Armed with shovels, rakes and chainsaws, a team of citizen searchers are scouring a stretch of unforgiving bushland in southern Western Australia with one objective: find the remains of four people they've never met.
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they → arm → people
The task at hand? Unearthing any trace of a mum and her young daughter, along with her conspiracy-obsessed boyfriend and their housemate, who haven't been seen in almost 20 years.
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who → unearth → years
Teili Rafferty is one of the searchers hoping to find any sign of them.
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Rafferty → hop → them
Travelling nearly 200 kilometres from her home in Bunbury, south of Perth, it's the longest the mental health nurse has been away from her two young daughters.
"
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nurse → travel → daughters
They didn't want me to leave," she said.
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she → want → ?
"I just said to them, 'If you were lost in the bush and you've been there for a really long time, you would want someone to come and try and help find you.'"
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someone → say → you
Ms Rafferty joins a team of geologists, former detectives, prospectors and family members trying to answer a question which has baffled the region and the rest of the world for nearly two decades.
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which → join → decades
Chantelle McDougall, her daughter Leela, Simon Kadwill and Tony Popic vanished from the outskirts of the small West Australian town in 2007.
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McDougall → vanish → 2007
After their disappearance, the group left a letter pinned to the door of the farmhouse they were renting, saying they'd moved to Brazil.
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they → leave → Brazil
They'd sold their cars, their pet dogs and given away most of their possessions.
But when Ms McDougall's family failed to hear from her, they raised the alarm.
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they → sell → alarm
In the following weeks, it was discovered the group hadn't travelled on their passports.
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group → follow → passports
A 2017 coronial inquest couldn't determine if the four were alive or dead.
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four → determine → ?
Ms Rafferty was a teenager at the time, but she has followed the case for a long time.
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she → follow → time
"Often, if I'm going past Nannup, it all still pops into my mind, and you just wonder," she said.
"
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she → go → mind
You just think the family's living with that, and they still don't know what's happened."
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what → think → that
The citizen searchers descended on the town of Northcliffe, 100km south of Nannup, nine days ago to search an area of bushland identified as a place of interest in the case.
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searchers → descend → case
In the days before the disappearance, either Mr Popic or Mr Kadwill purchased two bus tickets to Northcliffe.
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Popic → purchase → Northcliffe
In the months after, prisoners carrying out track clearing near Northcliffe discovered items of women's clothing and reported a smell of death in the area.
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prisoners → carry → area
WA police did search the area but later admitted they were in the wrong location.
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they → search → location
Who is searching now?
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Who → search → ?
Leading the team is Matt Strickland, vice-president of Tasmanian missing persons search group Find Our Lost Loved Ones.
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Strickland → lead → Ones
Each morning he gathers the group around a campfire at the local holiday park for a morning briefing.
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he → gather → briefing
Cups of tea in hand, they look over large maps and discuss the day's plan.
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they → look → plan
He heard about the call-out for volunteers after the case was the subject of an ABC podcast Expanse: the Nannup Four, and wanted to help.
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case → hear → podcast
The two brothers spend a lot of time in WA's bush, but they've never been part of a missing persons search.
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they → spend → search
"[The] Closest thing to this kind of stuff would have been emu bobbing in cadets because someone's lost a radio," Mr Watsham said.
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Watsham → bob → radio
They've been battling rain and humidity to clear overgrown tracks, making way for a team of cadaver dogs to comb the area for human remains.
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team → battle → remains
"We were told it was going to be tough and that the terrain was unforgiving," he said.
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he → tell → ?
"But I think it's surprised everyone who's come out here just how unforgiving it can be.
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it → think → ?
But the volunteers continue with a dogged determination to get answers for two other members of the search: Jim and Cath McDougall.
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volunteers → continue → search
They've driven from their home in regional Victoria to be here.
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They → drive → Victoria
"All these years there hasn't sort of been much happening, and for all these people to turn out here and help is just absolutely amazing," Mrs McDougall said.
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McDougall → happen → ?
The McDougalls have been working alongside the volunteers each day, sifting through the forest undergrowth looking for any signs of their daughter and granddaughter.
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McDougalls → work → daughter
"It is very emotional and sometimes very distressing, but I'm glad I'm out there helping,"Mrs McDougall said.
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McDougall → say → ?
The stretch of bushland the team is working in was once a walking track, but bushfires tore through the area in 2015, burning everything in the vicinity to a crisp.
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bushfires → work → crisp
What have they found?
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they → find → What
Only two scraps of fabric have been found so far.
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scraps → find → fabric
But it's unlikely they are related to the four missing people.
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they → relate → people
Amid the reality of what this group have come here to find and the disappointing lack of results so far, there are moments of levity.
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group → come → levity
Evenings spent swapping stories around the campfire, a guitar strumming in the background.
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guitar → spend → background
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia