Coral-Ellen Burrows: The Little Girl Who Never Made It to School

True Crime with Elli Mac

01/20/26

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42m

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On a quiet September afternoon in 2003, in a small New Zealand town, Jeanna stood waiting at the bus stop for her children. The doors opened, but only one child stepped off. Storm was there. Six-year-old Coral was not. Coral-Ellen Burrows had not come home from school. As it would soon emerge, she had not even made it there that morning.

What followed were ten days of unanswered questions and growing dread. A town stopped everything to search. Farmland, creeks, roadsides, and bush were scoured. Helicopters circled overhead. Volunteers walked until their boots were soaked through. Then came the first chilling discovery. Coral’s backpack, found floating in a creek, had her lunch still inside.

Then, ten days after Coral vanished, she was found, but not in the way anyone had prayed for.

What happened to Coral-Ellen Burrows? Where had she been that day? And who took her?

Previous Episode

Dismembered Into 12 Pieces: The Murder Of Hayden Miles

January 12

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33m

In Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand, 22 August 2011, 15-year-old schoolboy, Hayden Miles, disappeared after drinking with older people in the city. That night, he never came home.

For 111 days, police searched while his family waited for answers. Then the tragic discovery was made.

Hayden had been killed, dismembered, and sealed inside bin bags. His body parts were found buried in Christchurch cemeteries and at the very location where he had last been spending time.

So how did a vulnerable teenager vanish without a trace? Who were the people he was with that night—and what really happened behind closed doors?