Shortcut: What happened to 3-year-old Lachie Jones? - ATC International
Australian True Crime
Bravecasting
4.5 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is a "Shortcut" episode. It’s a shortened version of this week’s more detailed full episode, which is also available on our feed.
In 2019, three-year-old New Zealand boy Lachie Jones was found dead in an oxygenation pond near his home, with police ruling it an accidental drowning.
His father, unconvinced by the official finding, sought the help of investigative journalists Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner, hosts of Delve: The Boy in the Water.
In this bonus international episode of Australian True Crime, they share insights from the long-awaited inquest inside the Coroners Court.
You can listen to Delve: The Boy in the Water, wherever you get your podcasts.
Do you have information regarding any of the cases discussed on this podcast? Please report it on the Crime Stoppers website or by calling 1800 333 000.
For Support:
Lifeline on 13 11 14
13 YARN on 13 92 76 (24/7 crisis support phone line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)
1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732
Blue Knot Helpline: 1300 657 380
CREDITS:
Host: Meshel Laurie
Guests: Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner
Executive Producer/Editor: Matthew Tankard
This episode contains extra content from Newsroom NZ, Stuff and The Platform NZ
GET IN TOUCH:
https://www.australiantruecrimethepodcast.com/
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Email the show at AusTrueCrimePodcast@gmail.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On a warm evening in 2019, three-year-old New Zealand boy Lockheed Jones was found deceased |
| 0:10.8 | in an oxygenation pond about a kilomet from his house. Local police quickly declared it |
| 0:16.4 | an accidental drowning, but the boy's father was unconvinced and remained so. |
| 0:22.4 | He pursued the help of seasoned investigative journalists Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner. |
| 0:27.6 | The show is called Delve, the Boy in the Water, and in the most recent season, |
| 0:32.1 | they took us, their listeners, inside the coroner's court for a long-awaited inquest. |
| 0:37.8 | Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner join us to talk about the case. |
| 0:41.7 | This is Australian True Crime. |
| 0:43.7 | We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created, |
| 0:48.3 | the Warrangwai Wurang people of the Koolin Nation. |
| 0:52.0 | And a warning, this episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence. |
| 1:01.9 | It's about a little boy who was found face up in a sewage pond, |
| 1:07.8 | and the police said that he had drowned. |
| 1:11.6 | He left home apparently, according to the police, and went 1.2Ks down the road, over the fence. |
| 1:19.9 | And he was found face up, which is highly unusual. |
| 1:24.9 | No water on his lungs, highly unusual. |
| 1:29.4 | The police dole found no scent. |
| 1:33.6 | So it became a kind of pretty intriguing tale. |
| 1:39.5 | What happened with us is that we just kept getting called by the little boy's father who's saying, look, something doesn't stack up here, I don't believe. |
| 1:43.5 | You'll never, in your wildest dreams, you know, be able to tell me |
| 1:47.5 | or even imagine that he walked all that way with a full nappy at 9 o'clock at night, |
| 1:53.4 | barefoot, by the way, and with no marks on his feet. |
... |
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