Nicole's Blog
THANK YOU................
It's been a massive year for me yet again and the most successful yet, with some great achievements. Although I do this on my own there are some people I would like to thank who gave me some wonderful assistance over the year. I can't thank everyone or I'd exceed my webspace :) but just a few particular mentions to people who have made tremendous efforts towards finding the missing.
Regarding the webspace mentioned above, a huge thanks to Darren from www.crowsnestshire.com for donating this webspace. When the bushfire tragedy happened the website almost crashed with over 90,000 people visiting in just a few days. Darren responded to my begging to keep it online and thus helped thousands of people all over the world find out whether friends and family were safe. Thank you. :) The website needs to expand as it's at bursting point so Darren I will be talking with you soon about upgrading.
Maree and Tash - Always there when I need you, outstanding work with the SES as well as a genuine caring and assistance with searching for the missing, THANK YOU!!!!!
Kevin - together we found Evan at Easter, and you drove a thousand kms to Sydney and then back again to bring him home. I am still in awe at your commitment. Thank you.
Wendy - you spent hours with me compiling the lists of those lost in the Victorian bushfires, and I know it took its toll on us both. You did something wonderful for lots of people, a big thank you to you.
April - you tirelessly reunite families in the Family Tracing cases, I don't know how you do it, you are so clever and a huge THANK YOU for all your efforts!
Sis - you drove across Brisbane to reunite an elderly lady with a friend she hasn't seen in years, on the other side of the world. You are amazing.
Lianne - my new dearest friend :) Thank you for everything, for listening and being just about the first person I ever opened up to about it all, for always being there and for the journey we are on together.
To all the families and friends of the missing, thank you for your strength and courage.
To all the thousands of Police Officers, SES workers, Ambulance Officers, Firemen and women around Australia who spent this year searching for the missing, a big thank you on behalf of all the people you helped. You are all heroes.
I know there will be a great many people you love that you can't spend Christmas with this year, so please feel free to send a message to them via the guestbook, Click Here or you can e mail them to me - austmissingpersons@supernerd.com.au and I will put them here on the front page (see below) in the hope that your loved one will read it and give you a call this Christmas.
And to all the people who I know read the website every day, a huge thank you for your support and all the hundreds of encouraging messages you have sent throughout the year, when I needed them most. :) This year I had around half a million visitors to the website, which blows me away, thank you all so much for caring about the missing and seeing their faces.
A very Happy Christmas to you and your families.
CHRISTMAS WISHES TO THE MISSING.........
Helen Courtney nee Hosking - "Merry xmas, your kids miss u everyday xoxo" from Kelly. "We all think about her at xmas time, she has 2 granddaughters now and 2 grandsons who should know their Nanna."
Maree Agostino - "Maree please call me I love you and need you so much its been 25 years now I need to hear your voice from your baby sister tonie xxxxxxxxxxx"
February 7th 2009
Not very good at this blog thing, huh? Sorry! Then again I'm not sorry, because what's keeping me from this has been doing a heap more work to help the missing. This week I have been manually checking every single outstanding missing person from the 2007/2008 group and either filing them as located, moving them to Moved Missings or moving them to the long term missing pages organised by State. Still going on that list!
Great news with two of the families on the new Parental Abduction page being reunited with their children this week! Let's hope we can clear up that whole page in 2009 and also work towards preventing situations like this happening in the future, with more effort going into custody dispute counselling and communication between families and the recognition of mental illness in a parent putting children at risk - there are so many reasons this happens and it's something I will be looking into in more depth as the year continues, with a new project on the horizon. The worst case scenario is obviously the situation we had last week of little Darcy Freeman being thrown from the Westgate Bridge in Melbourne. This shows us we need to work harder than ever at keeping families together and sorting out problems before they get to the desperate levels we see in cases like Darcy's father and the parental abductions.
The Aussies Missing Overseas page is now up and running, coinciding with Sunday night's airing of the Britt Lapthorne case on Channel 7. Britt's family have also been working with Senator Steve Fielding of the Family First party to get the laws changed to help other families in their situation - please visit this page and follow the link to the petition. I was in contact with Senator Fielding's office yesterday and they are very supportive of the Register and happy for me to promote their petition. It's fantastic to see a politician willing to do something for missing persons!
Something I happened to see on TV this week made me cranky - I caught the end of Home and Away on Channel 7 which I know is a hugely popular show. The characters were discussing a 15 year old girl who had apparently run away and one of the characters was asking a Policewoman could they report her as a missing person. The Policewoman's answer was No, she was not regarded as a missing person and the police would not "throw resources" into finding her as she had left a note saying she was running away.
This is not accurate!!!!
It horrifies me to think how many people watched that and now think the Police will not investigate a runaway. I can ASSURE you that if you go to report a 15 year old girl as a missing person,
THEY WILL ACCEPT THE REPORT.
THEY WILL INVESTIGATE.
THEY WILL USE THEIR RESOURCES TO FIND HER.
If you come across a situation where this does not happen, you tell me and I will find out why. If you have genuine concerns for the welfare of any person, especially a 15 year old who is a minor, then of course the Police will investigate and try and locate them. They have a duty of care and an obligation to assist anyone in need and to investigate where there is a concern for welfare of any person.
SHAME on the producers of Home and Away for misleading people in this way, these comments could be very harmful and I can only hope it does not make any parent wait before reporting a child as missing.
Lastly, thanks to everyone who has joined my Facebook page, great things are happening there with some great groups being formed to spread awareness of the Missing. To become my Facebook Friend, click here.
November 14th 2008
Busy busy busy again at the moment as I help organise the Squeaky Wheel series of concerts being held in various Sydney venues this week. They will be honouring missing Revelle Balmain, Melloney Menhennitt and Stephen Mitchell.
I'm also working on a Parental Abduction page after several requests for that so that's coming very soon.
A huge THANKS to my good friend Tony for his wonderful help in getting the Jane Rimmer CCTV footage onto her page and also Sarah Spiers' page. I am sometimes clueless when it comes to the technical side of the website so I deeply appreciate your help Tony! Mwa!
More and more children particularly in NSW have been approached by strangers which is so worrying, please be vigilant! Check the Abductions page for details.
Today brings the news of the trial of the mother of Shannon Matthews. In case that name isn't familiar to you, Shannon was a 9 year old girl who was missing for 24 days in the UK this year. She was eventually found safe and well concealed in the base of a bed in the home of her uncle. Details are now starting to emerge from this bizarre case and it is alleged that Shannon's mother concocted the entire story in order to collect the reward money that was raised by the media. She did numerous appeals for information about her missing daughter whilst the whole time allegedly keeping her restrained by some kind of a noose or dog lead.
Because this case is currently before the courts in the UK I am unable to make public comment about it, but may I express my utter fury and contempt.......more to come when the case concludes.
October 28th 2008
I had a bit of a rest last week so I apologize for the delay in getting back to people. I hope to be on top of my e mails today.
Not many new cases coming through but lots of old ones needing attention. I am also this week preparing to give a child safety talk to 96 children. In light of the more than 60 abduction attempts in NSW alone in the past couple of months, my talk as part of this week's Day for Daniel on Friday is coming at a good time.
This morning brings this news -
Body remains found, Mackay: QLD Police have today arrested a man for his alleged involvement in the death of man in 1988. Police forensic testing allegedly revealed that a human bone found in bushland outside of Mackay in 1994, was linked to a man named Luke Ling who disappeared in 1988. Police charged the Mackay man with one count of misconduct with a corpse, interfering. He is due to face Mackay Magistrates Court on November 13. The arrest related to the disposal of the man’s body not the actual cause of his death. Police are appealing for any further information from anyone with information on Mr Ling or his disappearance from the Mackay area.
Is it just me, or are you also horrified that remains found in 1994 have only just been tested NOW, in 2008????
The problem is that every crime now - be it murder, rape, armed robbery, house burglary, carjacking - is forensically examined. That means a massive, massive number of DNA samples are taken from every crime scene, and all are put in a queue for testing by under-resourced labs. This bone has been waiting years and years to be identified, years in a queue while Mr Ling's family waited, not knowing his fate. I hate to think how many other missing persons have actually been found, but are waiting in that queue while their families fall apart.
The solution? Human remains that are located must be given PRIORITY over all other forensic testing. Human life is precious, and these lives are important. They MUST be tested and identified AS SOON AS they are found.
October 10th 2008
I have been toying with this idea for a while now, because I love to write and I usually have alot to say, but I have always maintained this website isn't about me, it's about all those faces on the pages that I hope you go and look at as much as possible.
But sometimes there are things I'd like to announce, upcoming events, what goes on behind the scenes so to speak. Sometimes it takes me months to return mail, as I am overwhelmed with requests from people about various things and it would be good to let you know that I do cram as much into my day as I can and if I don't get back to you it's because usually an urgent new case has landed in my inbox.
Sometimes also I want to protest about something in the news that has upset me. So I figured I would start this blog.
The thing that has prompted me to do it today is the absolutely dreadful treatment of Britt Lapthorne's family by both the Croatian authorities and the Australian government. They have found human remains, and that in itself is a bit of a miracle, but why have they been unable to identify them? And if it's not Britt, who is it?
When the tragic Bali bombings occurred Australia sent a crisis team over to assist with the identification of our deceased. This was because they were Australian citizens who died horribly on foreign soil. And how is Britt's case any different??? Why have they not flown a forensic dentist from Australia to Croatia? Why haven't they done a priority DNA test?? Britt's family should not have to wait a second longer to know whether or not this is their daughter, for if it is not then valuable time is being wasted
I noted a similar problem with the Maddy McCann case, also a foreign citizen, where help from the originating country was allegedly refused. I don't care about politics, I don't care about government red tape and protocol, it all frustrates me, life needs to be much simpler and we must realize we were all put on this earth equally. There were once no borders, no fences, no checkpoints; we created them. When it comes to human tragedy, we are all the same, and we have a duty to help our fellow man without any of the other political rubbish getting in the way. Diplomacy be damned, this is someone's daughter and we have the resources and technology to identify her TODAY. So just do it.