Robyn Elizabeth HICKIE

    

CLUE: A car similar to the one police are seeking. Investigators say the vehicle represents a  

Police released an image of a car they described as a distinctly green mid-1970s four-door Holden Torana sedan.
Investigators believe the vehicle may be linked to Ms Hickie and Ms Robinson's cases.

Click here for Nine News story

Web story by Dan Proudman

 

 

Robyn Elizabeth HICKIE
DOB: 1962 - 18 years when missing
HAIR: Brown BUILD: Thin EYES: Blue
CIRCUMSTANCES:
Robyn Hickie left her home at 7:15pm on the 7 April 1979 with the intention of going to a party. She was last seen on the Pacific Highway, Belmont North, NSW just a short distance from her home. She has not been seen since. There are grave fears for her safety.
Reported missing to: Belmont Police Station.

No peaceful rest

July 5 2002 - SMH
 

 

Today, State Coroner John Abernethy delivers his findings on the disappearances of three young women from Newcastle 23 years ago. But it is unlikely he will be able to provide any answers to the grieving parents. Ellen Connolly writes.

The decades of torment are etched in the faces of the parents. They have aged - perhaps quicker than most - while the images of their daughters, Amanda, Robyn and Leanne, have remained frozen in time. Eternal youth.

Their torment has deepened in the past year as the last glimmer of hope - in the form of a coronial inquest - has provided few answers. "At the start of the inquest we thought there might be a good outcome but I now know there will be no crucial findings. They won't be solved," Jim Hickie, whose daughter Robyn vanished in 1979, said this week.

Six suspects, including backpacker killer Ivan Milat, have given evidence at the inquest. And while police have their "hunches" over who was responsible there is no concrete evidence. What has become clear, however, are the major flaws and "gross incompetence" of the original police investigation. It seems that there was never much hope of finding what happened to their children. How could there have been?

Leanne Goodall, 20, last seen alive at the Star Hotel, Newcastle, on December 30, 1978, was treated by police as a runaway. No formal investigation was ever carried out. Not one detective looked at her case.

Robyn Hickie, 18, who went missing on April 7, 1979, after arranging to meet a netball team-mate at the Belmont Hotel, was labelled by police as "a known hitchhiker". Her disappearance earned a few weeks of intense investigation, but she was regarded as another runaway and only two statements were taken.
 

The disappearance of Amanda Robinson, 14, who vanished 13 days later on her way home to Swansea after a school dance, was taken more seriously. Because of her age two homicide detectives from Sydney were sent to Belmont to investigate. But after two weeks they were recalled. They gave local detectives several lines of inquiry to follow up. It was never done.

The homicide detectives told the inquest this week they were sent to concentrate "exclusively" on Amanda's case and so did not examine the possible connections with Robyn's disappearance two weeks earlier.

Words such as "unstructured and largely dysfunctional", "lazy police work" and "direction-less" were among the descriptions used in court to capture the police effort. And it is likely these will be reflected in Abernethy's findings today.

The coroner has already voiced some criticism of the investigation, or lack thereof, saying this week it was extraordinary that records were not kept, statements never taken and the investigation shut down within a year of the three going missing. He could not understand why it had taken 23 years for the matter to be referred to a coroner. He said the records before the inquest were so inadequate that "it's all guesswork".

It was not until 20 years after the three went missing that the first major investigation began with the formation of Strikeforce Fenwick.

In his criticisms of the original police investigation, Detective Superintendent Ron Smith, head of Fenwick, told the inquest last year that police should have treated the disappearances as suspected homicides. Instead they were treated as runaways. Investigators failed to consider a serial killer, he said.

While there was no direct link, the three went missing within four months of each other while waiting at bus stops or alighting from buses near their homes on the Pacific Highway. They were all young females, they went missing on a Saturday and their bodies have never been found, despite extensive searches in recent years.

One of the prime suspects is Milat, who worked on road crews and lived in the area at the time. "Personally I have very strong suspicions of Milat in these matters," Inspector Wayne Gordon, deputy commander of Fenwick, told the inquest.

Milat had been staying at various hotels in the vicinity of the Pacific Highway, or in or near the suburbs where the three disappeared. Police searched the sand mine site at Belmont because it was near a motel where Milat stayed at the same time. They found gun pellets and empty cartridge cases during a search for a grave thought to contain the body of one of the three.

When Milat gave evidence last year, amid a large security presence, he said he had picked up about 15 hitchhikers but not in the Hunter. "I had nothing to do with whatever happened to their children. I can look at them people, right in the eye, and say, 'I had absolutely nothing to do with your children going missing'," he told the court.

A man testified that he had seen Milat at the Belmont hotel the night before Robyn disappeared. There was evidence Milat had boasted to an associate that there were body pits and grave sites all over the Hunter.

Another suspect who gave evidence was Neville Drinkwater. He was questioned two weeks after Amanda disappeared. Aged 19 at the time, he had some unusual sexual habits, and when police arrested him they found scissors in the glovebox of his car, as well as tape and pornographic magazines. He was reinterviewed last week over inconsistencies in his version of where he was on the night Amanda vanished.

Convicted rapist Kelvin John Macey was questioned over Robyn's disappearance. He was jailed for seven years after he raped a hitchhiker after picking her up on the Pacific Highway, Belmont, on June 20, 1979. He denied any knowledge of Robyn's disappearance.

Since the four-year reinvestigation began, 51 sites have been searched in the Hunter. More than 120 witnesses gave evidence at the inquest.

Robyn Hickie's father is grateful for the intensive police work during the past four years but believes it came too late. "There was no hope from the start because they didn't put the effort in when Robyn went missing. First of all they wanted to believe that our daughter was a runaway."

Hickie, whose life has been consumed by his daughter's disappearance, is "convinced" he knows who killed Robyn but the evidence, particularly without a body, is not strong enough.

He expects Abernethy will find today that the three were abducted and murdered by an unknown person/s. And then, Hickie says, the torment will continue.

"Our daughters' cases will lie in the police records. Unless someone comes up with a confession, nothing will happen. That's the truth in the matter."

Decades of suspended grief for loved ones

THE similarities should have astounded investigators.All lived in the Eastlakes area, all were young and attractive and all went missing within four months of each other, snatched at night while alone.Vanished into thin air.But it took decades before the disappearances of Leanne Goodall, Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson were taken seriously as abduction and murders, let alone whether they could even be linked.Today marks the 30th anniversary of Amanda Robinson's disappearance, the last of the three missing girls cases that have become to represent all that is evil about the Hunter Region.The 14-year-old was last seen about 400 metres from her home in Lake Road, Swansea on April 21, 1979.She had been to a school dance at Gateshead with friends.Her disappearance came 13 days after Robyn Hickie, 18, went missing after being last seen on the Pacific Highway at Belmont.Several months earlier, on December 30, 1978, Leanne Goodall, 20, was last seen alive at the Star Hotel after earlier being dropped off at Muswellbrook by her brother to catch a train.The three women had never met, but their stories would become intertwined as a crack police unit, Strike Force Fenwick, was set up in the late 1990s.Their families have also become close.The mothers of Amanda and Leanne, Anne Robinson and Beth Leen, have stood side-by-side many times pleading with the public to help find their children.They find some solace in the fact that each knows how the other is feeling.But 30 years down the track, the lack of answers still haunts them.They cannot grieve at a gravesite.Their hearts still skip a beat every time there are reports of remains being found.'We still celebrate her birthday, we all get together," Mrs Leen said."You think of it all year but that is a day when we all get together."And when a body turns up you really think, you are sort of waiting and wondering."And they are still waiting and wondering when they can find their girls and give them some sort of peace.Information can be forwarded to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

'I hope to God they get answers': Strike Force set up into missing girls

Emma Partridge SMH

The abduction and suspected murders of four girls and young women from the state's Hunter region in the 1970s and 1990s are being investigated by a new police strike force.

One of the cases was never investigated by police while two were not reported to the coroner until 20 years after their disappearance.

"I hope to God they get answers for some of us. It's hell on earth, heartache and suffering for 40 years," Anne Robinson, one of the mothers, said.

University student Leanne Goodall, 20, vanished after leaving the Star Hotel in Newcastle in December, 1978, while dental nurse Robyn Hickie, 18, was abducted on her way to meet friends at Belmont in the Lake Macquarie region.

 

Just two weeks later, Amanda Robinson, 14, was snatched at Swansea, somewhere between the Pacific Highway and Lake Road, as she was walking home from a school dance.

About 15 years later, schoolgirl Gordana Kotevski was kidnapped by two men in a white vehicle at Charlestown while walking home from a nearby mall.

Former state coroner John Abernethy presided over an inquest in 2002 into the disappearances. Backpacker murderer Ivan Milat gave evidence.

Mr Abernethy told 9News the initial police investigation was poor and that the cases "had fallen through the cracks". "These are missing teenagers, they just don't disappear into thin air," Mr Abernethy said. "The initial police investigation was perfunctory at best. It was just not a good investigation," he said.

A new strike force - named Arapaima and comprising seasoned detectives from Lake Macquarie police - is reinvestigating the suspected murders of Amanda, Robyn and Gordana.

Lake Macquarie Superintendent Danny Sullivan said four detectives, led by Detective Sergeant Krisit Faber, would be dedicated to working on the cases for the next several months.

 

"These matters struck at the core of the community in Lake Macquarie," Superintendent Sullivan said.

"That strike force will re-examine the investigation into the unsolved missing persons cases in the Lake Macquarie region," he said.

Gordana's aunt Julie Talevski still campaigns in the hope that one day her niece's killer will be caught and is hoping police will offer a reward of $1 million in the near future.

"She was just a beautiful young lady with a heart of gold, who would do anything for her family and friends," Ms Talevski said.

 

"There is happiness that yes, someone is looking at this seriously again, but then comes the pain of reopening a wound that will never heal," she said.

The cases were not properly looked at or reported to the coroner until detectives from Strike Force Fenwick took charge almost 20 years later.

"They fell between the cracks and were forgotten about until Fenwick came along and really turned them over but by then it was too late," Mr Abernethy said.

Police have urged anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers on 180 333 000.

 

 

 

'Significant lead' in Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson disappearances from Lake Macquarie decades on

Police established Strike Force Arapaima in April to revisit the cases of Robyn Hickie, Amanda Robinson and Gordana Kotevski.

Ms Hickie, then 18, left home about 7.15pm on April 7 1979 and was spotted at a Belmont North bus stop a short time later.
She has not been since.
Her disappearance came two weeks before 14-year-old Amanda Robinson was last seen at a Swansea bus stop after attending a dance at her Gateshead high school.
Ms Kotevski, then 16, was last seen in 1994 when she was forced into a vehicle on Powell Street while walking from Charlestown Square to her aunt's home on the same street.
A coronial inquest into the three disappearances found the trio had died, most likely as a result of foul play, but extensive investigations over decades have been unable to find any trace of them.
On Monday police released an image of a car they described as a distinctly green mid-1970s four-door Holden Torana sedan.
Investigators believe the vehicle may be linked to Ms Hickie and Ms Robinson's cases.
Lake Macquarie Police District crime manager Detective Chief Inspector Greg Thomas said the car was a "significant" new lead.
"We are hoping anyone who was living in the Lake Macquarie region in the late 1970s may have a recollection of this Holden Torana, in particular in the month of April 1979," he said.
"We understand it's been 40 years since Robyn and Amanda's disappearances, however, we are seeking assistance from anyone who may even have moved to a different state or who may have some memory of this vehicle to come forward to police - you can remain anonymous through Crime Stoppers if you wish.
"It may seem like small or insignificant information from decades past - but it could help investigators solve these cases."
The families of the three missing women have requested privacy, police said.
Strike Force Arapaima inquiries continue.
Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Ivan Milat was suspected of killing Amanda Robinson and Robyn Hickie — but police have a new suspect

By crime reporter Mark Reddie ABC
Posted 

The families of two teenage girls kidnapped from a busy New South Wales highway 40 years ago have long suspected the teens were murdered by Australia's notorious backpacker killer, Ivan Milat.

But detectives now have their eyes on a new suspect — a wealthy businessman who lives on the Gold Coast but often travels interstate for work.

In June, the former Hunter Valley man became a suspect in the disappearances of Amanda Robinson and Robyn Hickie.

The teenage girls were last seen standing near or at bus stops on the Pacific Highway in Newcastle in 1979.

Police released an image of a green Holden Torana from the mid-1970s in the hope the photograph may help crack the cold cases.

"We understand it's been 40 years since Robyn and Amanda's disappearances," Detective Chief Inspector Greg Thomas said.

"However, we are seeking assistance from anyone who may have even moved to a different state or who may have some memory of this vehicle to come forward to police.

"It may seem like small or insignificant information from decades past, but it could help investigators solve these cases."

Robyn Hickie, 18, left her home at 7:15pm on Saturday April 7, 1979, and was last seen standing at a bus stop on the Pacific Highway in Belmont North.

Two weeks later, Amanda Robinson, 14, was seen near a bus stop on Lake Road at Swansea after attending a high school dance in Gateshead.

Neither have been seen since.

Investigators long suspected Milat was responsible, but he denied involvement at a 2002 coronial inquest into the teenagers' disappearances.

Milat was building roads in the area at the time.

Milat, 74, died from oesophagus and stomach cancer at Long Bay Prison Hospital last month.

Despite extensive investigations over the past 40 years, police have not located the two teenage girls or made any arrests in relation to their disappearances.

Warren McCorriston a person of interest in disappearance of teens Robyn Hickie, Amanda Robinson

A serial sex offender has emerged as a key person of interest in the suspicious disappearance of two Lake Macquarie teens, which has previously been blamed on serial killer Ivan Milat

Dan Proudman
June 25, 2021 - 12:00AM
The Newcastle News

A serial sex offender, whose brutal crimes had remained under the law enforcement radar for decades, has emerged as a key person of interest in two 40-year mysteries which had long been blamed on serial killer Ivan Milat.

Warren John McCorriston, set to be sentenced in the NSW District Court on Friday for five offences relating to the assaults on three women between 1980 and 1997, was charged after police re-opened an investigation into the suspicious disappearances of Lake Macquarie teenagers Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson in 1979.

The two girls vanished within two weeks of each other, with the now-dead backpacker killer named as a person of interest in other police investigations dating back more than 20 years.

However, Strike Force Arapaima detectives have now discarded Milat as a suspect, and McCorriston is one of the people they wish to ask questions about the 42-year-old suspicious disappearances of the two teenagers – one of the state’s most enduring mysteries.

In 2002, then State Coroner John Abernethy found that, despite no bodies ever

being found, both girls had been abducted and murdered by person or persons unknown.

No charges have been laid over the suspected deaths of the two teenagers.

Ms Hickie, 18, was last seen at a Belmont North bus stop on April 7, 1979 on her way to visit a friend at a local pub.

Although she had been known to hitchhike in the past, it can be revealed that an incident in Queensland in the months leading up to her disappearance has investigators certain Ms Hickie would have only entered a car being driven by a person known to her.

McCorriston, now aged 60, was a year below Ms Hickie at Belmont High School.

Two weeks after Ms Hickie’s disappearance, 14-year-old Amanda Robinson vanished from a Swansea street as she walked home after getting off a bus from a school dance.

Amanda’s abduction occurred less than three kilometres from a Blacksmiths street where McCorriston was once accused of attempting to snatch an 11-year-old girl – also in 1979 - before the charges were dropped due to issues with the young girl positively identifying her attacker.

McCorriston was also acquitted of a vicious sex attack on a hitchhiker in Lake Macquarie, which occurred just months after the two girls were abducted, where the victim was stripped naked and assaulted before escaping naked.

Detectives from Strike Force Arapaima, set up to reinvestigate what happened to Ms Hickie and Ms Robinson as well as the unrelated case of Gordana Kotevski, who was last seen at Charlestown in 1994, moved quickly to arrest McCorriston in late 2019 on the current sexual assault offences after identifying there was a risk of further offending.

The hospitality professional, who worked at some of Queensland’s premier hotels including Mantra Legends Hotel and Daydream Island Resort and Spa, has been in custody since being extradited more than 18 months ago.

The allegations came as part of the Strike Force Arapaima investigation, with detectives uncovering the systemic stalking and brutal assaulting of the women by McCorriston.

He has pleaded guilty to five counts involving the three women, including to inflict actual bodily harm with intent to have sexual intercourse; sexual assault inflict actual bodily harm; sexual assault knowing no consent given; maliciously inflict actual bodily harm; and common assault.

Prosecutors dropped a further 17 charges.

During a sentence hearing earlier this month, McCorriston attempted to offer his “most humble apology” to the three women.

“I’m remorseful, more so that it has impacted on them, they did not deserve to be treated in such a manner, I hope they can move on,” he told the court.

And directing to one victim in particular, a woman who he had repeatedly raped, he told the court he owed her so much.

“It is due to her that I ceased being a very immature man, a delinquent who was on a path to nowhere,” he said.

“Through her support it allowed me to find a career path and purpose in life.

“At the time I was under enormous pressure and wasn’t coping and I lent on her as a crutch in hard times without talking to her about my issues.”

But any suggestion that McCorriston had mended his ways is in stark contrast to the concerns of Strike Force Arapaima detectives who decided they needed to act quickly because of concerns he was a threat of continuing to assault women he had met on various dating websites.

 

 

Woman speaks of attempted abduction months before Robyn Hickie, Amanda Robinson vanished

She was only 11 when she was ordered into a stranger’s car at Blacksmiths in 1979. Four months later, Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson had both vanished just a few kilometres away.

Dan Proudman
July 26, 2021 - 6:00AM
The Newcastle News

It is a tale told through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl that is as chilling as it is crucial in the hunt for a possible serial killer who has evaded capture for more than 40 years.

The recollection of an attempted abduction on a quiet road next to a lonely Lake Macquarie beach in 1979 where the would-be kidnapper yelled at the girl to “get in the f---ing car” as she sat frozen on her bike.

The girl was able to escape the clutches of her kidnapper near Blacksmiths Beach in eastern Lake Macquarie, although the terrifying ordeal has remained with the now 52-year-old for 41 years.

Police now fear two teenagers, who both went missing within a few kilometres and just four months after the attempted abduction, fell victim to the same attacker.

And now, the woman’s graphic description could hold the key to a police strike force hunting the suspected multiple killer – the person responsible for the suspicious disappearances of teenagers Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson.

Robyn was last seen at a bus stop on the southern lanes of the Pacific Highway at Belmont North on April 7, 1979 — about four months after the Blacksmiths attempted abduction and just 7km north.

Two weeks after Robyn disappeared, 14-year-old Amanda Robinson vanished from a Swansea street on her way home from a school dance – just 3km south of the Blacksmiths incident.

“I looked quite older than 11, and the similarities between myself and Amanda were uncanny,’’ the abduction survivor said in her first ever public interview, given on the condition of anonymity.

But it is not just the proximity of her incident which has interested the investigators from Strike Force Arapaima, set up two years ago to investigate the suspicious disappearances as well as the unrelated 1994 case of Gordana Kotesvki, who was abducted off a Charlestown street.

It is also the description of her attacker and the car he was driving – a distinct, green, mid-1970s, four-door Holden Torana sedan.

Strike Force Arapaima detectives first released information about the green Torana in November 2019, claiming they believed it could be linked to the Hickie and Robinson cases.

Then-Lake Macquarie crime manager Detective Chief Inspector Greg Thomas said the car was a “significant” line of inquiry for Strike Force Arapaima investigators.

The woman involved in the attempted abduction saw news reports of the police appeal and contacted investigators.

She is now a key witness in Strike Force Arapaima investigations.

And considering the FBI now classifies a serial killer as a person who has committed two or more murders on people in separate incidents with an interval of time between the homicides, she could hold the key for detectives to finally put to rest decades of fears that a serial killer had been roaming Lake Macquarie and Newcastle.

The woman was holidaying in Blacksmiths when she rode a borrowed bike along Ungala Rd on that January day in 1979.

“I was alone and all I remember is the green car and how quickly it was driven up to me,’’ the woman said.

“It was that fast that my front wheel crashed into the driver’s door. And then I saw him. He had longish hair and was skinny.

“But it was his eyes. They looked completely black, like the devil, and he just yelled at me to “get in the f--king car.

“He tried to open the door but he couldn’t because my bike wheel was pushing it closed and my feet were on the ground.

“I was so frightened and he was so angry.

“It wasn’t like you would expect, or what your mother had told you, that a man would try to take you by offering lollies or something to bait you.

“He was just ordering me into the car, and he was so angry and forceful.

“I just jumped off the bike and ran. I was a state runner so I could run pretty fast, but he followed me.

“It was only then that I saw a man mowing the lawn so I ran to him and he turned out to be a policeman.’’

The ordeal has given the woman more than four decades of nightmares as she constantly relives the moment where she was nearly taken.

And she has no doubt what would have happened if she had followed the stranger’s orders.

“I know for a fact that if I got into that car I would be dead,’’ she said.

“I could see it in my eyes. And it gives me shivers to think that it happened to the two girls only a few months later.’’

The woman’s evidence immediately sparked interest with Strike Force Arapaima investigators, who had dispelled the long-held suggestion that Robyn Hickie may have hitchhiked the night she disappeared.

Although she had a history of thumbing rides in the past, an incident in Queensland had prompted her to stop. The only car she would have got into was if it was being driven by someone she knew, like a longish haired, skinny man in a green Torana.

“It gives me chills, thinking about those girls,’’ the survivor said.

Police search for possible human remains days after offering million dollar reward into missing teenage girls

By 9News Staff
A police operation is underway on the New South Wales Central Coast as investigators search for possible human remains linked to the disappearance of two teenage girls more than 40 years ago.
It comes just two days after NSW Police announced a $1 million reward for information into the unsolved disappearances and suspected murder of Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson.
The girls disappeared two weeks apart in 1979 in the Lake Macquarie region of NSW.
Ms Hickie, then aged 18, left her home about 7.15pm on Saturday April 1, 1979, and was last seen standing at a bus stop on the Pacific Highway, Belmont North.
A fortnight later, Ms Robinson, aged 14, was spotted walking along Lake Road in Swansea, on a Saturday night, after attending a dance at her high school in Gateshead.
Despite extensive investigations at the time, and over the years, neither of the girls have been located.
But in a possible fresh development today, detectives attached to Strike Force Arapaima are searching a former Scout Camp at Nords Wharf, south of Swansea.
Officers dug with heavy machinery today and will also use ground-penetrating radar tomorrow, as part of the new search.
A former scout told NBN News of a possible link between the camp and a person of interest in the police investigation.
"We would from time to time go on camps at Camp Kanangra at Nords Wharf, I know a person of interest who attended there with us ... yeah people who may be critical to what is taking place."
Robyn's 91-year-old father Jim spoke on Monday, after police announced two $1-million rewards for information.
"Well if we're going to get answers, it has to be soon doesn't it, I won't last forever."
On the same day, NSW Police Minister David Elliot said investigators would not stop looking for Ms Hickie and Ms Robinson.
"Even though the two girls when missing two weeks apart, police are treating them as a single investigation," Mr Elliott said.
Officers would "leave no stone unturned".
"The dissemblance of two teenager girls is a tragedy."
Police are appealing to the community to come forward with any information that may assist detectives with their inquiries.

 

Police offer two $1m rewards for information on Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson

ABC Newcastle
By Liz Farquhar
Posted 

What happened to these girls? It's a question that has baffled police and the community of Lake Macquarie, NSW, for more than four decades.

Police are hoping that two $1 million rewards on offer from today will prompt someone to come forward with crucial information that will solve these cold case mysteries.

Robyn Hickie, 18, left her home about 7:15pm on Saturday, April 7, 1979.

She was last seen standing at a bus stop on the Pacific Highway at Belmont North.

Two weeks later, Amanda Robinson, 14, also disappeared from the Lake Macquarie region.

She was last seen walking along Lake Road at Swansea on Saturday, April 21, after attending a high school dance at Gateshead.

Despite extensive investigations at the time, and over the years, neither of the teenagers has been located.

A subsequent coronial inquest found both Robyn and Amanda were deceased, likely as a result of foul play.

Police Minister David Elliot is urging locals to think hard about whether they can help police with their investigations into the disappearances.

"It's important that the people of Lake Macquarie, and indeed right across NSW, look into their hearts to see if they have any information that might lead to the conclusion of this matter," Mr Elliot said.

"That's why the NSW government will never let up providing the support to police to ensure that their investigation leaves no stone unturned.

"A 40-year-old investigation is not something that is unusual for NSW Police.

"This increase in the reward to $1 million for each of the investigations will hopefully spark the conscience of somebody who knows anything about the disappearance of these two teenage girls."

'Closure for families'

While announcing the new rewards today, Lake Macquarie crime manager Detective Inspector Steve Benson said he hoped it would encourage those who had been holding onto information to finally start talking.

"We're hoping this reward will lead to answers and hopefully closure for those families," he said.

"I would say [to people] think about the reward and the families involved. 

"If we can bring answers and closure to them I think that would be a very nice thing to do.

"We are following strong lines of enquiry but I'm not going to comment on persons of interest at this stage."