The Lost 03 | Jim Donnelly

Tracey Donnelly says her husband Jim's disappearance is
illogical, and 13 years on, still believes there are answers to
be found - in the Glenbrook Steel Mill.


This series was first released on 17 November 2017.


Watch a video segment from the episode here


On Monday 21 June 2004, Jim Donnelly signed into work as usual.
Thirteen years later, he still hasn't signed out.


The 43-year-old father-of-two worked at the Glenbrook Steel Mill,
south of Auckland, for nearly 20 years.


His wife, Tracey, is still trying to find out what happened to
him; she believes the answer lies in the mill where he was last
seen alive.


"There has been no sighting of him apart from inside the mill.
There has been no sighting of him leaving. There has been no
sighting of him since he was seen on the gantry," she says.


"It makes me incredibly sad and upset that this wonderful person
who was my husband and the father of my children disappeared
without a trace."


The couple's children, Liam and Siobhan, were aged seven and five
when Jim disappeared. They are now grown up.


On the day Jim went missing, Tracey called him at work about 8am
and became increasingly worried when she didn't hear back. Jim
had missed a 9am meeting and was nowhere to be found, yet his car
was still parked at the mill carpark. He was reported missing
about 6pm.


Tracey believed he may have had an accident, but the theory
shifted. Search and rescue teams thought he may have had a mental
breakdown and was actively evading them.


Jim had been behaving strangely in the days before his
disappearance. Tracey and Jim had planned to spend the night at
an Auckland hotel on the Saturday, but out of nowhere he said he
had a meeting to go to.


A Saturday night meeting made no sense to Tracey, but no matter
how hard she tried to find out more, Jim wouldn't tell her where
he was going. He hired a suit and headed off. It's still not
clear why he needed the suit.


Things between the pair didn't get any better the next day, when
again Jim said he had to divert a "crisis and a waste". Tracey
was confused.


Some of his co-workers described Jim's behaviour as strange on
the Monday too.


Five days after Jim was last seen at work, workers at the mill
found his hard hat next to an acid tank in a restricted area of
the mill - the area had already been searched.


The tank was drained and some of Jim's things were found inside.
The acid wasn't strong enough to do significant damage. His house
keys have never been found.


Who put Jim's things there? That question remains unanswered. The
hard hat wasn't tested for fingerprints…


Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details