Insight: July 23

Insight tackles the topic of missing persons in the lead up to 2013 National Missing Persons week.

Each year around 35,000 people are reported missing in Australia. Around 1,600 remain missing in the long-term.

In the lead up to 2013 National Missing Persons week (28 July to 3 August), Insight reveals that there is still no adequate national system to track these people down.

Huge gaps in Australia’s capability to find missing persons were identified after the Cornelia Rau case in 2005, but it appears there have been few improvements since then, as missing persons detectives admit to host Jenny Brockie that the system isn’t as good as it could be.

Speaking to people who are searching, as well as a person who has been ‘found’, the program examines why people go missing and what’s being done to find them.

It also explores the emotional impact on families of missing loved ones, and asks whether enough is being to support them.

Guests include:

Jenny Karmas said goodbye to her husband Sam one morning two years ago before leaving the house for the day. When she came home he wasn’t there. He left behind his wallet, keys and glasses. His disappearance is now a homicide investigation as police believe Sam was murdered.

Reuben Scown decided to go missing last year. He was going through a difficult period after breaking up with his girlfriend. Police performed a large scale search and he was found eight days later. Reuben had joined a retreat and was unaware that his family was concerned and searching for him.

Bob and Sue Neville’s son Bobby left his parents’ house in 2008, saying he needed to go for a walk. He never came back. The Nevilles travelled extensively across Australia to search for him, handing out posters at police stations. Through their travels they realised the state police databases weren’t linked, which they believe has hampered their search.

Helen and Anna Cheong’s sister Sally went missing five years ago. Sally had recently returned to Australia after living in China and wasn’t happy about resuming work in her family’s factory in Melbourne. After she went missing, her parents hired a private investigator who did a polygraph test on all her siblings. One of her sisters, Helen, failed the test but was later cleared by police who don’t think she was involved. Police suspect that Sally has run away.

Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles is the head of the Victorian Missing Persons Unit. He says there are key things he looks for to determine if a missing persons case is serious. These include family history of domestic violence and what the missing person left behind. He says around half of the cases he sees involve mental illness such as depression and anxiety.

8:30pm Tuesday SBS ONE