Episode
The Lost 03 | Jim Donnelly
- Podcast
- Motive: The Lost
- Published
- Jun 29, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2195
- Processing state
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Summary
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…