Unravel

INTRODUCING — Blood On The Tracks

UNRAVEL season 1 story, Blood On The Tracks, investigates the suspicious death of 17-year-old Mark Haines, whose body was found on the railway line outside Tamworth in January 1988.

Blood On The Tracks 01 | Blood On The Tracks

Thirty years of mystery surrounds the death of 17-year-old Mark Haines.It’s the summer of 1988. A train hits a person early in the morning on its way out of Tamworth. Straight away, something doesn’t add up about the scene where the body is found. A rail worker notices strange inconsistencies at the scene. If this was suicide, why is there so little blood?The boy on the tracks is Mark Haines, a Gomeroi teenager with friends on both sides of the tracks. We meet his uncle Don (Duck) Craigie, who has been tirelessly searching for answers since Mark’s death. He suspects foul play.We trace Mark’s movements on the night before his death, as he hits the town on a big night out with a bunch of friends, dancing, drinking and having fun. Mark’s friends and girlfriend say they left him in the early hours. Just after, a nearby resident hears voices on the street, what sounds like an argument, and a car driving dangerously.But the next few hours remain a mystery. How did Mark end up on the tracks?

Blood On The Tracks 02 | Foul Play 

Mark Haines' family challenge the police investigation. When Mark Haines dies, news of the teenager's death spreads quickly through Tamworth and beyond. His family are on summer holidays in different parts of the state and rush home to be together in grief.While the family mourns and Mark’s body is in the morgue, their town is in full party mode. The Tamworth Country Music Festival is on and Australia is celebrating 200 years of colonization. For Mark’s uncles, it feels like the death of a young Aboriginal boy is the last thing on anyone’s mind.The police come up with a theory that Mark might’ve killed himself ... but the family aren’t buying it. In the days and weeks ahead, his uncles return repeatedly to the train tracks looking around for answers. They’re worried the police have missed vital clues and they become convinced Mark met with foul play.In their quest to disprove the police theory, the family find an unlikely ally. The railway worker who first found Mark’s body on tracks is just as convinced the evidence out there on the tracks just doesn’t add up.

Blood On The Tracks 03 | The Boxer

Violence erupts as Uncle Duck and the family confront their number one suspect.On the surface, Tamworth in 1988 is a typical Aussie town with rodeos, farmers and an active Country Women’s Association.  But beneath the friendly veneer, there’s a thriving criminal underbelly.  Large marijuana crops grow on the outskirts of town and there are reports of bikie gangs with links to corrupt cops on the take.The police investigation into Mark’s death has stalled allowing gossip and innuendo to take hold.  The family know Mark occasionally smoked marijuana, but now they’re hearing whispers that he might’ve have got on the wrong side of some serious criminals.It’s hard to believe, but it’s the first plausible explanation for Mark’s death they’ve heard.  The family decide to confront the man rumoured to have killed Mark... with ugly consequences.

Blood On The Tracks 04 | Whitewash

The family's hopes for an answer at the inquest fade fast.Nine months after Mark’s death, an inquest is held. The family are hopeful it will give them answers, but the police won’t budge from their theory that he put himself on the tracks.As the hearing unfolds, the family find out just how mediocre the initial investigation was. Lost evidence, an unsecured crime scene ... and a forensic pathologist who ignores a key injury, medical evidence that could provide clues to how Mark died.One person is in the family’s corner though. The railway worker who found Mark on the tracks is adamant the police and the forensic pathologist have it wrong. He’s remained silent for the last thirty years but finally comes forward to set the record straight.