Under Investigation with Liz Hayes
Feb 8, channel 9: The Man in the Hole
Surely everyone knows who Liz Hayes is? Liz has been gracing our tellie screens since the late 80s, joining 60 Minutes in the late 90s, and now presents her very own show: Under Investigation with Liz Hayes. A true icon of Australian investigative journalism. I had the pleasure of briefly meeting Liz last December during filming for an episode of her UI show, which will air on February 8. The title of said episode: The Man in the Hole.
Sound familiar?
Such is Liz Hayes’ celebrity, since that day of meeting her, many people—mostly men of my age—have asked, “Oh my god, what was she like?” mouths agape, “I had a huge crush on her back in the day!”
“Me too!” I’d reply. “And she is such a nice person. When we got to the studio, Liz was in the green room, but she didn’t blink an eye to jump up and greet us, hair full of rollers and sans makeup, with a sincere smile. Liz is a naturally beautiful person, through and through.” Awkward grins and deafening silence would fill the air between us middle-aged men thereafter.
If you can’t tell, I was a tad awestruck.
But, this isn’t to tell you about Liz. As she herself said to me when I blubbered in front of her before filming started, begging, “Can I get a selfie with you, Liz?” Liz replied, “You’ll have a whole episode with me!”—You can watch that Man in the Hole episode yourself, too, on Feb 8. What and who I want to tell you about in this post is the bloke standing behind Liz in the below photo which was taken after filming concluded in UI’s Sydney studio last year. That young bloke’s name is Alex Chance. He is merely mid-twenties, an absolute stellar human being, and given what Alex has achieved for our family during this last year, I’m predicting his career trajectory will be one to keep a very close eye on. Alex produced the upcoming episode, in which he has undertaken over six months of investigation into Ray and Jennie’s “mystery”.
Let me take you back to the beginning.
The disparity between the type of clickbait journalism encountered for most of Ray and Jennie’s Outback Mystery and real investigative journalism is as wide and barren as the desolate plains that separate our east and west coasts here in Australia. By no coincidence, the latter seem to dwell on the eastern seaboard, then are parachuted in when something important happens to occur here in WA.
Remember when Cleo Smith went missing in Carnarvon, in the Spring of 2021, and WAPol performed undeniably their finest work of their long careers, capturing the abductor and saving young Cleo? Apparently detectives from all over the world have since studied how our local boys and girls in blue managed to solve that case. Truly kowtow-worthy investigative work. I recall reading the news report on the morning she was found, seeing the video of the officer carrying young Cleo from the abductor’s property, and—unashamed to say—bawled with a mixture of disbelief and unaccustomed relief.
Later that day, while those fine blue women and men were rightfully lauded by the media, one particular network managed to absolutely hammer home the contempt many of us have toward ‘journalists’: I happened to be doom scrolling the Book of Faces when 7news Perth first shared this post, then promptly deleted it. It was too late though, the damage was already done.
This is what happens when reporting on a case is complicated by border closures (covid at that particular time); when networks are forced to give traffic update guys from local AM radio stations a red hot go at working on national current affairs.
Long story short, it wasn’t the bloke in the picture; old mate Terrance just happened to have a similar name to the perpetrator, and lived within three thousand miles of Carnarvon. What seemed to have occurred was that less than five minutes after a WAPol press conference about Cleo Smith’s rescue, the police careful to ensure the abductor remained unnamed, a WA ‘journalist’ bashed their thumbs against a search engine with a name they heard in the Carnarvon Pub and crucified that innocent man on universal tv, for ratings. Or at least that’s what I imagine happened, based on having witnessed similar ‘investigative reporting’ myself in Sandstone back in April 2015 (I’m looking at you, Becky Jones), and in the subsequent seven years by all networks.
Lots of four letter words, all nouns and adjectives, were expelled from my facial orifice that day, and a vow made to never trust a single media agent ever again. Not that I had prior respect for them anyway.
7’s later apology to Terrance Kelly/Flowers.
The balance of trust weighed heavily in favour of WAPol after that Spring Carnarvon day in 2021, and lighter than a feather in regard to our media networks. Later that same week, buoyed by said trust in our investigative public servants, our family wrote a letter to the DPP to find out what was taking them so long to prosecute what seemed to be a relatively open and shut case, not to mention a ‘priority 1’—Ray and Jennie’s probable double homicide.
We’ve got the finest police force in the world, I thought. Surely what the Po have handed over to the ODPP since the inquest would be resolute.
Nope, after the DPP decision in the winter of 2022, it became very apparent that we had been holding hands with WA police for seven long years as they led us toward a cliff then unceremoniously booted us over the edge—Ray and Jennie proven unworthy of the Po’s apparent investigative prowess.
You know what has happened since then. It all started with the ABC news report on the DPP decision, in June 2022. My inbox was inundated with messages from journalists and producers from various media networks in the weeks after that ABC article aired, thanks to the ‘Kehlet’ surname ensuring even an emcee-for-hire could easily track our family down. The standard response was to stalk-book the message’s originator, then determine whether to respond, respond with a “thanks, but … nah”, or just swipe-left that message straight into the bin.
Alex was one of the first people who messaged. He received a “thanks but … nah” at the time.
The channel 7 doco, Murder in the Goldfields, soon came on our radar. Against all internal dialogue insisting otherwise, I donned my finest flanno (shoutout to Ray) and joined them in Sandstone. Meanwhile, channel 9, via Alex’s persistence, convinced me to also join UI on their journey of investigative journalism. The two networks I most despised—my black soul swallowed. Now, at the end of that journey, I am so glad to have done so.
In the last six months, Alex has made multiple trips to WA, produced hundreds of thousands of notes and reports, interviewed witnesses, reconstructed that weekend in March 2015, and events from the 2020 inquest. All the while, he has had the courtesy to keep us informed every step of the way.
Our public servants have offered no assistance nor comment, and even attempted to restrict access to what should be public information (in my mind, therefore complicit with the underlying malicious intent). A little bird also told me that one of the UI panel members was advised by WAPol not to participate, such is their defence of ego.
I won’t spoil what Alex and the UI team have unearthed, but—trust me on this—that young man possesses an unearthly power. Remember that name: Alex Chance. Watch his stratospheric career trajectory with keen interest.
We haven’t seen the episode. It will only be forty-five minutes long, despite the months of research and hours of filming, then heavily scrutinised by network lawyers, so we won’t be expecting miracles; however, I know and trust it will do wonders for Ray and Jennie’s “mystery”. And the supplementary material unearthed during Alex’s investigative journalism journey will add much weight where and when needed—all information graciously shared with us, regardless of the final episode cut.
Thank you, Alex; our family cannot express our gratitude enough for what you have achieved in gathering information and putting the whole ‘package’ together this past year.
And, wholehearted love and respect also to Liz, Judith, Mark and Damian. I am in awe of their dedication (and perseverance) in pushing for justice for Ray and Jennie, as well as the countless other families caught within the injustice system.
You are all welcome in my home and at my table forever more.
Tune in, channel 9, Feb 8: The Man in the Hole.
Or, stream it afterward on the following options:
9NOW’s UI page
60 Minutes Australia YT channel
Don’t mind me, I’ll be the bloke in a catatonic state, sitting next to Liz Hayes, awestruck, while the rest of the panel tear strips off the investigation and lies.
Love your commitment and work Dave. Even though you give a well deserved shout out to these worthy reporters and producers, no one, and I mean no one, can rival the heart and soul that you have put into this.
Reading your story, for sure the perp's identity will come out. Better still is how you accurately profile him. As a local these boys hide in plain sight. They show themselves though. Imagine being on a swing with him.
Thanks for the story you present it well