Tattoos on Ian's hands
THE day before he vanished, 16-year-old Ian Craig Hollis allegedly
gave an ultimatum to his secret lover, an inquest into his
disappearance has been told.
The teen's mother, Shirley Spaccavento, claims she overheard him
on the phone telling 22-year-old Karlene Shaw she had to choose between
him and the father of one of her two children.
The next day, on May 20, 1986, Mr Hollis disappeared and has not
been seen or heard from since, Glebe Coroner's Court has heard.
Ms Shaw, who lived around the corner from Mr Hollis's home in
Minto, has denied the affair took place and claims he was just a friend
who came around to play with her children.
She told police she last saw him the day before he vanished, when
he left her house with some "local boys who were dags" in a brown car.
Ms Shaw was with her young friend when he was bashed and robbed by
two men near a toilet block about two weeks before he went missing.
Afterwards, Mr Hollis became paranoid about his safety and stayed
with his aunt and then his sister before returning home.
The inquest heard Mr Hollis had confided in at least two friends
that he was gay and that he had told a youth worker he once prostituted
himself to a man in Cabramatta in exchange for drugs.
The court also heard police failed to act on Mrs Spaccavento's
missing person's report until three weeks after her son vanished.
Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon said there was no explanation
for the delay and it had hampered subsequent investigations.
Mr MacMahon said Mr Hollis was close to his mother and sister and
that it was highly unlikely, in the event that he ran away from home, he
would not get in touch for so many years.
He found that Mr Hollis was deceased, however he made an open
finding on the nature and cause of his death.
Outside court, Mr Hollis's family said they continued to hope and
pray that he was still alive and had chosen to run away.
Missing Persons Week: Sister Debbie Dufour searches for answers about
what happened to Ian Craig Hollis, who disappeared 31 years ago
Big sister Debbie Dufour has woken up every morning for the past 31
years and hoped that today her family would finally get the answers
about what happened to her brother.
BIG sister Debbie Dufour has woken up every morning for the past 31
years and hoped that today her family would finally get the answers
about what happened to her brother.
Ian Craig Hollis, then 16, of Minto, was last seen getting into a
mystery brown car outside his girlfriend’s Minto home on the afternoon
of May 19, 1986, and he has not been seen since.
In the decades since that day, his devoted family, including mum
Shirley, now 71, have anxiously searched far and wide, questioned Ian’s
friends and footy mates and even turned to psychics and Facebook in
their quest for answers.
“It was unusual for Ian to disappear like that because he’d always say
to mum, I’ll be back in a couple of hours or I’ll be back soon,’’ Mrs
Dufour said.
Mrs Dufour said Ian’s disappearance had affected all generations of her
family.
“I want answers for my children and grandchildren as well. It’s affected
everyone and we’ve all gone through hell,’’ she said.
Now 52, Mrs Dufour, of St Andrews, was heavily pregnant with her third
child when Ian vanished.
“Two weeks before Ian disappeared, he was bashed in a toilet block at
the community hall at Minto and he became very concerned after that. He
went to stay with an aunt in Blackett,’’ she said.
In 2013, the NSW Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon ruled Ian had died
of unknown circumstances on or about May 19, 1986.
“As to the place of death and the cause and manner the evidence
available does not enable me to make a finding,’’ the coroner’s report
said.
Mrs Dufour said she was speaking out during Missing Person’s Week
because the worst thing was not knowing what had happened to Ian, who
would now be 49.
“It’s horrible not knowing. Somebody out there knows something and we
want to find out and have a proper burial place for Ian, somewhere we
can go and put flowers,’’ she said.
Mrs Dufour affectionately remembers Ian as a cheeky brother who loved
playing footy for the Minto Cobras and who loved animals and collecting
lizards from the nearby canal.
“He’d go down to the canal and catch lizards and bring them home. He’d
have the lizards running around the loungeroom and mum would yell, Get
them out.’’
Ian would have turned 17 two weeks after he disappeared.
He had finished school at Sarah Redfern High and was looking for work.
Mrs Dufour said Ian had no money on him when he disappeared and the
unemployment benefits he had been receiving were not touched.
Ian was living with his mum and stepfather in Minto when he disappeared.
“Mum lived in the same house for 40 years and she had the same phone
number and she didn’t want to change anything (in case Ian tried to find
her),’’ she said.
Her mum moved to Leumeah two years ago but her desire to find out what
happened to Ian remains.
Anyone with information is urged to phone Macquarie Fields police on
9605 0499.