ABC’s award‑winning true crime podcast Unravel is returning for a new season, exploring the mysterious disappearance of 27‑year‑old Queenslander Jack McLennan.

Jack had been drinking beers at a picnic spot three hours outside Brisbane when, his mate says, he looked away, and when he looked back, Jack was gone.

Strong and fit, and despite a recent breakup, Jack had seemed positive. Then he vanished, and strange clues began to emerge, hinting at his final movements.

“You could nearly say an alien took him away because he’s just vanished,” said his mother, Kellie.

In the weeks that followed, pieces of Jack’s life surfaced: his hat, his wallet, his shoes, found kilometres apart in places that didn’t make sense. His parents began to suspect foul play.

“It’s just nonsensical, where the stuff is. It’s been scattered,” said his father, Ross.

As online theories spread, ABC journalist Rob Burgin sets out to investigate, tracing the fragments of that night through small Queensland towns where everyone knows one another, and everyone has a different version of what happened.

Was a crime committed? In the absence of answers, tensions rise and whispers turn to accusations, threatening to derail the search for truth.

As new witnesses come forward, Burgin uncovers a deeper, darker story revealing secrets at the heart of Queensland’s South Burnett region.

The first two episodes of Unravel: What Became of Jack? are available now on ABC listen.