- 14 hours ago
60 Minutes (1968) Season 58 Episode 27
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00:02Good evening and welcome to 60 Minutes. I'm Amelia Adams.
00:07For many of you, it might be that watching this story
00:10is like staring into a mirror,
00:12that the decent, hard-working people you're about to meet
00:16could so easily be you.
00:18What they're enduring is happening to millions of Australians
00:22across the nation,
00:24struggling through times that are beyond tough.
00:27Predictably, our leaders say none of this is their fault.
00:31Events out of their control, like war in the Middle East,
00:35are having a massive impact on the economy.
00:39Perhaps the politicians are right.
00:41Perhaps not.
00:42But either way, it doesn't ease the significant pain
00:46so many are feeling.
00:48And it doesn't pay the bills.
00:55Dawn in the New South Wales Riverina is bold but quiet,
01:00a stillness that's hard to find these days.
01:05Sunrise over this lush landscape brings the promise of a fresh start.
01:12It's what keeps farmer Justin Everett going,
01:16day after day, year after year.
01:20That's probably why I like being out there so much,
01:22because it can distract me from everything.
01:24You can turn everything off and just listen to the birds
01:28and listen to the animals walking around and being themselves.
01:33But the tranquility is deceptive.
01:37Justin's been living a nightmare
01:39since the United States and Israel declared war on Iran in February,
01:45sending the price of diesel and fertiliser skyrocketing.
01:49Out here, it's another gut punch for hard-working producers,
01:54and it's squeezing families and homeowners
01:57already under siege from high inflation.
02:02How would you describe the scenario now since the war?
02:06I should feel lucky because I'm, you know,
02:08I don't have to worry about bombs dropping on me,
02:09but, you know, those impacts of that happening over there
02:12are having a direct impact to me.
02:17Justin is a third-generation grain farmer
02:20who grew up working this land,
02:23about 40 minutes out of Albury
02:25in south-western New South Wales.
02:29He's endured drought and the pandemic,
02:31but nothing could have prepared him for this crisis.
02:36And what would you normally be planting,
02:38be sowing in this paddock?
02:40Probably would have gone another week,
02:41but we'll go to canola now.
02:43OK.
02:44It's the start of cropping season
02:46when Justin would usually sow the winter harvest.
02:50But this year, paddocks that should be sown with grain like wheat
02:55are being abandoned or used for cheaper crops.
02:59The worst-case scenario for me
03:01is going through a year of hard work and costs
03:04and not being able to harvest the crop
03:05because we don't have fuel to put in the harvester.
03:08That's the absolute scariest prospect.
03:10If we're not able to harvest,
03:12then there's no wheat for wheat-bix,
03:14no wheat to go into noodles or biscuits.
03:18So basic food supply groceries will look different?
03:22Yep. Very different.
03:23And personally, what would be the cost to you?
03:27Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
03:29Yeah.
03:31Hundreds of thousands.
03:35You really couldn't be any further from the war in the Middle East.
03:41Yet the tremors from that conflict are being felt here incredibly keenly.
03:47The Riverina is one of Australia's most productive agricultural regions,
03:52from wheat and barley to fruit and vegetables, beef and sheep.
03:57So the decisions being made here will be felt right down the supply chain,
04:03all the way to your grocery bill.
04:05We face one of the worst economic challenges that we've seen since the Second World War.
04:11And the only solution is just different doses of very tough medicine.
04:18You might not want to hear it, but Chris Joy paints a grim picture
04:23of what was once considered the lucky country.
04:27We have an inflation crisis that's been amplified by the conflict in Iran.
04:33The cost of living is going through the roof.
04:37Taxes are rising.
04:38Income per capita is falling.
04:40Living standards are falling.
04:41A leading global financial economist, Chris has watched with dismay,
04:47as Australia's economy has been left exposed.
04:52How bad is it?
04:53The economy is being boosted by two completely artificial forces
05:00that are blowing up this big balloon that's likely to pop.
05:05The first is reckless and rampant government spending,
05:09but also record immigration and record population growth.
05:14And I think politicians think that there's probably a relationship
05:16between winning votes and letting people into the country,
05:20but that is driving up inflation.
05:22Because we only have so many houses that you can rent.
05:25We only have so many farms.
05:27We only have so many producers.
05:29And so when you have a massive influx of people into a country,
05:32it pushes up prices.
05:34There's never a good time for war,
05:37but it really couldn't have come at a worse time for Australia, could it?
05:41No, I mean, because unfortunately,
05:42you've got this situation where inflation is out of control.
05:47We don't know how high rates are going to go.
05:49And then out of the blue, you get this conflict in the Middle East,
05:53which has massively increased not just fuel prices,
05:57but gas prices, fertiliser prices,
05:58and the cost of transporting everything,
06:00which bleeds into all prices.
06:05Charlie and Rochelle have worked hard
06:08to make a modest but comfortable home in Western Sydney
06:12for themselves and their 11-year-old daughter, Peyton.
06:17Hi, Miss Banker.
06:20Today, we've all got piles of money.
06:23Ooh, advance to go. Collect $200.
06:27Ooh.
06:27Money. Candy.
06:30But in reality,
06:32rising rent, bills, and grocery prices
06:35have pushed this young family to the brink.
06:38It's been, like, over the last, probably, say, 12 months,
06:41we've just noticed it climb up a little bit higher,
06:44a little bit higher, a little bit higher.
06:45But then when it gets to the point
06:47where everything's gone up that little bit, that little bit,
06:50and you start to notice our little margins narrowing,
06:53we don't have room to breathe.
06:56Rochelle is a social worker.
06:59Charlie is a retail supervisor.
07:02Together, they earn $180,000.
07:06It sounds pretty decent,
07:08but these days they're struggling to put food on the table.
07:12Did you think this is how life would be?
07:15Never.
07:16I expected challenge.
07:17I didn't expect non-stop adversity.
07:22It genuinely feels like there's a brick wall
07:24every time we get a little bit further ahead.
07:26Yeah.
07:27And, I mean, I studied, went to university,
07:31paid off my university, hexed debt.
07:34I was able to afford those things previously,
07:36take my daughter to concerts.
07:38We were lucky to go to the movies now.
07:40You can't do that.
07:43Even with two full-time incomes,
07:45normal monthly expenses now feel unbearable.
07:50So, that one's for $198.
07:52And they've just been told their rent is going up from $850 to $920 a week.
08:01For Charlie, the stress is more than suffocating.
08:05It's soul-destroying.
08:08This is obviously hitting you quite hard.
08:13I struggle sometimes.
08:15I wish I could do more.
08:19But, at the same time, I know I'm not alone.
08:23I know there's dads and there's husbands
08:29and there's partners out there who want more for their family
08:32than what they can give them.
08:34Like, because I'm picking up my daughter sometimes
08:37and she'll just say, hey, Dad, can we get a McFlurry?
08:40And I can't get a McFlurry sometimes.
08:43Yeah.
08:43And being able to say, no, I can't spend $4.50 on my daughter,
08:48it breaks my heart.
08:49It just hits you.
08:51Like, obviously, when you look at your bills every day
08:55and stuff like that, you're kind of...
08:57You're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll work it out, I'll work it out.
09:00But then you're sitting here and you're like,
09:02God, when does it get a little bit easier?
09:08It's a question everyone is asking.
09:11Coming up, will the Reserve Bank hit homeowners again
09:16with a rate hike?
09:17Does that give you that knot in your stomach?
09:21It could just be left with nothing.
09:30There's an old saying that things are crook in Tallarook.
09:34And while it might not look like it, this community in country Victoria,
09:40about 100 kilometres north of Melbourne, is doing it tough.
09:45Tonight, the Tallarook pub is filling up with locals
09:48keen to take their minds off the state of the world.
09:52To lighten the load, publican James Carlin has replaced the Friday night meat raffle tray
09:59with a more precious commodity, a 20 litre jerry can of diesel.
10:05You would know just about everything that goes on in a town like this.
10:09How stretched are people at the moment?
10:11I think it's pretty clear that people's behaviours have changed.
10:15I've had one staff member that wasn't able to make a shift
10:18because she couldn't afford the diesel.
10:19Yeah, wow.
10:20I suppose my concern is that we're moving into a COVID-type shutdown phase
10:25and that's probably the scariest thing for small businesses and for the farmers
10:29and that if they can't get fuel or if it's too expensive to use,
10:35it will decimate little country towns.
10:39With that very real possibility,
10:42tonight, every drink comes with a raffle ticket.
10:46A good excuse, if they needed one, to have a couple.
10:51Are we all ready?
10:55Alright.
10:56Blue ticket, B79.
11:00B79.
11:03With locals conserving every dollar and every litre,
11:08this is the new liquid gold.
11:13But we need a hell of a lot more of it.
11:16In fact, you'd need 5 million 20 litre jerry cans
11:21to fuel Australia for just one day.
11:24So, while the Albanese government is shoring up extra diesel,
11:29it won't go far.
11:32And just last month, we almost ran out.
11:38I mean, what serious country lets its fuel supply get that low?
11:43Yeah, it makes no sense,
11:44particularly with our natural endowments of petroleum and gas.
11:49So, it's kind of the lucky country has become the lazy land.
11:53Economist Chris Joy worries we've been cruising
11:56with high government spending giving Australians
11:59a false sense of unsustainable growth.
12:03And it's come at a cost.
12:05He claims we've lost our competitive edge.
12:09We're really reliant on the rest of the world
12:12because we've chosen not to produce our own energy sources
12:15and or export a lot of our resources.
12:18The fact that we haven't been investing in independence and autonomy,
12:23we haven't been investing in resilience,
12:26means that Australia is vulnerable to these shocks.
12:29And we've fared worse than most countries
12:31because we don't have that insurance in place.
12:35Back in regional New South Wales,
12:37third-generation grain and sheep farmer,
12:41Justin Everett, is in serious strife.
12:44How many lambs would you have?
12:46Hopefully, there's at least two or three hundred lambs in here.
12:52Every inch of his 2,500-acre operation runs on diesel.
12:57But fuel deliveries are now unpredictable and double the price.
13:04The constant stress and uncertainty is almost unbearable.
13:09And, like many of us,
13:11Justin feels it shouldn't have come to this.
13:16It makes me nervous.
13:17And everything I do, I'm thinking about,
13:19OK, how much fuel is this machine we're using?
13:23Is there a way I can, you know,
13:25get it to use less fuel to do the activity?
13:27So, from where you sit,
13:29how could Australia have been better prepared for this?
13:32Oh, we certainly could have had at least 90 days of fuel,
13:34like every other country in the world does,
13:37and some even have way more than that.
13:39So, you know, we feel a little bit let down.
13:41I'd be furious if I were you.
13:43Secretly, probably am.
13:44I'm furious and probably try not to, you know,
13:46let that spill over because I don't want other people to see,
13:49and especially my family,
13:50I don't want to see how much this is, you know,
13:53eating me alive inside.
13:57While the situation in the Middle East is changing day by day,
14:02the impact on households here will be long-lasting.
14:06And just when it feels like things really couldn't get any tougher,
14:11next week the Reserve Bank Board will, in all likelihood,
14:15raise the official cash rate for the third time this year
14:19to try to get inflation under control.
14:21And, of course, that will only make life more miserable for homeowners.
14:28Does that give you that knot in your stomach?
14:32Yeah.
14:32Definitely.
14:33Like, I don't know how much it's going to cost to pay my mortgage now
14:36and then could just be left with nothing.
14:40For first homeowners Bill Day and Emmy Robertson,
14:44the cost of living crunch has turned their happy home
14:48in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges into a prison.
14:52In their late 20s, raising an almost two-year-old,
14:57they can barely afford to leave the house.
15:00With a $600,000 mortgage,
15:03they're not sure how many more rate rises they can survive.
15:10And do you think about the possibility of having to sell?
15:13If it keeps going the way it is and they keep rising and everything,
15:17probably.
15:17But then again, how am I meant to...
15:19What am I going to do?
15:20I'm going to have to rent,
15:21but it's pretty much the same price as buying a house.
15:25Hmm.
15:25I'm really going nowhere if I sold my house.
15:29Bye!
15:31Bill works in construction five or six days a week,
15:35earning $45 an hour.
15:38Emmy stays home with Bo.
15:40Going back to her retail job
15:42would barely cover the cost of childcare.
15:46For this young family, the sums just don't add up.
15:51And like so many, they feel like they're going under.
15:56Some weeks, like the worst week I've probably had it,
15:58I had $20 in my account.
16:00And then I've got to wait until payday
16:02and just hopefully not spend anything
16:04and hopefully no bills coming up.
16:05Hmm.
16:06$20 once you'd paid your mortgage,
16:08bought your food, paid your bills.
16:10All the bills, yeah.
16:10All the bills.
16:10$20 to get by.
16:12Yep.
16:12Pretty scary.
16:14Stressful, yeah.
16:15So basically what we're looking at here is
16:17for many, many years, if not decades,
16:20Australia benefited from very, very low inflation.
16:22While it won't be popular,
16:24Chris Joy believes the Reserve Bank
16:26should raise interest rates when it meets next week,
16:30as it's the only tool to control rising inflation
16:34and the cost of living.
16:37But even that, he warns, won't be enough.
16:42Should we all be preparing for recession?
16:45Absolutely.
16:46What does that look like for people sitting at home watching?
16:49It means higher unemployment, lower income growth.
16:52It means higher interest rates.
16:54So I think for Australians,
16:57they're going to need to think about where they're living,
17:00what are the right states,
17:02what areas offer the best opportunities and prospects,
17:06whether Australia's the right home for them.
17:07And I think it's going to get very, very tough.
17:12In Western Sydney, Rochelle and Charlie
17:15are a striking example of the new working poor,
17:20struggling to cover their rent, utilities and expenses,
17:24despite two solid full-time incomes.
17:28It's confronting to hear how far they're already going
17:32just to get by.
17:35How many more sacrifices can you make?
17:38Exactly. Yeah.
17:39There's not much left to get.
17:41There's not left.
17:42Like the belt doesn't go any tighter?
17:44No.
17:44Like, I'm already going without meals most days.
17:49With great reluctance, Rochelle has come to St Vincent de Paul
17:54to get some help with basic necessities.
17:58Life's been quite hard at the moment.
18:01Accepting school supplies for 11-year-old Payton
18:04and food parcels was a difficult but necessary step.
18:10I've got some pencil sharpeners.
18:12I've also got a notebook.
18:13Look at that.
18:15She loves writing notebooks.
18:18Across the country, calls to the Vinnie's helpline
18:21almost doubled last month,
18:24with more Australians experiencing severe food
18:27and housing stress than ever before.
18:31And yet there are some groups that are capitalising on the crisis.
18:37The first is the folks on the take of all the government spending.
18:40There's just absolutely no doubt that there are people out there
18:44minting it via government spending hundreds of billions of dollars,
18:49if not trillions of dollars, on their stuff.
18:51So anyone who services the political waste is killing it.
18:57Filling their pockets.
18:59Yeah.
18:59The other constituency that does quite well in the current environment
19:02is anyone who has no debt, who has a lot of savings,
19:06particularly cash savings.
19:08Yeah.
19:08So it's the retirees that in the low interest rate world
19:12were able to capitalise that in the form of higher house prices.
19:15They've paid off a lot, if not most of that debt.
19:17They're sitting on a lot of cash.
19:18So it's kind of interesting that the key casualties
19:22are younger generations and future generations,
19:26because they're the guys that are going to be paying the taxes.
19:29I'm already losing.
19:32Rochelle and Charlie have come to accept
19:34the Australian dream of buying their own home is unattainable.
19:39Your council rates have increased.
19:41But it's the notion that Payton will grow up
19:45in a relentless economic pressure cooker
19:48that really distresses them.
19:51We want what any parent wants for their children.
19:54We want them to have a better life than we had.
19:57And it's...
20:00It's infuriating to see it get worse.
20:05Coming up...
20:06What did go on at Zorro?
20:08So twisted and so dark.
20:10Jeffrey Epstein's mansion of horrors.
20:13In the middle of nowhere.
20:15Some of the most heinous things that anyone could imagine.
20:18A place so evil.
20:19Both died by strangulation during rough fetish sex.
20:23No one could hear his victims' screams.
20:26He destroyed my f***ing life.
20:29That's next on 60 Minutes.
20:34The Zorro Ranch in New Mexico
20:36sounds like it could be a desert Disneyland.
20:39After all, it was named after the fictional masked crusader.
20:44But the reality couldn't be starker.
20:46The remote property was, in fact,
20:48one of sex predator Jeffrey Epstein's lairs.
20:51And with the release of the damning Epstein Files,
20:54we're learning much more about the horrors that went on there.
20:58Not only was it the alleged scene of sexual abuse
21:01against minors and young women,
21:03it was where the maniacal Epstein dreamt of developing a designer baby farm.
21:08Shockingly, there are even suggestions of bodies buried at the ranch.
21:13So what did the authorities know about this place?
21:16And when?
21:19Where did he take you and where did he abuse you?
21:22So the first abuse happened on the island.
21:27And then at Zorro Ranch.
21:33New York.
21:35Paris.
21:38Palm Beach.
21:41St. Tropez.
21:42Out of all those places that you've just named,
21:45was there a particular spot that was more sinister,
21:49more scary than the others for you?
21:52Of all the locations, I would say Zorro Ranch was probably the most eerie.
21:58Just giant and quiet and literally in the middle of nowhere
22:03and miles and miles of just mountains and dirt for miles.
22:16These are the desert plains and snow-tipped mountains
22:19of Santa Fe County in New Mexico.
22:22It's a harsh and remote place where the sexual predator,
22:26Jeffrey Epstein, built the opulent and oversized lair
22:30in the middle of nowhere he named Zorro Ranch.
22:34A hideaway in the middle of nowhere,
22:36it is finally being forced to give up its terrible secrets
22:40of sex abuse, human trafficking and maybe even murder.
22:46Epstein's survivor, Shantae Davies,
22:48is deeply haunted by Zorro,
22:50where no matter how loud you screamed,
22:53no one could hear you.
22:56There was a lot of time spent in my room
23:00at Zorro.
23:02Feeling very much like a mouse trapped in its cage,
23:05just kind of waiting until someone would come to my door
23:07and say, Jeffrey's ready for his massage now.
23:10What did that really mean?
23:12Rape.
23:13Yeah, it was full on forced on sexual.
23:20Rape.
23:23Time is up.
23:24Fighting for survivors like Shantae
23:27is Democrat Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury.
23:30We are fighting for you.
23:32General ladies, time has expired.
23:33Members are reminded to direct their remarks to the chair
23:36and not a perceived viewing audience.
23:37Stop until Justin is starting.
23:37If you refrain from engaging in personalities
23:39against the president.
23:40You cannot silence me for the victims.
23:42She is one of a rare number of people
23:45to have seen the unredacted version of the Epstein files.
23:49And what she has seen and read has propelled her to action.
23:55There are certainly hundreds of allegations of women
23:58who experienced those really dark experiences.
24:02And so I think we're really dedicated to getting to the bottom
24:05of the truth of what happened in New Mexico and on that property.
24:09Authorities are now searching a ranch in New Mexico
24:11once owned by Epstein.
24:13Of all the Epstein properties,
24:15Zorro has been the forgotten strand in his evil web.
24:19But while the ranch has long been overlooked,
24:22it's feared it's where Epstein's worst crimes were committed.
24:27What was it that affected you so much?
24:31I think that for me personally,
24:33to read the first-hand accounts of the violence
24:37that was committed against survivors
24:38and detailed descriptions of the assaults that happened to them
24:44by both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
24:47was truly chilling and dark.
24:50The darkest revelation,
24:53the ultimate act of violence,
24:54was uncovered in this email
24:56alleging the death of two young women on the ranch.
25:00It's claimed to have been written by a former staffer there.
25:04A distressing tip-off forwarded to the FBI in 2019
25:08that was seemingly never investigated.
25:12The email reads,
25:14Did you know somewhere in the hills outside of the Zorro,
25:18two foreign girls were buried on orders of Jeffrey and Madame G?
25:23Both died by strangulation during rough fetish sex.
25:28Not nice to read.
25:31No.
25:33I was so alarmed by that particular tip that came into the FBI
25:39that I immediately contacted the New Mexico Attorney General
25:43to reopen a criminal investigation.
25:45And the way that tip was reported matched the pattern of other abuse
25:51and transport and trafficking of women,
25:54and that's why it raised alarm bells for me.
25:56It's a dark world where a tip-off like that could be considered real.
26:02You have to take it seriously.
26:05Yes, absolutely.
26:07The news that came through the release of the files
26:12that there had been bodies buried at Zorro Ranch was all news to us.
26:17And that really sent a shockwave of concern through our communities
26:22that how has this never been resolved?
26:25How do we know whether or not this had ever been investigated or closed?
26:29In response to the discovery of the disturbing email,
26:33New Mexico State Representative Andrea Romero
26:36is spearheading a specially formed truth commission
26:40to investigate the startling allegations
26:42as well as why the FBI kept them secret back in 2019.
26:48And they never prosecuted anything in New Mexico.
26:52They never did an investigation at the time that he was in operations here.
26:57It's hard for me to see that any justice was done.
27:01If the FBI didn't do it, what can we know?
27:05So absolutely, we're trying to pick up the pieces here in New Mexico.
27:09The first step has been to look for the bodies
27:12and to finally search the Zorro Ranch.
27:16Inexplicably, it's the one Epstein property
27:19federal agencies failed to raid upon his death.
27:23They have at this time conducted a complete and thorough investigation
27:28physically of the property, including imaging of all 7,500 acres of the property.
27:35They're right now doing a technical analysis of that imaging data
27:40to understand if it reveals anything.
27:43One of the things that's very odd is that there was still letters,
27:48there was handwritten documents, there were books,
27:50there were other things that were still on the property.
27:53And is it believed that that is evidence that could lead to further prosecutions?
27:59Well, what I can tell you is that New Mexico's Department of Justice
28:03is deeply committed to turning the Epstein files into Epstein trials.
28:08First recruited into the Epstein world by Glenn Maxwell,
28:13Shantae Davies was abused by the predator from 2001 to 2005.
28:19She remembers the rumours about the burial of the two unknown girls at Zorro.
28:25But there were also other terrifying and bizarre accounts
28:29shared with her by other victims.
28:32Girls waking up in sort of like a dark room with like a female doctor standing over them,
28:38feeling like maybe there is some kind of procedure that had happened that they weren't aware of.
28:42And I believe this is in the files.
28:44Sure, there's something in there about a baby actually being born
28:49and then just disappearing, like Ghislaine taking it.
28:52I personally never witnessed anything like that,
28:55but I do remember overhearing conversations about trying to create the perfect baby,
29:02the perfect baby, the perfect gene pool.
29:06And I know that there was sort of a hunt, if you will, for the perfect gene pool.
29:16Zorro was a wacky hideaway for Epstein and his cronies and a place to enact their most freakish fantasies,
29:24including at one point a plan for a controversial designer baby and human cloning project,
29:29in which emails from the files show the maniacal Epstein was prepared to invest in,
29:36as long as he remained anonymous.
29:39We were hearing some of the most horrible and heinous things that anyone could imagine.
29:45The allegations span everything from the harvesting of sex organs
29:51to allegations of women having forced abortions or forced pregnancies or coerced pregnancies.
29:58I think when we think about the stories and the span of stories, it sounds fictional, it sounds like a
30:06horror film.
30:08And as the Epstein files reveal, men and boys were not spared, with Epstein accused of multiple rapes.
30:16A man actually claims that he met Jeffrey Epstein, was brought to the ranch, he was drugged,
30:22and he describes in detail a scene in which multiple young men were raped at the ranch in front of
30:29him after he was drugged.
30:30You hear about Jeffrey Epstein's penchant for minors and for young women, but not men, we haven't heard that before.
30:41Yeah, I mean, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were serial abusers.
30:46So they really were super predators, and it's clear that this was just how they lived their lives.
30:55I just can't imagine to have a desire to do such evil things so badly.
31:04Like, what is inside somebody that's so twisted and so dark that they would spend their lives having a fully
31:14working vessel of abuse?
31:20But perhaps even more chilling is the revelation in the Epstein files that federal authorities knew years ago
31:27but did nothing about these suspected crimes.
31:32As you'll see, in an absolute blindside, the FBI claimed to take over the investigation into Epstein,
31:39only to secretly shut it down.
31:43He was very close to being investigated and arrested and convicted like any other sex abuser in the world.
31:59He was very close to being investigated.
32:03Strikingly remote and epic, Zorro Ranch, Jeffrey Epstein's former hangout in New Mexico,
32:10is undeniably impressive.
32:12Unless you don't want to be here.
32:15There's nowhere to run or hide.
32:18It is the perfect playpen for a pedophile and sexual predator.
32:24This abuse was horrific, but so was the cover-up.
32:28Hector Balderas is the former Attorney General of New Mexico.
32:32He's heading to the ranch to visit the roadside shrine honoring Epstein's many victims.
32:39In 2019, Hector and his state authorities were pursuing allegations made by underage girls.
32:46But he was forced to hand over his investigation to the federal authorities, who said they would handle it.
32:53Instead, they did nothing.
32:56And will probably be a tactical mistake that I'll live with for the rest of my life.
33:03We began really ratcheting up in early 2019.
33:07We began to interview a survivor and set up additional interviews, and we were immediately contacted by the Department of
33:16Justice in New York.
33:17They asked us to hold back on the interview and to stand down, because they were concerned that we were
33:22going to secure a parallel interview in which a survivor could contradict themselves,
33:29and that it might put the federal case at risk.
33:33So, legally, it made sense for you to hand over your investigation to the feds?
33:40Legally, at that point, it was in the interest of the survivors that we were working with, yes.
33:46But, thanks to the Epstein files, Hector has only just learned, in 2019, the FBI knew but did nothing about
33:54the extraordinary allegation
33:56two young women had been killed and buried near the Zorro ranch.
34:02To see that they sat on so many tips and didn't involve us to strengthen their investigation is very concerning.
34:11When there's a tip about dead bodies, the feds completely did a disservice by not sharing that information with us,
34:19in light of the fact that we had an agreement,
34:22and in light of the fact that we have communication indicating that we want to aggressively co-prosecute.
34:29And even in my first 2019 letter, I indicate that we are willing to co-prosecute co-conspirators.
34:38It seems the death of Jeffrey Epstein in August 2019 spelt the end of the federal investigation into his crimes
34:45in New Mexico.
34:47In stark contrast, Hector was urging prosecutors to seize and search the Zorro ranch, but they were stalling.
34:56It's alarming and severely unprofessional.
34:59They kept all of these conversations secret. I've never seen these conversations.
35:04Internal emails revealed they raised doubts they had reasonable grounds or probable cause to believe a crime had been committed.
35:14If there are tips that there are women buried on the property or near the property, then is that not
35:21probable cause to actually search the place?
35:24Yes. Yes. Yes, it is concerning that they would say in the fall of 19 that they don't have probable
35:31cause to enter his property in New Mexico.
35:35And for the life of me, I can't understand why you would leave New Mexico out.
35:41It beggars belief, doesn't it, when you consider that, you know, in Manhattan the mansion was raided,
35:48on the island, the mansion was raided, in Florida, I assume in Paris. Why not in New Mexico?
35:57That's at the top of mind of so many people.
36:01At this point, it's an outrage that with all of these allegations piled up,
36:07how could this never have been even searched, even in any sort of basic inquiry?
36:12So our state government had asked to seize the ranch even while there was still evidence to preserve,
36:20and the federal government never did that.
36:22New Mexico State Representative Andrea Romero is the head of the specially formed Truth Commission.
36:30Alongside the Attorney General's office, her team is hunting Epstein's co-conspirators,
36:35something the federal authorities have so far turned a blind eye to.
36:41Do you expect this investigation, the two-pronged investigation in New Mexico, to lead to further prosecutions?
36:48Yes, you committed a crime here.
36:50We are looking to you, and we will find you.
36:55Do you have much faith?
36:57I really wish I could say yes.
36:59I would love to have faith and hope in anything at this point, but no.
37:03No.
37:04No, I don't.
37:05I mean, whoever it is that is covering up whatever it is that they're covering up has gone to great
37:12lengths to make sure it stays covered up.
37:15No, I don't think there will ever be a full disclosure of it all.
37:20So that opportunity, in your view, has been lost?
37:23Yes.
37:25Shantae Davies says she was trafficked to the ranch and abused there by Epstein many times between 2001 and 2005.
37:35Like many survivors, Shantae stayed as long as she did, both manipulated and terrorized in equal measure.
37:44I definitely was too afraid to escape on my own.
37:51I thought I would literally be the only one going against him if I did that, because everybody I met
37:59had nothing but good things to say about him.
38:02I met women who had been sent to medical school, women who had been sent to law school.
38:08All these women praised him.
38:10So in my head, I'm thinking, this man's abusing me, but I must be the problem, because all these women
38:17and all these men, they all love him.
38:19I was only 17.
38:21Shantae could only make the break when she learned her younger sister, Teela Davies, was also being abused.
38:28Epstein tried to make a stay, though, with promises of money and desirable jobs.
38:34And I said to him, I don't want anything more from you.
38:37I know what's been happening with my sister, and I don't want anything more to do with you guys anymore.
38:43And he said to me, Shantae, life is about reality.
38:48It's not about dreams.
38:50And if you think you'll ever get anywhere in this life without me, you are very wrong.
38:54And he hung up on me.
38:55And that was the last we spoke or had any communication.
39:05Sorry.
39:08Are you okay?
39:12Yeah.
39:17Why does that aspect of it upset you?
39:23Because at that time, I thought, he is so wrong.
39:30He has no idea.
39:34And I was still so sure of myself that I was going to make my dreams come true.
39:42I think back to that conversation.
39:46And it just makes me angry all over again.
39:51Because, in a way, he was right.
39:58He destroyed my fucking life.
40:01And I didn't see it then.
40:03And I see it now.
40:06It's heartbreaking accounts, like Shantae's, that drive the law enforcement teams of New Mexico
40:12to pursue further restitution from Epstein's estate, to potentially lay more charges against Glenn Maxwell,
40:20and to round up co-conspirators.
40:25What an incredible opportunity to get it right.
40:29But certainly as an opportunity for New Mexico to tell the world that we're not going to be messing around
40:35when it comes to the rule of law, that nobody is above the law in our state,
40:39that we take this very seriously.
40:42If folks were, you know, abused in any way, shape or form, that we will go after them.
40:49And that's what we believe in.
40:50And no one is going to be able to tell you to stand down?
40:55Absolutely not.
41:00Coming up, police claimed there was nothing suspicious about Jackson Stacker's death.
41:06I was so confused.
41:08What do you mean it's our son?
41:10So why has a coroner now said...
41:12That was just mind-blowing.
41:14The Homsight Squad needs to investigate.
41:17Just a knife in the chest suggests it wasn't a suicide.
41:20That's next on 60 Minutes.
41:26Free-spirited, there could be no better way to describe Jackson Stacker.
41:31His days were spent cruising around Byron Bay in his old van, which doubled as his home.
41:38But in July 2021, Jackson disappeared.
41:42A month later, his body was found.
41:46Suspiciously, he had a knife embedded in his chest.
41:50Despite that, police said it was likely the young man died by suicide.
41:55But as we reported two years ago, Jackson's parents never believed their son would take his own life.
42:03Now, a coroner has suggested they might be right.
42:12This lush field just outside Byron Bay is where 25-year-old Jackson Stacker died.
42:21It's where the mystery starts and, you know, where his life stopped.
42:28Jackson's severely decomposed body was found under this tree, just off the Pacific Highway.
42:36Horrifyingly, he had a 30-centimetre hunting knife sticking out of his chest.
42:41He'd also been decapitated.
42:44His skull was found 13 metres from his body.
42:48I was so confused.
42:51What do you mean it's our son?
42:52To the untrained eye, the circumstances surrounding his death seemed highly suspicious,
42:59but police seemed in no doubt.
43:02They told Jackson's parents, Sandy and Ian, it was most likely suicide.
43:09Their assessment of him was that he was a homeless, alcoholic, drug user
43:16that they've just found in the paddock, all right?
43:19That assessment was made pretty quickly.
43:21He was none of those things.
43:23And he was undervalued as a human being because of how he was found.
43:27And I think the feeling was, well, you know, we'll just tick this off as a suicide.
43:34Just a knife in the chest, I think, suggests that perhaps it wasn't a suicide.
43:40Because the police were so convinced about what they thought was the cause of death,
43:45the homicide squad was never called in to investigate.
43:50Sandy and Ian, however, were determined not to give up on Jackson.
43:56Nothing made sense.
43:58I spoke to him the last day.
43:59He was alive and he was fine.
44:01Now, five years after his death, New South Wales State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan
44:08has made some startling findings about the case,
44:11referring it to the New South Wales Police Unsolved Homicide Team.
44:17It's a recommendation that suggests she thinks there could have been foul play involved.
44:23As difficult as that is to comprehend, it's a welcome breakthrough for Jackson's parents.
44:31Yeah, it's definitely the outcome that we wanted.
44:33I think that's why we were so emotional when it was read out,
44:37because it doesn't feel like much has gone right, you know.
44:40But that was the best we could hope for, definitely.
44:43After five years, we're just speechless, we're grateful.
44:51It means that his life has been taken seriously to me,
44:54because I don't think the situation was taken seriously at the start.
44:59Of course, for Sandy and Ian, nothing will ease the pain of losing their son.
45:06And while the coroner could not conclusively rule on the manner or cause of Jackson's death,
45:13her findings have given them hope that they're closer to finding out what happened to their beautiful boy.
45:21It's a milestone today. It was really pivotal.
45:24It was a sense of validation and a sense of identification of what we've been saying.
45:33I'd say we're no longer two nutty parents, we're two parents with the support of the coroner.
45:38Yeah.
45:38On this needs more investigation.
45:44And that's our program for tonight.
45:47But before we go, a reminder to catch up on stories you've missed,
45:51and to check out our 24-7 channel, head to nine now.
45:54On this week's 60 Minutes podcast, Extra Minutes, why the Zorro rant was the perfect location for Jeffrey Epstein's evil.
46:04It strikes sort of fear into your heart when you see it's in the middle of nowhere, just surrounded by
46:09desert.
46:10So if you're taken there and you don't want to be there, it's a terrifying place.
46:14That's Extra Minutes, available now on the 60 Minutes Australia YouTube channel and your favourite podcast apps.
46:22We'll be back next week with another edition of 60 Minutes.
46:26I'm Amelia Adams. Good night.
46:44I'm Amelia Adams. Good night.
46:46I'm Amelia Adams. Good night.
46:48Bye.
46:48You
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