Episode Transcript
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(00:17):
Welcome to Exhuming the Truth, the podcast where we delve into
mysterious worlds of cold cases,missing persons, true crime, and
the fascinating science that is forensics.
I'm forensic scientist and criminologist Asha Walther, and
I am so thrilled to have you with me on this journey as we
dance in the shadows of the world of crime, shining a light
on scientific discovery while becoming another voice for those
(00:40):
who need it most. So grab a drink and get comfy
while we jump into this episode together.
As always, I would like to extend a content and trigger
warning. This podcast is recommended for
persons over the age of 18 and contains explicit content not
suitable for minors. We will be covering the
sensitive content that ranges from sexual assault, physical,
(01:01):
mental, social and emotional abuse, suicide, homicide,
murder, attempted murder, and other violent crimes including
crimes involving weapons and drugs.
This often extends to drug misuse and other harmful and
illegal activity. If you find any content to be
distressing, I have listed a number of resources that may be
(01:21):
able to help you. In the podcast notes, I'd like
to remind all of our listeners that all victims and all
offenders are someone's loved 1.So I ask that any discussions in
our group or on our social accounts remain respectful at
all times. And by listening, you
acknowledge that all persons of interest remain innocent until
proven otherwise. Hello and welcome back to
(01:45):
Exhuming the Truth or if you arenew here, welcome in general.
It is a Thursday evening that I'm doing this recording and so
much has gone on today. I was going to say when I wrote
up this script for this episode,I was thinking I really have
nothing to go over in housekeeping.
But now as of today, I kind of do.
(02:06):
There's been a lot going on in the news right now and in the
criminal justice system, 2 superhigh profile cases in the news
that did not have a good outcome, which is really
disappointing, which I'll go into that in further detail on
other episodes. We have, of course, the DD
trial, the results were releasedtoday.
(02:28):
And his two heaviest charges of sex trafficking and
racketeering, he got not guilty for.
So the system has completely failed its people and definitely
knocked the Me Too movement backoff It's it's place.
I find that really disappointing.
(02:48):
But again, we'll do another episode on that.
And the other one is Brian Koburger, the Moscow student
murders. We did an episode on.
He has actually been offered a plea deal where if he was to
plead guilty to the murder of all four students, he would not
get the death penalty. So that's what he went ahead and
did today. I believe the family members and
(03:10):
the parents of the people, the students who were murdered,
they're not overly thrilled about that obviously, because
this means that there won't be atrial.
So I will not be following that trial anymore.
But we will do a follow up episode on that so I can explain
to you what that means so you'renot confused.
They're the two massive ones in the news right now.
Both of those verdicts came out today and I was absolutely
(03:33):
shocked. We have another update on Phoebe
Bishop. There is 1/3 gentleman who has
been charged with alleged interference, I believe as an
accessory after the fact of murder.
He allegedly had been using or tampering with Phoebe's phone.
That's a 30 year old man from West Bundaberg, I believe in
(03:54):
Queensland. And then we have a really,
really sad update on Joshua Bishop.
He was actually found deceased in West Meadows in the back of
somebody's address. We're going to do an episode for
that, but I want to make sure that it is in alignment with the
family's wishes before we go into any details.
(04:16):
I have a lot of people say, hey,can you do this case in that
case? And I really appreciate that.
A couple of the cases that have been requested, I would love to
do it, but I'm just again, waiting on family members.
I always like to have at least one family member know that I'm
planning on doing an episode because I just want to be
respectful and sometimes it hurts the families more than
(04:40):
anything if you know, a case is brought up.
So I want to make sure I'm doingthe right thing.
We also have an episode on AaronClear coming up and I've
mentioned his name a few times. He's a missing man in NSW but
his inquest is coming up in September.
So this is a really important case and it's a really important
episode and it's one that I really have been trying to get
(05:02):
like to perfect it so that all the details are correct.
And yeah, so that's a big one coming up.
We also have another one of a man named Corey who's missing in
Lehman currently. That's another urgent one.
But I'm doing my best behind thescenes.
I really am working so hard and doing so much.
It just doesn't really seem likeit when you just get little
(05:25):
snippets on social media. But yes, I'm doing my best.
In today's episode is another important case.
I mean, they're all important. It's so hard to, yeah, not have
a sense of urgency with every case because they all have an
urgency behind them. But today we're going to look at
a W Australian case, a gentlemannamed Tristan Griffiths.
(05:49):
His family have been so kind andhelpful with providing
information. They're super desperate for
answers and I would really love you guys to be able to share his
name. Have a look on our Facebook page
and our TikTok account. You'll be able to see some
photos of Tristan and yeah, so we're going to get straight into
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it. A father, a son, a brother and a
friend. Every missing person matters,
regardless of their past. I want to start this episode off
by saying that it's so easy for the public to pass judgement,
especially when someone has a history of something like
substance abuse or prior offences.
(06:33):
But those things don't make somebody disposable.
A person's mistakes do not erasetheir humanity or their right to
be found or their family's rightto answers.
We're going to be covering a number of missing persons and
cold cases where the victim thatwe're advocating for is not your
typical a model citizen or whatever that really means.
(06:55):
And what I have to say to that is every single missing person
matters and it's just that simple.
Tristan Griffiths has been missing since January this year,
and I bet you've never heard hisname before.
Now. His family is living in limbo,
searching for the truth, fearingthe worst, and facing a horrible
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and cruel stigma instead of compassion.
Whether someone has lived a perfect life or struggled with
addiction or crime, the bottom line is this.
They are still someone's child, someone's sibling, someone's
parent, and someone's friend, and they still deserve to be
found. Search efforts shouldn't be
conditional. Justice and care should never be
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selective. No one deserves to vanish
without a trace, and no family deserves silence in return.
And might I remind the universe of the name of this business?
Exhuming the truth, The truth, The truth is the sole purpose
behind my work and my purpose. And I'll advocate for the truth
just as hard in one case as I doin the next.
(08:00):
So let's get into it. Tristan Griffiths was 37 years
old when he went missing in January the 22nd this year in
Kalgoorlie. Tristan was brought up from
Albany from incarceration to Kalgoorlie to front court on
January the 22nd. Prior to being moved from Albany
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to Cal, Tristan requested to appear at the Cal hearing via
video link. This was because he had safety
fears. This request was rejected, which
then saw his movement back to Kalgoorlie on the 22nd of
January, the scheduled court date.
The other expected party did notappear at the hearing, so the
(08:41):
court actually dismissed Tristaninto the public to await for the
next scheduled hearing date. Tristan was then released from
the Kalgoorlie Courthouse at 208Hannan St., Kalgoorlie.
From there, with no money and nobelongings, it's understood that
Tristan head into Centrelink at 63 Porter St. where he was
(09:02):
granted an emergency relief payment in order to purchase
himself a ticket on the Prospector train from Kalgoorlie
to Perth to return home to his family in Rockingham.
From Centrelink he went to withdraw the funds from a
Commonwealth Bank ATM. From there he went to buy the
train ticket at the Kalgoorlie Railway Station at the northern
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end of Forest St., Kalgoorlie. The Prospector train makes one
trip each way on weekdays. The 22nd of January was a
Wednesday and since it was set to leave around 7:00 AM, he
missed his chance to board the train for that date.
Tristan ended up booking the ticket at 12:26 PM on the 23rd
of January to depart on the 24thof January at 3:00 PM.
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He did not board the train as Tristan had no belongings.
He put his sister's mobile phonenumber down when making his
railway booking. Tristan never boarded the
prospector, he never made contact with his family again
and he was never seen again. The last known footage of
Tristan presented by police was of him leaving the courthouse.
(10:09):
Unfortunately, in that video they have blurred out their
surroundings in the footage so we're only able to see Tristan's
face and shoulders. In this footage, it appears that
he's wearing a white shirt that had black sleeves.
He has a distinctive tattoo on his neck that reads Nirvana and
he also has tattoos on his left arm and stomach.
(10:31):
He stands at approximately 178cmtall and is of a medium build
with brown hair. His last confirmed sighting,
according to police, is at this Commonwealth Bank Australia ATM
on Hannan St. However, there's also the
Prospector ticket confirmation that does place him at the
station post attending the ATM. Interesting.
(10:55):
Interestingly, excuse me, acrossfrom the station we have
accommodation called the QualityInn and also Rosa and Joe's
Bakery. Why am I telling you this?
Because there is no way someone didn't see something to add on
to Tristan's appearance. He has a large moon tattoo, a
(11:16):
skull tattoo on his back, and leg tattoos.
So we can safely describe him asheavily tattooed.
There are clown tattoos and as we said, the Nirvana tattoo on
his neck. But I'm going to go into a
little bit of a description for those who are unfamiliar with
the town of Kalgoorlie. This is a town that was
literally born in the 1890 gold rush, OK, And it continues to be
(11:39):
a mining town to this day. It's remote, it's isolated.
It's over 600 kilometres east ofPerth.
It's about a six hour drive, I believe, from Perth.
And it is surrounded by bushlandin basically every direction.
So just think of desert slash bushland slash mine shafts.
(12:00):
In a place like Cal, when a person disappears, the land
itself can become a huge barrier.
I want to acknowledge the lack of information surrounding
Tristan's case. And I know your first thought
will be similar to mine and everybody else's who's picked
this up and looked at it is, youknow, CCTV.
(12:21):
Do we have this? Do we have that?
And unfortunately, the answer isno.
A lot of the time, a lot of missing persons, particularly a
missing person who might have a bit of a history in the criminal
justice system, it's not taken that seriously.
You know, if you go and report somebody missing, they might
(12:45):
say, oh, they're hiding from this, they're hiding from that,
blah, blah, blah. And by the time they do
acknowledge people as a missing person and they kind of trace
their last steps and they get towhere we're at saying, hey, he
got a train ticket and he didn'tboard the train by that stage.
Unfortunately a lot of the CCTV,especially in commercial areas
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like the train station and things like that, they run over
quite a short system. Sometimes it's a seven day
system, sometimes it's a 14 day system.
So what they do is they record for say 7 days or a 14 day set
period and then it wipes and they start all over again.
And that's usually because they don't have, you know, it's quite
expensive. So they don't have the funds
(13:28):
for, you know, a big CCTV operation which you would think
that the train station would butI don't believe they do.
As far as I'm aware the police did try and get CCTV but that
literally what I've told you is all that they got.
I am also aware that the family did make an effort to go into
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Cal, put up posters and make enquiries in local businesses
and things and literally no one got anywhere.
It's wild to me that main places, I understand things like
a bakery etcetera, they will have a 7 to 14 day turnover with
their CCTV, which again is not ideal if somebody's not reported
and taken seriously that day. But places like the train
(14:12):
station, I would kind of expect them to have a bit of a longer
system, but that's a whole otherproblem in itself.
So I just wanted to go over that.
OK. I also had the pleasure of,
we're putting this together. I put this together with
Tristan's sister and his mom, and they're both incredibly
(14:34):
lovely people and that they justso deserve answers and they
don't deserve, you know what comes with posting things
online? How people feel like they can
just say what they want. Like I said, every missing
person is a missing person. I don't care about that
background and either should you?
It's about the family and it's about public safety.
(14:55):
And there's just a wider issue here.
And I want to add that Tristan has a daughter.
He's got a beautiful daughter who's recently celebrated her
12th birthday. And that's something that has
been stressed to me that he justwouldn't miss.
You know, people might have histories of, you know, being
here, there and everywhere, but there's certain things, you
(15:17):
know, they wouldn't miss. And families and loved ones of
these people know these people. They know their routine.
They know what's out of the ordinary for them.
And they're they're adamant thisis not, you know, like people
have commented saying, oh, maybehe's on the run.
He would not miss his daughter'sbirthday.
And I had the pleasure of speaking to Tristan's ex
partner, the mother of his daughter.
(15:39):
And she stressed this as well. Their daughter.
Yeah. She celebrated her birthday and
there's still nothing from Tristan.
So we're talking January this year.
And somebody has to know something.
And I also want to stress that when you're in a position where
you might know something and it and it can help a family, but it
(16:00):
can also be detrimental to you. And you're you're scared about
being involved or for your safety.
Crime Stoppers is entirely anonymous.
You can always submit anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers and
you're not going to be followed up because again, it's
anonymous. So I really hope that if anybody
(16:20):
had has anything that might helpand it might be insignificant to
you, but if there's anything in relation to this, I do stress
that you either do call Crime Stoppers.
You can go on Crime Stoppers website, you can contact us, you
can contact the family. You know, we're on every
platform now. We have an e-mail address.
(16:40):
I get a lot of tips from people in regards to other cases.
So please also, yeah, just don'tfeel afraid to open up the
conversation. And I want you to keep his
beautiful daughter in mind and his siblings and his mom and
keep them in your thoughts when you continue on with your day.
People think things like this are never going to happen to
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them, OK? And when it does and like it
happens to them, let me tell youthat things just never go to
plan. You think that, you know the
police are going to be there andhold your hands through this
process. They're not.
I'd cover these stories because all of these families are not
being helped, OK? And it could be any one of us.
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It could be one of our loved ones.
And unlike other terrible comorbidities like terminal,
terminal illnesses, this is something as a community that we
actually have the power to help prevent.
Like we have the power to actually come together as a
community. Just wipe out the authorities
from your mind for a moment. We can come together as a
community and we have the power to help prevent people going
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missing. And if we can't prevent it, we
can at least be the shoulder that these families need and
show them that while they might have lost the support, you know,
of authorities or the support that they need elsewhere, they
have it here and they have it with us.
And that's the community I want to build with exhuming the
truth. And that's what we're here for.
So again, thank you for being here.
(18:09):
I just also want to say that we will share everyone's names,
missing persons names, we will continue to share their names
and Tristan's name and Tristan'sstory, regardless of what they
said or did on their worst days.Because the odds of us all being
on this planet at the same time together is literally so rare.
It's beyond comprehension. So I don't know why you would
(18:31):
not want to help. And I'm hoping that by being
here and by listening and by following along on the page,
it's because you want to help. So I have put together a little
bit of a forensic and criminological analysis on
Tristan's case that might ring some bells with some people.
Otherwise it might educate you alittle bit.
(18:53):
Either way, I've done it, so here it is.
So for the forensic analysis without being there, I actually
have family members who live there and they've been super
helpful. I have been there before, so I
am familiar ish and I have spenta lot of time on Google Earth.
But forensically speaking, the environmental factors that we
(19:16):
have in Cal, OK, so January is summer, it's hot.
Do you think it's hot where you are in summer?
Well, Cal's hotter, I can almostguarantee you.
So the environmental factors we've got here is heat, wildlife
and remoteness as well as the mines.
And like I said to you, if you think of cowl, you think of a
desert, you think of a Bush and you think of mine shafts.
It's hot as try not to swear, but it is bloody hot there.
(19:42):
It is remote which is a barrier in itself.
Phone tracking and digitals likephone tower reception can be a
bit patchy and inconsistent, particularly outside the town
centre. This isn't particularly relevant
here because Tristan actually didn't have a mobile phone at
the time, so unfortunately that's not going to be useful in
this case. But that's just something to
(20:02):
keep in mind. Like we said before, the CCTV
blind spots. So compared to the metro areas,
the CCTV coverage in Cal is. Is not amazing.
The Main Street like Hannon St. which is in question, he does
have CCTV coverage primarily from things like the local
council. So like council installed CCTV,
(20:25):
public cameras, pubs and serversand things like that.
There's a lot of gaps in coverage just from doing my own
research, and a lot of places have like the older analog
systems that aren't HD and the older systems that don't record
for long. Like we said earlier, I know
from research that the train station has limited storage, so
(20:47):
they'll run their recordings anderase it periodically for
storage purposes. So potentially here, Tristan
could have walked only a few blocks off the main road and
vanish without surveillance record, which is not ideal at
all. And it doesn't give us a visual
timeline that we would otherwiseusually get in, say, a Perth
metro area. Another issue here was the
(21:07):
delays in policing efforts and contacting the family.
So again, the delays is a bit ofa ripple, not a ripple effect.
Yeah, a snowball effect is probably more appropriate
because again, if there's a delay in the police work and the
missing report, then there is a delay in seeking CCTV and then
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there's a delay in the storage and it's been written over.
So that just continues to snowball itself.
But from a criminal logical outlook, the one that comes to
my mind here is routine activitytheory.
And I'm thinking was he vulnerable due to a lack of
capable guardianship, like beingin a risky location or in
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contact with a motivated offender?
We've spoken in other episodes about routine activity theory
and capable guardianship being things like CCTV and police
monitoring and things like that.And I would say since this is a
remote area and the CCTV isn't fantastic, there is definitely a
lack of an appropriate guardian in this case.
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And systemically, this is actually a huge issue for Cal
when they're looking at crime prevention and not having to
deal with a case like Tristan's.The design of CCTV placements
and regular police patrolling and adequate lighting and things
like this help, but also when releasing somebody from prison.
I think it's important in this case to highlight that Tristan
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did express his discomfort with going back to Cal.
In fact, he was moved away from incarceration in Cal due to
being assaulted, and he had expressed his concern with being
there due to the fact that he knew that he would be assaulted
there. So I think that wasn't taken
(22:55):
very seriously or they could have been more done.
I think they wouldn't. They knew that he wasn't
comfortable with going out into Cal when they released him and
that that's a red flag. But again, I think this is a bit
of a systemic issue. And they've said like, we don't
care, just get out of the courthouse basically.
(23:17):
Then there's another theory in criminology called the social
disorganization theory, which I haven't spoken about before.
But Kalgoorlie's socioeconomic context, Oh my God, I've been
talking long. Kalgoorlie socioeconomic context
has a high rate of alcohol and drug use, which can destabilize
informal community control. So like every person I've spoken
(23:40):
to about this case has been like, there's a bit of a bikie
slash drug thing, you know, going on in Cal.
And this is not the first instance where I have heard of a
bit of a drug issue in Cal, which unfortunately is to be
expected in a smaller and more remote town.
And like I said, there's no bikie activity as well.
And unfortunately a lot of areasfor disposal of evidence,
(24:05):
particularly surrounding the mine shafts.
There's been so many cases in our past in Australia where mine
shafts have been used. When we look at the victimology
here, and we're looking at Tristan as the victim, was he at
an elevated risk due to his personal circumstances or
considering his known substance use but intent to be clean?
(24:29):
That can tell us that A, yes, hehad substance abuse problems
prior to the 22nd of January andB, he had the intent to be sober
and make a meaningful connectionwith his daughter, and C, he had
intended to travel to his familyfor safety and a fresh start,
including assistance in sober living.
Tristan would be a high risk category knowing this, and I'm
(24:50):
concerned that there was no intervention or other service
that he could have gone to straight from court if he had
fears for his safety, which sadly, they were very genuine
fears, obviously. So I think that when looking at
the victimology of Tristan, he'sdefinitely been the victim of
(25:11):
systemic failures in helping ensure his safety as well and
the opportunity and target hardening.
So the lack of infrastructure and safety mechanisms like the
functioning CCTV or the CCTV that has longer storage and the
lack of police patrolling and things like that, is that
enabling foul play? Yes, I think it's fair to say it
(25:34):
is. I'm not saying Kel's the only
place that, you know, falls under the line in that category.
So many places do, don't get me wrong.
But when I'm looking at Tristan's situation, I often try
and see if, you know, if we can get anywhere with their case,
but also if there's some way we can prevent this happening in
(25:55):
the future. And I think looking at this
case, there are so many things here that could have changed the
outcome. I believe so.
I also noted down a couple of investigative gaps to do with
authorities and public cooperation.
I don't know if they did a formal risk assessment for
(26:18):
Tristan, which basically they use a matrix called the National
Risk Assessment Matrix. They do that on missing persons.
I don't know if they did that. I don't believe they did because
I I believe that the family should have that.
If they did, I don't believe that they did any drone
searching or dog searching or GPR or anything like that.
I saw one public appeal for footage from the Cal police and
(26:43):
that was on Facebook that actually showed the CCTV video
of him leaving, but was just hishead, which is kind of annoying
because you couldn't really put him in a location there.
It was just like everything was blurred out.
And yeah, I think also another thing, his immediate family,
(27:05):
like we're not the only ones confirming what type of person
Tristan was. And I know we've spoken that
he's experienced issues with substances such as drugs.
But so many people actually cameonline, sent me messages and
wrote on the video that I put upof Tristan, you know, expressing
(27:26):
their condolences to the family for going through this and also
saying how much of A great guy he was.
And Tristan's ex partner also said, you know, she spoke quite
highly of him and she only spoketo him three days before he went
missing. So they were in regular contact.
And a big thing here is was Tristan's intent.
(27:48):
He had intent to go back home tohis family, his daughter.
So that can tell us that he has potentially met with foul play.
He has he had an intention to gothere.
He didn't make it. And he hasn't just dropped off
the face of the earth. You guys like this is incredibly
suspicious. And I am going to do subsequent
(28:10):
episodes on this. And I'm going to keep sharing
Tristan's name until we get a result for the family.
But unfortunately, what the police do a lot of the time is
say, well, we don't have any newevidence.
So we're going to leave it as itis until we have new evidence to
look at. And that can sometimes be
something as small as like a text message or I thought I saw
(28:31):
this person this day, or I know this person and they spoke about
it, things like this. So if we can get the story circ
circulating, circling, I don't know either or that's going to
help massively. And I'd love to do justice for
this family. It's just not good enough in my
opinion and there's got to be a business, a person or something
(28:57):
that has seen something or know something.
Again, like I said, anonymous tip offs are always available.
You can submit whatever you wantor need or feel will be helpful
anonymously. And I also like just being here
and listening to this is incredible and amazing and I
appreciate it so much. The family are going to
(29:17):
appreciate it so much and I wantto get heaps of exposure for
them and for Tristan and for Tristan's daughter.
So I might break it down into a visual timeline.
We'll see how we go. And if you have any questions,
please make sure you yell out. But aside from that, thank you
so much for being here. Again, I acknowledge the lack of
information, but unfortunately, that's all we have.
(29:39):
Oh, that's the last thing I wanted to touch on.
I was staring this fact down forhours and I finally worked it
out with some independent research.
I was thinking, it's been said over and over again, Tristan had
nothing on him, no belongings, but he went to Centrelink and
then he went to an ATM. I'm thinking, did he steal
someone's card or something? But no, what I've worked out is
(30:02):
Centrelink provide. It's like an emergency relief
payment for people who have justcome out of incarceration.
So because he had nothing on him, when you're coming out of
incarceration or custody, etcetera, they'll issue you a
document that is basically like a form of ID and it says like
this is this person's details, they've been here with us and
(30:26):
it's it will pass as you know, aform of ID.
So that's what they take into Centrelink and Centrelink.
And then they also have the power to, for people like
Tristan who don't have any belongings like a bank account
or a bank card, they can give a temporary like e-card situation.
So it's just like a temporary bank card where they can
(30:46):
actually just go to the ATM and take the money out.
So that that's the answers around that.
So if you're thinking, well, howdid he get money out if you had
no belongings? That I also thought that, but
that's the process. He will have gone to Centrelink,
been granted that, been given that temporary card to access
his funds and taking the funds out of the bank.
(31:08):
And in saying that, the payment when I last checked I believe
was around the $800 mark and I believe the prospector train is
around the $100 mark. So take away that cost for the
prospector. I would say that if his wallet
or belongings, I mean he didn't have a wallet, so maybe he put
(31:29):
the cash in his pocket, he wouldhave had cash on him.
So I think that's another big thing to note down too.
If that could have been the motivation for somebody doing
something. He definitely had cash on him
because that that was basically all he had that sheet from the
courthouse and he had cash. And that's all we can confirm.
(31:50):
When he was booking the ticket, like I said, he didn't have a
mobile number. So he has put his sister's
mobile number and they weren't made aware of this until the
police actually rang the sister's mobile asking who she
was in relation in relation to Tristan.
Sorry. And that's how that things kind
of moved along as a missing persons because she was like,
what I haven't seen or heard from him.
(32:11):
And the police were like, OK, well, he's missing.
So this this is how it eventuated.
So I hope that covered a few questions that you might have
had. That was certainly my big
question. And glad that we got to resolve
it. But yeah, thank you so much for
being here and for listening. And we will keep you updated.
Thank you so much for joining meon this episode.
(32:34):
I hope you have enjoyed it here.If so, you can subscribe to stay
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As always, stay curious, stay informed, and until next time,
(32:55):
trust your instincts and keep seeking the truth.