Madelyn Train has to live with the fact her father Nathaniel Train, mother Stacey Train and her uncle-turned-stepfather Gareth Train are cold-blooded killers.
Two young officers and an innocent neighbour were shot dead at the Wieambilla property, 300km west of Brisbane, on December 12 last year.
Two other police officers managed to escape with their lives.
Nathaniel, Stacey and Gareth were killed in a later confrontation with police.
Officers searching for missing principal before executions
Two-and-a-half hours before Madelyn’s parents and uncle opened fire on the four officers and a good samaritan, the 26-year-old received a voicemail from Walgett Police.
Vanessa had not seen him since he left their Walgett home, in northern NSW, and abandoned his job as a school principal a year earlier.
She had been in contact with him, but when that contact stopped, she contacted police with concerns for his welfare. This was two weeks before the deadly ambush.
Madelyn returned the Walgett Police officer’s call when she finished work.
But by that time, her heavily armed and delusional parents had already started the bloodshed.
“I think they were contacting us to see if Nathaniel was missing and get contextual information but they never should have sent anyone there until they got all the contextual information,” she said.
Madelyn has claimed Vanessa warned police about the trio’s mistrust before officers were sent on a welfare check mission.
“She told police officers there was a mistrust of police, that Gary had a mistrust of police,” she said.
“Then the NSW police force apparently did not disclose that to the Queensland police force.”
Neither Queensland or NSW Police would comment on the allegations, stating the matter remains the subject of a coronial inquiry.
Queensland Police instead directed 9News to these comments by Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford in December 2022: “We knew very little about the Trains and there was nothing that could have caused a particular flag for our member who attended on that day that would have raised any particular concerns on that day.”
Madelyn has returned to the Wieambilla property twice with images showing a chilling sense of normality mixed with the remnants of chaos from that night.
Not only was there the chaos from the night of the siege, but evidence of the Train’s conspiracy theories and violent scrawlings are scattered within the four walls.
Madelyn took sentimental items from the property.
“Mum always wore a specific perfume on Christmas and she had one for work so I got that,” she said.
“I got the wedding dress she wore when she married Garry and our family photos they had in a box.”
But what happens to the house now?
But Madelyn doesn’t agree. She said it should be left as the dark mixture of a once normal family home, turned violent crime scene and insisted “no money should be made” from it.
“I think the property should remain as it is,” she said.
“I don’t think anyone should buy it, I think it should stay as it is, a time capsule of multiple lives that ended very tragically.”
Madelyn is now grappling with how to live with the knowledge of the crime those she loved committed.
As a result of the attack that sent shockwaves around the country, she has lost friends and found herself out of work.
“No one crosses the street because I don’t look scary, but I look exactly like my mum so I ended up cutting all my hair off,” she said.
“Honestly my life has been destroyed and that’s fine but it’s a lot to manage while you’re trying to grieve lots of people.”
The 26-year-old hopes the ripple effect from her family’s horrific crime prompts improvements in the mental health sector, so people can get help before tragedy strikes.
“Everyone is traumatised by this,” she said.
Madelyn had one message for the families of the officers who were killed in the siege and the innocent neighbour.
“Thank you for your service, not just to the police but to the neighbour,” she said.
“I wish there were more good samaritans that stopped.
“People like him should exist everywhere.”
