Rewards for information are offered in many missing persons cases, usually those where homicide is suspected. This page will provide a list of the rewards amounts offered and links back to the missing person's page. All reward amounts are in Australian dollars and are offered by the Australian Government unless otherwise indicated (eg if the reward is privately offered by the family or an organisation, this will be noted).
Any information you have about this is worth giving to police, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem.
You can provide information to police via any of the methods below:
Any information provided will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Your help may give police the clue they need to close this case and provide some comfort for the families of victims.
Rachel ANTONIO - $250,000
Gregory ARMSTRONG - $250,000
Revelle BALMAIN - $250,000
Kath BERGAMIN - $1million
Prue BIRD - $500,000
Kellie-Ann CARMICHAEL - $200,000
Max CASTOR - $5000
Lynette DAWSON - $100,000
Ian DRAPER - $100,000
Rahma El Dennaoui - $250,000
Terry FLOYD - $100,000
Annette GREEN - $100,000
Nancy GRUNWALDT - $30,000
Amber HAIGH - $100,000
Simon KNIGHT - $100,000
Marlene McDONALD - $100,000
Elisabeth MEMBREY - $1Million
Peter Messariti - $50,000
Michelle MILLS - $100,000
Scott NEVEN - $100,000
Engin OZDEMIR - $100,000
Belinda PEISLEY - $100,000
Joanne RATCLIFFE - $200,000
Marion SANDFORD- $100,000
Janine VAUGHAN - $100,000
Bronwyn WINFIELD - $100,000
What is the value of a human life?
It is a question Detective Superintendent Scott Cook fields all too frequently – though he wishes he didn't.
As the state’s top homicide detective, his is the face beamed into the living rooms of NSW to announce each new cash reward granted for information about one of the state’s unsolved homicides, today numbering more than 500.
But last week, when separate police appeals offered $1 million one day, and $750,000 the next, the cold case rewards scheme came under fire for becoming exactly what Detective Superintendent Cook says it is not.
“People perceive this as a value judgement of a case or a person. It’s neither,” he told the Herald.
“We can’t value a human life. This is about how we get people to talk.”
Last week, homicide detectives announced a $1 million reward for any information into the 2014 murder of known Sydney gangster Raphael Joseph.
In 2014 the 37-year-old was lured to an address in Auburn, before being executed, his body then placed in a 44-gallon drum and “disposed of".
"We are very close to a prosecution,” Detective Superintendent Cook told the media last Wednesday, upon announcing the $1 million reward.
“What we really need is for those people who are close associates ... to provide us with that last piece of information.”
Twenty-four hours later he was making a similar appeal for information into the death of 41-year-old Aboriginal woman Cheryl Ardler, whose skeletal remains were recently discovered, after she went missing in 2012.
But for Ms Ardler, the reward was $750,000.
Investigators maintain the dollar figure is no judgement on the value of a person. Rather, it all comes down to the tactics specific to each case.
A new reward must come with vital media attention, covert and overt investigative strategies and, crucially, the timing must be right.
“There is no point leaving a pile of cheese in the kitchen without mouse traps,” Detective Superintendent Cook said.
“If we set every unsolved homicide at $1 million overnight, no one would notice. We need to bring attention to it in order to get value out of it,” Detective Superintendent Cook said.
It is estimated that all unsolved homicides will eventually attract rewards of $1 million but offering $500,000 or $750,000 at a time gives investigators more than “one bite at the cherry”.
“An investigation might suit three announcements, so we can make a fresh appeal for information. It’s tactical. If we jump from zero to $1 million in one move, we’re done. That is the limit.”
It is only since December last year that rewards of $1 million have been offered to help solve the state’s worst cold cases.
Prior to 2017 most serious cases garnered a quarter of that.
There are currently more than 230 rewards on offer, with the oldest dating back to 1981.
People who come forward can be provided with protection, which may include full witness protection or a change of identity.
Only four cases have prompted the $1 million reward: missing toddler William Tyrrell; student teacher Maria Smith; Coogee mother Lynette White and this month Raphael Joseph.
According to the most recent data, in 2013 there were 44 applicants for government rewards and a total of $120,000 paid out to an unspecified number of people.
It is understood there have been no claims since.
Victims advocate Howard Brown represents about 20 families of victims of unsolved crimes.
He said every time a reward announcement is made for an unsolved homicide, “they say, ‘it’s not for mine.”
“Some of the people I support believe $1 million should be offered for every case.”
Like Robyn Shelley, whose son Paul Summers was accidentally caught in the crossfire between warring bikie gangs in Gosford almost 20 years ago.
A $100,000 reward for information on his murder still stands, however, at one-tenth of the reward offered for Raphael Joseph, Mr Howard said the family questions why “an underworld figure is given a greater priority than her son”.
But Detective Superintendent Cook said the role of homicide detectives was not to pass judgement but to "enforce the law for everyone and fight for victims, no matter who they are”.
Cases where police would set a reward at $1 million in the first instance could be those for which they knew someone could be pushed over the edge in coming forward, or those investigations that had nothing to lose.
“In addition to [finding answers] for the victim, we also need to ensure ... that murderers are locked up,” Detective Superintendent Cook said.
“I know we are disappointing people. It’s not our intent to disappoint people, it’s our intent to solve crime and catch killers.”