Civilian Sleuths
Civilian Sleuths is a new investigative podcast shining a forensic light on Australia’s most challenging unsolved murders and missing persons cases.
For decades, these crimes have haunted families, investigators, and communities searching for answers—not for lack of effort, but because the tools of the past were limited.
Using original source material, coronial records, archived media, and modern analytical tools, Civilian Sleuths recreates timelines, re-examines evidence, and explores theories that may have been overlooked for decades. But the most powerful tool remains public memory.
Behind every cold case is a real person. A family. A life interrupted. And often, someone who still knows the truth.
If you know something—no matter how small—it may matter.
Launching January 6 with new episodes every second Tuesday, Civilian Sleuths invites you to become part of the investigation.
Unsolved. Unforgotten. Unfinished.
Listener discretion advised.
Civilian Sleuths
Denise McGregor - Series 1 Trailer (1978)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In March 1978, thirteen-year-old Denise McGregor left her home in Pascoe Vale, Victoria, to buy fish and chips for her family.
She never came home.
Her body was discovered the following morning on Merriang Road in Wallan East, approximately 40 kilometres from where she disappeared.
Despite extensive investigation over the last forty-seven years, no one has ever been charged with Denise's murder. The case remains open with Victoria Police Homicide Squad and a million dollar reward has been posted with information leading to the apprehension and subsequent conviction of the person or persons responsible for her death.
Civilian Sleuths examines the disappearance, investigation, evidence, and modern investigative possibilities surrounding Denise McGregor's death. The series draws on materials from Public Records Office Victoria, Victoria Police, inquest transcripts, witness statements, and contemporaneous newspaper archives.
This examination considers the case through contemporary forensic knowledge while distinguishing documented evidence from areas that remain unresolved.
Information relevant to this case may still exist.
Someone saw something. Someone knows something. It's time to speak up.
Because we still owe it to Denise.
If you have information about this case that has not been provided to police, please contact Victoria Police Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000.
Episode 1 launches January 6, 2026.
CONTENT WARNING: This series discusses the abduction and murder of a child.
On a wet Monday evening in March 1978, a 13-year-old girl walked to the local fish and chip shop in Pasco Vale with her younger sister to buy dinner for her family. A routine errand, fifteen minutes from home, a short walk she had taken before. But this time she didn't come home. Denise McGregor was a typical teenager. She was friendly, outgoing, and trusted the streets of her neighbourhood. From the reported sightings to the moment she disappears, her timeline moves quickly, too quickly, and within minutes, Denise McGregor simply vanishes. Her mother searched the streets, called police. By midnight, 13-year-old Denise was officially missing. But where could a girl disappear on a familiar street barely three minutes from home? Seventeen hours later, over 40 kilometers away on Merriang Road in Wallon East, a country roads boardworker stops his vehicle. Something in the grass doesn't look right. What he finds will change the McGregor family forever. For almost 48 years, questions have haunted Melbourne's northern suburbs. What happened in those few minutes between Bell Street and the Milk Bar? Who took Denise from a familiar street on an ordinary Monday night? How did Denise end up more than 40 kilometers away by morning? And why has no one been held accountable? Denise's case has remained unsolved, not for lack of effort, but because the tools of 1978 could not test timelines, witnesses, and geography the way we can today. In Civilian SLUS, we re-examine Denise's final journey minute by minute using modern analytical tools, digital reconstruction, and witness timeline alignment to see whether missed opportunities can reveal new possibilities. Someone knows something. Someone saw something, and someone may not realize yet that what they remember matters. It's time to speak up. Episode one premieres January 6th. Subscribe now. Join the search for answers. Share what you know because we still owe it to Denise. Unsolved. Unforgotten. Unfinished