The 50 Year Secret

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TRUE CRIME
SERIES

School teacher Jennifer Beard disappeared on New Zealand's West Coast while hitchhiking on New Year's Eve 1969. Nearly three weeks later her body was found under a bridge outside the tiny township of Haast. Now a Herald investigation has uncovered new evidence that could identify her killer.

EPISODE 1

Episode 1: Gentle Giant

School teacher Jennifer Beard disappeared on New Zealand's West Coast while hitchhiking on New Year's Eve 1969. Nearly three weeks later her body was found under a bridge outside the tiny township of Haast. Now a Herald investigation has uncovered...

18 min
EPISODE 2

Episode 2: The Sleeping Woman

Police spent precious days searching for Jennifer's body as it lay decaying under the Haast River Bridge. We speak to Michael Hines, who was just four years old when he unknowingly stumbled across the crime scene.

20 min
EPISODE 3

Episode 3: Confession

A secret that had been bubbling under the surface in a small South Island town finally comes to light. Ian Molloy speaks about the day his friend Reg Wildbore showed up on his porch and confessed to the unthinkable.

22 min
EPISODE 4

Episode 4: The Wild West Coast

It's 50 years on, but former lead detective Emmett Mitten still clearly remembers the challenges of the Beard case - from going three weeks without a shower, to getting reliable descriptions of the possible murderer and the infamous Vauxhall.

22 min
EPISODE 5

Episode 5: D-Day Is Coming

Reg Wildbore had more than one secret, and they were all starting to catch up with him. We take a look at the twists in his story and speak to his daughter, who reveals it's not the first she's heard of a confession to the murder.

19 min
EPISODE 6

Episode 6: Something In His Eyes

Reg Wildbore's former best mate Peter Johnston talks about Reg's strange behaviour and why it's not hard for him to believe he was capable of murder.

22 min
EPISODE 7

Episode 7: Leave It Alone

A confession, sex claims, and a statement putting Reg Wildbore practically at the scene of the crime the day Jennifer disappeared. Had nobody tried to bring this to light before? As it turns out, they did.

24 min
EPISODE 8

Episode 8: A Bad Feeling

The last person to ever see Jennifer alive recalls the moment she saw the British tourist climbing into the car of the man who's believed to have killed her. We retrace the route Jennifer took in her last hour alive.

20 min

See All Season 1 (13)

TRAILER

Trailer

School teacher Jennifer Beard disappeared on New Zealand's West Coast while hitchhiking on New Year's Eve 1969. Nearly three weeks later her body was found under a bridge outside the tiny township of Haast. Now a Herald investigation has uncovered...

S1

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1 min

School teacher Jennifer Beard disappeared on New Zealand's West Coast while hitchhiking on New Year's Eve 1969. Nearly three weeks later her body was found under a bridge outside the tiny township of Haast. Now a Herald investigation has uncovered new evidence that could identify her killer.