He'd be out the front
at nighttime when.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
We were sitting on the deck, just looking at us.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
It was the most bizarre feeling.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
And then last night we arrived in Luxembourg and there's
a little happening outside the window.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
But yeah, we will head up there now and we'll
just see which's home.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
And then I think we're going to head into Luxembourg
City and we're going to go on and have a
look at the bank that Monique mentioned that Rick Blum
told her when they were walking through there that that's
where he banks and that's where he keeps all of
his money.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Luxembourg is a haven for, you know, people who want
to hide money. It's a bit like Switzerland.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
We need to know where my mum's money went, and
I'm curious as to where that has gone.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
So if we can try and find that information, that
would be good. And I mean we've got Luxembourg. Who
comes to us journey, We've got Luxembourg as a point
of interest because my mum actually you know, said on
her passenger card that.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
She was leaving.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Hence, while we're leaving no stone unturned again to ensure.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
That we've cost every tea and dotted every eye.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
So from the pub, we hop back on the bus
and we go back up to Maniques to try her
for one last time, just thank you very much. Notice
(27:48):
a little weird.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
So we're just walking back to Meniques. Now there's no
cars in the driveway. Yeah, this is not looking not
looking promising anyway. We all, okay, let's ring the door.
(28:18):
Just do you want to draw her on the phone,
because I reckon too much knocking in it is.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I've got their phone number, so how.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
About we call her, so we'll go a bit further down.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
The bell, said Cornelius on it on the top of
the actual physical white bell.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
It said, Cornelius. I think maybe we go and do
our other.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Task and we call her on the phone and see
if she's around, because she might just be out.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
You can't see any movement.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It looks fairly dark in there, so there's all forest
and farmland, and this is like up high, a little plateau.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
How much would he have loved that? I mean, at
least we're backing it up with a call, so you
know what I mean. Good.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I remember, Oh my god, I remember, I remember us
being there journey and we weren't sure like we'd been
We'd sat in the park, we'd gone around to Rick
Blom's old house, we'd walked around the entire block, we'd
gone down and got something to eat. We'd now been
there for four hours trying to talk to Menique, and
(29:38):
she just wasn't there. And I was honestly thinking to myself,
all the eyes in the windows as well, So as
you're walking, I just felt as though if we're walking
up and down her street constantly, we moved and sat
in the park, remember, on the park bench, because we're like, ah,
there's eyes, like there's literally eyes on us. People are
(29:59):
probably wondering what are we doing.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
I just thought, if you were, yeah, fifty one, so
six years younger than my mom, so that would make
them seventy four.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
I domeber what she's doing today, probably loved them.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
So we get back to our hotel and I've rung
Monique a few times, but I haven't left a voice message.
But we get back to the hotel and I said
to Joonie, maybe we had put it, like a card,
one of Mom's cards into her mailbox, if you remember,
just to let her know we had been there. But
I thought now was the time to wring her and
just leave her a voice message. We rang her and
(30:51):
left a left a message just to say high that
we were in the area and if she was around
tomorrow maybe we could catch up and we'd be happily
able to come back out to see her.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Futsightist EMONI spot gonna Hi, Manique.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
It's Sally Laden here, Marion Barta's daughter. I popped out
yesterday to try and see if you're home. I sent
you an email a couple of weeks back seeing if
you would like to catch up.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
While I'm in Luxembourg. My number is plus six y one.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
I am leaving Luxembourg today at one pm, but I
thought this morning if you were around and you'd like
to have a coffee and a catch up. I would
really like to meet you in person say thank you
for all your help in giving evidence at my mum's case.
My mum still is missing, so you're an important part
(31:53):
of the story for me and I'd really love to
meet you if possible.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
But I hope you have a good day.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Just One of the other things that I wanted to
do while we're in live Uxenbourg was going to the
and I'm going to totally butcher. This again was the
City Judiciar and that was to look to see whether
they had any information on the two registered companies of
mister Bloom in Luxembourg. That was a very bizarre experience
(32:25):
for me. So Sul was outside talking to someone on
the phone. So I went in the front door and
it was pitch black, so there was no lights anywhere.
I wondered, you know, what was going on here, because
I expected to be a court building. I went into
the lift and that was again pitch black. So I
went up, pressed the button. I got my torch phone
out and pressed the button of level two, went up
(32:47):
to level two and it was again just pitch black.
I found a light switch as I came out of
the lift, so I managed to turn the lights on
and then I found the door where I wanted to
go on it, and I knocked on the door this
big buzzer buzz really really loud, and then I went
(33:07):
in and it was literally like this massive hive of activity,
bright lights, people everywhere, people running their papers from left
to right to center to ring bowels.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
It was like an absolute hive of activity.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
So it was just quite bizarre, like coming in from
the dark, silent, and then boom, all of a sudden,
he had these massive lights. Anyway, it all worked out, okay,
it wasn't the back entrance. They just explained to me
that they have really extreme power saving approaches within the
court precinc themselves and so if there's no one in there,
(33:44):
then it's black. So I managed to see one of
the registrars there, so she was more than happy to
help me. She searched for both of the companies that
Rick Bloom had registered within Luxembourg or was part of,
I should say, and she said, too old. I don't
have any information. I can confirm that both were bankrupt
(34:07):
and that's why the documents are here from both of
those companies. There may be stuff in archives, but it's
likely to be in pay per form and pretty much
impossible to access. So she said, sorry, I can't help anymore,
and I left. Well, that doesn't surprise me more doors shut.
(34:30):
Luxembourg's a bit of a locked city. I've heard that
many many times, where it's kind of like the Swiss banks,
you know, just if you want to do anything, you
go to Luxembourg. So we go back down that was
actually situated and perched just up the top of the
Unesco area, and we sort of had to catch a lift,
didn't we. It was literally outside the courthouse. Took us
(34:51):
straight down and where our hotel was and we bunk
it in for the night. The next morning we woke up,
we went downstairs and had breakfast. It was actually such
a beautiful little place, wasn't It was a time our hotel,
but we had a lovely lady who was the manager
of the hotel, Francois, and she took an interest into
(35:14):
why we were visiting Luxembourg. Francois did mention that she
had actually lived near Alan, so the day before she'd
said that she was going to go and actually have
a look and try and find the address, so that
that is what she had done. So she let us
know the next day that she'd gone there to actually
(35:36):
check it out, which was awesome of her.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
I assure you that helps you went to along. So
what happened that dues where we wanted to go. It
doesn't exist anymore. And this is this house.
Speaker 3 (35:54):
In fact, that was an odd hours before. A new
park has been bat nict two weeks okay, but this
is the one hundred and third because there is no
more thirteen. They replaced the all the numbering and numbering,
but they check, I said, booka maps, but this showed
(36:18):
me the thirty one also lays.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
On the side said no thirty one said one said
two d one.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
And so before we left, we pulled all the luggage
down the stairs and they allowed us to store it
just because we had one more thing we needed to
do in Luxembourg before we left. So inside where the
tea room was or the kitchenette where they would serve
us breakfast, they actually had a visitor book, and in
(36:50):
there I actually wrote the missing matter, Marion Matters, and
I left one of mum's cards inserted on the page
and just wrote a little note explaining that my mum
was a missing person and if anyone had any information
then they were reading this, please reach out and let
us snow. As our time came to an end in Luxembourg,
we just have one last job to tick off our list,
(37:12):
which was the Bank International. So the reason why we're
going to go into the bank in Luxembourg City was
because we had heard that Rick Bloom had stated that
him and Monique were walking in Luxembourg City and he
actually pointed to the bank and said, look, Monigue, that's
where I put That's where all my capital is.
Speaker 1 (37:34):
So of course we carry like I've got my big bag.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
It's heavy, I've got my laptop, all the documents, and
because Johnnie will tell you, I did not want to
put that bag down anywhere after trying so hard to
get out all the documents.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
It was super important. I just could not risk it
being left behind.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
So the bank has moved from where it originally was
back in the eighties.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
So I got my files with me.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
That's where my bags ody, with mum's probate documents and
her will and everything and everything in Ramachel to.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
Hopefully allow us access to her file. She's got one of.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
Her there's a bank account with her name on it,
in the name of Ramachel or Ramachuel, would be kind
of and what a good to name. All right. We've
had to walk a fair way into the city from
where we were, and unbelievably we arrive and the bank
(38:41):
is shut not just close for the day, but completely
shut down, with fencing and signs all over it saying
under restoration, under construction and once again no cigar. Okay, Well,
in true fashion, it's like I'm having deja vous. That
was when I came with Brian and nothing was open
(39:02):
and no one was home to the bank that Joney
checked this morning and it was a fully functioning, operational
bank online. We've arrived, it's all barricaded up where there
is papers all over the windows, stuck with sticky tape
close close, clothes not open, and we literally, if I
(39:23):
could look across, we're back to where we were yesterday,
where number four was, So I literally can see that
from here where we're standing.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
So that's ironic. We were literally here. Yeah, right, and
then so this is all shut.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Down, and then Joney's is what we've been standing here.
Joney's done a check and it's only ATMs now.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
So my power of.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Attorney document is it's been quite useless over here. Brought
all those documents with me and.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
No cigar.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
So all right, so we need to work out what
you want to do. Now do you want to I
will walk back down this way. I guess we'll walk.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
Back the way we came, dearing me, hearing me, Yeah,
did you take a photo? Watch this?
Speaker 2 (40:18):
Doctor though, I might just take a photo.
Speaker 1 (40:22):
As well, so I've got it as well. But that's
just mental.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
So the Bank of Switzerland, well referred to as Similar Switzerland, is.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
No longer no longer available.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
Anyway, I can't say we didn't come and try because
we are here, yeah, and it is not here, so.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Anyway, oh well, hi, going, So we leave Luxembourg. That's
(41:18):
carry seven.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
We've got to go all the way to the back
in the next episode of The Missing Matter. So we're
off to Lille in northern France. So we had a
few things we wanted to do there. Jonie, we wanted
to go to archives. I was not feeling well, so
we swapped rolls and you went and did it on
(41:40):
your own. And we ventured straight up to the police
in Law because we wanted to address a few things
with them and bring some awareness. And I could not
believe when we arrive what we saw
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