All language subtitles for Lake.Mungo.2008.EN

I feel like something bad
is gonna happen to me.

I feel like something bad
has happened.

It hasn't reached me yet,
but it's on its way.

I don't know
why it's important.

It's like how it helps people,
like, dealing with her loss,

like making up stories
about ghosts or whatever.

Alice kept secrets.

She kept the fact
she kept secrets a secret.

It's hard for some people
to understand,

but you have to believe
you're to blame

or else there's
nothing to hold on to.

Police
and emergency service.

My daughter,
Alice, has gone missing. We need some...

How long ago did you last...

She was in the dam...
Looked everywhere.

Do you know where you are?

We're on the other
side of the dam.

She's been missing
for quite a few...

Okay.

Please send someone now.

I need you to talk
to me for a second.

We don't know
where she is.

Hello, June, can you hear me?

The normally tranquil setting

of Ararat's Norval Dam
was shattered yesterday

with the disappearance
of 16-year-old Alice Palmer

while picnicking
with her family.

We received a call around
6:00 p.m. tonight of a missing girl,

and on discovering the nature
of the situation

we called in the search-and-rescue
divers from Melbourne.

Police divers entered the water
around 10:00 with SES volunteers

joining a fruitless search...

Matt and Ali had swum
out to the middle of the dam.

I could see them from where
I was sitting at the picnic area.

I think we'd been
in the water for about 15 minutes,

and I said that I was
gonna get out. It was cold.

So, I started swimming back
and she didn't come out with me,

so I thought she's
gonna stay in there.

I remember Matty got out,

and a few minutes later,
I heard him ask where was Alice.

So, I stood up and looked
out across the dam,

and the water was
completely still.

So I called out.

I looked out over the water
to see if I could see her.

And both the boys
had kind of checked,

you know, the bush land behind.

I could see Alice's towel,
she'd left it on the ground,

and she clearly hadn't
got out of the water

because then, you know, she would have
picked up her towel, so...

Yeah, that was the last time
that I saw her.

Police continue to hold
grave fears for 16-year-old Alice Palmer

who disappeared while picnicking
with her family.

Police search-and-rescue
divers...

We were
told to go home,

and if the search-and-rescue
divers found anything

then they'd let us
know immediately.

It felt very strange
in the car on the way home

because there was
one empty seat.

One minute she was there
and then gone.

I went back to stay
with the Palmers that night.

We were just mostly waiting,
mostly waiting for news.

For bad news.
There was that expectation.

We got a call from Russell
on his mobile about 9:00 at night.

And he said there'd been
an accident at the weir,

and Alice had gone missing.

So, we thought that
we better go to Ararat.

I remember June was a bit funny
about seeing Iris,

there was a strange
feeling between them.

It felt a little strange
having my mother there.

Mum and I, there for Alice,

just didn't feel like
the right order of things.

It was an awful,
awful night.

Worst night of our lives.

Mmm-hmm.

I went into Alice's room
later that night

and her phone went off a couple
of times, but I didn't answer it.

I remember, the bed was made.

I remember thinking
how neat everything looked.

I got a call
from Alice's mum, June.

She'd said that Alice is missing

and presumed, like, she drowned

and I didn't not believe her,

but, I don't know, it was
kind of hard to take,

so I actually called
Alice's mobile.

I just...

Maybe wanted to see if...

Hope it was a joke or something,
I don't know.

It was just a real shock.

Just didn't really
feel like it was real.

Everything was
the same as always,

but people were saying
Alice had drowned.

Are there any memories
from that night that stand out for you?

I remember we had
the porch light on.

Still do, actually,
just in case.

And why is that?

Just in case she comes home,
I guess.

All right, get in.

The SES divers located
Alice's body at approximately 9:25 p.m.

They used sonar to locate her.
And she'd drifted some way

and come to rest on a shelf at the bottom
of the storm water system in the dam.

Obviously contacted
the family immediately.

As soon as we were told
that they'd found the body,

June and I went down to the dam.

Georgie'd come over
to keep Matt company.

It was all very
official and formal,

and they asked me
to sign a statement

of identification.

June stayed in the car.

And, you know, on reflection,
I think that was a mistake

because she didn't
have any closure.

I just couldn't bring myself
to identify Alice's body.

She'd been underwater
all that time and it...

I guess it's not how I...

I didn't want to
remember her in that way.

I thought that was my responsibility
as Ali's dad, you know.

That's what a father does.

The car stalled
on the way back from the dam.

But the only gear I could
get it into was reverse.

So, we drove back
into town in reverse.

Which was either that or walk.

And given everything
that had happened,

seemed like the better
option, really.

The autopsy was performed
on the Monday, the 27th.

Then the coroner released
the body on Tuesday, the 28th.

It was very strange spending
Christmas Day with the family up there

while Alice lay
alone in the morgue.

I don't know, it was just like I hadn't
seen her for a week or anything, like...

Yeah, it didn't feel real.

Death takes
everything eventually.

It's the meanest, dumbest machine
there is, and it just keeps coming

and it doesn't care.

There's nothing else
to know about it, really.

It was a somber day for the family
and friends of Alice Palmer

who gathered to pay their final respects
to a young woman taken too soon.

She was a great person.
Very popular, clever, lovely.

She was...
I don't... Yeah.

Alice is
remembered as a happy,

fun-loving girl
with a zest for life.

Described as always
putting others...

The Palmers were
really doing it tough at that time.

And when I think of
how bad it was back then,

it's hard to imagine how
much worse they would get.

Ten days after Ali's funeral,
so that makes it the 15th of January,

stuff started happening around
the house. Noises in the roof,

and sounds coming
from outside the window

and other movements that seemed
to come from Ali's old room.

So, we re-hung the door
to Ali's room,

and we got a pest controller to come in
and check for termites.

But it didn't help at all,

the door kept slamming and we still
kept getting the noises from her room.

There was just
something weird about that house.

It had a really strange
feeling about it.

I really can't explain to you
what it was exactly,

but you'd go in there

and just have this bad feeling,
like, in your gut.

I started having
these nightmares,

and they were so distressing

that sometimes I just
wouldn't want to open my eyes.

I'd woken up, but I didn't
want to open my eyes.

There was one particular one,
it was quite vivid and recurring.

Alice would come down the hall
still dripping from the dam

and just stand at the foot
of our bed, just staring at us.

It was quite terrifying, as I said,
I didn't want to open my eyes.

By early February my nightmares
were getting so bad

that I began to go
for walks at night,

sometimes for hours at a time,

just so that I didn't
have to go to bed at night

and close my eyes
and go to sleep.

Sometimes I would actually
go into people's houses.

I didn't feel like I was
doing anything wrong.

I guess I really just wanted to be
inside someone else's life for a while.

Georgie, do you remember
how Russell was doing at that time?

Yeah, Russell was... He was working
a lot at that point.

I think that might have
helped him with his grief.

Send it through
without any explanation.

Russell and I met

actually on the Gippsland
Catchment project in '98

and worked together on that.

So, you guys have
known each other for a few years?

Yeah, a good few years, yeah.

Do you remember how he was affected
after Alice's death?

What changed?

It was work as normal,
and that was troubling actually.

I didn't really know what
to say to him about that.

You never spoke about it?

Not really. Everyone grieves
in their own way.

And it wasn't really my place
to be telling him how to feel.

But I certainly...
I certainly was concerned.

I was really grateful
that I had my work.

And, I mean, I felt really guilty
about that at the time.

But, you know, I just wanted
to get on with it.

Then one night,
in late February,

I came home from work,
and I was sitting in the kitchen

and I heard a noise
coming from Ali's room.

So, I went into Ali's room,
and I don't really know why,

but I sort of found
myself sitting down

in the chair in front
of the dresser.

And before I could kind of work out
what I was doing there,

Ali walked in and she went over
to her desk

and started sharpening a pencil,

and then she looked like she was checking
for a text message on her phone.

And, you know, I was
completely freaked out.

She was completely
oblivious to my presence.

And then I don't know what happened,
I must have moved the bed

or, you know, squeaked
my shoes or something,

but she went completely rigid.

And I knew then that
she knew I was there.

And she slowly turned around and she looked me
right in the eye fully for,

you know,
what felt like forever.

And then she just came at me and stood up
and said, Get out! Get out!

And I just got up and went out
as fast as I could.

I could hear Russell crying.

And he was here in the kitchen,

Mathew and I both
found him in here,

and he was sobbing.

He was absolutely inconsolable.

Do you believe Russell
when he says he saw a ghost?

Yeah, I do. I believe
he saw what he saw.

And he wouldn't... He's not the kind
of man to make something up.

So, I believe he saw something.

Whether it's a real ghost
or not, I don't really know.

But I'm sure he saw something.

I remember trying
to talk to members of the church

about how to help June
and how to help the Palmers.

But there just didn't seem like
there was anything we could do.

I think part of the reason was

because they
weren't churchgoers.

So, didn't know how
to offer them comfort.

I don't even know
what June believes in.

I found myself mostly
concerned about Mathew.

I guess because those two
were always so close,

I was worried how he would cope.

I remember he was spending
a lot more time alone.

We were all worried about him.

Mathew came in with some
unusual bruises on his body.

They were unusual in terms
of their distribution and depth.

We obviously took a history,
trying to exclude trauma,

but there was certainly no history
of trauma that he was able to give us.

We tested him for vasculitis,

and we also excluded any poisoning
or toxins in his system.

We were unable to turn up
anything conclusive.

And several weeks after this,
the bruises just resolved spontaneously.

And we were never able to
really establish a cause for them.

My name's Steve Wilkie.
I'm Mathew's best friend.

I usually stay at Mathew's house
two or three times a week.

We started a band together, so,
we normally play music at my house.

Mathew seems a bit quieter,
but he was always pretty quiet,

so, I guess there wasn't really any
warning bells going off or anything.

Well, I had heard about June
going into people's houses.

And Mathew never really seemed
to want to talk about any of that.

I never asked him
about any of it.

I know that he was
always interested in photography.

And he was...

At this time, he was starting
to pursue it with more passion.

Mathew came to me,
he was very keen

to find out anything
about photography.

So, I was more than willing
to help out, that's what I do.

So, he was picking my brains
about just about anything to do with it,

from equipment, down to techniques,
down to lighting, you know.

But he was a great asset, so, I mean,
eventually I employed him.

Mathew, can you
talk to me about the photographs

of the backyard that
you've been taking?

Yeah, basically I've taken
that same photo

with that composition for, I think, every
three months for the past four years.

And it's just a photograph
of the backyard.

Looking out, you can see
the hills in the distance.

It's just like a little project

that I set up for myself
when we got here.

And what was in
the April 28th photograph that was different?

Well, it's basically
the same shot,

but it would appear that Alice
is standing against the fence.

Do you remember what the reaction
in the house was at the time?

I wouldn't say the mood was good,
but it was better than before.

It was like... Like it gave us sort of
something to focus on, I think.

All of us.

The photographs were
taken on the 3rd of April,

and they were developed on the 4th,
and I looked at them, I think on the 5th.

And looked at the dams and the water levels
and I was quite happy.

But it was only the following night
that it was pointed out to me by my wife

that there was something
in the background

in Norval Dam,
this image came up.

When I first
looked at the photograph,

I didn't know
what to make of it.

The image was quite unsettling

because it certainly
looked like Alice.

It was an incredibly
discomforting image.

And I became convinced
that Alice was still alive.

I didn't have any rational explanation
for who was in those photos.

But I did know something
about Alice that June didn't.

I'd seen Alice's body.
I didn't think she was alive.

I knew she wasn't.

I became convinced that Russell
had made a mistake.

He himself said that it didn't look
like anybody anymore.

June was so convinced
that I'd made a mistake

that I actually started
to have doubts myself.

I started to think maybe
I'd made my mind up

that it was Alice's
body before I'd looked,

and that the circumstances
were so compelling for me,

that I'd decided
that it was her.

More than three months after the funeral
of Ararat teenager Alice Palmer,

her grieving parents
formally requested

her body be exhumed
from the general cemetery.

There has been some contention
from the Palmer family

about the accuracy of the original
body identification.

June and Russell Palmer were adamant
that DNA testing be carried out.

They just couldn't be sure
that the body they identified

was indeed Alice.

And today, almost...

Alice's
body was exhumed

in the presence of the funeral director,
Dr. Slatter,

and there was a representative
from the coroner's office also.

And it was then transported
to Ararat Base Hospital

where they took the DNA samples.

And she stayed there
until the results came back.

A few days later
we received a copy

of the coroner's
preliminary report,

and Alice's identity was confirmed
by the DNA sample match.

It was only after they'd confirmed
that it was Alice's body

that I realized how much
that I'd invested

in the possibility
of it not being her.

You know, I can't tell you how much
I wanted there to have been

a terrible mistake,
even if it had been mine.

Really, really wanted there to have been
somebody else's kid in that dam.

A runaway, a murder victim.

Just anybody else's, just as long
as it wasn't my kid.

Just as long as it wasn't Alice.

Yes, it is.

Stop it.

Oh, my God.

Alice was reburied two days later,
on the 7th of June.

But the question remained,
who or what was in those photos?

Well, I continued
to hear things, and...

What did you hear?

I was hearing noises.
Sort of...

They didn't really relent. I kept hearing
noises in the hallway.

So, I thought, "Well,
I'll just set up a camera

"to see if I see anything,
see something."

The first night I looked back
and there was footage of a figure

moving from the lounge room
across the hallway to the front door.

You're on Voice FM, 8:02.

I'm Helen Bath
and we're taking calls

with psychic consultant,
Ray Kemeney.

Next we have Nadia
on the line, Ray.

Hi, Nadia, how are you?
What can I do for you?

My question is about career,
and I've also got a question about family.

It was around about
that time I decided

to seek out the advice
of Ray Kemeney.

I had heard Ray on
the radio over the years,

and opinion was quite divided,

some thought
he was the real deal,

others were unconvinced.

Next we have
Annie on the line.

Hi, Annie,
how are you?

I'm fine, thanks, Ray.
Thank you for taking my call.

My pleasure.
What can I do for you?

I just wanted a general reading.

General not just medical.

I'm Hungarian
by birth.

My parents came out here
when I was quite young.

I've got a 15-year-old daughter who lives
with her mother in South Australia.

My Christian name is actually Schultz,
but I changed it to Ray.

I think it's a more trustworthy name
for a psychic.

Australia's wog
psychic of choice.

Most of what I do is...

When I'm dealing with
the sick or the dying,

which I guess probably fits
about a third of my clients,

is to allow them the possibility

that death is not
the bitter end,

that it's not the full stop.

Which is a consolation that
I'm quite happy to give them

considering the fact that what happens
after death is up for grabs anyway.

There's somebody
very close to you,

someone you haven't
seen for a while,

someone who is going
to come back into your life.

Someone who'll be of
great comfort to you.

Anyone that fits that bill?

Yeah,
I can think of someone.

Look, I won't lie to you, Annie,

I can see obstacles ahead of you

but I think that this person
who is coming back to you

is gonna make a great difference

and will be of
great solace to you.

Thanks, Ray.

See you, Annie.

Where I come from,
when someone dies,

they block out all the mirrors
in the house

to stop the dead from finding
their way back.

It's things like that,
that make a difference.

Hi, Annie. I'm Ray.

You're gonna die, Annie.

It's just the start of
something else, all right?

Thank you.

It's all right.

Okay.

I liked Ray immediately.
He wasn't what I expected.

I don't know what
I really did expect,

but there was nothing
kind of spooky

or fake about him.

Okay. Are we ready?

Mmm-hmm.

I want you to close your eyes...

I usually video tape
my sessions

so that they can be
reviewed later by the clients,

especially when there's elements
of trance or hypnotism involved.

I keep one copy for myself,
one copy for them.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Okay, so you're standing
outside your house.

Tell me what you see.

My house.

It's a white house.
I'm walking towards the front door.

Okay.

Now, I want you to go
inside the house.

I want you to move
slowly through the house,

I want you to describe
what you see,

where you are, just give me
a guided tour.

Okay, I'm walking
down the hallway

towards Alice's room.

What's there?

I can see Alice's shoes
outside her room.

And what does that
mean for you? June?

She always used to leave
her sneakers outside her room.

So, I want you to go
inside her room now,

open the door and just move inside.

You feel safe enough
to go into Alice's room?

Okay.

Now open the door.

I'm going inside her room.

You can see something,
can't you?

Tell me what you see, June.

She's...

Alice is sitting in the wicker chair
at the end of her bed.

She looks sad.

I first met Ray when June
brought him home for dinner

the night of her
first consultation.

And, yeah, I'm completely
indifferent to psychics,

I don't really have
a position on them at all.

I don't really want them to come round
for dinner, mind you,

but, you know, I didn't want
to upset June either.

He was a pleasant sort of a bloke,
he wasn't ooky-spooky at all.

And I was on my best behavior.

A few days later,
maybe a week later,

I suggested to the family
that we hold a seance.

June was really keen, but I remember
Russell just flat out refused.

I think Mathew finally
talked his dad around.

Mathew,
how did you feel

about having a seance
held in your house?

At the time I was actually kind
of interested, sort of curious.

I don't think Dad was thrilled
about the idea.

But, yeah, I thought
it would be interesting.

And I suggested we film it,

and I recorded it with
just our video camera,

which is the PC9.

I'm getting a strong
presence in the room.

In the house.

I think we all thought
that the seance was a failure.

Ray didn't really
come up with anything,

like, with any
signs or anything,

so, after about an hour
or so, we called it quits,

and it wasn't until the next day

that Mathew was reviewing
the footage

that there was
an image of Alice.

Make your presence known to us.

The new footage was completely different
to the hallway footage.

For one, it was significantly more detailed,
so it was less ambiguous.

And it was impossible
to dismiss it

as a coincidence of
shadow play and digital noise.

There was something inexplicable
in our house, that was beyond doubt.

I was concerned. This was
pretty unfamiliar territory for me.

I've never seen a ghost before.

Ray got Mathew
to help him set up

three permanent cameras
inside the house

recording in time-lapse
configurations 24 hours a day.

There'd been a lot of speculation
about Ray and what he was doing there.

I mean, when people don't know

that, of course, leads to a lot
of talk and a lot of speculation.

I had heard rumors
throughout July of video images

purporting to be of an apparition
in the house.

But I must say I was skeptical
as to their legitimacy.

And your view on Ray?

Also very skeptical.

I think they had me as
some kind of Rasputin figure

mesmerizing the Palmers,
stealing their money,

doctoring the photos of Alice.

Mathew, in particular,
seemed to be really struggling.

I thought I might be able to help
this boy by being there, you know.

Good one.
Beautiful.

Well done.

That said, my chief
motivation was professional.

Something was happening
inside that house

and I wanted to
find out what it was.

What was your
reaction to these images?

We were
completely gobsmacked by them.

But before we had time to, you know,
take in what that meant

the Withers' video came out.

Go on.

Is it good?

Yeah, it's great.

Can I have a look?

Yeah, be careful.

Cathy and Doug Withers
were at the dam on April the 3rd,

the same day that
the Bob Smeet photo was taken.

Be careful.

What do you
think I'm going to do?

Give it back.
Be careful.

It's safe
in my hands, babe.

It was a couple of months later,
the end of July,

when we were looking at our footage
that we'd shot down at the dam

and came across...

A figure in the background,
which we identified as Bob Smeet,

which interested us
'cause there's...

Yeah, clearly, we didn't...
We sort of went,

Oh! It was the same
day he was there

when he captured the image that people
have been talking about."

So, then we went
through all our footage

to see if we perhaps might
have captured that figure as well.

Maybe the camera
had seen what Bob saw.

Yeah. Yeah.

And we did find a figure
in the background

like the image that had been
described in his picture.

And then we looked more closely

and Doug zoomed in on it.

Yeah, I got right in
on the computer.

And from what, you know,
could have looked like a female figure

from a long way away,

up close and tight,

you could see that it definitely
was neither female nor Alice.

It was Mathew.

Do you guys
believe in ghosts?

No.

-No. No.
- No.

Well, this is where I was
when the Bob Smeet photo was taken.

I was wearing Alice's jacket, and I
looked up and I saw a man on the hill,

who turned out to be Bob Smeet.

And I didn't
wanna be in a photo.

So, I walked off
through the bush.

What I didn't see was there was also
a couple over there filming,

who turned out
to be the Withers.

When the Withers' thing
came out, Dad came to me

and asked me if I had been involved
in anything else.

And I didn't wanna lie
to him, so I told him.

And I explained to Dad
that I was responsible

for the image of Alice
in the hallway

and the bedroom, and that I created
the April 28th backyard photo

and the seance image.

I just told him what I'd done.

Okay, so...

I got two photos, a photo
of Alice and the backyard

and composited the images.

That's a photo
that I took of Alice.

Mum kept talking about...

She was always talking
about getting Alice exhumed,

and she was really
keen on this idea

that Dad had misidentified
her body.

And so I knew that without more evidence
it wasn't going to happen,

so I made the photograph.

I just used
an old video of Alice

and I played that on the TV.

I had the TV up on the book case

and it was as simple
as rotating the mirror

so that the reflection
of the TV came up in it.

And obviously the mirror's
quite small,

so it cropped out the edges
of the television

and then, yeah,
I just filmed that.

Same with the kitchen
and the bedroom.

What you see basically is Alice
on the television in the mirror.

Like, it wasn't about
trying to trick people.

I guess it was like something
was better than nothing.

Do you think
that what you did

ultimately made
it worse for June?

I think that...

Yeah. Yeah, I probably did
make it harder for her.

But, I mean, that wasn't
my intention.

I'm not quite so sure
about his reasons.

I don't know that I

totally...

I don't want to say I don't
totally believe what he said,

but I'm just not convinced

that he really knows
why he did it.

When it all came out, people wanted
to do stories and books

and women's magazines,
the whole lot just went pear-shaped.

Look, we just didn't
know how to handle it.

I mean, you know, we had to protect Matty,
we had to protect ourselves,

we had to protect Ali's memory.

And we just didn't
have any experience

of dealing with
all this interest

in something that
was incredibly personal

that people wanted
to make incredibly public.

I mean, the Palmers weren't coping well
at all at that point.

And things were very bad,
they were doing it tough.

This was like
the end of hope for all of us,

but especially for June.

She just really wasn't ready
to let Ali go.

She just needed to hang on
to her a little bit longer.

And I don't think she would admit it,
but she was devastated.

She's an
interesting girl.

She seemed to not get on
with June so well.

I thought they actually
were quite alike.

It was interesting that the two of them
might not get on so well.

They always
seemed very much alike

and you could see that Alice
took a lot after June.

But, also, other things had become clear
as well after Alice's death.

That perhaps a bit of
the sense of the private

that they both shared.

Thanks for that.

June was...
Well, still is...

She keeps to herself a lot,

and it became clear that that
was happening with Alice, too.

They had the sense of privacy.

The sense that there is
their own private life

that they will either choose to share
or to not share, I guess.

It's wonderful
when your children come

and that new expression
that you have.

But as a mother,
you've still always got doubts

that you're not doing enough
or you're not doing the right thing.

I partly blame myself,
that's come from me.

Maybe it came from my mother.

I've never been able to...

I've never been able to give myself
over wholly to...

To June.

I feel June is a little
like that, too,

that she couldn't give herself
wholly to Alice.

I hope that Alice did know
how much I loved her.

I guess I held something back
a little as she grew older.

That would be the saddest thing,
to think she might not know.

Ray suggested that
Mathew accompany him

on one of his country
Victorian tours,

where he was doing
consultations,

and Mathew jumped at the chance.

Breakfast.
Your shout, I think.

No, I think
it's your shout.

I think I realized when I was away
how much I missed Alice

and that I was never going to
be able to speak to her again.

I guess that's something that

all of Ray's clients
are coming to terms with.

You know, they want
to talk to someone

or make contact with
someone they've lost,

and so did I.

So, I was sort of one of
Ray's clients in a way as well.

-No.
-Can I chuck it at you?

-No.
-Let's see what happens.

Well, what do you
think is gonna happen?

It's gonna hit me and then
I'm gonna get angry.

That's what's
gonna happen. No!

Watch yourself.

What are you doing in my room?

I don't know.

Get out!

When me
and Ray went on the tour,

we left the two rented cameras

where they were, in the hallway.

I was sure there was still
something in the house.

And obviously, 'cause we
were away for the three days,

you know, we couldn't
change the tapes or anything.

So, we knew we were probably gonna get about,
like, a day and a half of footage.

But we left them running

and got back on August 22nd,

at which point
we checked the tapes.

Only Russell
and I were in the house

when these images were recorded,

Mathew couldn't have had
anything to do with them.

They seemed to prove that
there was a ghost in our house.

Alice's ghost.

Do you
believe in ghosts?

Didn't used to,

but it's a hard thing
to prove or disprove.

I think...

Yeah, sometimes I think maybe
they do exist.

There are ghosts everywhere.

It's a scary world.

I don't know why it's important.

It's like how it helps people,
like, dealing with her loss,

like making up stories
about ghosts or whatever.

It threw a question mark
over everything.

I went back and reviewed all the footage
that had come before,

all the material taken inside
the house following Alice's death.

It was while I was looking at Mathew's
June 13th hallway material again,

that I noticed
something in the image.

There was a second figure,

not Mathew in the hallway
but someone else,

squatting in the dark
in Alice's room.

At first I thought it was Alice.

Then I realized it was
our neighbor, Brett Toohey.

What was this man doing in my house,
in my daughter's room

more than six months
after her death?

When I found Alice's safe,
I realized exactly why he'd been there.

He was looking for the tape.

That's it.

But it was such a...
It wasn't a very nice day.

Yes.

-You did a smoke ring.
-Yes.

You two getting
nice and cozy without me.

Alice began babysitting
for the Tooheys in 2002,

and she continued for the next
two and a half years.

The Tooheys' two boys
were five and nine years old.

I literally just couldn't
believe my eyes.

It just made me feel so sad.

As far as
I'm concerned,

the Tooheys were complicit
in Ali's death.

I believe that if it hadn't
been for them,

she would have
reached out to us.

She wouldn't have felt guilty.

She wouldn't have felt the burden
of that secret.

She wouldn't have been isolated.

How do you
feel towards Brett now?

If he was around the corner,
I'd probably throttle him.

He seemed like a nice guy.
You know, he was nice.

We'd speak and he was never like,
you know, nasty or anything.

He had a pool
at his place and usually...

We used to swim
there sometimes.

Yeah.
-During the summer.

So, usually we just go to his place
and have a swim there.

I was really bewildered

about, you know, what happened.

Yeah.

It took a lot just to realize...

Cause, you know, I had
no idea that Alice would...

No, be with somebody, I know.

Yeah, it was like
a complete surprise.

Like, we just didn't think, you know,
she'd do something like that.

Yeah.

Why do you
think Alice had the tape?

Because she didn't
want them to have it.

Why is that?

She didn't trust them
anymore, I think.

They must've been
really desperate to get that tape.

From the moment that
they'd heard of Alice's death,

they would've been living in this
constant fear of being found out.

I'm glad he couldn't find it.
I'm glad he knows it's not over.

I had a lot
of personal dealings

with the Palmers
during this time

as part of the
investigating team

trying to locate Brett and Marissa Toohey
and family.

And initially we were optimistic
that they would be found

and charges laid.

But, unfortunately, the leads
that we were working with

soon dried up, and so
the investigation stalled.

So, the police's advice to us was
that even if the Tooheys were caught,

they would get off
with a suspended sentence

by claiming that
the sex was consensual,

which was, they claimed, you know,
supported by the video evidence.

Jason, did you know
about Alice's involvement with Brett?

No. No one did.

Obviously I didn't.

We wouldn't be going out if I did.
It was... No.

I thought we were...
I thought we were pretty good.

It just left so many
unanswered questions.

Why was she involved with him?

When did the relationship begin?

Was she in love
with either of them?

I just don't know.

The Tooheys sold their house and moved,
six months after Alice died.

Alice kept secrets.

She kept the fact
she kept secrets a secret.

Which does change the way
that you see somebody, I suppose,

when you realize that they did
hide things from you a bit.

I think I knew one Alice and maybe
her mum knew another,

and there was another one again
that none of us knew maybe.

I found Ray's business card
taped to Alice's diary

on the page marked
12th of July, 2005.

Why have you
come to see me, Alice?

Can you interpret dreams?

Mmm-hmm. Sometimes.

How do you feel when you wake up
from these dreams?

They scare me a bit.

Alice came to see me about
five months before she died.

I think she'd heard me
on the radio a few times

and rang and made
an appointment.

Take a deep breath.
Close your eyes.

I want you to imagine you're standing
outside your house.

When you can see
that, you tell me.

Okay?

Yeah.

All right. Now, I want you
to go inside the front door.

Go into the house. Tell me
what you see, where you are.

Ray, why didn't you tell June
that you'd actually met Alice before?

Okay, I'm in the entrance...

Look, I don't think it was a case
of hiding something from them.

It was more that I was honoring
Alice's request for confidentiality.

But it was damned if you do,
damned if you don't, you know.

The living room's
just directly ahead.

Then you go to your right

and my room's in the back part of the house
as you go towards the kitchen.

Do you see anything unusual?
Anything different?

No.

No, we didn't feel like
we could trust Ray anymore.

For whatever reasons he had of keeping
that information to himself,

it still felt like a betrayal.

I wanted to help
June and the family

and I think they
wanted me to help them.

I wouldn't have been able
to do it if they'd known.

There was a fair
bit of resentment.

Mathew wouldn't
even speak to me.

But what I think really hurt them
more than anything

was what they saw as my failure

to see Alice's eminent passing.

Looking back, like,
it's kind of strange

that someone would, you know,
be as close to us as he was...

I think, maybe, he needed us
as much as we needed him.

Alice came to see me
because she was upset.

She was a very troubled person.

"I had
a dream last night.

"I was cold and wet. I felt heavy,
like I'd been drugged,

"and when I woke up,
these sensations didn't go.

"I was feeling sick and confused

"and I was starting
to get scared.

"I needed to see Mum
to talk to her.

"I stumbled to her room

"and as I stood there at the bed,
watching them,

"I was overcome by
this intense sadness.

Then the sadness turned to fear.

I just stood there
paralyzed with fear

and I realized there was nothing
that they could do for me anymore.

I've never felt
so utterly alone.

Everything felt
wrong. My body,

the way things looked.

Then I realized that there
was something wrong with me.

"I started to cry, standing there
at the foot of the bed."

Lake Mungo is in
southwestern New South Wales,

and that was the location of
the school camp that Alice went on

from August the 2nd
to the 5th in 2005.

When she came home,
she said she'd had a good time.

I do particularly remember it

because she came home
without her mobile phone,

which we'd bought her
a month previously,

and her favorite
bracelet and watch.

Yes, other than that, you know,
she didn't really talk about it too much.

Wait, guys!

Well, Kim didn't show me till about
a year after she got back from camp

the stuff that she'd taken
on her mobile phone.

So, why'd
you decide to tell June?

Well, if we didn't tell June,

then it would be like
we were hiding something.

So, I don't know why...

I don't know why, but why not?

Smile for me!

Smile.

They're a little
bit tipsy, that's all.

Jason told us
about the phone footage

that the girls had
taken at Lake Mungo.

The other girls
were looking so happy

and she looked quite forlorn.

I was worried. I became convinced
that something had happened to her.

So, just get a little bit.
Just some of it.

Kate's phone footage
was taken later that night

once the girls had spread
out over the lunettes.

...anywhere.

I think that we need
to get a photo.

Like Africa.
Like the desert.

There was an image
of Alice, very hard to decipher,

in the bottom of the frame
kneeling under a tree.

It was only after viewing
the clip several times

that we realized
what she was doing.

She was burying something.

I mean, did you know
what had happened that night with Alice?

No.

I knew she'd lost her phone.

I knew she was upset
because that was pretty obvious.

But I didn't know
why she was upset.

She didn't say that
she'd seen anything,

she didn't really
say anything to me.

I didn't really, perhaps, take it
that seriously at the time.

You know, it was like context.

You know, we were
just having a good time

and I just thought
she'd gotten a bit upset.

It started
simply enough.

Alice left the group

and started walking off
by herself.

But it was... Obviously,
something was distressing her.

And we wanted to try
and find out what it was.

We understood from the phone video
that she'd buried something.

We had an idea
where the tree was

because of what we could see
from the video.

We didn't really want to go down
during the day time

because, you know,
we didn't want to be digging,

you know, where tourists were.

So, we decided to go at night.

June and I started digging
and after a bit,

June said she'd found something
and she pulled out a plastic bag.

And inside the plastic bag
there was Ali's favorite necklace,

her ring, her watch,
her mobile phone.

Her most precious things

buried out here
on a school camp,

and we didn't know
why she did that.

I mean, we knew from the video
that she'd buried something,

but we didn't know what it was.

It's low on battery.

Are you scared of dying?

Yeah, of course
I'm scared of dying.

Isn't everyone scared of dying?

Would you like to tell me a little bit
about what happens in these dreams?

I feel like something bad
is gonna happen to me.

I feel like something bad
has happened.

It hasn't reached me yet,
but it's on its way.

And it's getting closer.

And I don't feel ready.

I feel like I can't do anything.

At some point,

this figure came towards her
from out of the darkness.

I recognized the face as
soon as I saw it on the phone video.

It was the same face of the body
that I had identified at the dam.

It was Ali's body
and Ali's face.

There is absolutely
no rational explanation

for what she saw on that phone.

Stay far away from me.

Oh, my God, they're coming.

Stay away!

I am convinced that
Alice knew she was going to die.

I'm convinced of that.

Bundle up,
bundle up, bundle up.

I think the figure at Lake Mungo
was an omen for her.

The burial of her
possessions was symbolic,

it was a ritual.

No, I was never convinced
that Ali believed she was gonna die.

You know, she had morbid thoughts, sure.
I mean, who doesn't?

And she had nightmares that upset her,
and enough to consult Ray.

I don't know that anybody's
really convinced

that they're gonna die.

And what about
the image at Lake Mungo?

How do you think Alice
would have explained that?

How could she have explained it?

Look, I think Ali saw a ghost.

But she wasn't to know
that it was her own.

I believe she recorded a ghost.

I believe she recorded
the future coming to get her.

We had found out
about the Tooheys,

Ray, and what had
happened at Lake Mungo.

And by the time
we returned home,

the house felt
different. It was...

Calm.

I think that Alice wanted us
to know more about her.

She wanted us to know
who she really was,

before she...

You know, before
she could leave.

In the weeks and months
after Lake Mungo,

we started to feel
like a family again.

It just crept up on us, really.

We were a little
battered and wobbly,

but we were a family
all the same.

-Hi, Ray.
-Nice to see you, Russell.

Yeah, you too.
Nice. Come in.

Ray called
out of the blue

and said he was going
to be coming through town

and asked if it was all right if he
could come round and visit.

Six months had gone by,

and I just felt that
under the circumstances,

I didn't think
it could do any harm.

I think we all
felt that after Mungo,

in our own ways, there'd been closure,
I suppose, to a degree.

And, you know,
for each of us it's different.

And for each of us,
we've made our own peace.

It seems strange to me that
Ali should withdraw so abruptly.

And we didn't help her,
we didn't change anything.

I think we just collectively made
a decision to move forward.

And, you know, moving

was really a big part of all that...
Deciding to move.

It will be difficult
to leave the house.

Sometimes, you know,
I just forget that...

She's not coming back.

I forget.

Okay.
Close your eyes

and imagine that you're back
standing outside the house.

Mmm-hmm.

Can you see it?

Go inside the house.

I'm going through
the front door.

And...

Walking down the hall
towards Alice's room.

Someone's there.

I think someone's
coming down the hall.

Door's open.

Do you know who it is?

Do you want to go inside?

Yeah.

Okay.

What do you see?

It's my mum.

What's she saying?

She's not...
She's not saying anything.

I don't think
she knows I'm there.

Alice isn't here.

She's not here.

What's happening, Alice?

Are you talking to her?
Is she talking to you?

She's going now.

She's leaving the room.

She's gone.

Open your eyes.

She's going now.

She's leaving the room.

All the way.

She's gone.