Kylee-Ann SCHAFFER
Kylee-Ann SCHAFFER
Photos above - Kylee at her Year 12 Formal.
| Sex: | Female | ||
| Date of Birth: | 1985 |
| Age when missing: | 19 | Height (cm): | 165.0 | Build: | Solid |
| Hair Colour: | Blonde | Eye Colour: | Brown | Complexion: | Medium |
| Nationality: | Racial Appearance: | Caucasian |
| Circumstances - Kylee
Schaffer was last
seen on Saturday 11 September 2004 walking into bushland near Wilson Road,
Willawarrin, NSW, after a party.
**Kylee's sister Karen and the rest of Kylee's family are desperately worried about her. Karen has these words -
"Our world was torn apart
when Kylee left us, she is such a kind hearted, beautiful person and we
are heartbroken without her. I just hope that she knows how much we love
and miss her. The situation surrounding Kylee's disappearance is sketchy
to say the least but someone must know something. Kylee will turn 21 in
August this year and we will not rest until we know where she is. "
Karen has authorised me to publish her Hotmail e mail address if Kylee or anyone with information wishes to contact her directly - kazzba13@hotmail.com |
Click here to join the Facebook group to Help Find Kylee
"Hey aunty Kylee if u are really gone im sorry I never got to meet you.
Dad says I look like a spitting image of you"
Posted by tarsha ann schaffer, 15/05/2009
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Tuesday, September 14, 2004. 9:03 AM (AEST)
Search continues for missing Kempsey teen - ABC
The search has resumed for a teenager missing from her Kempsey home since the
weekend.
Kylee Schaffer, 19, went to a party on Friday and stayed overnight at a property
on Wilson Lane Willawarren.
She was last seen wandering into nearby bush on Saturday morning.
State Emergency Service volunteers aided by Polair, police crews and local
residents searched the area yesterday.
She is described as European in appearance, 165 to 170cm tall, about 70
kilograms and has dyed brown hair and brown eyes.
She was last seen wearing a dark blue or black T-shirt and brown pants.
The search began at 7:00am AEST.
Search continues for missing teenager
September 15, 2004 - 1:24PM - SMH
A search for a teenage girl who went missing on the NSW north coast after
attending a friend's party has entered its fifth day.
Kylee-Ann Schaffer, 19, attended a party on Friday night at a property in
Willawarrin, west of Kempsey, and stayed overnight, NSW Police said.
About 8am (AEST) on Saturday, she had breakfast and told friends she was going
for a walk through bushland near the property.
Her friends became concerned when she had not returned by lunchtime and began
searching the property themselves.
By Sunday afternoon neither her parents nor friends had made contact with Ms
Schaffer, police said.
Police searched the property and neighbouring areas until nightfall with SES
volunteers, PolAir, a sniffer dog and local residents continuing the search on
Monday.
The search will continue today with more than 100 local residents on motorcycles
and four-wheel drives joining the effort.
Ms Schaffer is described as being of white European appearance, 165-170cm tall,
70-80kg, brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts is urged to contact police.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004. 8:31 AM (AEST)
Search continues for missing Kempsey woman - ABC
A search will resume this morning in areas west of Kempsey, on New South Wales'
north coast, for a woman who has been missing since Saturday morning.
More than 100 volunteers have searched about 25 square kilometres of bushland
but failed to find any sign of 19-year-old Kylee Schaffer.
She was last seen walking into bush near a property at Willawararrin on Saturday
morning after staying in the area for a Friday night party.
SES volunteers, police and local residents have been helped by Polair and a
sniffer dog.
There is mounting concern for the girl's welfare, with the search area due to be
widened.
Thursday, September 16, 2004. 12:23 PM (AEST)
Authorities suspend missing teen search - ABC
The search for a Kempsey teenager missing from home since the weekend has been
suspended.
Another extensive search yesterday found no trace of Kylee Schaffer, 19, who was
last seen wandering into bushland at Willawarrin, west of Kempsey, on Saturday
morning.
Acting Inspector Robert White has been coordinating the search and says Kylee's
family has been involved in the entire operation and is satisfied every effort
has been made to find their daughter.
Yesterday's search involved about 70 State Emergency Service (SES) and Rural
Fire Service volunteers, friends and family of the missing girl on foot,
trailbikes, horseback and four-wheel drives.
Inspector White says they covered about 80 square kilometres of rugged terrain,
bushland and fire trails.
"Officially the police and SES search for this area has been suspended until we
get further information," he said.
"If there's something else that any members of the community can tell us we'll
re-instigate the search in that area."
Miss Schaffer was 19 when she went missing from a property near Willawarrin on September 11, 2004, after attending a party.
She was last seen by guests walking alone into dense bushland surrounding the property.
A huge land and air search involving police, emergency services and volunteers failed to find any trace of her.
Described as being of solid build, with dyed hair, brown eyes and about 165cm tall, Kylee Ann is what police refer to as a long term missing person - that is someone missing for six months or longer - usually an adult.
In the past year 140 people have gone missing from the Mid North Coast region.
All but two of those have since been located.
Thirteen people have been reported missing more than once.
A 13-year-old boy and a 14 and 15-year-old girl were reported missing three times in the 12 months since July 2007.
Girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are the demographic most likely to go missing.
Of the 140 people who have gone missing in the past year, 98 were teenagers between the ages of 10 and 19 including 63 girls and 35 boys.
Anxiety, depression, alcohol, drug use and family disunity are the main reasons why people go missing from their homes.
This year Missing Persons Week is focusing on communication between young people and their families.
Police encourage teenagers who do go missing to communicate with family, friends or the authorities and let them know they are safe.
If you know of a person who has gone missing, attend your local police station to file a missing persons report or phone the Police Assistance Line on 131 444 and the operator will arrange for an officer to come to see you.
When filing a report it will help police if you can provide a recent photograph of the missing person, a list of names, addresses and phones numbers of friends and associates, likely destinations, medical requirements, a full description of the person and bank account details.
If you have any information on Kylee Ann Schaffer or any other missing person please call the Missing Persons Unit on 1800 025 091.
An inquest into the disappearance and suspected death of Miss Schaffer was held at Kempsey Coroners Court on Tuesday.
Presiding magistrate Wayne Evans ruled that on the balance of probabilities he was satisfied Miss Schaffer was deceased, but how, where, and by whom, he could not determine.
Kylee-Ann’s parents, Peter and Sue, and sister, Karen, were present for Mr Evans’ ruling, as were some of the police officers involved in the investigation into her disappearance.
The court heard evidence from one of the investigating detectives that on September 11, 2004, Ms Schaffer had left a party at a friend’s house near Willawarrin, telling those present she was going home.
Detective Sergeant David Frewin said Ms Schaffer, 19, had walked into thick bushland in an easterly direction, but that her home lay to the west of the property where the party was being held.
“That can be explained because she would have needed to go in that direction to get up on a ridge where there was a fire trial that could take her home,” Detective Sergeant Frewin said.
Police established four hypotheses as to what might have happened to Kylee-Ann - self harm, misadventure (an accident), foul play or a new identity.
Mr Evans ruled on the balance of the evidence available she was deceased.
He said she had not been in contact with her family since the night of her disappearance.
“They were a close family and there is no reason she wouldn’t have contacted them,” he said.
Similarly, there was no evidence she was suffering from an illness and she had not attended any health services seeking assistance.
Mr Evans said there was also no evidence her tax file number had been used since her disappearance or her bank accounts accessed.
At the conclusion of the inquest Peter Schaffer passed on his thanks to police for the thorough nature of their investigation.
Mr Evans extended his sincere sympathies to the Schaffer family and ordered Kylee-Ann’s file be retained at the State Coroner’s office.
Detective Sergeant Frewin said the case would remain open despite the coroner’s ruling.
“There is no suggestion from us that this matter is closed,” he said.
“We’ll pursue any information any member of the public is able to provide.”
Anyone with information on Kylee- Ann or other missing persons in the Kempsey area is urged to contact Kempsey Police on 6563 7199 or the NSW Police Force Missing Persons Unit on 1800 025 091.
"I'm a strong woman, but it's hard. It's hard not having any answers about what happened to my daughter," she said.
When 19-year-old Kylee went missing from the tiny town of Willawarrin (pop. 300), people noticed. Everyone knew her. One morning she had told her mates she was going for a bushwalk.
That was the last Willawarrin saw of Kylee-Ann Schaffer. It was 2004.
There was a huge air and ground search. Willawarrin is in the New South Wales mid north coast region, surrounded by farms and state forests. After a few days, Kylee's mother heard a couple in the search party say, "We're looking for a body now."
"That just completely devastated her and her father," Kylee's sister, Karen, told Hack.
Six years later, the state coroner ruled Kylee "likely deceased due to misadventure". Kylee's body hasn't been found, the family still don't have any answers, and there is no ongoing police investigation. Karen and Kylee's father passed away in 2014.
Every year, 35 000 people are reported missing, and about 1600 of these remain missing - they're not located within three months.
The hardship of those left behind is often not recognised, according to Liz Davies, who coordinates NSW's Family and Friends of Missing Persons Unit - a small team of social workers and psychologists who work with those who are left behind.
"There is often a focus on searching and investigating which is very important but there are also questions about the emotional and support needs for families and how they are responded to and met," she said.
"We are the only unit funded by government in the country. There isn't a similar family and friends of missing persons unit in any other state."
According to Nicole Morris, who runs the Australian Missing Persons Register, the attention given to high-profile missing persons cases, like Daniel Morcombe or William Tyrell, means some families feel like they have been forgotten.
"Recently because the $1 million reward [in the case of William Tyrell] was announced, and that greatly upset the families because they all said 'well hang on a minute, isn't our missing person worth a million dollars? Why is there $1 million on that case and not ours?'"
Dr Sarah Wyland is a social worker and researcher who works with families of missing persons.
She said that over time the nature of a family's hope changes.
"What I found was that hope had two streams, and that as time shifted it became less about hope for the physical return of the missing person and for many people, particularly 10 to 15 years after the person vanished, a real sense of hope for themselves."
"Particularly this was the case of older participants who were starting to ponder 'what if I live out the rest of my days and I never know what happened? How am I going to wrestle that? How am I going to sit with that?' And for them, hope then became softer."
In the case of Kylee-Ann Schaffer's family, one of the siblings suffered mental health issues and couldn't finish school. Karen said everyone was deeply affected.
"No one was ever the same," she said.
"You sort of start moving on with you life, It's always in your mind. I found a lot that I was noticing people that looked like her, you become a little bit of a stalker.
"Is that her? Then you follow them a bit. I think deep down you know that it's not but you hope so much that it might be that person."
Along with the emotional trauma, when someone goes missing families can be left struggling to deal with all their life admin. This came to a head a few years ago, with the missing person case of Daniel Rosewall. For the two years before his remains were found, his family struggled to get around strict privacy legislation, and manage his finances.
They pushed for change, and Victoria, New South Wales and ACT now have laws that allow the family to manage the personal affairs of a person who has been missing for 90 days. But in other jurisdictions, it's a lot harder for families to get access.
Karen Schaffer said there needed to be more community support for families.
"It is very, very difficult for the families moving forward. Whether it is during the search, after the search, when the search is called off, I think they need to put themselves in the position that if it were them, how would they feel? Because I think that is lacking unfortunately."
THE SOCIAL media campaign to find answers surrounding the disappearance of 19-year-old Bellbrook teenager Kylee-Ann Schaffer on September 11, 2004, is gaining traction.
Kylee-Ann's sister, Kaz Schaffer, has been
working tirelessly to find out what happened to
her younger sister after she attended a party at
a home just outside of Willawarrin on the night
of September 10, 2004. According to witnesses
who were at the party, the following morning at
about 8 o'clock, Kylee-Ann told them she was
going for a walk through bushland to get to her
parents' house.
Kylee-Ann hasn't been seen or heard from since September 11, 2004.
The popular podcast Australian
True Crime released episode 'Can TikTok find
Kylee-Ann?' on Monday, which includes an
extensive interview with Kaz Schaffer.
The episode covers who Kylee-Ann was before her disappearance on September 11, 2004, and the difficult challenge Kaz and her family are facing to try and find out what happened to the then 19-year-old.
"Kylee was so special, she had the kindest heart. She wanted to believe the best out of everybody," Kaz said in the podcast.
"She was a big softie really."
Kaz has been running the Help Find Kylee-Ann Schaffer Facebook group for around 10 years, but revealed to Australian True Crime host Meshel Laurie that TikTok has been instrumental in bringing more attention to Kylee-Ann's disappearance.
"I created the Facebook page for Kylee and shared it as much as I possibly could over the years. It was only four weeks ago now that I discovered the multiple uses for TikTok."
Kaz was inspired to use the video sharing social media app as a tool to help raise awareness about Kylee-Ann's disappearance by a similar case in America.
"Sarah Turney inspired me to use TikTok, she is
also looking for justice for her missing
sister," Kaz said in the podcast.
"I've had more exposure on TikTok in the last
week than I have in 10 years on Facebook."
Kaz also revealed on the podcast episode that
she has read the statements from people who
attended the party the night before Kylee-Ann
went missing.
"The statements are all very conflicting, from something as simple as what she was wearing and the times in the statements all vary," she said.
Kaz also said some of the statements include information about an argument on the night of the party.
"She (Kylee-Ann) wasn't treated very nice at all. Someone that Kylee thought she was very close to screamed in her face, 'nobody f*****g likes you anyway and no one wants you here'. That was one of the last things she heard," Kaz revealed in the podcast.
"She was at a party with a group of people that had no regard for her."
Kaz's following on both TikTok and Facebook have increased dramatically over the past few weeks. There are now over 2300 people who are members of the Facebook group, while Kaz's TikTok account following grows everyday (at the time of publication she has 7547 followers).
"Online I've had quite a bit of support, even from people in Ireland and England and the US, from all over the world I've been getting more support everyday," she told Australian True Crime host Meshel Laurie.
Kaz ended the podcast episode by asking anyone who might have information about Kylee-Ann's disappearance to come forward and contact Crime Stoppers.
"I'm not seeking revenge, I just want to bring
my sister home," she said.
In 2010, six years after Kylee-Ann was last seen, the coroner ruled that the 19-year-old is in all likelihood deceased.
During the inquest into Kylee-Ann's disappearance and suspected death, presiding magistrate Wayne Evans ruled that on the balance of probabilities he was satisfied Kylee-Ann was deceased, but how, where, and by whom, he could not determine.
Anyone with any information regarding the events
leading up to Kylee-Ann's disappearance on
September 11, 2004, is urged to contact Kempsey
Police on 6561-6199 or Crime Stoppers on 1800
333-000.
The Australian True Crime podcast episode 'Can TikTok find Kylee-Ann?' can be found here: https://australiantruecrimepodcast.com/
You can find Kaz Schaffer on TikTok by searching @kazschaf
The Facebook group Help Find Kylee-Ann Schaffer can be found here.
The sister of a missing Kempsey woman who disappeared from a party 17 years ago has reignited a campaign to try and find answers into her unknown whereabouts.
The sister of a woman who went missing 17 years ago has been spearheading a renewed push for information into the then 19-year-old’s whereabouts.
Details about how, or why Kylee-Anne Shaffer went missing from a house near Willawarrin north west of Kempsey are scarce, other than some unconfirmed reports she left to walk home the morning after a house party at Midnight Creek without her belongings.
The only clue found since that September 11, 2004 day are a pair of shoes she may or may not have had on her feet that were located on a walking track some days after it had already been searched.
Kylee’s sister, Karen Schaffer, was 32 when she went missing.
For years Karen said their father, who has since died, controlled what could and couldn’t be said publicly about Kylee’s disappearance in order to prevent the people or person responsible from ‘going to ground.’
But now 17 years on, Karen is taking complete control to help bring awareness to Kylee’s disappearance in the most public way possible, social media.
“I can’t understand why we weren't shouting this [Kylee’s disappearance] from the rooftops,” Karen said, at the time of her disappearance.
“What happened was my Dad [who has since died] was a bit of a control freak. He was really concerned that people from the outside including the media would cause whoever was responsible to go to ground and disappear.
She said he wanted the investigation to take its course, naturally.
“This was right around the time of Daniel Morcombe’s disappearance, and the Morcombe’s did everything right … they did everything that I believe should have been done.
“But my Dad didn’t let me do that. I didn’t understand, I couldn’t comprehend it and I was told in no uncertain terms ‘look, we don’t know what happened, we’re trying to find out what happened.’
“I was working seven days a week and I didn’t really get that involved. It just became this sort of, have we heard anything have we heard anything … it sucks, but I had virtually no involvement.
Emergency services combed the area where Kylee was last seen clues, but there was little in the way of leads found until the search was suspended about five days later.
She was last seen wearing a dark blue or black T-shirt and brown pants.
There’s a few theories about Kylee’s disappearance that haven‘t been substantiated or confirmed by police, and to this day remain just that – theories.
Every year between Missing Persons Week in August and Kylee’s disappearance date, which is about six weeks, Karen is bombarded with emails and calls about these theories which involve some strongly worded allegations about people in the community and their possible involvement.
As Karen was living in Sydney at the time she went missing, some of them are known to her while others are not.
She said she’s not interested in false accusations that lead nowhere, she just wants to collate plausible and logical pieces of the puzzle and provide that information to police.
Social media, she said, is helping her do that.
“I created a Facebook page in 2009 against my Dad’s wishes, and the page started very very slowly … after my Dad passed away five years ago, it sort of gave me Carte Blanche to do whatever I wanted,” she said.
While the page remained active, it wasn’t until about 18 months ago when things started to really ramp up.
“A friend of mine who I had visited on a trip up north had a copy of the police statements, which I had never seen.
“My Dad didn’t want me to know and I think it was just because he was trying to protect me, so I didn’t know the gravity of the situation, I didn’t know how she’d been treated, and I was just under the impression she was at a party, she walked away something happened, and that’s it.
“I didn’t know there were altercations at the party … I didn’t know anything about it.
“When I saw the statements I lost my mind. There are so many things that don’t add up.
“The story is that she went missing in the morning, she got up, had a shower, and she left.
“She left her personal belongings behind. After the alert was put out, she’d been gone quite a few hours, so if she was travelling or leaving, she could have made some headway.
“There were some suggestions that Kylee had been struggling with some mental health issues preceding the party, and some allegations from people that she killed herself, well, you can’t bury yourself.“
The police statement played havoc with Karen’s own piece of mind, and she put those thoughts to one side for six months until she was adequately prepared to start fresh and read it with some clarity.
“Seeing the statement changed everything for me,” she said.
Kylee connected with a TikTok user called Sarah Turney, from the US, who had a very similar story of a disappearing sister who had vanished from a high school in Phoenix. With more than one million followers, Karen thought she too could harness the power of social media for a worthwhile cause.
“I thought, hang on a minute I can use this,” she said.
“So then I made a little video and it blew up a little bit and I thought I need to harness this properly.”
She now has close to 10,000 followers on TikTok, and is also active on Instagram and Facebook where she has her own group ‘Help Find Kylee Ann Schaffer’. There are about 4000 people now part of that conversation.
“Someone has to know something,” Karen said.
“It doesn’t have to be someone at the party, it could just be that they saw someone walking along Armidale Rd and saw a girl who was kicking rocks and they recall that.
“I’m trying to establish a timeline so that at some stage I can go to the authorities and say ‘this is the work I have done … this is what I think this equates to, please investigate.’
“I want to be able to put my sister to rest and bury her.
“I have no doubt she is deceased, I may be wrong, and God knows I hope I am, but raising awareness will hopefully help because I don’t want anyone to go through this ever again.”
Anyone with information into Kylee’s disappearance is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.