The NSW government has doubled the reward for information about two Sydney couples who disappeared 27 years ago.

Alan Fox, 21, and Anneke Adriaansen, 20, left Berowra Waters, just north of Sydney, in January 1979, intending to hitch-hike to northern NSW, and were last seen in Kempsey.

Michelle Pope, 20, and Stephen Lapthorne, 21, disappeared in August 1978, after setting out by car from West Pymble to Berowra.

NSW Police Minister Carl Scully today offered $100,000 for information about the couples, saying it was time their families were able to close the book.

"It has been almost thirty years since these young couples disappeared. Their families deserve to have this traumatic matter resolved," he said in a statement.

"I appeal to anybody who has information about their disappearance to come forward and help police end these perplexing mysteries."

NSW Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich issued death certificates for both the couples in August last year and recommended rewards be re-initiated for information that might help find their bodies.

$100,000 reward over 'cold cases'
By Alex Mitchell - SMH
May 28, 2006

The disappearances of two separate couples more than 25 years ago in circumstances of suspected foul play have resurfaced as "cold cases" worthy of the top-rating television series.

In the incidents in 1978 and 1979, the couples mysteriously vanished, leaving their families and friends distressed and detectives completely baffled.

Now Police Minister Carl Scully has doubled the reward to $100,000 for any information about their disappearance and the arrest of those responsible.

 COLD CASE ONE Michelle Pope, 18, and Stephen Lapthorne, 21, were last seen travelling on August 25, 1978, from his West Pymble home to her Berowra home.

The couple vanished and Lapthorne's lime green Bedford van has never been located.

 COLD CASE TWO Allan Fox, 19, and his girlfriend Anneke Adriaansen, 17, left Berowra Heights on January 11, 1979, to hitchhike to Kempsey and Byron Bay.

They were last seen on January 12, but then vanished and have never been seen again.

Referring to the Pope-Lapthorne case, Mr Scully said: "Detectives initially suspected they were murdered and their bodies buried in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, but they have also not ruled out death by misadventure.

"All leads received since their disappearance were followed up without success."

In August last year, Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich held an inquest into the couple's disappearance and issued death certificates for both, before handing down an open finding as to the date, time and cause of death.

Accepting the coroner's call for the reward to be increased, Mr Scully said: "The families of Michelle and Stephen deserve to have this traumatic matter resolved."

Mr Scully said Fox and Adriaansen were travelling north to Upper Burringbar, south of Murwillumbah, to buy land, but neither was ever heard from again.

"Mr Milovanovich has asked that consideration be given to re-initiating rewards for information that helps police find their bodies and arrest those responsible," Mr Scully said.

"Accordingly, I have approved a doubling of the reward to $100,000 in the hope that further information may be forthcoming."

Mr Scully said police believed the couple died in suspicious circumstances, adding: "It has been almost 27 years since this young couple disappeared.

"Perhaps somebody who was afraid to come forward with information at the time may now feel they can help police.

"I appeal to anybody who has any information that could help police to come forward and give the families the closure they need."

 Fox's mother, Enid, was delighted when told about the reward. "It's taken 27 years, which is ridiculous, but I think it's a very good idea," Mrs Fox told The Sun-Herald.

"You just don't know, but hopefully it might make somebody think maybe they can offer some information. Obviously, somebody does know something."
 

Bones in sand dunes reveal a murder mystery

By Kara Lawrence

November 27, 2007 01:00am

Article from:

 

IT is a murder mystery buried beneath tonnes of sand for more than three decades.

But the sands of time may soon give up their grisly secret with revelations human bones found at the site belong to a man and a woman.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal forensic tests carried out on the bones, dug up during construction of the new desalination plant in Kurnell - near Botany Bay in Sydney's south - show they are the remains of two people who died less than 50 years ago.

And it is understood that rubbish found with some of the bones date them to more recent times - from the 1970s onwards.

This has raised speculation they may belong to one of a number of couples who vanished from New South Wales in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Carbon dating tests on the bones have been conducted in New Zealand and the bones are being sent to the US for extraction of DNA.

There is still no clue as to whether the pair were murdered, died accidentally, or even died together.

However, the dating of the bones has ruled out the prospect they were ancient Aboriginal bones, as was originally suspected due to their location at Kurnell.

The discovery of the bones was first made in early October when workers digging in sand dunes unearthed a shin bone. The following week, 300m away, ribs and other, smaller bones were discovered nearby in sandy scrubland off Sir Joseph Banks Drive.

This was followed by the unearthing of a pelvis and foot bones - still wearing a sock - nearby.

A forensic pathologist and an anthropologist from the University of Sydney were called to the scene to examine the bones and police conducted excavation of the area and sent in cadaver dogs.

The Daily Telegraph understands that police are skeptical the remains could be victims of jailed underworld figure Neddy Smith, whose alleged dumping ground was Botany.

It is understood that while police have conducted an initial check of missing persons records, the search criteria is seen as too wide.

However, there are three high-profile cases of missing couples dating back 30 years that remain unsolved.

Michelle Pope, 18, and her boyfriend Stephen Lapthorne, 21, went missing in August 1978 after leaving his north-west Sydney home in a green van.

Alan Fox, 21, and his fiancee Anneke Adriaansen, 19, have been formally declared dead by a coroner after disappearing during a trip to Byron Bay in January 1979.

Joanne Lacey and Leslie Toshack, both 20, were reported missing to police in early 1981 and had planned to hitchhike up the coast.

The Kurnell bones will be tested in the US for mitochondrial DNA - a form of DNA which lasts longer than nuclear DNA in bones and runs in the maternal line.

In the past two years, a DNA testing program has led to relatives of 84 people who had gone missing as far back as the 1960s, supplying DNA. This DNA is for comparison to almost 150 sets of unidentified remains.

Police said that so far this program had resulted in six missing people being matched to remains.

The Kurnell site is also a short distance from the still-unsolved Wanda Beach murders.

Best friends Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt, both aged 15, went missing from Cronulla's Wanda Beach in January 1965 and their bodies were found in the sand the following day.