Development in mystery cold case
Victoria Police have executed a search warrant at home in NSW nearly 40 years after the disappearance of Melbourne woman Debra Campbell, as investigators maintain their belief that the 21-year-old met with foul play.
Police confirmed on Wednesday night that a 65-year-old Cardiff South man was spoken to in relation to Ms Campbell’s disappearance late last month by detectives from the Missing Persons Squad and the NSW Police Cold Case Homicide Squad.
The warrant came after a review of Ms Campbell’s case was undertaken by Missing Person Squad detectives last year, which lead to fresh leads.
Ms Campbell, a member of the Royal Australian Air Force, went missing from her home on High St, Windsor, in Melbourne’s inner-south on the night of Saturday February 25, 1984, after a disagreement with her fiance, who was also a member of the RAAF.
She has never been seen since.
After she failed to report for duty on the following Monday her disappearance was investigated by the RAAF, and her mother, Jean, reported her missing to police on Friday March 2.
Police said an investigation remains ongoing after carrying out the most recent interview, which occurred on March 28 in Leanda Place, Cardiff South, near the NSW port city of Newcastle.
In a statement released by police, Jean said she remained “desperately hopeful” a reinvestigation could bring answers to the family.
““Debra was a beautiful vibrant girl who had her whole life ahead of her at the time of her disappearance. While she had joined the RAAF, she was only young and had so many other things she wanted to do,” she said.
“It fills me with incredible sadness that she never got to do those things – I never got to see her get married or have children, or grow into the wonderful person I was sure she would become.”
“She had the most beautiful smile and looking at these photos again reminds me of how terribly young she was when we lost her.
Jean said the family continues to feel the “immeasurable” impact of her disappearance.
“The most awful part is not knowing where she is or what happened to her, and that the person responsible for taking my daughter away has not been held accountable,” she said.
“I’m desperately hopeful that the reinvestigation of my daughters’ case may bring us answers after all these years.”
“I love her and still miss her so dearly.”
A coronial inquest held into Ms Campbell’s disappearance in 1998 found that she was likely deceased, but the inquest was unable to determine the circumstances of her death.
Police said they believed she was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a pink t-shirt with a ‘Madness’ rock motif and blue Adidas runners.
She may also have been carrying a green handbag with a gold stripe on it.
Detective Inspector Dave Dunstan, from the Missing Persons Squad, said he believed they could solve the case.
“All unsolved missing persons cases in Victoria are subject to regular review and after re-examining Debra’s case last year, detectives were able to revisit a number of lines of inquiry,” Detective Inspector Dunstan said.
“This led to a number of things, including the search warrant being executed in NSW,” he said.
“I have no doubt there are people with information that can help us solve Debra’s disappearance and I am urging those people to come forward.”
“We believe we can solve this case – as we often say, we could only be one phone call away, it just needs to be the right call.”
