When Bronwyn Winfield — a young, healthy, married mother of two — went missing in 1993, police dismissed it as a case of a runaway mother. But her family and friends always maintained a crime had been committed and justice had never been served. 

The Australian decided to take on this cold case with an investigative team led by award-winning journalist Hedley Thomas. Using a multi-platform approach, the project combined investigative reporting, immersive storytelling, and commercial sustainability to produce one of its most successful journalism projects.

Aptly titled “Bronwyn,” the investigation set out to uncover what happened to young mother and examine how authorities handled the case at the time.

Heating up a cold case 

The reporting produced significant new evidence that had never been made public. It uncovered eyewitness accounts, including a neighbour’s claim to have seen Jon Winfield — her husband — driving Bronwyn’s corpse away from the home on the night she disappeared.

Family members and friends provided fresh accounts of alleged acts of violence, while new reporting revealed patterns of alleged coercive control and violence within the marriage.

The investigation also raised serious concerns about the adequacy of the original police inquiry, indicating it was deeply flawed.

As a direct result of the podcast, New South Wales Police revisited the cold case. Authorities interviewed witnesses again and reconstructed Jon Winfield’s alleged movements following Bronwyn’s disappearance. The project demonstrated how investigative journalism can prompt renewed law enforcement action decades after a case has gone cold.

The investigation was delivered as a two-season podcast series with more than 20 episodes. Each episode exceeded 60 minutes and was supported by an extensive digital experience for subscribers.

In addition to audio, the newsroom produced documentary videos featuring interviews, drone footage, and previously unseen documents. It also included physical recreations of key scenes, such as a replica of the Winfields’ family sedan, and three-dimensional graphic animations illustrating critical evidence.

These elements allowed subscribers to engage with the investigation in depth and from multiple perspectives.

Public interest = audience and subscription growth

Audience response exceeded expectations. 

“Bronwyn” generated more than 6.8 million downloads worldwide, including 4.8 million in Australia alone. The series topped podcast charts and was named Apple Podcasts’ 2024 No. 1 New Show of the Year and No. 1 Series of the Year. It also received prominent placement in Spotify’s top charts, confirming its position as one of Australia’s leading true crime series.

The project also delivered substantial commercial and subscription results. A major national retailer, Harvey Norman, sponsored both podcast seasons, providing ongoing revenue to sustain the investigation.

From an audience growth perspective, “Bronwyn” became the year’s single largest driver of reader registrations for the publication, strengthening mid-funnel targeting and significantly increasing digital subscription conversions. The second season emerged as the strongest-performing genre-based driver of digital subscriptions, making a measurable contribution to the newspaper’s business growth.

Subscriber engagement extended well beyond audio consumption. Readers engaged with exclusive digital content, including long-form articles, documentary videos, interactive graphics, and immersive event reconstructions.

Engagement surpassed projections, with “Bronwyn” generating more than 1 million pageviews across digital platforms.

The newsroom also built a dedicated community around the investigation, creating a moderated discussion group where readers, journalists, and members of Bronwyn’s family interacted as the story unfolded.

The podcast’s success demonstrated that investing in depth, narrative continuity, and multi-format storytelling can drive impact, subscriptions, and long-term engagement whilst pursuing truth and justice.

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