NSW Police are appealing for public help with their investigation into a historic missing person case.

Debbie Ashby was 16 when she went missing from her family's home in Leumeah on 15 October 1987. Police and her family have been unable to locate Debbie since.

Police believe Debbie has lived in the Nowra and Newcastle areas at some stage since her disappearance. She had been sighted numerous times in the past 17 years.The most recent sighting was in the Fairfield area about 6 years ago when she was seen by a school friend.

Girl missing for 20 years dead: coroner
Leonie Lamont - SMH
February 26, 2007

A coroner's inquest into the disappearance of a teenage girl 20 years ago has recommended that a reward be offered for information about her probable death.

Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich is holding inquests into dozens of "cold case" missing persons. He found, on the balance of probabilities, that Debbie Ashby, 16, who left her family home in Leumeah in October 1987, was probably dead.

He told the family that it was "totally unacceptable" for him as a coroner to be holding an inquest 20 years after the disappearance.

He said under plans to deal with missing persons, any people still missing within six to 12 months should be brought to the coroner's attention.

"There are 9000 people each year in NSW who go missing, and about 40 are never found. I'm not worried about the 8960. I am worried about the 40 because often they are homicides never detected," he said.

He said Debbie disappeared at the same time as a number of other young women had also gone missing.

In making a recommendation for the reward, and sending a file to the homicide squad for review, he said: "It is so unusual for a 16-year-old to disappear, one has to look at it as suspicious; 16-year-olds just don't disappear off the face of the earth, something has happened to her."

Debbie's family wept in court as Mr Milovanovich delivered his formal finding that the girl was dead.

Long search ends with tragic finding
Leonie Lamont - SMH
February 27, 2007

SITTING opposite an inmate at Mulawa jail, Mary Ashby looked at the young woman who "amazingly" looked like her daughter, Debbie, missing since 1987.

But it was not her. "She seems to look like so many other young ladies. I have met several," Mrs Ashby said of the sightings reported to police over the years. "I have come to the conclusion … a long time ago that she is not alive."

Yesterday's inquest at the State Coroner's Court, Westmead, into the disappearance of the 16-year-old gave "no conclusion, no closure", her family said.

The Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich is holding inquests into numerous "cold case" missing persons. He found, on the balance of probabilities, that Debbie, who left her family home in Leumeah in October 1987, was probably dead. He recommended that a reward be offered and homicide squad review the file.

He told the family it was totally unacceptable for him as a coroner to be holding an inquest 20 years later. It was planned that missing persons files be referred to the coroner within six to 12 months of a disappearance.

Mr Milovanovich said Debbie vanished at the same time as several other young women.

"It is so unusual for a 16-year-old to disappear. One has to look at it as suspicious. Sixteen-year-olds just don't disappear off the face of the Earth. Something has happened to her."

The inquest heard she had been going through a rebellious stage. The last her family heard from her was a phone call a few days after she left home, saying she was all right. In 1990 a prostitute contacted the family saying she had seen her in Kings Cross. But they could not find her.

The family wept as Mr Milovanovich delivered his formal finding that she was dead.