Beenham Valley Rd: Kirra’s story becomes an Australian Story
THE unexplained death of Gympie region mum Kirra McLoughlin, and the podcast dedicated to finding her justice, has gained more national attention with a booking on acclaimed TV series Australian Story.
MORE ON KIRRA MCLOUGHLIN
- Another year without answers into violent death of young mum
- ’Her eyes were big black holes’: Heartbreak for mum
- ‘Beenham Valley Road’ creator returns with new crime podcast
Beenham Valley Road, the true crime series about Kirra’s unsolved July 2014 death, debuted last April and went from strength to strength as the year went on.
Its final episode aired in October but the show’s popularity did not fade, accruing north of half a million downloads as of early this year.
And now the team at Australian Story are involved, with decorated producer-shooter Mayeta Clark planning a two-part series on Kirra’s story to air some time later this year.
BVR co-creator and former Gympie police officer Jamie Pultz said he was blown away with the lofty heights the podcast had reached, and how many had been moved by Kirra’s story.
“When I got the phone call from Caitlin Shea (Australian Story executive producer) saying she thought it was a good story, I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Mr Pultz said.
“Mayeta’s been pushing for a two-part series and now it’s got the green light, and I just never imagined a year ago when we first started this podcast that it would end up on Australian Story.
“It’s amazing.
“Caitlin and Mayeta both said it’s such a hard story to tell, there are so many unknowns.”
Mr Pultz said the production was a long time coming after Australian Story first got in touch with him following a local Seven News item last year.
He said filming on his contribution to the series started on Thursday.
“I’ve been talking to them for about six months now, but Mayeta was in New York doing some work over there,” he said.
“We went back and forth, but once Mayeta got back the ball got pretty quickly rolling.”
Kirra's body was covered in 105 “signs of recent injury” when she died, according to her autopsy report.
The Coroners Court of Queensland granted an inquest into the 27-year-old’s death in May last year, one month on from the podcast’s debut episode.
That inquest is still yet to begin.
