Amanda Robinson was last seen walking along Lake Road, Swansea NSW on 21 April
1979. She had been attending a dance at her Gateshead high school.
If you have information that may assist police to locate Amanda please call
Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Disappearance and suspected murder of Amanda Robinson
The NSW Government, together with the NSW Police Force, has announced two $1
million rewards for information regarding the disappearances and suspected
murders of Lake Macquarie teenagers Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson more than
40 years ago.
In April 2019, Lake Macquarie detectives established Strike Force Arapaima to
re-examine the investigation into the unsolved disappearances and suspected
murders of Robyn Hickie, Amanda Robinson and Gordana Kotevski.
Robyn Hickie, aged 18, left her home around 7.15pm on Saturday 7 April 1979, and
was last seen standing at a bus stop on the Pacific Highway, Belmont North.
A fortnight later, Amanda Robinson, aged 14, was last seen walking along Lake
Road, Swansea, on Saturday 21 April 1979, after attending a dance at her high
school in Gateshead.
Despite extensive investigations at the time, and over the years, neither of the
girls have been located.
A subsequent Coronial Inquest into their disappearances found that the teenagers
were deceased, most likely as a result of foul play.
As investigations continue, police are renewing their appeal to the community to
come forward with any information that may assist detectives with their
inquiries.
Minister for Police and Emergency Services, David Elliott, said the increased
rewards demonstrates how strongly the NSW Government is supporting the Lake
Macquarie Police District investigators.
“For far too long, Robyn and Amanda’s families have lived with the pain of
losing a child but without any idea of how it happened or who is responsible,”
Mr Elliott said.
“They have been in limbo for four decades not knowing. They deserve answers now
and we believe that offering these new rewards should be sufficient incentive
for those with information to come forward.
“If your conscience won’t make you act, maybe $2 million will,” Mr Elliott said.
Lake Macquarie Police District Crime Manager, Detective Inspector Steve Benson,
hopes this reward will encourage those who have been holding onto vital
information since 1979 to share what they know with police.
“The disappearances of these teenagers triggered every parent’s worst nightmare.
The Hickie and Robinson families have been fighting for the truth for four
decades, they deserve to know what happened to their girls,” Det Insp Benson
said.
“Our dedicated detectives under Strike Force Arapaima have re-examined all the
evidence compiled over the past 40 years and are hoping this government reward
will result in further information being provided to detectives to follow up and
investigate.”
Anyone with
information about Strike Force Arapaima is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800
333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au.
Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to
report information via NSW Police social media pages.
Coroner blasts 'extraordinary' inquiries into missing
women
By Ellen Connolly - SMH July 4 2002
The State Coroner, John Abernethy, lashed out yesterday at the handling of
the original investigations into three missing women, saying it was
extraordinary that leads were never followed up, statements never taken and
detectives taken off the unsolved cases.
He said he could not understand why it had taken 23 years for the
disappearances - presumed murders - to be referred to a coroner.
Nor could he understand how the investigations were "shut down" and had
"died" within a year of the women going missing.
Leanne Goodall, 20, Robyn Hickie, 18, and Amanda
Robinson, 14, disappeared between December 1978 and April 1979 while
waiting for or getting off buses at bus stops on the Pacific Highway in
Newcastle. In the case of Ms Goodall, a formal investigation was never launched.
At the inquest yesterday, Mr Abernethy asked Norm Sheather, who was in
charge of Newcastle district detectives at the time, why the Goodall
disappearance was never looked at by a detective.
"I don't know. It should have been," said Mr Sheather, now retired.
Mr Sheather also could not give a reason why further lines of inquiry were
never followed up in relation to Amanda Robinson and Ms Hickie and why the
investigations had "died" by the end of 1979.
In a dramatic outburst, Mr Abernethy said detectives should have analysed
the cases after two years and, given they were unsolved and resources had been
withdrawn, referred them to a coroner.
Mr Abernethy: "Could I suggest that no-one, you nor anybody else, did that
analysis and these cases just slipped through the cracks?"
Mr Sheather: "Well, that's the way it appears."
Mr Abernethy: "What I want to ascertain is whether these cases are just
because of the system or the leadership of criminal investigations in those
days. Nothing was done to finish them off, one way or the other."
Mr Sheather said his position was "virtually administration," and it was
the responsibility of the then divisional officer, Mervyn Squires, who
supervised the detectives.
Mr Abernethy said he found it "incredibly difficult" to accept that as
head of Newcastle region detectives Mr Sheather was not responsible for
overseeing the investigation.
Mr Abernethy: "You are suggesting on oath the buck stopped with Sergeant
Squires?"
Mr Sheather later conceded he was responsible for ensuring the integrity
of the investigation and the allocation of resources, and it was up to him or
Sergeant Squires to refer the matters to the coroner.
He did not know why two detectives who were sent from Sydney to
investigate the Amanda Robinson abduction were recalled after just two weeks.
The inquest continues.
No peaceful rest
July 5 2002 - SMH
Today, State Coroner John Abernethy delivers his findings on the disappearances
of three young women from Newcastle 23 years ago. But it is unlikely he will be
able to provide any answers to the grieving parents. Ellen Connolly writes.
The decades of torment are etched in the faces of the parents. They have aged
- perhaps quicker than most - while the images of their daughters, Amanda, Robyn
and Leanne, have remained frozen in time. Eternal youth.
Their torment has deepened in the past year as the last glimmer of hope - in the
form of a coronial inquest - has provided few answers. "At the start of the
inquest we thought there might be a good outcome but I now know there will be no
crucial findings. They won't be solved," Jim Hickie, whose daughter Robyn
vanished in 1979, said this week.
Six
suspects, including backpacker killer Ivan Milat, have given evidence at the
inquest. And while police have their "hunches" over who was responsible there is
no concrete evidence. What has become clear, however, are the major flaws and
"gross incompetence" of the original police investigation. It seems that there
was never much hope of finding what happened to their children. How could there
have been?
Leanne Goodall, 20, last seen alive at the Star Hotel, Newcastle, on December
30, 1978, was treated by police as a runaway. No formal investigation was ever
carried out. Not one detective looked at her case.
Robyn Hickie, 18, who went missing on April 7, 1979, after arranging to meet a
netball team-mate at the Belmont Hotel, was labelled by police as "a known
hitchhiker". Her disappearance earned a few weeks of intense investigation, but
she was regarded as another runaway and only two statements were taken.
The
disappearance of Amanda Robinson, 14, who vanished 13 days later on her way home
to Swansea after a school dance, was taken more seriously. Because of her age
two homicide detectives from Sydney were sent to Belmont to investigate. But
after two weeks they were recalled. They gave local detectives several lines of
inquiry to follow up. It was never done.
The
homicide detectives told the inquest this week they were sent to concentrate
"exclusively" on Amanda's case and so did not examine the possible connections
with Robyn's disappearance two weeks earlier.
Words such as "unstructured and largely dysfunctional", "lazy police work" and
"direction-less" were among the descriptions used in court to capture the police
effort. And it is likely these will be reflected in Abernethy's findings today.
The
coroner has already voiced some criticism of the investigation, or lack thereof,
saying this week it was extraordinary that records were not kept, statements
never taken and the investigation shut down within a year of the three going
missing. He could not understand why it had taken 23 years for the matter to be
referred to a coroner. He said the records before the inquest were so inadequate
that "it's all guesswork".
It
was not until 20 years after the three went missing that the first major
investigation began with the formation of Strikeforce Fenwick.
In
his criticisms of the original police investigation, Detective Superintendent
Ron Smith, head of Fenwick, told the inquest last year that police should have
treated the disappearances as suspected homicides. Instead they were treated as
runaways. Investigators failed to consider a serial killer, he said.
While there was no direct link, the three went missing within four months of
each other while waiting at bus stops or alighting from buses near their homes
on the Pacific Highway. They were all young females, they went missing on a
Saturday and their bodies have never been found, despite extensive searches in
recent years.
One
of the prime suspects is Milat, who worked on road crews and lived in the area
at the time. "Personally I have very strong suspicions of Milat in these
matters," Inspector Wayne Gordon, deputy commander of Fenwick, told the inquest.
Milat had been staying at various hotels in the vicinity of the Pacific Highway,
or in or near the suburbs where the three disappeared. Police searched the sand
mine site at Belmont because it was near a motel where Milat stayed at the same
time. They found gun pellets and empty cartridge cases during a search for a
grave thought to contain the body of one of the three.
When Milat gave evidence last year, amid a large security presence, he said he
had picked up about 15 hitchhikers but not in the Hunter. "I had nothing to do
with whatever happened to their children. I can look at them people, right in
the eye, and say, 'I had absolutely nothing to do with your children going
missing'," he told the court.
A
man testified that he had seen Milat at the Belmont hotel the night before Robyn
disappeared. There was evidence Milat had boasted to an associate that there
were body pits and grave sites all over the Hunter.
Another suspect who gave evidence was Neville Drinkwater. He was questioned two
weeks after Amanda disappeared. Aged 19 at the time, he had some unusual sexual
habits, and when police arrested him they found scissors in the glovebox of his
car, as well as tape and pornographic magazines. He was reinterviewed last week
over inconsistencies in his version of where he was on the night Amanda
vanished.
Convicted rapist Kelvin John Macey was questioned over Robyn's disappearance. He
was jailed for seven years after he raped a hitchhiker after picking her up on
the Pacific Highway, Belmont, on June 20, 1979. He denied any knowledge of
Robyn's disappearance.
Since the four-year reinvestigation began, 51 sites have been searched in the
Hunter. More than 120 witnesses gave evidence at the inquest.
Robyn Hickie's father is grateful for the intensive police work during the past
four years but believes it came too late. "There was no hope from the start
because they didn't put the effort in when Robyn went missing. First of all they
wanted to believe that our daughter was a runaway."
Hickie, whose life has been consumed by his daughter's disappearance, is
"convinced" he knows who killed Robyn but the evidence, particularly without a
body, is not strong enough.
He
expects Abernethy will find today that the three were abducted and murdered by
an unknown person/s. And then, Hickie says, the torment will continue.
"Our daughters' cases will lie in the police records. Unless someone comes up
with a confession, nothing will happen. That's the truth in the matter."
Ivan Milat a prime suspect again
By
Les Kennedy - SMH May 22, 2006
IVAN MILAT is expected to be named today as a prime suspect in the
disappearance 26 years ago of two Sydney nurses - the third time since his
1996 conviction for the murders of seven backpackers that he has featured as a
"person of interest" at a coroner's inquest.
A deputy state coroner,
Carl Milovanovich, will hear police evidence about the women, Gillian Jamieson
and Deborah Balken, last seen at a Parramatta hotel in 1980.
Milat was previously named at inquests into the disappearance of young
women and couples from the North Shore and the Hunter dating back to the late
1970s. Unlike on those occasions, Milat, 60, will not be given a day out of
Goulburn's high-security Supermax prison to give evidence.
The parents and other relatives of the two nurses are expected to attend
the day-long hearing at the Westmead Coroner's Court. Detectives are expected
to detail for the first time undisclosed information on police efforts to find
the women, who were both 20 when they disappeared.
In 2001 Milat angrily denied at an inquest at Toronto Local Court that
he was responsible for the disappearances of Robyn Hickie, 17,
Amanda Robinson, 14, and Leanne Goodall, 20, all
from Newcastle, who vanished separately in the Hunter in 1978 and 1979.
In August he was named by police at an inquest before Mr Milovanovich as
the person most likely to have killed the Berowra schoolgirl Michelle Pope,
18, and her boyfriend, Stephen Lapthorne, 21, who vanished along with their
green van from northern Sydney in August 1978. Neither the vehicle nor their
bodies have been found.
For the past three years a team of Parramatta detectives has re-examined
the disappearances of Ms Balken and Ms Jamieson. They were last seen with a
man wearing a floppy black cowboy hat in a back bar of the Tollgate Hotel in
Church Street, Parramatta, at 7.30pm on June 12, 1980.
Detectives interviewed Milat a year ago inside the Supermax prison,
where he is serving a life sentence for the abduction, stabbing and shooting
murders of five women and two men in the Belanglo State Forest in the Southern
Highlands between 1978 and 1992.
Milat, who was working in 1980 at the Granville depot of the then
Department of Main Roads, is understood to have been interviewed about his
movements and vehicles he owned, including a lime green Valiant Charger sedan.
As in previous investigations into other missing women or couples in
which Milat has featured since 2001, police have been frustrated by the fact
that no bodies have been found.
Woman speaks of attempted abduction months before Robyn Hickie, Amanda
Robinson vanished
She was only 11 when she was ordered into a stranger’s car at Blacksmiths in
1979. Four months later, Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson had both vanished
just a few kilometres away.
Dan Proudman
July 26, 2021 - 6:00AM
The Newcastle News
It is a tale told through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl that is as
chilling as it is crucial in the hunt for a possible serial killer who
has evaded capture for more than 40 years.
The recollection of an attempted abduction on a quiet road next to a lonely
Lake Macquarie beach in 1979 where the would-be kidnapper yelled at the girl
to “get in the f---ing car” as she sat frozen on her bike.
The girl was able to escape the clutches of her kidnapper near Blacksmiths
Beach in eastern Lake Macquarie, although the terrifying ordeal has remained
with the now 52-year-old for 41 years.
Police now fear two teenagers, who both went missing within a few kilometres
and just four months after the attempted abduction, fell victim to the same
attacker.
And now, the woman’s graphic description could hold the key to a police
strike force hunting the suspected multiple killer – the person responsible
for the suspicious disappearances of teenagers Robyn Hickie and Amanda
Robinson.
Robyn was last seen at a bus stop on the southern lanes of the Pacific
Highway at Belmont North on April 7, 1979 — about four months after the
Blacksmiths attempted abduction and just 7km north.
Two weeks after Robyn disappeared, 14-year-old Amanda Robinson vanished from
a Swansea street on her way home from a school dance – just 3km south of the
Blacksmiths incident.
“I looked quite older than 11, and the similarities between myself and
Amanda were uncanny,’’ the abduction survivor said in her first ever public
interview, given on the condition of anonymity.
But it is not just the proximity of her incident which has interested the
investigators from Strike Force Arapaima, set up two years ago to
investigate the suspicious disappearances as well as the unrelated 1994 case
of Gordana Kotesvki, who was abducted off a Charlestown street.
It is also the description of her attacker and the car he was driving – a
distinct, green, mid-1970s, four-door Holden Torana sedan.
Strike Force Arapaima detectives first released information about the green
Torana in November 2019, claiming they believed it could be linked to the
Hickie and Robinson cases.
Then-Lake Macquarie crime manager Detective Chief Inspector Greg Thomas said
the car was a “significant” line of inquiry for Strike Force Arapaima
investigators.
The woman involved in the attempted abduction saw news reports of the police
appeal and contacted investigators.
She is now a key witness in Strike Force Arapaima investigations.
And considering the FBI now classifies a serial killer as a person who has
committed two or more murders on people in separate incidents with an
interval of time between the homicides, she could hold the key for
detectives to finally put to rest decades of fears that a serial killer had
been roaming Lake Macquarie and Newcastle.
The woman was holidaying in Blacksmiths when she rode a borrowed bike along
Ungala Rd on that January day in 1979.
“I was alone and all I remember is the green car and how quickly it was
driven up to me,’’ the woman said.
“It was that fast that my front wheel crashed into the driver’s door. And
then I saw him. He had longish hair and was skinny.
“But it was his eyes. They looked completely black, like the devil, and he
just yelled at me to “get in the f--king car.
“He tried to open the door but he couldn’t because my bike wheel was pushing
it closed and my feet were on the ground.
“I was so frightened and he was so angry.
“It wasn’t like you would expect, or what your mother had told you, that a
man would try to take you by offering lollies or something to bait you.
“He was just ordering me into the car, and he was so angry and forceful.
“I just jumped off the bike and ran. I was a state runner so I could run
pretty fast, but he followed me.
“It was only then that I saw a man mowing the lawn so I ran to him and he
turned out to be a policeman.’’
The ordeal has given the woman more than four decades of nightmares as she
constantly relives the moment where she was nearly taken.
And she has no doubt what would have happened if she had followed the
stranger’s orders.
“I know for a fact that if I got into that car I would be dead,’’ she said.
“I could see it in my eyes. And it gives me shivers to think that it
happened to the two girls only a few months later.’’
The woman’s evidence immediately sparked interest with Strike Force Arapaima
investigators, who had dispelled the long-held suggestion that Robyn Hickie
may have hitchhiked the night she disappeared.
Although she had a history of thumbing rides in the past, an incident in
Queensland had prompted her to stop. The only car she would have got into
was if it was being driven by someone she knew, like a longish haired,
skinny man in a green Torana.
“It gives me chills, thinking about those girls,’’ the survivor said.
Police search for possible human remains days after offering million
dollar reward into missing teenage girls
A police operation is underway on the New
South Wales Central
Coast as investigators search for possible human remains linked to the
disappearance of two teenage girls more than 40 years ago.
It comes just two days after NSW Police announced a $1 million reward
for information into the unsolved
disappearances and
suspected murder of Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson.
The girls disappeared two weeks apart in 1979 in the Lake Macquarie
region of NSW.
Ms Hickie, then aged 18, left her home about 7.15pm on Saturday April 1,
1979, and was last seen standing at a bus stop on the Pacific Highway,
Belmont North.
A fortnight later, Ms Robinson, aged 14, was spotted walking along Lake
Road in Swansea, on a Saturday night, after attending a dance at her
high school in Gateshead.
Despite extensive investigations at the time, and over the years,
neither of the girls have been located.
But in a possible fresh development today, detectives attached to Strike
Force Arapaima are searching a former Scout Camp at Nords Wharf, south
of Swansea.
Officers dug with heavy machinery today and will also use
ground-penetrating radar tomorrow, as part of the new search.
A former scout told NBN News of a possible link between the camp and a
person of interest in the police investigation.
"We would from time to time go on camps at Camp Kanangra at Nords Wharf,
I know a person of interest who attended there with us ... yeah people
who may be critical to what is taking place."
Robyn's 91-year-old father Jim spoke on Monday, after police announced
two $1-million rewards for information.
"Well if we're going to get answers, it has to be soon doesn't it, I
won't last forever."
On the same day, NSW Police Minister David Elliot said investigators
would not stop looking for Ms Hickie and Ms Robinson.
"Even though the two girls when missing two weeks apart, police are
treating them as a single investigation," Mr Elliott said.
Officers would "leave no stone unturned".
"The dissemblance of two teenager girls is a tragedy."
Police are appealing to the community to come forward with any
information that may assist detectives with their inquiries.
Police offer two $1m rewards for information on Robyn Hickie and Amanda
Robinson
What happened to these girls? It's a question that has baffled police and
the community of Lake Macquarie, NSW, for more than four decades.
Police are hoping that two $1 million rewards on offer from today will
prompt someone to come forward with crucial information that will solve
these cold case mysteries.
Robyn Hickie, 18, left her home about 7:15pm on Saturday, April 7, 1979.
She was last seen standing at a bus stop on the Pacific Highway at Belmont
North.
Two weeks later, Amanda Robinson, 14, also disappeared from the Lake
Macquarie region.
She was last seen walking along Lake Road at Swansea on Saturday, April 21,
after attending a high school dance at Gateshead.
Despite extensive investigations at the time, and over the years, neither of
the teenagers has been located.
A subsequent coronial inquest found both Robyn and Amanda were deceased,
likely as a result of foul play.
Police Minister David Elliot is urging locals to think hard about whether
they can help police with their investigations into the disappearances.
"It's important that the people of Lake Macquarie, and indeed right across
NSW, look into their hearts to see if they have any information that might
lead to the conclusion of this matter," Mr Elliot said.
"That's why the NSW government will never let up providing the support to
police to ensure that their investigation leaves no stone unturned.
"A 40-year-old investigation is not something that is unusual for NSW
Police.
"This increase in the reward to $1 million for each of the investigations
will hopefully spark the conscience of somebody who knows anything about the
disappearance of these two teenage girls."
'Closure for families'
While announcing the new rewards today, Lake Macquarie crime
manager Detective Inspector Steve Benson said he hoped it would encourage
those who had been holding onto information to finally start talking.
"We're hoping this reward will lead to answers and hopefully closure for
those families," he said.
"I would say [to people] think about the reward and the families involved.
"If we can bring answers and closure to them I think that would be a very
nice thing to do.
"We are following strong lines of enquiry but I'm not going to comment on
persons of interest at this stage."
