UPDATE: The New Search For The Australia's Missing Family Cult
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What recent developments have emerged in the case of the Nannup Four?
A warning before we start. This episode does contain mentions of suicide. I'm Gemma Bath, and this is True Crime Conversations. A few weeks ago, we brought you the case of the missing Nanup Four. We're dropping back into your ears with an important and shocking update on the case. First, some context. As you heard in our episode, The Australian Family Cult That Vanished Overnight, Chantal MacDougall, Simon Cadwell, their daughter Leela, and friend and housemate Tony vanished from Nannup, a small WA town, in 2007. Simon was known as somewhat of a cult leader who believed in a doomsday and moving to a higher plane once you die. He had followers online, but those under his roof were most under his control.
When the four disappeared, they left a note on their front door saying they'd moved to Brazil. However, no trace of that happening was found. Their passports weren't used to leave the country.
Who are Barry McIntosh and Peter Greaves in relation to this case?
In 2018, an inquest heard about a family suicide pact Simon had been discussing online, suggesting another dark answer as to potentially what could have happened to the group. Medical records from before they disappeared showed that Chantelle, Tony and Simon obtained strong sedatives and anti-anxiety medications. Simon was also prescribed an antipsychotic and opioids, which can be fatal when combined with sedatives. The inquest also revealed that Simon was living under a false identity. He grew up in the UK and his real name was Gary Felton. Ultimately, the coroner ruled that he couldn't find beyond reasonable doubt that any of the Nanop 4 were dead or alive. In 2026, ABC journalist Dominique Bayens has been re-investigating this case.
And last time we had her on, she hinted that she was sitting on some pretty huge news in this case. She's ready to tell us about it. Here's Dom with an update on the missing Nanop 4. Dom, thanks for joining us back on True Crime Conversations. I want to pick up our chat with two very dogged police officers, retired detectives. Tell me about Barry and Peter and how they intersect with this story.
Well, they've really been part of it since the very beginning. So To introduce them, Barry McIntosh, he is a retired Victorian detective. He had over 35 years' experience in the Victorian police force. He's also the uncle of Chantelle McDougall, one of the... I guess we call them the Nanup Four, one of the people who disappeared from Nanup in 2007. And Peter Greaves is his friend and also a close family friend of the McDougall family. He's also a retired detective. So Between them, they have this absolute wealth of knowledge of policing, and they both worked in all different areas, homicide, drugs, you know, just an absolute wealth of policing experience. But very early on, they were connected to the case, of course, because Barry is Chantel's uncle.
And very early on, when Chantel's parents were really concerned, they hadn't heard from her. She told them they were moving to Brazil, but they hadn't, you know, she hadn't got in touch to let them know that they'd arrived safely. I believe that it was Barry that recommended Chantel's parents to go to Peter Greaves and and report Chantel missing and get his help with that. So very early on in the weeks and months after the disappearance, Peter Greaves was helping Chantel's parents and also doing his own, I guess, early investigation. He was able to look into Chantel's bank account and very quickly learnt that Chantel hadn't touched her bank account since the time that they said they were leaving for Brazil.
He also discovered that no one had travelled on her passport or Leela's passport. And, yeah, so I guess those two elements very quickly raised alarm bells for Peter and, you know, he felt that this was actually quite serious. From there he, you know, I guess went up the chain of the Victorian police force to report them missing to the Western Australian police force.
What evidence suggests the Nannup Four may be connected to Northcliffe?
and who then took on the investigation from there. So I guess that's a bit of their really early involvement, and the case was then passed on to WA Police, who took that on, conducted early missing persons investigations, and eventually a homicide investigation that led to the coronial inquest.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What recent developments have emerged in the case of the Nannup Four?
0:00–0:59
2
Who are Barry McIntosh and Peter Greaves in relation to this case?
0:59–4:44
3
What evidence suggests the Nannup Four may be connected to Northcliffe?
4:44–8:02
4
What key details emerged from the police investigation of the Nannup Four?
8:02–11:41
5
How did the inquest findings impact the families involved in the Nannup case?
11:41–14:54
6
What were the significant mistakes made during the initial search efforts?
14:54–18:26
7
What steps are Barry and Peter taking to conduct a new search?
18:26–20:41
8
How do the families of the Nannup Four cope with ongoing uncertainty?
20:41–25:50
Speakers
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