Last seen: 12 December 2000
Age when missing - 15. One week from her 16th birthday.
Sex: Female
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown
Height: 167cm
Build: Medium
Complexion: Fair
Circumstances: On Tuesday 12 of December, 2000, 15 year old Cherie Westell had a dentist appointment
at 12.00 pm at Knox Dental Group, in Wantirna South, Melbourne. Cherie attended the
appointment and she left the surgery at around 12.30 pm.
At 1.58 pm, Cherie telephoned her Mooroolbark home from a
public telephone box situated on the corner of Selkirk Avenue and Wantirna Road,
Wantirna approx 5 kilometres from the dentist. Cherie was attempting to make her
way home. She has not been seen or heard from since.
Please call 1800 333 000 with any information about Cherie.
Missing Aust teen's family still have hope
Fourteen years after her disappearance, the
family of Melbourne teenager Cherie Westell hold on to hope that
someone with information might come forward.
UPDATED
Melbourne teenager Cherie Westell's family still wonders how she
vanished 14 years ago, and holds out hope that someone knows
what happened to her.
Cherie
disappeared after a dentist appointment in Wantirna on December
12, 2000, just days before her 16th birthday.
"My
sister literally vanished into thin air," her sister Tanya said
on Friday, International Missing Children's Day.
"Shock,
disbelief takes hold of you as you question why.
"To
anyone with information that may solve our case, please come
forward because you may just be the missing link to solving the
mystery."
Cherie's foster mother, Frances Schulz, believes Cherie did not
leave of her own accord.
"There
are at least two people who know what happened to Cherie. One is
Cherie herself and the other is the person or persons involved
in her disappearance," she said.
At the
time she disappeared, Cherie was a ward of the state.
A
failure in the system resulted in a six-day lapse before she was
reported missing, Ms Schulz said.
"When a
child goes missing, there is no time to waste - a missing-person
report must be made as soon as possible."
Ms
Schulz says the people affected when a child goes missing
experience anger, guilt, grief and nightmares.
Actor
Noni Hazlehurst, who hosted an event in Melbourne marking
International Missing Children's Day, hopes to spread a message
of hope to the families of missing people.
"Unless
you've experienced the devastating impact of having a child go
missing, it's almost impossible to imagine ... wondering where
they are, whether they're safe," she said.
A
smartphone app, Police Child ID, was launched at the event to
help parents and guardians track down missing children.
Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin said
17,500 children were reported missing each year and the first 12
to 24 hours were critical.
"If we
have accurate, good information straight away - photographs,
dates of birth, habits of these children, friends, places they
like to frequent - that gives police a good spot to start their
investigation."
Cherie Westell: The 17-year mystery of the missing Melbourne teenager
Seventeen years is a long time to search for answers.
For Frances Schulz, the mystery of what happened to her foster daughter
Cherie Westell has been painful.
"Not knowing is full of anxiety,” Ms Schulz said.
The 15-year-old was days away from celebrating her 16th birthday when she
went to the dentist in Wantirna South, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, on
December 12 2000.
She attended the appointment, then walked to a phone box to call home.
That was the last time anyone heard from her.
"Times like this are very emotional. I well up thinking about it, thinking
about Cherie and not knowing what happened to her. Someone had to see her,
someone had to talk to her,” Ms Schulz said.
Cherie was a cheeky teenager. Ms Schulz described her as "fiesty, but a
typical teenager".
She loved horses, sport, art and music. Her favourite performer was Jewel.
She'd spend hours listening to her songs.
As a child, the 15-year-old loved the monkey bars. She would often be found
playing on them upside down, as Ms Schulz fondly recalled: "I can actually
still remember holding her hand as little girl and the callous' on her
hands."
But she had never run away.
And that's why her disappearance baffled her family.
"When a body is found police will get in touch and say ‘it's not her’… part
of me feels I would like to know that it is her,” Ms Schulz said.
“The other part says as long as we don't know, there's still that little
glimmer (of hope) which I try to hold on to."
But there were complexities with Cherie's case. She was a ward of the state
in the care of another woman, and when Ms Schulz tried to make a Missing
Persons report, she was told it had to be done by a family member.
That task was given her older brother, Pierre, who was on Schoolies in
Queensland at the time.
Despite the early hours being crucial in missing persons investigations, the
Missing Persons report wasn't filed until six days after her disappearance.
It was an issue that angered Ms Schulz.
"This is not just about Cherie. We feel we won't see her again but there are
other families out there the most important thing to say is if someone is
missing please do something immediately, don't wait,” she told 9NEWS.
“Don't be fobbed off by being told 'tomorrow, comeback again'. Be insistent,
make sure that a report is made, a formal Missing Persons report and the
police take action."
A coroner eventually ruled that Cherie had most likely died, but could not
determine how or why.
The report was highly critical of the lack of communication between
government and non-government agencies.
But that was little comfort for Ms Schulz, who has now accepted the girl she
cared for is no longer alive.
In fact, she's convinced the teenager was murdered.
"There must be at least one person apart from Cherie who knows what happened
to her,” she said.
“We're convinced Cherie met with foul play. So, we would like someone to
come forward."
The pair went to the same school, prompting police to investigate if there
was any link between the two cases.
"We know what Bung's family went through. She vanished without a trace,” Ms
Schulz said.
Seventeen years since Cherie vanished, Ms Schulz has moved away from
Melbourne.
Cherie would now be 32. Her brother is also grown up and has a family of his
own. A family that misses a sister, an aunty, and for Ms Schulz, a daughter.
"It takes your energy emotionally, physically wand it gets less in that you
do have to go on. But Cherie's still there. She's always part of it and she
always will be," Ms Schulz said.
Ms Schulz still lives with the pain. All she wants is to know what happened.
"That's the most difficult part is not knowing what happened to Cherie. If
we had answers we could at least, say goodbye to her."