Episode Information

Trudie Adams asked her mum to wait up for her the night she left the party at Newport Surf Club and put her thumb out into the traffic on Barrenjoey Road. She never made it home...

Almost 40 years on, Trudie’s disappearance remains a mystery, an infamous cold case that stands in stark relief against the cool surf culture, the gleaming new suburbs and malls of Sydney’s Northern Beaches in 1978.

Over the years, more and more facts have emerged. They combine to make the picture more intriguing and chilling. There is far more to this story than just an unsolved murder. This true crime story begins with Trudie and what may have happened to her long ago. But it leads, over three compelling hours, to the dark heart of Australia now: high-level corruption, cover-ups, massive drug deals and many murders in which the bodies have not remained hidden. It goes to the underbelly of sunny Australia, the mongrel beneath relaxed and comfortable lifestyles from the late 70s to the present. This is Australia’s real life ‘Twin Peaks’. And it’s not just a Sydney or even a New South Wales story but one that has consequences for crime and punishment across the continent.