The Labyrinth

I enjoyed this - sensible reporting in just 10 episodes & a presenter who, at the end, actually delivers a short episode outlining what they think happened. Such a sad story, well told.

I enjoyed the clarity of the exposition and non sensational approach taken. The story had a clear structure and facts (as known) are presented logically. This is a report of a family tragedy that starts long before the camping trip. The conclusion is uncertain but there is some comfort for the family. Please do another in Octavia. I’ll certainly listen.

The backstory to this missing person case is intriguing and sad. However, the podcast is a mess. It constantly jumps between interviews with police and the family members, going back and forward in time with poor continuity. The cops interviewed make vague statements and assumptions, based merely on feelings, with almost not evidential, forensic evidence to back up their claims and guesses. The family likewise seem to have no idea what could have happened to their missing family member, and don’t seem to have done much to pursue an investigation or put pressure on authorities. The podcast host does a poor job of interrogating either the police for their lack of investigation, or the family members to ascertain whether any of them might have been complicit in the disappearance, despite all statistics showing that direct family members are usually responsible for murders of other family members. No real leads are gathered, and the podcast seems to have no real thread to their investigation. The only valuable commentary comes in episode 5, when a globally renowned criminal analyst is interviewed. The analyst deconstructs the incident, the police investigation, the family’s comments, and raises multiple unanswered questions previously unaddressed by the podcast host. The entire podcast could have started with this interview and far more progress would have been made, as this is the only real person who contributed anything of value. Then, most of the possible leads raised by the analyst are largely abandoned by the podcast, and it wastes the rest of the series pursuing a bizarre lead about other missing people in the area, with vague references to possible serial killers as perpetrators, which seems to have nothing to do with the main case. Even when human remains are found at the end, there is no conclusion as to whether they belong to the missing person, but cops, family members, and the podcast host all assume that they belong to the missing person, despite the remains having been found miles away. A pointless, messy, rambling podcast that gets nowhere and finishes with no conclusions or revelations to help the family get closure, nor puts any pressure on law enforcement to do more than the pitiful job they did investigating.

I found the whole question about the dad not reacting enough in front of the response team really tiring - they go on about it way too much and all I can think is that a lot of men would react that way. Men are taught that it is better to be stoic and not show your emotions in front of other people, so to me his response was perfectly normal. We are also taught to leave professionals to do their job. He was probably just working on the motorhome to distract himself from the tragedy at hand. Had to stop half way through because this was really starting to bug me