Lake Mungo

I feel like something bad

is gonna happen to me.

I feel like something bad

has happened.

It hasn't reached me yet

but it's on its way.

I don't know why

it's important...

...like, how it helps people

to deal with loss...

...by making up stories

about ghosts or whatever.

Alice kept secrets.

She kept the fact

she kept secrets a secret.

It's hard for some people

to understand.

You've to believe

you're to blame...

...otherwise there's

nothing to hold on to.

Emergency services.

My daughter Alice

has gone. We need...

She's been missing.

Send someone up.

I need you to talk

to me for a second.

Can you hear me?

The normally tranquil setting

of Ararat's novel dam...

...was shattered

with the disappearance...

...of 1 6 year-old

Alice Palmer...

...while picnicking.

We received a call

around 6 p.m. tonight...

...over a missing girl.

Upon discovering the nature

of the situation...

...we called in the search

and rescue divers.

Police divers entered

the water around 1 0...

...with volunteers joining

a fruitless search.

They'd swum out

to the middle of the dam.

I could see them

from where I was sitting...

...in the picnic area.

I think I'd been

in the water 1 5 min...

...and I said I'd get out

because I was cold.

So l started swimming back and

she didn't come out with me...

...she said she'd stay there.

l remember Matty got out.

A few minutes later

l heard him ask...

...where was Alice.

So l stood up and

looked out across the dam.

The water was

completely still.

So I called out.

I looked out

over the water...

...to see if I could see her.

And both the boys had

kind of checked...

...you know,

the bush land behind.

l could see Alice's towel.

She'd left it on the ground.

She clearly hadn't gone

out of the water...

...because she would've

picked up her towel.

That was the last time

that l saw her.

Police continue to hold

their search...

...for 1 6 year-old

Alice Palmer...

...who disappeared while

picnicking with her family.

We were told to go home.

lf the search and rescue

divers found anything...

...then they'd let us know

immediately.

It felt very strange

in the car on the way home...

...because there was

one empty seat.

One minute she was there

and then...

...gone.

I went back to stay

with the Palmer's that night.

We were just mostly waiting.

Waiting for news...

...and for bad news.

There was that expectation.

We got a call from Russell

on his mobile...

...at about 9 o'clock at night.

He said there'd been

an accident at the dam...

...and Alice had gone missing.

So, we thought...

...we'd better go.

l remember June was

a bit funny...

...about seeing lris.

There was a strange

feeling between them.

lt felt a little strange

having my mother there.

Mum, l and,

therefore, Alice.

It just didn't feel like

the right order of things.

It was an awful,

awful night.

Worse night of our lives.

I went into Alice's room

later that night.

Her phone went off

a couple of times...

...but I didn't answer it.

I remember the bed

was made.

I remember thinking

how neat everything looked.

I got a call from

Alice's mum, June.

She'd said that Alice

was missing...

...and presumed

that she drowned.

l did not believe her...

...but, I don't know,

it was hard to take...

...so I actually called

Alice's mobile.

l just...

l wanted to see if it was

a joke or something.

A real shock.

Just didn't really feel

like it was real.

Everything was the same

as always...

...but people were saying

that Alice had drowned.

Are there memories from

that night stand out for you?

l remember we had

the porch light on.

We still do, actually,

just in case.

And why is that?

Just in case she comes home,

l guess.

Divers located Alice's body

at approximately 9:25 p.m.

They used sonar to locate her.

She drifted someway...

...and came to rest

on a shelf...

...at the bottom

of the storm water system.

Obviously we contacted

the family immediately.

As soon as we were told

they'd found the body...

...June and I went down

to the dam.

It was all very official

and formal.

They asked me to sign a

statement of identification.

June stayed in the car.

On reflection, l think

that was a mistake...

...because she didn't

have any closure.

I just couldn't bring myself

to identify Alice's body.

She'd been underwater

all that time.

l guess it's not how l...

I didn't want to remember her

that way.

l thought it

my responsibility...

...as Allie's dad, you know?

That's what a father does.

The car stalled on the way

back from the dam.

The only gear I could

get into was reverse.

So we drove back to town

in reverse...

...which was either that

or walk...

...and given everything

that had happened...

...it seemed like

the better option, really.

The autopsy was performed

on the 27 th.

Then the coroner

released the body...

...on Tuesday the 28th.

It was very strange...

...spending Christmas day

with the family there...

...while Alice lay alone

in the morgue.

I don't know, it was like I

hadn't seen her for a week.

lt didn't feel real.

Death takes everything,

eventually.

It's the meanest, dumbest

machine there is.

It keeps coming

and it doesn't care.

There's nothing else to know

about it, really.

It was a somber day

for the family...

...and friends of Alice Palmer

who gathered to pay...

...their final respects

to a young woman taken too soon.

She was a great person.

Very popular...

...clever, lovely.

Alice is remembered as

a happy, fun-loving girl...

...with a zest for life.

Described as always...

The Palmer's were really

doing tough at the time.

l think about how bad

it was back then...

...it was hard to imagine

how worse it would get.

the 1 5th of January...

...stuff started happening

around the house.

Noises on the roof.

Sounds coming outside

the windows...

...and other movements

that seemed to come...

...from Allie's old room.

So we rehung the door...

...to Allie's room and

we got a pest controller...

...to come in and check

for termites.

It didn't help at all.

Doors kept slamming...

...and we still kept getting

noises from her room.

There was just something

weird about that house.

It had a fairly strange

feeling about it...

...I can't explain to you

what it was exactly.

You'd go in there

and have this bad feeling...

...in your gut.

I started having

these nightmares...

...and they were

so distressing...

...that sometimes

I wouldn't want...

...to open my eyes.

l'd woken up but l didn't

want to open my eyes.

There was one particular one.

It was quite vivid...

...and recurring. Alice would

come down the hall...

...still dripping

from the dam...

...and just stand at

the foot of our bed...

...staring at us.

It was quite terrifying.

As I said, I didn't want

to open my eyes.

By early February...

...my nightmares were

getting so bad that...

...I began to go

for walks at night...

...sometimes

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