Nine orders true crime cold case factual series Byron Bay Murders from Perpetual Entertainment

Perpetual Entertainment’s Byron Bay Murders

Australia’s Nine Network has commissioned a two-part investigative true crime series, Byron Bay Murders, from Perpetual Entertainment.

Byron Bay Murders investigates the mysterious pattern of 67 murdered and missing women along Australia’s east coast from Newcastle to Byron Bay.

The programme will explore the unsolved disappearances of the young women aged 14 to 20, which have taken place, progressively, since the 1970s till the current times, with no arrests or findings made by local police.

The investigation is led by local regional politicians including MP Jeremy Buckingham, who is driven by the personal tragedy of his son’s suicide in the area. In dealing with his loss, Buckingham discovered this cluster of unsolved missing persons cases and has brought the issue to Parliament in a bid to seek closure.

Former detective sergeant and Ballina council deputy mayor, Damian Loone, criminal psychologist Tim Watson Munro and criminologist Xanthe Mallett join the investigation to examine the evidence of these cases and attempt to break new ground. The series will be broadcast on Nine and 9Now in late July.

The series is the second commission from Nine for Perpetual in recent weeks, following Murder Down Under – Murder by Mushroom. The one-hour documentary special, screened this month, explored the trial of Erin Patterson who was found guilty earlier in July for the deaths of three people and the attempted murder of a fourth via mushroom poisoning.

Nine’s increasing focus on true crime follows the network’s strategic move to invest in a new unit dedicated to longform investigative documentary-style current affairs content, announced last month. The network said the initiative will deliver “more groundbreaking investigations and compelling documentaries” that will be delivered across its linear, digital and streaming services.