Sze Wan "Sally" CHEONG

In the chilling message to a male friend Sze Wan "Sally'' Cheong said she was scared he was going to shoot her and expressed fears for her life, weeks before she vanished.

It comes after polygraph lie detectors have helped clear three men at the centre of the case, which has baffled detectives.

"I think I know what u r doing. Im afraid u gun me down, or get angry,'' Sally wrote in an email to the man on March 3, 2008.

She disappeared from her Oakleigh South home in Moresby St, on April 2, 2008, shortly before her 23rd birthday.

Extensive inquires have failed to find any trace of her or her body.

A recent fresh look at the case by the homicide squad's cold case unit has cleared the suspect she feared was going to shoot her.

Cold case squad head Ron Iddles yesterday said every other person of interest had also been exonerated by the new probe into Sally's disappearance.

"We are back to square one and really need help from the public to advance this any further,'' Det-Sen-Sgt Iddles told the Herald Sun.

"Somebody must know where she is or what happened to her and I am appealing for them to come forward.

"In the past six months we have put a lot of effort into this case.

"We have travelled to different parts of Australia to interview everybody that was associated with her.

"We have spoken to Sally's ex-boyfriends. We have looked at the person she emailed to express concern for her safety, who is one of the three men who were in her life for a period of time.

"They all have alibis and we have gone to the further extent that all have taken a polygraph lie detector test and they all passed.

"We are satisfied they had no involvement whatsoever in Sally's disappearance.''

Sen-Sgt Iddles said there was not enough evidence in the case to say whether Sally was murdered, had an accident, committed suicide or just decided to voluntarily disappear to start a new life somewhere.

"There are two main possibilities, that she has left with somebody she knew and for whatever reason something has happened to her and she has been unable to return,'' he said.

"Or for some reason she has decided that she wants to walk away from the family.

"There was some suggestion she may have got another passport when she was overseas, but we can't substantiate that.

"There are some people who say she didn't like working in her parents' factory, that she found it onerous.

"Now it may be, for whatever reason, she's decided she doesn't want that and that she can't tell her mum and dad she didn't want that life and she has decided to make a life for herself.

"What I want to say to Sally if she is out there and alive is that there is no offence in moving away from your family and if that is what she has done then to at least contact police to verify that she is actually all right.''

Sally's younger sister Helen, 26, yesterday said she and her family lived in hope that Sally would come home one day.

"My parents sometimes still speak about Sally as if she ran away,'' she said.

"I know that they do, now and then, go to China to see psychics and tarot card readers and stuff to try to get an idea of where Sally is and normally they come back and say she is living somewhere in China.

"We want to believe she has run away. I am leaning towards that she has probably run away.

"Mainly because she brought with her the little blanket that she had since childhood and that's not normal for her to just bring that out on a normal day out.

"And if something bad happened to her it would be strange for her to bring that with her, unless the person who took her knows about the blanket.

"I think there is someone out there who helped her if she did run away.

"My appeal is for anyone who knows anything about her disappearance to step forward because we are very certain someone out there knows something.

"If Sally reads this I would appeal to her to make contact with police or a family member so we know she is all right.

"We want her to know we all miss her and that life is very different without her and it would be nice for her to come back.''

Ms Cheong said Sally had come back to Melbourne in early 2008 after spending a year in China studying and had spoken about wanting more freedom.

"That's not normally something she would normally have expressed to me,'' she said.

"When she came back from China she talked about being free, wanting to do what she wanted.

"Whereas before she was more the type that stuck with the family.

"It was the first time she said anything about freedom. That suggests that something was a bit off.''

Ms Cheong said the disappearance of Sally shattered their mother Kim, father Wa Chong and the couple's three other children, Anna, Wendy and Andrew.

Mr Cheong got home from a business trip to Adelaide about 10pm on April 1, 2008, and after having something to eat he went into Sally's room about 11pm to leave a set of keys to the family Tarago van on her dressing table.

He later told police he softly called Sally's name, but she didn't wake up.

It was some hours later, about 3am on April 2, that Sally's sister Wendy, 14 at the time, saw Sally up and about.

Wendy told police she was on her computer in her bedroom, which she shared with her sister Anna, who was 17 at the time, shortly before 3am when she heard a noise in the hallway.

Presuming it was her mother, Wendy quickly hopped into bed with her laptop and pretended to be asleep as she knew her mother would be angry if she discovered she was messaging her boyfriend on her computer so early in the morning.

When her mother didn't come into the room, Wendy looked through her partially open bedroom door and saw somebody standing initially outside her sister Helen's room and then outside Sally's room.

She told police she heard a low male voice saying what she thought was "yeah'' and while she couldn't see well enough to identify who it was she presumed it was Helen's boyfriend as he had come into the house in the early hours many times before.

Wendy then saw Sally walking down the hallway from what she thought was the toilet area.

Not suspecting something might be wrong, Wendy didn't get up to talk to Sally or the male she heard speaking and went to sleep about 3.30am.

When the Cheong family members woke up the next morning they initially thought Sally was still asleep in her room.

Her father was the first to get up about 7.30am. He found the keys to his BMW and his Asian food wholesale business on the floor outside his bedroom and presumed Sally had put them there as she had been driving the BMW.

Sally's younger brother Andrew answered the phone at home about 9am and was asked to give Sally their father's mobile phone to bring to the family business in Keysborough, where Sally worked, as Mr Cheong had forgotten to bring it with him.

When Andrew couldn't find Sally he gave the phone to Anna instead, presuming Sally had already left the house for work.

It wasn't until about 1pm that day that family members suspected something was wrong.

Anna texted Helen about 10am asking if she knew where Sally was. Helen replied that she was probably with her boyfriend and that she would check with him.

Helen wasn't able to contact Sally's boyfriend until 1pm and he said he wasn't with Sally and didn't know where she was.

It was then that police were called in.

Helen told police she heard Sally's mobile and landline phones ringing in her bedroom repeatedly between 10.30pm and 11pm on the night before she was discovered missing. She said Sally had not answered the calls.

Police have since discovered Sally's mobile phone has not been used since the night before she disappeared and none of her bank accounts have been accessed.

They also discovered a number of Sally's personal items were missing from her room, including her wallet, car keys, iPod and a blanket she had been attached to since childhood.

Police presume Sally took them with her when she left home - either willingly or unwillingly - with the male her sister Wendy heard in the house in the early hours of April 2.

She left behind her passport and car.

One of Sally's closest friends, Catherine Chia, 27, who she met in her first year at the prestigious Presbyterian Ladies' College in Burwood, wrote an emotional plea for help on her blog last year.

The blog post was prompted by the disappearance and death of Jill Meagher.

"I hope you don't think that I'm being opportunistic, but seeing this story played out though the news and social media has been a very personal reminder for me,'' Ms Chia said on her blog.

"In the early hours of the 2nd of April, 2008, my dear friend Sally Sze Wan Cheong went missing from her home in Oakleigh South and has not been seen or heard from since.

"She was last seen in their family home around 3am by one of her sisters, and when she failed to turn up for work at the family business the next day, the alarm was raised.

"She left the house somewhere between those times with her wallet, phone, iPod, car keys and a blanket that she had had since she was a baby... however, that is where the clues end.

"Her phone was switched off by noon, her credit cards and bank account remain untouched, and her car was still parked safely in its spot when I went to see the family shortly after her disappearance.

"Sally was a gorgeous girl, with an infectious laugh, and the carest, kindest, most trusting nature. Perhaps a little too trusting.

"When we met in the first week of high school, she was a timid little soul but we connected and became firm friends. Over the years, she blossomed from that timid little girl I had first met into the most likable social butterfly.

"Sally was everyone's friend. You would be hard pressed to find a person who did not like her. Actually, scrap that. You just would not be able to; it was impossible.

She was known for her love of cameras, and she would follow you around the hallways just hoping to snap a candid shot.

"I know this whole spiel sounds like something people say in hindsight, to not speak ill of those gone, but every single word of this is the truth.

"The only fault I can find with her is the fact that she was TOO good; too friendly and too caring, and since she was everyone's friend I had to share her time with a million others!

"I suppose that's one of the things that could have been a downfall in the end and lead to her disappearance.

"She had so many friends and was so caring and trusting, and would try to help anyone in need, no questions asked.

"We can only assume she crossed paths with the wrong type of person, and would not have suspected a thing because she only ever saw the good in people.

"Her family and friends still live in the hope that she is out there somewhere, and will some day eventually return home to us safely. So I guess this is the point of my post.

"I'm asking if you could please keep your eyes and ears peeled.

"This media attention for Jill Meagher means that every person in Melbourne is keeping a watchful eye, hoping to find clues to assist in the case.

"Please be on the look out for one more person, and perhaps help find an answer to our questions?

"I know that four years is a very long time to be gone, but we're still hopeful, and every extra pair of eyes that are looking out for her helps our chances.

"The worst thing about when someone goes missing like this is the uncertainty. Friends and family don't know whether to grieve, or remain positive and hopeful. There is no closure on the matter. "We don't know whether she suffered, or whether she is still suffering. We don't know if we'll ever see her again, and we don't know what more there is that we can do to try and find her.

"But what we do know is that we are hoping with ever fibre of our being that she is happy and safe, and that some day she will return home to us.

"That day, should it ever eventuate, will be the most joyous of occasions

"Sally, if you're out there, we still love you and miss you more than ever. All we want is for you to be back with us where you belong. You're never too far from my thoughts, and no matter how much time goes by I won't ever stop hoping I'll see your pretty face again.''

Ms Chia yesterday said she and Sally's other friends and family wanted to believe Sally had run away as that was preferable to her having had an accident or been harmed.

"But she wasn't really the sort of person to have done that, to have left her family and her friends worrying about her,'' she said.

"If she is alive my appeal to her is to let somebody know she is alive. There would be no questions asked, we would just rather know she is all right.

"The not knowing is the worst thing.''

Sen-Sgt Iddles yesterday appealed to anyone with information about Sally to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Helen's sister went missing eight years ago. To this day, no-one knows where she is.

Approximately eight years ago, on the second of April 2008, my family experienced a tragedy.

Back then, the nine of us lived together under one roof in a suburban Melbourne house. There was Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mum, my older sister Sally, my two younger sisters, and my brother.

We were the typical Chinese family. We respected our elders, came home on time for dinner, helped out with the family business when we could, kept face and studied hard.

The day before Sally disappeared, she, my boyfriend, my brother and I played tennis together. Afterwards we went home as usual, had dinner together as usual, then locked ourselves in our rooms as usual.

The next day, I went to work and everyone else did the same. That same morning, I received a call and was told Sally hadn’t shown up at work. Initially I shrugged it off, assuming she was just with her boyfriend.

However, as the day progressed it was clear Sally was nowhere to be found. She had disappeared.

What happened after that was a blur. The family was frantic; everyone was emotional, there were tears, anger, silence and pain. Desperation of all things consumed us all. We were desperate for answers.

Instead, I was led to believe my whole family suspected I was hiding something; that I knew where Sally was, that I would go to jail if I didn’t cooperate and that I was a liar. My life was crumbling in front of me as I endured the interrogation by the many people there.

Being told you know something, despite knowing nothing, was suffocating and mentally challenging. I was in tears. As hard as it is for me to admit this, I wanted to end my life.

My life after Sally’s disappearance has been full of pain and regret. Every time I’ve thought of her I have cried and experienced stabbing pains in my head. I would ask myself, 'Why me? Why Sally? Why did Sally leave? What happened to her? What is she doing? Is she in pain? Is she hurting? Is she OK?'

This was the impact Sally’s disappearance had on a 21-year-old. I have since sought counselling and have been able to continue life acknowledging Sally and my past without anchoring myself to the pain I felt at that time.

This was my frayed edge.

A few words of advice for someone living with the endless torture of not knowing: Look around you, your family, loved ones, friends and ask yourself, do you really know them? Have they shared with you their feelings about life?

When I recollect my conversations with Sally I realise I didn’t know my sister that well at all; at least not on the inside. I didn’t know how she truly felt about coming back from Beijing, how she felt about working for Mum and Dad, or how she felt about living at home again. Sally was a reserved person and never openly shared her feelings. So, focus your attention on those you don’t know well because they may be suffering in silence.

Listen to your loved ones particularly listen out for signs of distress. Months before Sally returned from Beijing she mentioned her desire to extend her stay in Beijing. Thinking little about it, I told my parents, which made Sally extremely upset. Don’t shrug it off when you see your loved one upset; take the time and effort to understand why.

For those thinking of leaving home, think about the damage your absence will create to the loved ones left behind. When Sally went missing, I witnessed my family in states I’ve never seen before: my grandfather crying, my dad confused between anger and tears, and my mum as I have never seen her before. One night as she was crying in agony, she ran from inside the house towards the pond in our garden and jumped. She then continued to sob, soaking in the water with fish surrounding her. Seeing my mother in this weak state left me crushed and has scarred me for life.

Stay connected with the people around you, whether it be through a phone call, message or a meet-up. Sally had such a large network of family and friends that she was always connected with someone on a daily basis. It was because of this we were able to identify that she was missing straight away. When a person goes missing, every minute counts.

For the families out there with missing people in their lives, continue to have hope, as hope is all we have of seeing our loved ones again. Cherish the memories you have of those missing people and do not let blame, suffering and regret linger in your lives. Your families, friends and the community are here to help you through the tough time and there are support services available for these families.

I will be forever grateful to the efforts by the Australian Federal Police in creating awareness for the impact of missing persons to the community. Missing people leave frayed edges in our lives, but if we work together to prevent them from going missing and stay connected, the community will be better off.

This is an edited version of a speech Helen Cheong delivered for National Missing Persons week. For more info go here.

'My Sister Has Been Missing For Nine Years'

Towards night-time, we started rummaging through her room, we contacted the police, but they had a 24-hour policy for missing people so we went back the next morning.

We checked her Facebook, logged in to her computer and tried to contact all her friends. We also drove around the neighbourhood hoping that she was just out or around the streets, hoping we could see through the houses. When I look back, we were just really desperate.

My sister Wendy had seen a silhouette outside her room the night that Sally disappeared. The police looked at Sally’s bank account and her phone, which hadn’t been used, so they weren’t able to track her location from that.

Sally also took her favourite blanket that she had since she was young, and it was really tattered. That blanket would suggest she did run away, unless someone knew about it. I don’t see why she would bring it unless she knew that she was going to go permanently.

But she had left her passport at home, so the suggestion was that if she did run away, she had somehow managed to get a fake passport from someone. They do believe that someone else was involved, or someone out there had done something, because of the silhouette Wendy saw.

Before she disappeared, Sally had just come back to Melbourne from a one-year trip to Beijing. At the time she probably didn’t know what she wanted to do in life. She was a bit confused with her career, because she studied Computer Science and couldn’t really find a job, so perhaps she was looking at helping mum and dad with the business.

When she came back, I felt like she had changed a little. We knew that she had made a lot of Chinese friends and her Chinese dramatically improved.

She sounded like she wanted more freedom. I had one or two conversations where I remember her saying something like, "Don’t you feel like you just want to get out?" I remember we were in the car, we had just finished tennis, and it was the first time she indicated that she wanted to get out and be free.

For me, that was really, really unusual because she was always the one who had a stable boyfriend and wanted to help out with the family, and just do everything by the family traditions.

Nine years on, Sally is still missing. I do hope she’s out there and that she’s just lost her way a bit and hopefully will come back. I don’t want to say that I don’t have any hope, but it just feels more distant, the chances are lower now. Obviously, the fear is that she has met with foul play along the way. 

I think investigators have exhausted a lot of their options, but I’m sure they’re still monitoring bank accounts and all that. The Victoria Missing Persons Unit have been really good in getting Sally’s face out there and creating more awareness.

As a family, we don’t really discuss [her disappearance] a lot, so as time goes by, it becomes more distant. Every year I get reminded, and I’m always the person who speaks about it. I look at my family, and everyone looks very happy, but inside I don’t know what they’re feeling

As for my dad and my mum, they get very emotional when they see her picture. That happened when I got married, I put up a picture of my sister on the screen and my dad was in tears.

My sisters, they’ve been good, and I think my brother was too young to be able to know my sister.

My sister Anna—the third one—she probably was the closest after me with Sally. She’s hard to read, let’s put it that way. We watch her closely because the quiet ones, the ones that don’t tell you how they feel, are the ones that keep a lot inside. So I do try to talk to her about it.

When people ask me how many siblings I have, at one point I told them there’s only four of us. If they’re close to me and they want to know, I will tell them we’ve got five and explain what happened with Sally. It’s hard.

Growing up, I don’t think I ever really told Sally that I love her, or indicated that I appreciated her at all. Ever. It was like I took her for granted as my older sister, and just wanted her to suffer all the responsibilities.

If I had the chance again, I’d definitely tell her how much I appreciate her and how much I love her. Now, I live through each day telling everyone how much I appreciate them and love them, and it just comes more naturally, whereas before it didn’t.

You just never know when you’re going to get the chance again, so you cherish the moment.

Anyone with information relating to a missing person is urged to contact their local police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Insight, Missing

Transcript

JENNY BROCKIE: Hi, I'm Jenny Brockie, welcome everyone, good to have you here tonight. Helen, your sister Sally went missing in Victoria five years ago. Now when was she last seen?
 

HELEN CHEONG: So my sister Wendy she last saw her on the 2nd of April at about 3 am, she saw a man in front of her bedroom and I don't think she saw Sally specifically but she saw someone in front of her room and that was the last time anyone has had in contact with her I suppose.

JENNY BROCKIE: And this was in the house she saw someone?
 

HELEN CHEONG: Yes.

JENNY BROCKIE: Did she know who that person was?
 

HELEN CHEONG: Well, she couldn't really see that person - it was sort of like a silhouette because there was something in front of her bedroom, her bed, so it was sort of covering who that person was.

JENNY BROCKIE: Do you have any idea what might have happened? Anna, it's your sister as well, do you have any idea what's happened to Sally?

ANNA CHEONG: Um, I think our main assumption right now is that she probably ran away. Mainly because she took her blanket or what basically was what was left behind. She took her blanket actually she's had ever since she was a baby and that was basically about it.

HELEN CHEONG: That was a big factor, yeah.

ANNA CHEONG: And that was the biggest factor where we were like if she had ran away, that's probably what she would have taken instead of being abducted.

JENNY BROCKIE: Now she'd been living in China for a year just before this had happened?

HELEN CHEONG: Correct.

JENNY BROCKIE: And she'd been in a relationship there in China?

ANNA CHEONG: Yes. We don't know much about it. In terms of we know she had someone over there.

JENNY BROCKIE: How old was she?

HELEN CHEONG: She was 22 when she disappeared.

JENNY BROCKIE: Is it out of character for her to just go off like this, was she close to the family?

HELEN CHEONG: I think something must have changed her when she went to China. She must have felt a bit of freedom, independence, I think that's, that's probably what influenced her to run away, possibly.

JENNY BROCKIE: So you're quite convinced she's run away?

ANNA CHEONG: That's what we really hope.

JENNY BROCKIE: Now your mum had a polygraph test done on all the siblings?

HELEN CHEONG: That's right.

JENNY BROCKIE: By a private investigator.

HELEN CHEONG: Correct.

JENNY BROCKIE: Why?

HELEN CHEONG: I think 'cause it was upon the private investigator's suggestion that we should cancel out all immediate family in case we knew something and then move on to anyone outside the family - that was just their standard procedure.

JENNY BROCKIE: And what happened with that test?

HELEN CHEONG: Basically all my sisters and brothers went through the test and they passed and I didn't. But I think it's because I was really nervous at the time and I was an emotional wreck. But I don't know. Look, to this day I don't know why I failed it.

JENNY BROCKIE: What was it like for you?

HELEN CHEONG: It was a big shock. Like I didn't expect to fail it and I honestly did not know anything so to me I just couldn't understand it, I can’t explain it.

ANNA CHEONG: I think it's like - it kind of was a shock as in parents asking us because they don't trust us. That's what we felt like.

JENNY BROCKIE: I mean this is really interesting because it really shows the ripple effects that some of these things can have.

ANNA CHEONG: Correct.

JENNY BROCKIE: Ron, what did police make of this case in Victoria?

DET. SNR. SGT. RON IDDLES, VICTORIA POLICE: Look, these are very difficult cases but right from the start, on the basis that Wendy had seen a man in the house at about, I think it's 1.30, 2 o'clock, she was actually on Skype and talking to someone in America and she made a comment, "I think Helen's boyfriend's here." So all of a sudden the following morning Sally is no longer there. So we have some information, we know that there's a man in the house early hours of the morning. I think initially the family probably weren't happy with the police response and they engaged a private investigator.

JENNY BROCKIE: What weren't they happy with Ron?

DET. SNR. SGT. RON IDDLES: Well they weren't happy that we hadn't located Sally. Sometimes I think there's a communication problem. I always insist that the guys who work with me keep the family updated. I think the police officer who originally did this job, because of some communication barriers, maybe not had communicated properly, but the whole thing for us to was to determine whether or not she'd met with foul play. But if you go back to some of the things - she took her baby security blanket with her. If someone's come in the house to abduct her and drag her out of the house, you're not going to go and get your security blanket. We've forensically examined the house, there is no blood, there is no sign of a struggle. She normally slept with the bedroom door open. That night, for whatever reason, she had the bedroom door shut. She left her dad's keys just outside the door for his BMW. It was like well dad, there's the keys for the car, I won't be coming back. Now sometimes it's difficult for families to comprehend or understand she didn't want to work in her dad's business, right?

JENNY BROCKIE: Is that right Helen?

HELEN CHEONG: I can't confirm that I but I guess - I personally worked at my parents and I didn't enjoy it but that's a personal choice. So I don't know.

DET. SNR. SGT. RON IDDLES: So here's a girl who's gone overseas, got a little bit of freedom, saved up some money, did have another relationship with someone in China, doesn't want to work in the family business. We've eliminated to the best we can foul play - I think what's happened is she's gone away and started a new life.

JENNY BROCKIE: And Helen and Anna, your response to that?

ANNA CHEONG: You're asking us five years down the track.

JENNY BROCKIE: Yes.

ANNA CHEONG: I would agree. Yeah, I probably wouldn't have side that two, three years ago.

HELEN CHEONG: Yes.

ANNA CHEONG: All you can hope is she'll come back and say hi to us again.

HELEN CHEONG: Yeah, well when Sally first went missing we were pretty sure she went missing and that night we went to the local police station and they pretty much told us that she has to be missing for at least twenty four hours for them to do anything so at that point we just had to go home and wait for the next morning to report that she was still missing, which she was.

JENNY BROCKIE: What's the message you want to get out tonight, Helen, Anna?

HELEN CHEONG: I just felt like Sally was a very private person, like even though she was really friendly, outgoing and talk a lot about everything, she didn't really talk about her personal life to people close to her. And just be aware if you have families or really close friends that don't say much about their personal life, that maybe you should try to get to know them a little bit better because they might be having issues or depression that you don't even know about.

JENNY BROCKIE: Anna?

ANNA CHEONG: I think out of the experience, I was in year 12, I have changed a lot since then and I've been a little bit more open - told my sister a lot more than I would have when I was younger. I was a grumpy person, didn't talk, didn't say anything, and I think now it's helped a lot and"¦.

JENNY BROCKIE: So you've learned something from it?

ANNA CHEONG: Definitely, yeah, definitely.