Tracey Leanne VALESINI

   Tracey Valesini has been missing for almost 25 years. Picture: Supplied

                                                         Tracey with baby daughter Crystal

    Tracey Valesini would have been 45 this week.

 Tracey Valesini and her mother Sandra. 

Tracey as a schoolgirl

The bathroom where Tracey's blood was found. Picture: NSW Police.

Above - Tracey's blood was found in this bathroom

 

                                                    

Name: VALESINI Tracey Leanne Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 1972    
Age when missing: 20 Height (cm): 165.0 Build: Thin
Hair Colour: Fair Eye Colour: Blue Complexion: Fair
Nationality:   Racial Appearance: Caucasian    

Circumstances

Tracey Valesini was last seen by her family at family Law Court Campbelltown on the 8th of January 1993. She failed to attend a subsequent hearing on the 21st January 1993.

Inquires revealed that Tracey moved to Wentworth Falls and a Coroner has determined 'Tracey died between her last sighting and December 1993 at Wentworth Falls of injuries inflicted upon her by another person'. There is a $100,000 dollar reward for information that leads to those responsible for the disappearance and suspected murder of Tracey.

If you have information that may assist police please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Suspected murder of Tracey Valesini

The NSW Government has announced a $100,000 reward for information that leads to those responsible for the disappearance and suspected murder of Tracey Valesini.Last known photo of Tracey Valesini

Detectives from the Unsolved Homicide Team were joined by her family to appeal for assistance today (Wednesday 5 July 2017), which would have been Tracey’s 45th birthday.

The last confirmed sighting of Ms Valesini, then aged 20, was at a custody hearing at Campbelltown Courthouse on 8 January 1993. She failed to appear for a further hearing on 12 February and was not contactable after this time.

Unsolved Homicide Team Coordinator, Detective Inspector Stewart Leggat, said Tracey was a resilient, independent young woman.

“Unfortunately, these strengths have made investigating her disappearance difficult for police,” Det Insp Leggat said.

“By all accounts, Tracey was very much in charge of her own life, even at a young age, and by her late teens, she would often go for long periods without visiting her family.

“That said, it was out of character for her to no-show at court for the custody hearing as her daughters were her world.”

Tracey’s family made numerous attempts to contact and locate her after she failed to attend court, but she and her housemates had moved out of their Sadleir home without a forwarding address.

Macquarie Fields Police commenced a missing person’s investigation after Tracey was reported missing, which focused on following Tracey’s last known movements.

“In addition to following up numerous reported sightings, police engaged with various agencies and financial institutions to gather information about her movements after December 1992,” Det Insp Leggat said.

“Through these inquiries, police were able to determine that Tracey moved to a home at Wentworth Falls with her new boyfriend and his sister and partner, where they lived until May 1993, but they have since told police Tracey moved out earlier in the year when their relationships deteriorated.

“She hadn’t accessed her bank accounts or government benefits since December 1992, with the exception of a single deposit and withdrawal more than 12 months later.”

Following a review in 2001 by detectives from the Homicide Squad, Strike Force Sonning was established to reinvestigate Tracey Valesini’s disappearance and suspected murder.

After receiving information from the community, a search warrant was executed at Tracey’s former home at McLaughlin Avenue, Wentworth Falls, on 9 May 2001.

During a forensic examination of the bathroom, police located blood, which was swabbed and secured for further examination. It is believed to be Tracey’s blood.

Despite extensive investigations by local and Homicide Squad detectives, Tracey was not located and a brief was prepared for the NSW Coroner.

The Coronial Inquest was held in February 2006, and the State Coroner returned a finding: ‘Tracey died between December 1992 and December 1993 at Wentworth Falls of injuries inflicted upon her by another person’.

The matter was referred back to the Unsolved Homicide Team for future investigation, which was recently reviewed and reinvestigation commenced.

As their investigations continue, the NSW Government has announced a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of those responsible for Tracey’s suspected murder.

NSW Minister for Police, Troy Grant, said the NSW Government was pleased to offer the reward, which will assist detectives with their ongoing investigation.

“No family should endure not knowing what happened to their loved one, and the NSW Government is committed to providing police with what they need to find answers for families like Tracey’s,” Mr Grant said.

Det Insp Leggat said he is confident there are people out there who know what happened to Tracey but, for whatever reason, have been reluctant to come forward.

“We are thankful to NSW Government for offering this reward, which may just be the motivation for someone who knows something to get in touch with us,” Det Insp Leggat said.

“It has been 24 years since Tracey was last seen – 24 long years for her family – and detectives are giving everything they’ve got to provide answers to them,” Det Insp Leggat said.

Tracey’s mum, Sandra McSavaney, appealed to the conscience of those who know what happened to Tracey but haven’t yet provided information to investigators.

“Someone knows what happened to my girl, and enough is enough – please tell the police what you know and help put my mind at ease,” Ms McSavaney said.

“No one should ever have to bury a child, but I haven’t even been given that opportunity.

“If anything, I want to be able to bring her home and say proper goodbyes – the least Tracey deserves is to rest in peace.

“We’ve had too many birthdays and too many Christmases without Tracey, and I am pleading for someone to come forward so that today – her 45th birthday – is our last without answers,” Ms McSavaney said.

Police are urging anyone with information that may assist Strike Force Sonning investigators to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers online reporting page: https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au/ Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.

 

Sunday Telegraph Australia August 1, 1999

By Sarah Harris

Tracey Valesini's solemn, freckled face stares down from bar-room walls and shops windows along the eastern

seaboard. Although she's one of Australia's most wanted, she has committed no crime; except, perhaps, against the hearts of her family.

Tracey Leanne Valesini is one of the 28,000 people who go missing in Australia every year. Most of them will return home

within 48 hours, and 98 per cent are found within a year. But some, like Tracey, will join the legion of the long term lost.

George Valesini last saw his youngest child in December 1992.

Tracey then 20, was living with a couple at Green Valley, in south-western Sydney, when he went to visit her. Mr Valesini

recalls that Tracey seemed in good spirits and was looking forward to being reunited with her much-loved daughter

Crystal, then aged two.

"When I last saw her, she seemed fine," he says. "She didn't show any sign to me that anything was wrong?"

It had, however, been a blow to Tracey when Crystal was temporarily removed from her care after an anonymous phone

call to welfare authorities. She loved her child and was so determined she would retain custody of Crystal that she

attended Campbelltown Court every time the matter was even listed for mention.

It was on such a day at Campbelltown Court, January 8th, 1993 that Tracey was last seen. Inexplicably, she failed to turn up at court on January 21, the appointed hearing date.

Because the matter was not contested, custody of Crystal was awarded to the child's father. None of Tracey's extended family have seen or heard from her since.

Inquiries by the NSW Missing Persons Unit have established that she has not claimed any welfare payments since December, 1992.

Just over a year after the last confirmed sighting of Tracey, however, a cheque for $500 was deposited in her St George bank account in Liverpool. Five days later, $490.00 was withdrawn from the same account in the Blue Mountains.

Investigating police agree Tracey's disappearance is suspicious. Inquiries haven't been helped by the apparent reluctance of potential witnesses to co-operate with police.

George Valesini hasn't given up the hope of finding his daughter alive. In the years since Tracey disappeared, he has covered thousands of kilometres putting up posters from Southport, Queensland to Sydney.

Father and daughter had always enjoyed a close relationship despite Tracey's mercurial existence.

"She moved around a bit, but she always knew the door was open here at home for her," Mr Valesini says.

In a bid to help families like the Valesini's, the National Missing Persons Unit has produced a guide called Search Options and Support (SOS) for the families and friends of missing people.

The guide will be launched today to mark the beginning of Missing Persons Week and of the NSW Police annual Operation Safe and Well phone-in tomorrow.

NSW Missing Persons Unit co-ordinator Acting Senior Sergeant Jeff Emery says that of the estimated 8000 people who go missing in NSW each year, 99 per cent are located.

"It's important to keep in perspective that most people go missing of their own accord and will be located within a relatively short time," Sgt Emery says.

Family fear and distressed can be greatly allayed,  not to mention considerable community resources saved by contact from the missing person.

Two daughters murdered a decade apart, and a mother’s last wish

  TERMINAL lung cancer is taking her body, but the unknown around the disappearance of one of her daughters is destroying Sandra McSavaney’s soul.

  The Anna Bay woman, 68, fears she will not be able to rest in peace until she can let her child Tracey Valesini do the same, with the torment of suspicion and half-truths still taking its toll more than two decades after her then 20-year-old daughter went missing.

Ms Valesini, a mother of two, is believed to have been murdered in late 1992 or early 1993.

 In 2002, Mrs McSavaney was forced to bury another daughter, Lisa Sara, after she was strangled to death by her de facto husband, who remains in jail.

A complicated family unit meant Ms Valesini was not reported missing for four years, and a misplaced police report meant any investigation would take about  two years to start.
 

Then state coroner John Abernethy found during an inquest in 2006 that Ms Valesini had died at Wentworth Falls, in the Blue Mountains, ‘‘of injuries inflicted upon her by another person’’.

‘‘As to the identity of that person, the evidence adduced does not enable me to say,’’ Mr Abernethy found.

But Mrs McSavaney believes she knows who is responsible and that   other people  are also aware of the killer’s or killers’ identities.

‘‘I still have nightmares. I want her body, I want to be able to put her to rest,’’ Mrs McSavaney said.

‘‘I still can’t put up photos of Tracey around the house because I get too upset.

‘‘It is like someone has put their hand in your chest and ripped your heart out.

‘‘I want to know why these people will not tell me, and the police, who did this. Why are they still too frightened to talk.

‘‘I need to put my daughter to rest before I die.’’

Mrs McSavaney’s only surviving daughter, Sharon Robards, added: ‘‘To a certain extent it doesn’t really matter what exactly happened, just give us a body.

‘‘The thought that she is still out there and thinking we have forgotten about her is too much to bear.’’

Mrs McSavaney has also pleaded with authorities to announce a significant reward for information, claiming it could be enough for those who knew to come forward.

‘‘Tracey had no fear. I firmly believe Tracey has threatened to go to the police about people and they have killed her,’’ Mrs McSavaney said.

‘‘If [the people who knew] have got a conscience now would be the time, and if the authorities offered a reward it may help them come forward.’’

Late last year, Mrs McSavaney saw her doctor about what she thought was a small complaint and was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

A smoker her entire adult life, Mrs McSavaney is still undergoing chemotherapy and may receive radiation therapy shortly.

If you have information, call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Mystery of Sydney mother Tracey Valesini who vanished almost 25 years ago

Andrew Koubaridis  July 5 2017, news.com.au

TRACEY Valesini vanished in 1993 — blood was found on the floor of her home, and someone took money from her account. Who killed this young mum?

MONTHS after the last confirmed sighting of young mother Tracey Valesini, someone deposited and then withdrew money into her bank account.

It was just before Christmas in 1993 and the then-20-year-old hadn’t been seen since January 20 that year, when she appeared at a custody hearing for her daughter at Campbelltown, in Sydney’s west.

She failed to appear at another hearing in February and hasn’t been seen since.

The mystery deposit of a cheque of almost $500 in her St George bank account, and then withdrawn in the Blue Mountains from the same account five days later, is one of the few clues into what happened to Ms Valesini. Ever since that time police tried to piece together her movements as they tried to work out what happened to her — was she murdered, and if so, by who?

An investigation spanning decades failed to locate her and no arrests were ever made. The closest her family came to answers was a coronial inquest in 2006 that concluded that she had died of injuries “inflicted upon her by another person”.

Her family and police are hoping that could be about to change.

Her mother Sandra McSavaney today joined detectives from the Unsolved Homicide Team, in what would have been Ms Valesini’s 45th birthday, in a renewed effort to find her — and the New South Wales government has offered a $100,000 reward for information that could lead to her killer.

Unsolved Homicide Team Coordinator, Detective Inspector Stewart Leggat, said Ms Valesini was a resilient, independent young woman.

“Unfortunately, these strengths have made investigating her disappearance difficult for police,” Det Insp Leggat said in a statement.

 

“By all accounts, Tracey was very much in charge of her own life, even at a young age, and by her late teens, she would often go for long periods without visiting her family.”

It was still out of character for her to miss a custody hearing though. When she failed to appear, her family tried to track her down but she couldn’t be found.

“In addition to following up numerous reported sightings, police engaged with various agencies and financial institutions to gather information about her movements after December 1992,” Det Insp Leggat said.

“Through these inquiries, police were able to determine that Tracey moved to a home at Wentworth Falls with her new boyfriend and his sister and partner, where they lived until May 1993, but they have since told police Tracey moved out earlier in the year when their relationships deteriorated.

“She hadn’t accessed her bank accounts or government benefits since December 1992, with the exception of a single deposit and withdrawal more than 12 months later.”

A review in 2001 by Homicide Squad detectives led to a search warrant being executed at Tracey’s former home in Wentworth Falls.

A forensic examination of the bathroom revealed blood police believe belonged to Ms Valesini.

Despite that, no arrests were ever made.

Then in 2006 the State Coroner returned a finding that “Tracey died between December 1992 and December 1993 at Wentworth Falls of injuries inflicted upon her by another person”.

Det Insp Leggat said he is confident there are people out there who know what happened to Tracey but, for whatever reason, have been reluctant to come forward.

“We are thankful to NSW Government for offering this reward, which may just be the motivation for someone who knows something to get in touch with us,” Det Insp Leggat said.

“It has been 24 years since Tracey was last seen — 24 long years for her family — and detectives are giving everything they’ve got to provide answers to them,” Det Insp Leggat said.

Tracey’s mum, Sandra McSavaney, appealed to the conscience of those who know what happened to Tracey but haven’t yet provided information to investigators.

“Someone knows what happened to my girl, and enough is enough — please tell the police what you know and help put my mind at ease,” Ms McSavaney said.

“No one should ever have to bury a child, but I haven’t even been given that opportunity.

“If anything, I want to be able to bring her home and say proper goodbyes — the least Tracey deserves is to rest in peace.

“We’ve had too many birthdays and too many Christmases without Tracey, and I am pleading for someone to come forward so that today — her 45th birthday — is our last without answers,” Ms McSavaney said.

In 2015 it emerged that a series of Facebook posts had appeared on a Facebook page set up

by Ms Valesini’s family.

One message cryptically suggested people should ‘look beyond on the mountains’, while another suggested a possible murder suspect was a drug dealer who had bikie links.

Mum fears missing daughter Tracey Valesini was killed almost 24 years ago

MISSING Sydney mother-of-two Tracey Valesini knew too much.

That is why police and her family believe she was most likely shot dead in the bathroom of the Blue Mountains home she shared with several people almost 25 years ago.

Yesterday, on what would have been her 45th birthday, her terminally ill mother said she believed that those who Ms Valesini was closest to were involved in her suspected death.

“I think she has been killed because of something she knows,” Sandra McSavaney told a press conference to announce­ a $100,000 reward for new information into her daughter’s ­disappearance.

“I think my daughter’s buried near the house where she was killed.

“I don’t think they took the risk of taking her too far.”

Ms Valesini, 20, had been due at a custody hearing for her then two-year-old daughter Crystal at Campbelltown Court in February 1993.

She did not turn up and Crystal’s biological father was granted custody.

Crystal and Ms Valesini’s other daughter Helen-Jane are now older than their mother when she vanished.

A year after Ms Valesini’s disappearance, a $500 cheque was deposited into her bank account. Five days later, $490 was withdrawn.

When unsolved homicide case detectives reviewed the case in 2001, they executed a search warrant on her last known address at McLaughlin Ave, Wentworth Falls.

A blood splatter, consistent with a gunshot, was found and kept for forensic analysis.

Although the technology is not available to identify whose blood it is, police are confident it is Ms Valesini’s.

Detective Inspector Stewart Leggat said that police had several persons of interest.

“By all accounts, Tracey was very much in charge of her own life, even at a young age, and by her late teens she would often go for long periods­ without visiting her family,” he said.

“(But) it was out of character for her to no-show at court for the custody hearing as her daughters were her world.”

Ms McSavaney, whose other daughter Lisa Marie Sara was strangled to death in 2002, vowed to not let cancer beat her until she can put Tracey to rest.

“There’s someone out there who knows what happened,” she said.

“It’s like they have put their hand in my chest and ripped my heart out.

“I want them to come forward­ and say what they know and let me bring Tracey home and give her a decent­ burial.”

 

Police reopen Campbelltown suspected murder cold case

NSW Police have renewed calls for public assistance after reopening a 26-year-old Campbelltown cold case this week.

Tracey Valesini was last seen at Campbelltown Courthouse on January 8, 1993. She had been attending a custody hearing for her daughter, Crystal-Lee, then two.
 

The matter was to return to court on February 12, but Ms Valesini failed to appear. Her family never heard from her again.
 

According to Crime Stoppers NSW, Ms Valesini's family has made numerous attempts to contact her over the past 26 years.

 

Police have contacted various agencies and financial institutions to gather information about Ms Valesini's movements.

Ms Valesini hasn't accessed her bank accounts or received government benefits since December 1992, with the exception of a single deposit and withdrawal more than 12 months later.

Homicide Squad detectives launched Strike Force Sonning in 2001 to re-investigate Ms Valesini's disappearance and suspected murder.

A search warrant was conducted at her former home in Wentworth Falls in May 2001.
 

Police located blood during a forensic examination of the home's bathroom. It was believed to be Ms Valesini's blood.

A coronial inquest was held in February 2006.
 

The State Coroner returned a finding that Ms Valesini died between December 1992 and December 1993 of "injuries inflected upon her by another person".

The matter was referred back to the Unsolved Homicide Team for further investigation.

After a recent review, the case has again been re-opened.

The state government has offered a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the conviction of those responsible for Ms Valesini's suspected murder.
 

Anyone that can assist detectives is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or nsw.crimestoppers.com.au.