Happy but shy girl ... Ms Small dances with Jessica in 1997. Photo: Kate
Geraghty
SEEKING WITNESS: Jessica Small's sister Rebecca Small and mother Ricki, with
Detective Sergeant Peter Smith at a media conference in Oberon
Police are now appealing for a witness who gave them an
anonymous tip-off about a white car similar to this to again contact detectives.
The search for Jessica
Sex:
Female
Year of Birth:
1982
At Time of Disappearance
Age:
15
Height (cm):
172.0
Build:
Medium
Hair Colour:
Blonde
Eye Colour:
Blue
Complexion:
Fair
Nationality:
Racial Appearance:
Caucasian
Circumstances
Jessica Small was last seen in the
Bathurst NSW area
on 26 October 1997.
Jessica Small, aged 15, was last seen in the early hours of Sunday 26 October
1997 after attending the ‘Amuse Me’ amusement centre on Russell Street,
Bathurst, with a female friend.
The girls were attempting to hitch-hike home and entered a white-coloured
sedan driven by an unknown man.
Police were told the man stopped the car on Hereford Street, Bathurst,
and turned off the head-lights, and assaulted both girls, attempting to
detain them in the vehicle.
Jessica’s friend was able to escape and alert nearby residents, but the
car drove off with Jessica still inside.
Investigators believe the last sighting of the vehicle was near Duramana
Road and Willott Close, Eglinton, travelling toward Hill End.
Disappearance and suspected murder of Jessica Small
A $1million NSW Government reward has been announced on the 21st
anniversary of the kidnapping and suspected murder of Bathurst teenager, Jessica
Small.
Jessica Small, aged 15, was last seen in the early hours of
Sunday 26 October 1997 after attending the ‘Amuse Me’ amusement centre on
Russell Street, Bathurst, with a female friend.
The girls were attempting to hitch-hike home and entered a white-coloured
sedan driven by an unknown man.
Police were told the man stopped the car on Hereford Street,
Bathurst, and turned off the head-lights, and assaulted both girls, attempting
to detain them in the vehicle.
Jessica’s friend was able to escape and alert nearby residents,
but the car drove off with Jessica still inside.
Investigators believe the last sighting of the vehicle was near
Duramana Road and Willott Close, Eglinton, travelling toward Hill End.
Jessica has not been seen or heard from since and Deputy State
Coroner, Magistrate Sharon Freund, found at a 2014 Coronial Inquest that Jessica
had been murdered.
In January 2015, a $100,000 NSW Government reward was announced
for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person/s responsible
for Jessica’s murder.
The matter was referred to detectives from the Homicide Squad’s
Unsolved Homicide Unit, who are continuing to re-investigate the circumstances
surrounding Jessica’s abduction and suspected murder under Strike Force Carica
II.
To assist with ongoing investigations, the Minister for Police
and Emergency Services, Troy Grant, announced the NSW Government reward for
information has been increased to $1million.
“The NSW Government is committed to providing police with the
resources they need to solve crimes and delivering justice for victims, and the
rewards system is part of that commitment,” Mr Grant said.
“Last year, we worked with police to modernise the reward system,
and today we’ve announced the fifth $1million reward.
“While 21 years have passed since Jessica Small was abducted,
police have never given up on catching her abductor, and I know the community
still want to see justice served.”
Homicide Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Scott Cook,
welcomed the reward and acknowledged the ongoing commitment of investigators.
“Since its inception, Strike Force Carica II detectives have been
diligently conducting inquiries into Jessica’s disappearance – both here in NSW
and interstate,” Det Supt Cook said.
“A considerable effort has been put into locating the old white
sedan that Jessica and her friend were picked up in.
“The vehicle itself was not overly distinct, but we know there
were holes in the passenger-side foot-well – Jessica’s friend reported being
able to see the road while they were driving.
“We’ve forensically examined numerous vehicles similar to that
described by witnesses, but we have yet to find the car.
“Investigators believe the Eglinton sighting is significant –
it’s a fairly remote area and at that time, most of the roads weren’t sealed, so
we expect the driver had local knowledge.”
Despite speaking with hundreds of people, detectives believe
there could be someone else out there with new information that could assist the
investigation.
“We hope by refreshing the case in people’s memories – and with
this significant increase in the reward – we get that missing piece of the
puzzle; the information that leads to an arrest,” Det Supt Cook said.
“We have received incredible support from the community and thank
the Minister and NSW Government for increasing the reward.
“Detectives will explore every line of inquiry in hope of finally
getting justice for Jessica and providing answers to her family,” Det Supt Cook
said.
The reward can be provided to anyone who has information that
leads to the arrest and conviction of the person/s responsible for Jessica’s
disappearance and murder.
Anyone with information that may assist Strike Force Carica II
investigators is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au.
Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to
report crime via NSW Police social media pages.
STATE CORONER’S COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES
Inquest:
Inquest into the disappearance and suspected
death of JESSICA BETH SMALL
Hearing dates: 12 - 16 August 2013, 19 - 22 May 2014, 2 - 5 June 2014
Date of findings: 6 June 2014
Place of findings: State Coroner’s Court, Bathurst.
Findings of: Magistrate Sharon Freund, Deputy State Coroner
Findings: That Jessica Beth Small died on or after the 26th of October 1997. Her
death is suspicious and I am satisfied that she died at the hands of a person or
persons unknown.
FINDINGS
Jessica Beth Small was on all accounts a bright, fun loving, outspoken and
tenacious 15 year old when she went missing during the early hours of the
morning of 26 October 1997. Today she would be 31 years old.
INTRODUCTION:
Jessica was born in Perth on 27 July 1982 and was the youngest child of Ricki
and Stephen Small. Her parents separated when she was approximately 2 years old,
when her mother moved to the Bathurst area with Jessica and her older siblings
Rebecca and Mathew. In 1997, Ricki Small was living in Fish Parade, Gormans Hill
(a suburb of Bathurst). The evidence before this inquest indicates that during
that year, Jessica was living in a number of places, including with her Mother,
Sister, and a number of friends. On all accounts, Jessica had a wide circle of
friends. In the latter half of 1997, it appears that one of her closest friends
was Vanessa Conlan. Vanessa and Jessica had a lot in common. Vanessa lived with
her Dad in Fish Parade, Gormans Hill. They were of a similar age and hung around
with the same crowd.
In her statement of 10 March 1999, Vanessa said:
"[In 1997] I became good friends with Jessica and got to know her better. In
1997 I commenced Year 9 at Bathurst High School and Jessica commenced Year 10 at
Kelso High School. I would see Jessica nearly every day. She would come to my
house or I would go to her house. We would eat, talk, watch TV and listen to
music. She told me that she would fight with her mum a fair bit, [pretty] much
about everything. [S]he would ask her mother for money and her mother would say
"no". [S]he would only ask for money on a Thursday when her mother had money. If
her mother said "no" that would be the start of a huge fight and they would not
talk for a couple of days. Jessica would sometimes sneak out at night and her
mother would catch her. Sometimes there were parties on and she was not allowed
to go. This would annoy her because on some days her mother would not really
care what she did. Jessica's mother would go into the shops about 3 times a
week. A lot of the time would be to buy groceries but Ricki would more often
[than] not end up at The Kings Hotel in George Street, Bathurst where she would
spend all the grocery money on alcohol and get drunk. Then there would be no
[money] left for groceries. This is what started a lot of the fights between
Jessica and Ricki and why Jessica would be at home much. There was never any
food in the house to eat"
On 27 July 1997, Jessica turned 15 years old. She had been attending Kelso High
School in Year 10, however it appears that she dropped out of school in about
April or May of that year . Accordingly, it seems that in the second half of
1997, prior to her disappearance, Jessica’s life had very little structure or
stability. She was not attending school. She did not have a job. Moreover, she
was not living at one particular location and moved regularly between extended
family and friends. As a direct result of this lack of structure, investigators
were required to piece together the events in Jessica's life in the days and
weeks leading up to her disappearance in the early hours of 26 October 1997.
This was made more difficult by the fact that this work was not carried out
until some eight years after she had disappeared, when Strike Force Carica II
was formed.
The results of that investigation can be summarised as follows:
1. On 14 October 1997, Jessica travelled to Sydney with Vanessa Conlan to do
some shopping ;
2. Also around this time, but after the Sydney trip of 14 October 1997,
(according to Vanessa4 ) Jessica spent some time in Orange, with a friend Ricky
Vincent. In Orange, Jessica spent a few days at a flat occupied by Belinda and
Brendan Forsman, before being asked to leave after an incident where Jessica
apparently brought some young men back to the flat.
3. By about Wednesday 22 October 1997, (3 days before she disappeared), Jessica
was back in Bathurst. It was around that date that Jessica approached Mal
Pollard (the owner of Amuse Me) and asked him to mind a bag, apparently of
clothes, for her .
4. Vanessa Conlan recalls bumping into Jessica in Bathurst after her return from
Orange. Vanessa notes that Jessica had changed her appearance remarkably, in
that she had cut her hair fairly short, and had stopped wearing make-up
5. It is likely that Jessica was staying upon her return from Orange possibly at
her sister Rebecca’s house in Kelso, and that she also spent some time (probably
along with Vanessa Conlan) at Chris Hogan’s place at O’Connell.
6. On Friday 24 October 1997, Jessica stayed the night at Chris Hogan's house in
O’Connell. It was the evidence of Chris Hogan that on Saturday 25 October, his
Father gave Jessica and he a lift into Bathurst, a bit after lunch time. It
appears that Jessica went home to her Mother’s house that Saturday – perhaps to
drop some clothes off .
THE NIGHT JESSICA WENT MISSING
In order to ascertain what occurred on Saturday 25 October 1997 police obtained
statements from 30 to 40 witnesses who had seen or were known to spend time with
Jessica in 1997. Unfortunately, with the passage of time and as many were under
the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, the recollections of what did occur on
the night prior to Jessica's disappearance are in many cases hazy at best. I am
satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the following events did occur:
1. Jessica and Vanessa left 21 Fish Parade in the late afternoon or early
evening and walked into town. When they arrived in the Bathurst CBD they saw
Jessica’s Mother Ricki at a hotel and Ricki gave Jessica some money. The two
girls then walked to the Amuse Me centre. It was dark. They hung around in town
for a while, got some food at Mick’s take away and also spent some time at Amuse
Me;
2. Jessica drank some alcohol that night, two or three drinks, and got a “bit
tipsy” but wasn’t drunk ;
3. There were a large number of young people at Amuse Me that night, and Jessica
and Vanessa spent time there playing pool and dancing to music. During the
night, the group of friends, including Darren Mason, Chris Hogan and Sarah
Thornhill, moved between Amuse Me and Kings Parade Park. A number of them were
upset because Luke Hutchins’ uncle (“Hotsie”) had been found dead earlier the
same night;
4. Later that evening, Jessica and Vanessa got a lift with a friend Richard
Dennis (“Frog”), to Ben Clarke's house (92 Hereford St, Bathurst – a couple
kilometres from the CBD). However when they found that Ben Clarke was not home,
they were driven back into town;
5. After that, Jessica and Vanessa went to Mick’s take-away, but finding none of
their friends there, they headed back to Amuse Me, which was by then closed. The
two girls ended up near the Acropole Greek restaurant (on William Street) and
were discussing whether they should go home to bed. They decided however, to go
back to Ben Clarke’s place at Hereford Street;
6. The girls began to walk along William Street towards Kings Parade Park, when
they noticed a car go past them and then turn around and park on the opposite
side of the road. From what police have been able to ascertain, there were no
other witnesses to the girls getting into the car that evening. Accordingly, the
events as they unfolded can only be provided by Vanessa. Vanessa provided her
first statement to police on 26 October 1997. Since that time she has provided a
number of statements and given oral evidence to this inquiry12. Her evidence has
remained consistent throughout and I found her to be a forthright, compelling
and honest witness.
Vanessa's evidence can be summarised as follows:
1. The girls had hitchhiked before;
2. She approached the driver of the white four door sedan (which she later
identified to be a Holden Commodore), while Jessica sat on a little wall in the
park. She did not know the driver, and she spoke to him simply because it was
“her turn”.
3. The driver asked “How was your video games…and your games of pool” (or
something similar) and asked "what they were up to or where they were off to".
4. The two girls then got into the car, Vanessa in the front and Jessica in the
back, and told the driver they wanted to go to Hereford Street. While driving
along Hereford Street, Vanessa saw the lights from houses at the end of the
street and said to the driver something to the effect of – “See where that light
is? Can you drop us off there?” to which he replied “Yeah that I can do”.
5. However, the driver then slowed and stopped the car on the side of Hereford
Street, when they were still several hundred metres from Ben Clarke’s house, and
in an area where there were no houses and no lighting. The driver had taken off
his seat belt and brought the car to a stop alongside a wire fence. The driver
then turned to Jessica who was seated in the back and said “Right, come here” to
which Vanessa responded with “I don’t think so”. The driver then put his hand
around Vanessa’s throat and pushed her back into the seat – Jessica then opened
her door, resulting in the driver letting go of Vanessa and reaching for
Jessica.
6. The two girls then attempted to flee from the car .
7. Vanessa describes having to “rip” her hair from the driver’s grip and started
screaming and running in the direction of Ben Clarke’s house. She states: "Jess
and I then started running off toward the houses in Hereford Street where Ben
Clarke (Bunge) our friend lives. We were both screaming out for help at the top
of our voices. Jess was running behind me. I knew she was behind me because she
screamed out first. We were yelling out "help, help us" and also to Bunge. I
heard Jess scream, "Help" but it was a long sound for help. Then I didn't hear
anything more and I kept running. I didn't look back as I ran"
8. Vanessa then ran to the group of houses at the end of Hereford Street,
believing, she said, that Jessica was behind her. She ran to one of the houses
and banged on the window, waking the occupants The police were called and
attended the home of Vicki Connors, her then boyfriend Nathan Lavelle, and her
mother, Fay Connors who lived at 88 Heresford St. They had been woken by Vanessa
banging at the front window whom they all described as "shaken, white and
scared"14 . Moreover it was the evidence of Sergeant Peter McFarland that when
he and Constable Rooney attended, Vanessa was incoherent, crying and trembling
and that "she was terrified". He said in evidence it had been a "fair while
since I'd seen someone so upset"15 and "it took us about five or six minutes to
calm her down to a point where she was reasonably coherent"16 . Sergeant
McFarland and Constable Rooney drove Vanessa around various parts of Bathurst in
an attempt to look for a white car matching a description she had given to
police and Nathan Lavelle, namely that it was "like a Holden Commodore". The
search for the actual car was unsuccessful. It was the evidence of both officers
that they tested Vanessa's version of events throughout the night, and that
there were never any significant changes to that version and that she remained
consistent. Accordingly, bearing in mind the evidence of two police officers who
between them at the time of Jessica's disappearance had many years' experience,
who both claim to have accepted Vanessa as a witness of truth, it is hard to
believe that so little was done by Bathurst police to investigate or take
seriously Jessica's disappearance in the days, weeks and months which followed.
My jurisdiction as a Deputy State Coroner in relation to Jessica's disappearance
and suspected death arises as a result of section 21 of the Coroners Act 2009. A
Coroner's usual function is to seek to answer five questions namely, who died,
when they died, where they died, and the manner and cause of their death.
Accordingly, the primary issue for this inquest to determine is whether or not
Jessica has died and if so, what were the circumstances of her death. This
matter has unfortunately been complicated by the serious inadequacies of the
initial investigation into Jessica's disappearance. It became abundantly clear
upon receipt of the brief of evidence, that very little was done between the
period between 1997 and 2007 by Bathurst police in relation to Jessica's
disappearance. Accordingly, I requested that the Police Commissioner or his
representative consider making a concession that there were deficiencies in the
initial investigation, at the outset of the inquest. On the first day of the
inquest Mr. Spartalis, Counsel for NSW Police made the following concession in
relation to the initial investigation carried out into Jessica's disappearance:
"my client does acknowledge that the early investigation, that is the
investigation from 1997 to 2007 was deficient in a number of respects, largely
because of the structure of the police force as it then was, and probably based
on the views of the investigators at the time. There were witnesses that should
have been followed up, but were not. The significance of those witnesses we will
never know. They may have been good, they may have been bad, but nevertheless
they should have been followed up..." 17 I commend NSW Police for making the
concession it did from the outset. In doing so it avoided the need for a
detailed examination by me of the minutiae of where the investigation was
lacking, and cross examination of all the various witnesses to that effect. It
also saved the State of NSW considerable expense and hearing time in that
regard. However to simply gloss over the effects and ramifications of such a
poor investigation would not be fair to Jessica, her family, Vanessa Conlan, the
police who later properly investigated Jessica's disappearance or the community
at large. There is many a salient lesson to be learnt from this initial
investigation. It is clear that the initial police investigation was seriously
deficient in that:
Firstly, it had formed a view without a proper basis and without any real
investigation that Jessica had falsified her disappearance in order to escape
her mother and her lifestyle,, and accordingly the claims made by Vanessa Conlan
that she had been abducted were simply false;
Secondly, no officer in charge was appointed to coordinate the investigation of
the abduction and disappearance of Jessica;
Thirdly, the initial police investigation had failed and /or neglected to carry
out a general canvass to find out who was at Amuse Me the night of 25 October
1997 or at the Kings Parade Park, nor did they attempt to then take statements
from those people or young persons as to what they observed that may have been
out of the ordinary. Such a canvass would have undoubtedly uncovered in a timely
manner the possibly crucial evidence of :
A. William Ross who was working at Amuse Me on the night that Jessica went
missing. No statement was taken from Mr Ross until 2008, despite the fact that
Mal Pollard18 had indicated to police the day after Jessica's disappearance,
that Mr Ross had spoken to a man in Amuse Me who had taken a keen interest in
Jessica19. Despite the lengthy delay in providing his evidence Mr Ross
ultimately gave evidence to the effect that:
1. he saw Jessica and Vanessa that night at Amuse Me and that Jessica was
slightly affected by alcohol; and
2. he spoke with a man in Amuse Me that night, who seemed to recognise him. That
the man looked about 34 years of age or maybe older and said he was working at
the Oberon Timber Mill. He described the man as Australian, about 5 foot 8
inches tall, medium build with a bit of a beer belly and dark hair. He said the
man was wearing jeans, joggers and a long sleeved buttoned shirt, between a
cowboy type shirt and a flannelette shirt and that he had a set of keys hanging
from his jeans on a little hook-on sort of thing. Mr Ross said that the man was
looking at Jessica (who was dancing or making some noise) and said “Who’s
that?...She looks like she’s out for a good time”. Mr Ross had told the man
“That’s Jess”.
B. Darren Mason who was a patron of Amuse Me on the evening of 25 October 1997.
Mr Mason also only provided a detailed statement in 2008, despite his efforts to
tell the initial investigators about this man in 1997, which he said were just
"shrugged off"20. Mr Mason ultimately describes seeing a male with "a big build,
with dark brown straggly shoulder length hair and wearing a red and black
flannelette shirt and jacket"21; and
C. Sarah Thornhill, a friend who had attended Primary School with Jessica and
had spent some time with her the night of her disappearance. Ms Thornhill
provided her first statement to police on 28 April 2008 wherein she stated that
she observed a man at Amuse Me whom she had seen in a white Commodore earlier
that evening.
If statements had been taken from the above witnesses in 1997, no doubt their
recollection would have been stronger and it is highly likely that additional
witnesses may have been uncovered or located that would have corroborated and/
or shed further light on this person seen at or in the vicinity of Amuse Me the
night of Jessica's disappearance. It is clear that at the time of her
disappearance Jessica was no angel, she was simply a wayward teenager testing
boundaries. This however, did not and does not make her disappearance, which
clearly occurred in suspicious circumstances, any less deserving of being given
the investigation and the attention it required. At the time of her
disappearance many of Jessica's friends were most likely known to Bathurst
police and were, despite the disappearance of one of their own, likely hesitant
to approach police willingly with information. This situation was in my view
compounded by the fact that Vanessa's account was at that time dismissed by at
least some police with derision and suspicion, further widening the gap between
the law enforcement officers and young persons in the Bathurst community at the
time.
Fourthly, the initial investigating police failed to take statements from
witnesses who actually approached them in the days following Jessica's
disappearance with information that they believed may have been possibly related
to her abduction and disappearance. In particular:
A. Mr Robert Fitzpatrick, who in 1997 lived at 34 Turondale Rd, Eglington, whose
evidence can be summarised as follows;
• at about 1.00 am that night, he heard screams, and saw a “whitish” coloured
car, which he said was either a Holden Commodore or a Holden Camira stop near
his house;
• the screams were of a woman, that they were “panic” screams, and he thought he
heard something like “help”;
• he saw a hand coming out over the driver’s shoulder (apparently from someone
in the back) and that the car stopped about 30 or 40 metres from his house, at
which point there seemed to be a scuffle taking place with the driver kneeling
and reaching over into the back of the car;
• After this the driver opened the boot of the car and was “fooling around
trying to find something”, and that he heard a “little bang”. The driver then
went back and knelt on the front seat over to the back seat, after which he
drove off normally;
• the driver was described by Mr Fitzpatrick, as not being a big man, and said
his impression was that he was between the 30 and 40 age group (he did not see
his face);
• Mr Fitzpatrick said he took a mental note of the number plate (which he
thought from the colour might have been a Canberra or a Queensland plate), but
that he did not write the number down when he returned to his home as he could
not find a pen. Mr Fitzpatrick's evidence was that when he had heard about
“Ricki’s daughter” going missing, he went to Bathurst police station to report
what he had seen. Police took his number and said they would call him, but when
he had not been called he went back in to the station and a detective spoke to
him. He got the impression that the police did not want to take a statement from
him. Mr Fitzpatrick's version of events is corroborated to some degree by two
notes in the police records made on 28 October 1997 . No statement was taken
from Mr Fitzpatrick until more than ten years after Jessica's disappearance,
upon the commencement of Strike Force Carica II. The somewhat extraordinary
evidence of Mr Fitzpatrick - a girl, apparently screaming and struggling in a
whitish car, possibly a Commodore, at a location close to where Jessica was
abducted, at a time close to when she was reported being abducted - clearly
suggests a connection between his observations and Jessica’s disappearance. This
may well have been the final sighting by any witness of Jessica with her
abductor. It is beyond belief that Bathurst police chose not to take a full
statement from Mr Fitzpatrick in October 1997. If a statement had been taken,
then it is far more likely he would have been able to recall helpful
information, as to the type of car, and possibly at least some details of the
registration plate. A detailed statement at that time is likely to have assisted
in solving the mystery of what occurred on that fateful morning.
B. Mr Colin Cole also gave evidence that he contacted Bathurst police by
telephone shortly after Jessica disappeared in 1997 to provide information to
the effect that in the early hours of the morning on 26 October 1997, he was
driving along the Sydney Road from Bathurst when a “dirty white” car (that he
described as a Commodore with a louvre on the back window) came out of a street
on his left, at high speed, with its headlights off. He said the car caused him
to brake so hard that he stalled his car, and that the other car went onto the
wrong side of the road. He said it then continued along the Sydney Road before
turning right and heading towards Oberon, at which point the lights were turned
on. He did not get the registration numbers and did not see the driver or any
other occupant. To be fair, no record exists of this alleged call to Bathurst
police and it is possible none was made. Ultimately, no statement was taken from
Mr Cole until July 2011, and as a result it is difficult to conclude what
relevance the car seen by Mr Cole that evening had in relation to Jessica's
disappearance. However, it may have been highly relevant. It is unfortunate that
no statement was obtained from Mr Cole when the events were fresh, as further
details might then have been forthcoming, and may have assisted in the search
for Jessica, and in the investigation of the subject car.
C. Dianne Edmunds gave evidence that on 27 October 1997 she contacted Bathurst
Police as she had observed the tail lights of a car going down the "bush track"
that leads to a creek opposite her house. At the time she lived at “Stratford
Cottage” at O’Connell, on the road between Bathurst and Oberon. In the time she
had lived there she had never seen a vehicle using that track. She could not
determine what type or make of car it was, but was concerned that it might be
“young kids” drinking and partying. Police records indicate that a call was made
by Ms Edmunds24, despite this no statement was taken from Ms Edmunds until May
2012. It should be noted that the police attached to Strike Force Carica II
after taking over the investigation in late 2007, regarded her evidence as so
significant that they arranged for a re-enactment of the car travelling down the
“bush track” and eventually engaged excavation equipment to dig up the creek
area in the hope of finding some evidence of Jessica. Nothing relevant was
found.
D. Ms Kayla Brien was just 11 years old when Jessica disappeared. On 29 October
1997 she and her mother made a report at Bathurst police station about Kayla
being approached by a man in Bathurst streets on Saturday 25 October 1997 . She
had been staying with her dad at the time, had been very scared and only
reported the incident to her mother when she had come to pick her up from her
access visit. Her mother made her report the matter to police, realising its
significance after hearing about Jessica's disappearance.
Fifthly, in 1998 some items of clothing were found by forestry workers in the
Jenolan State Forest, near Oberon. They included a blanket, and various items of
women's underwear. These items were given a preliminary examination about 12
months later and were then destroyed. Despite their possible significance to the
Jessica Small case, it appears that no serious investigation was conducted to
determine whether they may have been linked to Jessica. Indeed, Jessica's family
were not even informed about the items until after their destruction. While it
is not possible to conclude that the items were connected with Jessica it is
surprising that no proper consideration seems to have been given to this
possibility.
This has been a lengthy inquest, spanning almost three weeks of hearing and
included the oral testimony of over 50 witnesses. At its start four hypotheses
were outlined for Jessica's disappearance by Counsel Assisting, Mr. Ian Bourke.
These included:
1. Did Jessica take her own life?
2. Did Jessica die of a drug overdose?
3. Did Jessica run away? and finally
4. Was Jessica abducted and murdered?
The brief of evidence gathered by police, spans over 11 volumes of material and
contains reports of various theories and rumours that have been advanced over
the years to explain Jessica’s There is nothing within that material to indicate
that Jessica was ever suicidal. It is also highly unlikely that she would have
disappeared without a trace if she had in fact taken her own life. Accordingly,
I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that that suicide can be ruled
out. There is evidence that Jessica used drugs, at least marijuana and alcohol,
on a fairly regular basis, and that she also tried heroin on possibly at least
two occasions prior to her disappearance. Moreover, her sister, Rebecca and
Rebecca's then partner Mr.David Whyms were fairly heavily involved in drug use,
and possibly supply, in 1997. However, there is no credible evidence from which
it can be concluded that Jessica’s disappearance is due to a drug overdose for
the following reasons:
1. none of the many witnesses who saw her on the night of 25 October 1997
describe her as using any drugs that night, apart from alcohol and perhaps a
little cannabis; and
2. a finding that Jessica died from drug overdose (and that someone disposed of
her body) would require me to entirely reject the evidence of Vanessa Conlan,
whom I have found to be a witness of truth. Accordingly, I am satisfied that the
“drug overdose theory” can similarly be excluded.
Furthermore, I am satisfied that the theory that Jessica “ran away” can also be
discarded. Jessica did have a somewhat troubled and unstable life in 1997, and
there is disappearance. the undated letter from Jessica to her
Mother26 in the early part of 1997 where she spoke of going away for a while.
However, as the trip to Orange demonstrates, Jessica did return. There have also
been theories put forward over the years that Jessica simply ran away because
she was not happy in Bathurst. While this suggestion might have had some limited
credibility in the days and months following her disappearance, in my view it is
implausible for it to carry any weight at all in 2014, seventeen years after her
disappearance. The brief of evidence contains a number of alleged “sightings” of
Jessica in various parts of NSW and even in other States. Police have diligently
sought to follow-up on these sightings however, none of these have been
confirmed as reliable. In my view they can be discounted. It is improbable in
the extreme, that a 15 year old girl, with no money, no credit cards and few
clothes would have the wherewithal to simply vanish without a trace and start a
new life. It is also implausible that her family and friends would have heard
nothing from her in more than 16 years, particularly bearing in mind the
publicity her disappearance has generated. Jessica did not run away.
Accordingly, I am satisfied on the evidence that Jessica’s disappearance is due
to her having been abducted against her will in the early hours of Sunday 26
October 1997. Furthermore, as none of Jessica’s friends or family have heard
from or seen her since 1997 and checks by the Police Missing Persons Unit have
produced no sign of Jessica in the last 16½ years, the only reasonable
conclusion open to me is that Jessica is deceased.
Strike Force Carica II has gathered and examined in the course of its
investigation into Jessica's disappearance a large body of evidence concerning a
significant number of "persons of interest". However, out of those persons, two
men, namely Mr Andrew McBride and Mr Craig Robertson remain persons of interest
in relation to Jessica's abduction and presumed murder, and accordingly both
were the focus of the final weeks of this inquest. I do not intend to traverse
the evidence in detail in relation to either Mr McBride or Mr Robertson. This
was canvassed by Counsel Assisting in submissions on the final day of hearing.
It is clear, in summary that both:
1. Were possibly in the Oberon / Bathurst region around the time of Jessica's
disappearance and had worked at the Oberon Timber Mill;
2. Fit the general description given by the various witnesses who described an
"older man" at Amuse Me on 25 October 1997;
3. Possibly left the Oberon region just after Jessica's disappearance;
4. Possibly had access to a white Holden Commodore;
5. Had a predilection for younger looking women (in the case of Mr Robertson) or
teenage girls (in the case of Mr McBride);
6. Had a history of violence towards women; and
7. Can not provide any clear evidence or alibi as to where they were the night
Jessica disappeared.
An inquest such as this has the ability to either inculpate or exculpate persons
of interest. However, in this case there is no direct evidence linking either Mr
McBride or Mr Robertson to Jessica's disappearance. The converse is also true,
there is also no evidence to eliminate them as persons of interest. I note at
this point the submission of Mr Butterfield, Counsel for Mr McBride, that bank
records indicate a deposit made by his client at the Frenchs Forest Branch of
Westpac Bank on Friday 24 October 1997 would tend to indicate that he was not in
the Oberon/Bathurst vicinity. I agree that the deposit was made and it was
likely made in person as a special clearance was made on that cheque. However,
those bank records also indicate that Mr McBride made constant trips between
Sydney and Oberon on a regular basis. Accordingly, I cannot be satisfied without
direct evidence to the contrary that he did not make another trip that weekend
to Oberon or Bathurst. Accordingly, Mr McBride remains a person of interest.
CONCLUSION
Jessica Small went missing in circumstances that indicate that she was abducted.
Her abduction being witnessed by her friend Vanessa Conlan. Unfortunately, her
disappearance and suspected murder did not receive the attention it deserved
until the formation of Strike Force Carica II in late 2007, under the guidance
and direction of Detective Sergeant Peter Smith. The inadequacies of the initial
investigation, which I have detailed in these findings, have in my view hampered
the ability of those who did ultimately properly investigate Jessica's
disappearance, from being able to come to any conclusion as to who was
responsible for Jessica's disappearance and death. It is quite simply an
indictment on those initial investigating detectives in the days and weeks
following Jessica's abduction, that their assumptions and prejudices compromised
the investigation, caused immeasurable additional distress and hurt to the
family of Jessica, and may also have put other future lives at risk. Hopefully
lessons will be learnt and other families do not have to go through the same
distress as Ricki, Rebecca and Vanessa in the future.
Accordingly, I now turn to the findings I am required to make pursuant to
section 81 of the Coroners Act 2009. That Jessica Beth Small died on or after
the 26th of October 1997. Her death is suspicious and I am satisfied that she
died at the hands of a person or persons unknown. I refer the matter back to the
Unsolved Homicide Squad.
Sections 82(1) and (2) of the Coroners Act 2009 entitles a coroner to make such
recommendations as s/he considers necessary in relation to any matter connected
with the death. On the final day of this inquest I heard evidence from the
Officer in Charge of the Investigation, Detective Sergeant Peter Smith. His
evidence can be summarised as follows:
Firstly, that any future investigations into the disappearance and murder of
Jessica Small may be greatly enhanced by witnesses being encouraged to come
forward. In his experience, witnesses are encouraged to do so by the
availability of reward money. To date no substantial reward has been offered for
information leading to the conviction of a person or persons responsible for the
death of Jessica Small. A substantial reward, in the sum of about half a million
dollars, in his view, would assist in this regard.
Secondly, that there are a large number of long term missing persons cases,
which could possibly be homicides, still outstanding in NSW. The NSW Homicide
Squad is in the best position to evaluate the state of those investigations and
whether or not the circumstances surrounding those missing persons' whose
disappearances are suspicious. To that end, there needs to be greater liaison
between the Missing Persons Unit and the NSW Homicide Squad in relation to long
term missing person cases.
Accordingly, I make the following recommendations pursuant to section 82 of the
Coroners Act 2009:
To the Minister of Police and Justice of NSW and To the Attorney General of NSW
1. Consideration be given to the NSW Government offering a substantial monetary
reward for information leading to the conviction of any person or persons for
the abduction and murder of Jessica Small. The sum should not in my view be less
than $500,000; and
2. That consideration be given to implementing measures to achieve a closer
liaison between the Missing Persons Unit and the Homicide Squad in relation to
long term missing person cases;
HOMICIDE officers will re-examine the abduction, and
suspected murder, of a 15-year-old girl more than a decade
ago.
Jessica Small was kidnapped at 12.40am on October 26,
1997, after she and friend Vanessa Conlon accepted a ride from
Bathurst to nearby Kelso to visit friends.
She was the fourth young female hitch-hiker to be killed
over an eight week period that year with Lee Ellen Stace, 16 and
Lauren Barry, 15, and Nichole Collins, 16, all vanishing.
Jessica's mother Ricki yesterday welcomed the renewed
interest by police but remains bitter at what she says has been
a lack of information on the case's progress.
"We haven't been told a lot over the years," she said.
"The new strikeforce might bring something but not before
time.
"We've been sick of waiting for it to come.
"We've been on the backburner long enough."
A police spokeswoman said the force had always taken the
investigation of Jessica's kidnapping seriously.
"We've got the resources of the Chifley command and
Homicide devoted to this case," she said.
However, she would not reveal any new lines the
investigaion may follow.
Strikeforce Carica is understood to be reviewing all of
the material gathered by Bathurst detectives since Jessica's
kidnapping.
The case was re-opened in October after Deputy State
Coroner Carl Milovanovich requested the police make further
inquiries before the matter went to an inquest.
Mrs Small said she had been told there was a hope advances
in DNA technology could help the case.
"I didn't even know they had anything that related to
Jessica's DNA," she said.
Bathurst Police have spent years trying to track the
kidnapper who Jessica's friend, Vanessa, managed to escape.
The pair had been playing the juke box and chatting with
friends at the Amuse-Me games parlour in Bathurst when they
decided to visit friends in Kelso about 12.40am.
A man, driving what police believed to be a white sedan
similar to a VK or VL Commodore, offered the girls a lift.
About 100m short of their friend's house the man stopped
and assulted both of them.
Vanessa broke free and ran to a house to raise the alarm
but Jessica was never seen again.
It had been just a five minute drive with a man neither of
the girls had ever seen in Bathurst.
The night of Jessica's kidnapping remains etched forever
in her mother's mind as the night she lost her baby.
"I'm like every mother. I love my daughter," Mrs Small
said.
"We'd like to know where she is, where she might be buried
and we'd like to know who killed her.
"We grieve for her everyday.
"There's no closure, it's there every day and every night;
and they (nights) are the longest."
New leads in missing teen cold case
Posted Wed
Sep 30, 2009 2:00pm AEST - ABC
Detectives from the New South Wales unsolved homicide team
have released new information about the disappearance of Bathurst teenager,
Jessica Small, 12 years ago.
The 15-year-old was last seen in the Bathurst CBD, in the state's central
west, in the early hours of October 26, 1997 when she and a friend got into a
car driven by an unknown male.
Police believe the pair were assaulted.
The friend managed to escape but Jessica was never seen again.
The head of Strike Force Carica II, Detective Sergeant Peter Smith, says
new information about the car was received after witnesses were re-interviewed.
"The motor vehicle was a light coloured VK Holden Commodore with an orange
blanket on the back parcel shelf and a number of holes on the front passenger
footwell," he said.
"That's very significant information and we believe it's a very particular
vehicle and those particular descriptions should jog somebody's memory."
He says even a small piece of new information can provide significant
leads.
"The holes in the passenger footwell combined with an orange blanket on
the rear and a VK Holden Commodore, I think someone would remember that car," he
said.
"The holes have been described as not big enough to put your foot through
but big enough to see the road through, so I think it would stick in someone's
mind if they've been in that vehicle."
A coronial inquiry into Jessica Small's disappearance is due to be
conducted, possibly next year.
Mystery of
missing Jessica Small: mother living a 'nightmare'
Date
Saffron
Howden - SMH
Police have begun systematically door-knocking about 500
homes of men who worked at a timber mill near Bathurst nearly 14
years ago to find a teenage girl's abductor.
Investigators descended on the small town of Oberon today
after narrowing the list of men aged 18 to 45 who worked at the
local mill in 1997.
In early 2008, the homicide squad reopened an
investigation into 15-year-old Jessica Small's abduction from
Bathurst in the early hours of October 26 1997.
When they re-interviewed one of the original witnesses,
they discovered a man aged about 30 had been asking questions
about Jessica at a local entertainment centre, Amuse Me, just
hours before she disappeared. The man had revealed he worked at
the timber mill, Detective Sergeant Peter Smith told reporters
in Oberon this morning.
"We've spent the last few months locating those employees
and there are a significant number of them still living in the
Oberon/Bathurst areas," he said.
"They're obviously spread all over Australia but we're
endeavouring to speak to all of them in the coming weeks."
Jessica's mother, Ricki Small, said the past 13 years had
been a "nightmare".
"It's been a nightmare to live through and it's still a
nightmare until we uncover something and the person who abducted
her," she said.
Jessica's sister, Rebecca, wept as she begged anyone with
information to come forward.
"We just need some closure," she said. "And we really miss
her and we really need to know what happened."
Jessica was last heard screaming in the back of a car just
east of Bathurst about 12.40am on a Sunday morning. Her best
friend, Vanessa, managed to escape after hitchhiking with the
unknown man.
Saffron Howden is a crime reporter for the Herald.
Missing teen's
mother grateful for search but says battlers are let down
Date
- SMH
Saffron
Howden - Oberon
SOME old photos, children's toys and a roadside cross
embedded in a heart-shaped slab of concrete are the few physical
reminders that Jessica Small ever existed.
Barely 15 when she and a friend hitchhiked their way out
of central Bathurst in October 1997, Jessica's last known stamp
on the world was her screams from the back of an old rusting car
driven by an unidentified man.
Her friend, Vanessa, fled the car after the man attacked
them and ran to a nearby house for help, police believe. But
Jessica disappeared from the flat, windswept stretch of road,
along with the white Holden Commodore sedan and its driver.
While the homicide squad set up camp in nearby Oberon
yesterday with 20 investigators and a list of 500 people to
interview, for nearly 14 years Jessica's mother, Ricki Small,
has felt ignored by a ''judgmental'' system she believes cares
less for ''battlers''.
''They took it very lightly,'' she said. ''Because I was a
pensioner, I wasn't anyone famous or whatever, but [that] should
never have mattered.''
While she is grateful to homicide detectives who recently
unearthed a vital clue, that an Oberon timber mill worker was
asking about Jessica at a games parlour the night she was
abducted, she is bitter it took more than a decade for the
information to surface.
''This is crucial information,'' Ms Small said. ''It could
have been taken back then. It could have saved us years of
heartache.''
The mother-of-three, whose elder daughter Rebecca joined
her in an emotional public appeal for information about the
abduction yesterday, said she sometimes felt numb.
''Someone was lurking around and someone had their eye on
my child,'' she said. ''When you're in bed at night and you're
alone, you think about it and sometimes you end up in tears.''
Police yesterday began the long process of interviewing
each of the 500 males aged between 18 and 45 who were employed
at the Oberon timber mill in 1997.
The head of the investigation, Detective Sergeant Peter
Smith, said most remained living in the central tablelands, but
some were spread across the country. ''I certainly think that
the employee of the Oberon timber mill that was in the amusement
centre that night holds very significant information,'' he said.
Ms Small is in no doubt her daughter, once a ''shy but
happy girl'' who liked music and fashion, is dead. ''I really
don't hold out any hope that she's alive because there's no way
she'd stay away from the family,'' she said.
Investigators plan to spend about a fortnight in Oberon
and Bathurst as part of the renewed focus on the case.
Tipster may
hold vital clue to Jessica Small's death
AAP
May
07, 201210:46AM
Jessica Small disappeared in 1997
Mill worker may hold the clue to her death
Man calls police 10 years later with
information
HOMICIDE detectives are seeking a man who provided
an anonymous tip-off about a NSW murder mystery.
Jessica Small, 15, disappeared in October 1997 after a
night at the Amuse Me games arcade in Bathurst, in the state's
central west.
It's believed she was killed after trying to hitchhike home.
Jessica and a female friend were picked up by a man in a white
Holden Commodore and the driver assaulted the girls.
Her mate escaped but Jessica was never seen again.
Police are searching for a man who contacted Bathurst police
anonymously with information about a former colleague who owned
and disposed of a white Holden Commodore around the time Jessica
vanished.
The car may also have been involved in an accident in late 1997,
police said.
The men are believed to have worked together at Oberon Timber
Mill, southeast of Bathurst.
Police have previously revealed that a mill employee was at the
games arcade the night Jessica disappeared and asked about the
teenager.
Detectives carried out interviews with past and present mill
employees in June 2011.
Officers will also travel to Western Australia in coming days to
interview other former employees.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crime
Stoppers on 1800333000.
'Shy but happy'
Jessica last heard screaming for help
Bathurst teenager Jessica Small was last heard
screaming for help in the back of a rusty Holden
Commodore driven by an unidentified man.
Almost 15 years after she vanished from Bathurst,
in the state's central west, police are now appealing
for a witness who gave them an anonymous tip-off about
the white car to contact detectives again.
The witness told investigators of a colleague in
the Bathurst area who "owned and then disposed of" a
white Holden Commodore about the time of the
15-year-old's disappearance.
The car may also have been involved in an
accident, the witness said.
This morning police said this information could be
"extremely important" to their investigation.
Jessica and a friend, also 15, had been at the
Amuse Me games arcade on Russell Street, Bathurst, on
Sunday October 26, 1997, when they tried to hitch-hike
home about 12.35am.
Police are now appealing for a witness who
gave them an anonymous tip-off about a white car
similar to this to again contact detectives.
They got in the car driven by a man, who pulled
over on Hereford Street, turned off the headlights and
assaulted the girls, police said.
The friend escaped and ran to a nearby house,
asking the residents to help Jessica.
A Herald report from the time said police
believed Jessica might have jumped from the car, only to
be dragged kicking and screaming back inside.
Jessica, the car and the driver then disappeared
from the straight stretch of road on the outskirts of
town.
Last year, the homicide squad set up camp in
Oberon, about 50 kilometres from Bathurst, to interview
about 500 people after finding a vital clue that a
timber mill employee was at the arcade that night and
was asking about Jessica.
This week police will travel to Western Australia
to continue tracking down former employees of the timber
mill.
"Someone was lurking around and someone had their
eye on my child," she said.
"When you're in bed at night and you're alone, you
think about it and sometimes you end up in tears."
Ms Small said she was in no doubt her daughter,
once a "shy but happy girl" who liked music and fashion,
was dead.
"I really don't hold out any hope that she's alive
because there's no way she'd stay away from the family."
Strike Force Carica II is investigating the
circumstances of Jessica's disappearance.
Police asked anyone with information to phone
Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Is Jessica Small's killer
in WA?
Date
Anne-Louise Brown -
WA Today
Homicide detectives from New South Wales are
heading to Western Australia in a bid to solve a
15-year-old murder mystery.
In 1997, Jessica Small, 15, was abducted after
a night out with a friend at a Bathurst amusement
centre.
About 12.35am the pair were hitch-hiking home
on Russell Street when they were picked up by a man
in a white Holden Commodore sedan.
The man stopped the car on Hereford Street at
Bathurst and turned off the headlights before
allegedly assaulting both girls and attempting to
detain them in the vehicle.
Jessica's friend managed to escape, alerting
nearby residents. Jessica, however, has not been
seen or heard from since. Police believe she was
murdered.
"I really don't hold out any hope that she's
alive because there's no way she'd stay away from
the family."
Investigators believe a male employee of the
Oberon Timber Mill was present at the amusement
centre on the night of Jessica's disappearance and
may be able to provide information relating to the
incident.
Last year, detectives canvassed past and
present mill employees, some of whom now reside in
WA.
Investigators are now asking for a witness,
who previously contacted Bathurst Police
anonymously, to again make contact with detectives.
The witness provided information relating to a
former workmate in the Bathurst area who owned and
then disposed of a white Holden Commodore around the
time of Jessica's disappearance.
This vehicle was also possibly involved in a
car accident around this time.
Anyone with information about the
disappearance of Jessica can call Crime Stoppers on
1800 333 000.
Jessica Small case: homicide
detectives’ plea to witness
HOMICIDE detectives investigating the
abduction of Bathurst teenager Jessica Small are
appealing to a witness who previously spoke to
Bathurst Police to again make contact with
detectives.
Sergeant Peter Smith, who is leading the
investigation into the 15-year-old’s presumed
murder, said the witness provided information
relating to a former workmate in the Bathurst
area who owned, and then disposed of, a white
Holden Commodore around the time of Jessica’s
disappearance.
Sgt Smith said the vehicle was also
possibly involved in a car accident around this
time.
He said investigators believe this
information is extremely important to Jessica’s
case.
“The information is really significant; we
would really like this person to make contact
again so detectives can ask some more specific
questions,” he said.
Detective Smith said the person can either
ring Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or contact
homicide detectives directly on 02 8835 8992.
Almost 12 months has passed since homicide
detectives descended on Oberon after information
came to light that an employee at one of the
town’s mills might be able to provide
information concerning Jessica’s abduction.
Investigators believe a male employee of
the Oberon Timber Mill was present at the Amuse
Me amusement centre on the night of Jessica’s
disappearance and made specific inquiries of
another person about her.
Jessica was last seen about 12.35am on
Sunday, October 26, 1997 in the Bathurst CBD,
after she and her friend Vanessa Conlon had
attended the Amuse Me amusement centre on
Russell Street earlier that night and afterwards
attempted to hitch a ride home.
The girls entered a white Holden Commodore
sedan driven by a man.
The driver stopped the car on Hereford
Street and turned off the headlights before
assaulting both girls and attempting to detain
them in the vehicle.
Vanessa managed to escape and fled the
scene, raising the alarm at a nearby house.
Jessica, however, has not been seen since.
Search for Jessica:
police to dig near Bathurst
Date
Jacinta Carroll - SMH
Cadaver dogs have been brought in to search for
the remains of Bathurst teenager Jessica Small,
after police received new information regarding her
abduction.
Homicide police investigating
the disappearance of the 15-year-old in 1997 will
today begin excavating an isolated area near
Bathurst in the hope of uncovering further evidence.
In addition to the dog squad, homicide police
will be assisted by officers from the Australian
Federal Police, who will use ground-penetrating
radar to pick up deviations in the soil in the area
to be searched.
The officer in charge of the investigation,
Detective Sergeant Peter Smith, said the federal
police unit has the most specialised officers in
Australia doing this type of work.
He said the excavation was the result of new
information received by police from a member of the
public.
Jessica and a friend, Vanessa Conlan, were
trying to hitch-hike home from the Amuse Me Games
Arcade in Bathurst when they got into a white VK or
VL Holden Commodore sedan.
When the male driver allegedly tried to
assault them in the car, Jessica's friend managed to
escape and alert nearby residents.
Jessica has not been seen or heard from since.
Detective Smith said investigators believe Jessica
was murdered shortly after her disappearance.
Police have new information that a car similar
to the one Jessica was abducted in was seen in a
riverside area at O'Connell, about halfway between
Bathurst and Oberon.
Police now believe the car was seen driving
along the Great Western Highway at Kelso with its
headlights off.
They believe the car then turned into the
O'Connell Road, travelling towards O'Connell.
"We have conducted extensive inquiries in
recent years and new information suggests a car
similar to the one Jessica was abducted in was
observed in a riverside area at O'Connell just hours
after the abduction," Detective Smith said.
"Detectives were told the car was driven to a
secluded area near the Fish River, off the O'Connell
Road, O'Connell, halfway between Bathurst and
Oberon. The car remained parked there for a
considerable period of time."
He said the excavation was expected to take
two days, and police have not ruled out the
possibility of finding Jessica's remains there.
Detective Smith said the new information was
heartening for investigators, and again encouraged
anyone with information on Jessica's disappearance
to contact homicide police or Crime Stoppers.
"I think the reality is people now realise
she's been missing for 15 years, and she hasn't run
away," he said.
Police say they are seeking information about
a male employee of the Oberon Timber Mill, who was
present at the Amuse Me amusement centre on the
night of Jessica's disappearance and may be able to
assist police.
They would also like to hear from a witness
who previously told police about a former workmate
in the Bathurst area who owned and then disposed of
a white Holden Commodore about the time of Jessica's
disappearance. That vehicle was possibly involved in
a car accident, police said.
A two day search for the remains of a
missing Bathurst teenager has been unsuccessful.
Police investigating the disappearance of Jessica Small
have used heavy machinery, radar and cadaver dogs to scour
half-an-acre of land near the O'Connell Road.
The site has been searched because a white car, similar to
the one the teenager was last seen in 15 years ago, was seen
parked there after she vanished.
Detective Sergeant Peter Smith says he will not rule out
further searches of the area.
"Not at this point," he said.
"We haven't found anything that would link us to the
matter we're investigating.
"I would have been more disappointed if we hadn't of
tried.
"If we receive any further information then we would go
back to the site, but look as far as the physical site we've
searched we're satisfied we have covered every aspect of that
site."
Police say they want to know more about a man who asked
about Jessica Small the day she went missing.
Detective Sergeant Smith says there are two men who worked
at the Oberon timber mill at the time of her disappearance who
may hold vital information.
"We have fielded that information.
"We've also received information that a male person that
worked at the timber mill was making enquiries about Jessica on
the night she went missing.
"So those two pieces of information are very interesting to us
and they still interest us to this day."
'One million reasons': Reward soars for clues into teen's
disappearance
Twenty-one years after 15-year-old Jessica Small was last seen
screaming in the back of an old white sedan, homicide
investigators have a message for the people involved, and "one
million reasons" for them to finally speak up.
"We know there are other people who haven't told us things ...
and we know that the people who weren’t involved, but know about
it, still haven’t come forward," homicide squad commander
Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said.
Jessica was last seen in the early hours of Sunday October
26, 1997, after she and a female friend attended the Amuse
Me amusement centre on Russell Street, Bathurst.
The girls entered a white-coloured sedan driven by an
unknown man, in an attempt to hitch-hike home, although both
were allegedly assaulted by the man, before Jessica’s friend
escaped.
The car then drove off with Jessica still inside, screaming,
about 12.40am.
She has not been seen or heard from since and a coronial
inquest in 2014 found that she had been murdered.
Detectives have now revealed the investigation has narrowed to locating the
old white sedan, believed to have been stolen and unregistered, as well as a
number of key suspects linked to the theft of vehicles around Bathurst at
the time of Jessica's kidnapping.
On Friday, Superintendent Cook announced a new reward of $1 million for
information about the teenager's disappearance, a tenfold increase on an
earlier reward offered in 2015.
He said it was "quite possible" police had already spoken to the people
responsible for her death.
"We know there are people who know what happened to Jessica," Superintendent
Cook said.
"We know there's people who are close to those people who were involved in
Jessica's kidnapping and we're encouraging them to come forward. There's now
a million reasons to come forward."
He said investigators were particularly interested in hearing from
anyone who was in the area of Eglinton, a Bathurst suburb, on the day
Jessica was abducted.
"We have new information regarding the vehicle that was used to abduct
Jessica and we believe it was sighted in Eglington, heading towards Hill
End."
Police have been told the man stopped the car on Hereford Street,
Bathurst, and turned off the headlights, before he assaulted the girls
and tried to detain them in the vehicle.
The last sighting of the vehicle was near Duramana Road and Willott
Close, Eglinton, travelling towards Hill End.
Over the course of the investigation, homicide detectives have looked at
more than 100 vehicles of interest, five of which were forensically
examined "in detail".
Jessica’s mother, Ricki Small, who has campaigned for a reward since her
daughter went missing, said it was great news “but not before time”.
“We’ve fought for this for so long, now we’re just really hoping for an
outcome,” Mrs Small said.
In 2011, investigators
door-knocked about 500 homes of boys and men aged 14 to 45, who worked
at the timber mill near Bathurst in 1997, although on Friday Superintendent
Cook said the current line of inquiry was no longer examining the mill, but
was related to the white vehicle.
He said the account of Jessica's friend was the only eyewitness account,
describing it as "crucial to any conviction ... down the track".
It is hoped the latest inquiries into the teenager's death will lead
investigators "to the right place to search" for her remains, he said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
The reward for information about Ms Small's disappearance was last set
at $100,000 in January 2015, which reportedly led investigators to a
number of persons of interest.
It is only the fifth time the $1 million reward has been offered by the
NSW government, after the unsolved cases of William Tyrrell, Maria
Smith, Lynette White and Raphael Joseph.
Jessica Small: The unsolved Bathurst hitch-hiker murder
When a pair of teenage girls decided to hitchhike home in a small
regional city in NSW, one of them made it out. The other didn’t.
Nathan Jolly - Nine
DECEMBER 2, 20181:41PM
Every year, Jessica Small’s mother, sister, her nephews and nieces she
never got the chance to meet, place flowers near the Hereford Street
River in honour of her short life.
The waterway — actually a small stretch of the Macquarie River — is
named as such by locals, because it is intersected by Hereford
Street.
It sits less than a kilometre from where Jessica was last seen
screaming, as her abductor sped away with her trapped in his car.
One warm Saturday night in October, 15-year-old Jessica Small and
her friend Vanessa Conlan were hanging out at a video game arcade on
busy Russell Street, in Bathurst.
As Saturday night stretched into Sunday morning, they decided to
hitchhike home, accepting a lift from a stranger: A man who drove a
white Commodore.
As his nefarious motives became clear, the two girls panicked, then
struggled.
Vanessa was able to free herself from the vehicle by ripping her
hair from the driver’s hand.
She ran away and frantically yelled for help, banging on the door of
a nearby house. She was too terrified to turn back, but assumed
Jessica was running behind her. She wasn’t.
As Jessica screamed for her life, the Commodore sped away, and
Jessica was never seen again.
This was 21 years ago. Jessica’s mother is no closer to learning the
fate of her daughter.
“You do wonder why, after all these years, nothing has come to light,”
Ricki Small said last
year, on the twentieth anniversary of her daughter’s abduction.
POLICE REFUSE TO TAKE THE CASE SERIOUSLY
It’s been a heartbreaking and frustrating two-decade stretch for the
family, filled with false hopes, alarmingly bungled leads and dangerous
assumptions.
Jessica and Vanessa were dismissed by investigators as troubled teens
and from the start, police questioned Vanessa’s version of events,
despite an investigating officer describing her years later as crying,
trembling and terrified.
“It took us about five or six minutes to calm her down to a point where
she was reasonably coherent,” he said.
Incredulously, police based their entire investigation on the premise
that the pair had faked the entire encounter, and that Small had ran
away to escape her mother, with whom she was fighting at the time.
A report made shortly after Small and Conlan were abducted complained of
a suspicious white Commodore that barrelled around a corner at high
speed with its headlights off, almost causing a crash in the early hours
of the morning.
Another witness detailed a similar vehicle that went down a never-used
bush track near her house, before parking and remaining in an extremely
secluded area for a long time.
Both reports were ignored.
Two days later, Robert Fitzpatrick called police and told them he
witnessed the struggle on Heresford Street, heard the woman screaming
from within the vehicle and heard “a little bang” before the car sped
away.
He mentioned it was a white Commodore, and gave a detailed play-by-play
of the encounter, which occurred 30 metres from his house.
After he didn’t hear back from the police, he went into the station and
gave a one-paragraph statement. This lead was ignored.
The man told an inquest he felt the police didn’t want to take his
statement. It took until 2007 for police to take a more detailed
statement and only after a strike force was formed to re-investigate the
case.
Another witness told police of a former workmate in the Bathurst area
who disposed of a white Holden Commodore at the same time Jessica
disappeared. This lead was ignored.
State Forests employee Glen Christie Johnson found a pair of female
underwear, a blanket and a bottle of bleach in an isolated area near
Bathurst. The towel and underwear were covered in what appeared to be
blood.
These items were never tested and were destroyed by police in 1998. The
first Jessica’s mum learned of this discovery was during a 2014 inquest.
William Ross, an employee of Amuse Me games, gave a detailed description
of a guy who was loitering at the arcade that same night, who asked
about Small. The man worked at the Oberon Timber Mill and commented to
Ross that Small “looks like she’s out for a good time”.
Police didn’t follow up this lead for 15 years; when they finally looked
into it, they zeroed in on two men, one of which was a timber mill
employee who was cleared. The other matched the Amuse Me worker’s
description and records show he left Bathurst for Sydney mere hours
after Small’s abduction.
Time was clearly of the essence. Still, the man is yet to be charged.
In 2012, police requested that William Ross, the Amuse Me employee, come
forward again, as he “may be able to assist police”.
This suggests they never took down his personal details when he first
spoke to police, the day after Jessica Small’s abduction, and were only
then, 15 years later, looking into this lead thoroughly.
To say the case was initially mishandled is an understatement.
In 2014, Coroner Sharon Freund called the investigation that proceeded
in the days following Jessica’s abduction, “an indictment on those
initial investigating detectives”.
“In the days and weeks following Jessica’s abduction ... their
assumptions and prejudices compromised the investigation, caused
immeasurable additional distress and hurt to the family of Jessica and
may also have put other future lives at risk.”
Mr. Spartalis, Counsel for NSW Police, made
a huge concession during the inquest, stating: “My client does
acknowledge that the early investigation, that is the investigation from
1997 to 2007, was deficient in a number of respects, largely because of
the structure of the police force as it then was - and probably based on
the views of the investigators at the time.
“There were witnesses that should have been followed up, but were not.
The significance of those witnesses we will never know. They may have
been good, they may have been bad, but nevertheless they should have
been followed up...”
To admit that a ten-year police investigation into a suspected murder
was deficient is not a light matter.
In 2012, police acted upon what they called “new information” and
pinpointed an isolated area near Bathurst they believed Small’s body
could have been buried.
This was the same area a witness reported a suspicious white Commodore
sitting for an extended period, information the police received the very
same night Jessica was abducted. This was not new information, but
rather, newly-acted-upon information.
“We have conducted extensive inquiries in recent years and new
information suggests a car similar to the one Jessica was abducted in
was observed in a riverside area at O’Connell just hours after the
abduction,” Detective Sergeant Peter Smith told
the press.
“Detectives were told the car was driven to a secluded area near the
Fish River, off the O’Connell Road, O’Connell, halfway between Bathurst
and Oberon. The car remained parked there for a considerable period of
time.”
A two-day excavation of the area revealed nothing. Still, at least the
police were no longer operating under assumptions of a runaway teen.
“I think the reality is people now realise she’s been missing for 15
years, and she hasn’t run away,” Smith admitted.
Meanwhile, Ricki Small and her family just want answers.
Ricki has long-accepted Jessica is dead, but keeps her memory alive by
talking to her grandchildren about their Aunty Jess.
“I will never give up that hope,” she said.
“I want Jessica brought home so she can be buried with dignity and as a
family we can get some type of closure.”
“At this point we would just like to know and get some answers.
“We just can’t keep living like this. How long do we have to wait?”
Cold case detectives arrest NSW man over teen rapes
Detectives investigating the cold case murder of a teenager in country
New South Wales have
charged a man over the alleged historic sexual assault of another
girl.
Earlier today a 43-year-old man from the tiny
NSW locality of Bruinbun was
arrested at Newcastle Police Station charged with two counts of
sexual intercourse without consent.
His purported victim was allegedly raped twice in the Bathurst area,
in 1994 and 1996, when she was aged 17 and 19.
The man was refused bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court today.
