What Became of Jack? — the latest season of Unravel, the ABC's award-winning investigative true crime podcast series.
27-year-old Queenslander Jack McLennan had been relaxing, drinking beers at a picnic spot, when his mate said he looked away, and when he looked back, Jack had vanished. Jack was fit and healthy, and even though he'd just been through a break-up, he seemed positive. But now, Jack was missing, and strange clues began to surface, hinting at his last movements. With online theories about the case spreading like wildfire, ABC journalist Rob Burgin sets out to investigate. Has there been a crime or not? He traces the fragments of that night through a web of small Queensland towns, where everyone knows everyone, everyone knows something, but no one can agree on what became of Jack.
Previous series of Unravel cover various investigations into crimes and crime-related topics, including solved and unsolved murder cases, missing persons, forensic analysis, gangland crimes, love scammers, con-artists, drugs, terrorism, Neo-Nazis, and miscarriages of justice — all investigated by some of Australia's best reporters and people who know the story best.
In Season 7, Blood on the Tracks, award-winning Muruwari and Gomeroi journalist Allan Clarke spends five years investigating the unusual circumstances surrounding the death of 17-year-old Gomeroi teenager, Mark Haines. In 1988, just outside of Tamworth in country New South Wales, a freight train hits Mark's body lying across the tracks. When the rail worker stops the train and gets out, the scene doesn't add up. The tracks divide Tamworth in two. An Aboriginal community on one side, a largely white population on the other. Some will say it was a suicide and others a murder. Despite the strange evidence found at the scene of his death, the family feel like they're being ignored by the police. An inquiry finds no answers, and the mystery is left to fester, causing division and suspicion in the town. Allan's reporting helps to spark a resurgence of interest in the
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07 What Became of Jack? | Two cars
Jun 29, 2026
A new theory emerges from tip offs coming in to ABC journalist Rob Burgin. Rob investigates two cars spotted at Ficks Crossing the night Jack McLennan disappeared, hoping it might lead him to an…
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06 What Became of Jack? | Duke Speaks
Jun 22, 2026
The last known person to see Jack alive finally breaks his silence. Chris Duke speaks in detail for the first time, laying out his version of what happened the night Jack McLennan vanished and…
05 What Became of Jack? | Whispers
Jun 15, 2026
Jack’s mum gets a shocking tip-off from a scared community member. With the rumour mill in overdrive, ABC journalist Rob Burgin tries to decipher what’s true and what’s not about the disappearance of…
04 What Became of Jack? | The Wondai house
Jun 08, 2026
One of the last places Jack was seen was a house in Wondai. Rob goes there, despite being told the people inside that night have links to the region's darker side, to investigate why Jack visited…
03 What Became of Jack? | The dark side
Jun 01, 2026
Rob retraces Jack's final hours via CCTV footage and meeting people who saw him in his last days. He also learns about another item found in Jack's wallet that reveals a different side to what went…
02 What Became of Jack? | The breakup
May 25, 2026
The day he vanished, Jack moved his stuff out of Carlee's place. They'd just broken up. Carlee hasn't spoken publicly about what led up to that day or why she called police twice in the days before…
01 What Became of Jack? | Vanished
May 25, 2026
When Jack's mate turns around, he's just… gone. Vanished. His mate says that's how fit 27-year-old Jack McLennan disappeared from a bush picnic spot 3 hours from Brisbane. But when searchers discover…
INTRODUCING — What Became of Jack?
May 11, 2026
When a fit young man disappears from a picnic spot, leaving a trail of strange clues behind him, a community begins to suspect the worst. The belongings he leaves behind are discarded in a way that…
08 Blood On The Tracks | Finally, a new inquest
Oct 21, 2025
It's 2025, and the NSW Deputy Coroner is holding a fresh inquest into the death of Gomeroi teenager Mark Haines, who was found dead on the train tracks back in 1988.
As the inquest hearings spiral…
07 Blood On The Tracks | Face To Face
Oct 21, 2025
Years of investigation have led to this moment … a major breakthrough in the case, a potential answer to thirty years of mystery and pain for the Haines family.
An alleged confession has revealed…
06 Blood On The Tracks | Revelation
Oct 21, 2025
Allan and the team shift their focus to Tamworth and the truth starts to emerge from a fog of rumours. As Allan builds on the case, he discovers the police aren't far behind.
An eyewitness comes…
05 Blood On The Tracks | The Driver
Oct 21, 2025
More than two decades have passed since the coronial inquest into Mark Haines' death. The family have been forgotten about — until news reporter Allan Clarke arrives in Tamworth on a routine story…
04 Blood On The Tracks | Whitewash
Oct 21, 2025
Nine months after Mark's death, an inquest is held. The family are hopeful it will give them answers, but the police won't budge from their theory that he put himself on the tracks.
As the hearing…
03 Blood On The Tracks | The Boxer
Oct 21, 2025
On the surface, Tamworth in 1988 is a typical Aussie town with rodeos, farmers and an active Country Women's Association. But beneath the friendly veneer, there's a thriving criminal underbelly…
02 Blood On The Tracks | Foul Play
Oct 21, 2025
When Mark Haines dies, news of the teenager's death spreads quickly through Tamworth and beyond. His family are on summer holidays in different parts of the state and rush home to be together in…
01 Blood On The Tracks | Blood On The Tracks
Oct 21, 2025
Just outside Australia's country music capital, a young man's body is found on the train tracks, surrounded by shattered Christmas presents and discarded wrapping paper.
For decades, the mystery has…
REINTRODUCING: Blood On The Tracks (reprise)
Oct 21, 2025
Back in 2018, our first season Blood on the Tracks investigated the suspicious death of 17-year-old Mark Haines, whose body was found on the railway line outside Tamworth in January 1988.
Since…
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INTRODUCING — Mr Big, a new true crime series from Unravel
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On a secretly recorded tape, a confident-sounding man boasts of his influence with corrupt police. He sounds like a crime boss, or some kind of underworld Mr Big. He says he can help make problems…
Firebomb BONUS | Behind the scenes
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