Mourners at the funeral of MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo were asked to keep the service a secret. But almost two years later, there is still one enduring puzzle about the final fate of his remains

Mystery surrounds the final resting place of MasterChef Australia judge Jock Zonfrillo almost two years after he died alone in a Melbourne hotel room.

Daily Mail Australia reported on Wednesday a coroner had finished investigating Zonfrillo’s death but the findings of that 16-month inquiry would not be made public.

It can now be revealed relatives and friends of Scottish-born Zonfrillo say they do not know where he was buried, or the location of his ashes if he was cremated.

Zonfrillo’s funeral was held at Macquarie Park Cemetery and Crematorium in Sydney’s north and that is where he was interred, according to the website ‘Find a Grave’.

But Macquarie Park’s online registry does not include a listing for Zonfrillo and relatives who call the cemetery seeking clarification are advised to contact his immediate family.

Zonfrillo’s body was found at Zagame’s House in inner-city Carlton about 2am on May 1, 2023 after police were called to conduct a welfare check on the 46-year-old television presenter.

At the time, there was widespread speculation about the cause of Zonfrillo’s sudden death due to his well-publicised history of drug abuse and mental health struggles.

Zonfrillo left behind wife Lauren and their two young children, five-year-old Alfie and three-year-old Isla, as well as daughters Ava and Sofia from previous marriages.

A spokeswoman for Victoria’s Coroners Court told Daily Mail Australia the investigation into Zonfrillo’s death was completed on August 27 last year. 

‘At the close of the investigation, the coroner determined that the finding would not be published,’ the spokeswoman said.

Under Victorian legislation, coronial findings are published when a formal inquest is held, recommendations have been made or at the direction of a coroner.

A coroner can also order findings not be published if they ‘reasonably consider that non-publication is in the public interest’.

Such findings would normally be made known to the deceased person’s next of kin – in Zonfrillo’s case, his widow Lauren.

It’s understood Zonfrillo’s elderly parents Ivan and Sarah were also informed of their son’s cause of death but the couple has always declined to comment when approached by the media. 

It is not known whether Lauren will address the circumstances surrounding her late husband’s death in her upcoming memoir Tell Death Do Us Part, which is subtitled ‘Life without Jock and learning to live with intention’.

She did not respond to requests for comment about the book’s content or the location of Zonfrillo’s grave or ashes, which other loved ones would like to visit. 

Zonfrillo’s funeral was held on May 13, 2023, almost two weeks after his death, and according to a report published before the service was intended to be a ‘top secret’ private event. 

Lauren had hand-picked those who would attend from Zonfrillo’s family, friends and colleagues, sending out invitations earlier in the week.

One of those who were invited told the Sydney Morning Herald they were under strict instructions not to share where and when the funeral was taking place.

‘The family just wants it to happen without any of the attention which his death has attracted, which has understandably been overwhelming,’ that person said.

‘They’re trying to keep it as personal as they can. It’s critical they be given the space to do that.’

Channel Ten, which screens MasterChef, covered the service with the family’s blessing, and a freelance photographer’s pictures appeared in The Daily Telegraph.

Ten reporter Angela Bishop said there were 200 mourners, including relatives who had flown in from Scotland and the US.

Zonfrillo’s fellow chefs George Calombaris, Matt Moran, Colin Fassnidge, Manu Feildel, Miguel Maestre, Darren Robertson and Shannon Bennett were all there, along with his co-stars Melissa Leong and Andy Allen.

Former Australians of the Year Grace Tame and Dylan Alcott were also among those invited, as were AFL champion Nick Riewoldt, broadcaster Merrick Watts, television journalist Liz Hayes and fashion designer Collette Dinnigan.

Glasgow-born rocker Jimmy Barnes was joined by wife Jane, son Jackie, daughter Elly-May and several of his grandchildren.

A bagpiper played and a smoking ceremony was held outside the chapel to represent Zonfrillo’s passion for Indigenous culture and food. 

Lauren was accompanied by Alfie, Isla, Ava and Sofia, and almost every guest was dressed in black. 

Zonfrillo’s coffin was draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, also known as the Lion Rampant, and covered with white flowers including roses and orchids.

Lauren, wearing a tartan sash over her shoulder, said of Zonfrillo in her eulogy: ‘We are two halves that found each other at the exact moment in life when we were ready.’

‘We were ready for that big love to live a life of adventure, to become parents together, to imagine extraordinary things and to actually make them happen.’

Ava addressed her late father directly: ‘It goes without saying that at the heart of everything you did was family and one of the hardest things to accept is that you won’t be here to see ours grow.’

Barnes performed an acapella version of Amazing Grace with daughter Mahalia at the end of the service before Lauren and five other pallbearers carried Zonfrillo’s coffin to a waiting hearse. 

Where the hearse then went is not known. Mourners were told there would be no wake. 

Lauren is the founder of Pulse Collective, a marketing and communications agency, and has been a regular panellist on the ABC’s Gruen program. 

She is also a board director of the Orana Foundation, which was started by her late husband to protect, preserve and promote the use of Indigenous Australian food.  

Zonfrillo and Lauren married on New Year’s Day in 2017 and five weeks ago she posted on Instagram: ‘Eight years. Happy anniversary My Love.’ 

In the days following Zonfrillo’s death, Daily Mail Australia revealed that it was Lauren who made the frantic phone call to police which led them to find her husband’s body. 

She was in Rome and had reportedly become concerned when Zonfrillo failed to keep to their usual daily schedule of telephone calls.  

A senior Victoria Police source told Daily Mail Australia that officers who attended the Lygon Street hotel found Zonfrillo dead in his bed and saw no obvious sign of anything suspicious or unusual.

There was no drug paraphernalia located, no one else in his room and police at the scene formed the initial view Zonfrillo had died of natural causes.

Daily Mail Australia has been told the last sighting of Zonfrillo at the hotel was captured on CCTV camera rather than him being seen by another person. 

Lauren, who at that time usually used her maiden surname Fried, was known to be upset about rumours Zonfrillo had taken his life or died of an accidental drug overdose. 

Another source said at the time: ‘Police have come to their conclusion, a coroner will come to their conclusion, the rest is speculation.’ 

Lauren had been in Italy with Alfie and Isla while Zonfrillo prepared for the launch of MasterChef’s 15th season, which was set to premiere the night his body was found.

He was also in the early stages of planning a new restaurant and had started working on a cookbook prior to his death. 

Zonfrillo and his wife had put their four-bedroom Carlton terrace up for rent ahead of a potential permanent move to Italy, where his father was born.

Daily Mail Australia previously revealed Zonfrillo had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in mid 2021, after recovering from an earlier bout with the disease.

It is not suggested the cancer killed Zonfrillo, only that he had told friends its return was detected after a routine colonoscopy.

A source said Zonfrillo kept his health problems from most friends and colleagues, receiving treatment including chemotherapy when MasterChef was not filming.

Zonfrillo wrote about battling a heroin addiction in his 2021 memoir Last Shot, during his teenage years while working as a chef in Glasgow.

After moving to north-west England, he sold cocaine and other drugs to supplement his wages before he was eventually sacked and at 17 made his way to London.

Zonfrillo wrote that he turned up at Marco Pierre White’s renowned restaurant at the Hyde Park Hotel in 1994 and the famed chef became a mentor who would shape his life.

He moved to Australia aged 20 in 1996 and got a job at Forty One restaurant in Sydney where he was using cocaine, pills, LSD and cannabis.

According to his book, Zonfrillo kept a raging heroin habit hidden from everyone before going back to the UK in 1997 when his visa ran out. 

He wrote of taking his last hit of heroin in the toilets at Heathrow airport before returning to Australia in early 2000.

Zonfrillo opened his own restaurants, Orana and Bistro Blackwood, in Adelaide in 2013. He added a third, Nonna Mallozzi, in 2018.

The latter lasted six months, Bistro Blackwood closed in late 2019 and Orana in March 2020.

Zonfrillo joined the MasterChef Australia judging panel in 2020 with food critic Leong and restaurateur Allen after original judges Calombaris, Mehigan and Matt Preston left.

Till Death Us Do Part will be published in May.

Do you know more? Email stephen.gibbs@mailonline.com