Tiffany TAYLOR

Missing teenager, Waterford West

Missing teenager Tiffany Taylor believed to have been murdered was 20 weeks 'pregnant', sister says

Updated 14 Aug 2015, 11:46pm

Teenage murder victim Tiffany Taylor was 20 weeks pregnant and allegedly met her killer on a dating website, her family and Queensland Police say.

The 16-year-old was last seen on July 12, leaving a motel at Logan, south of Brisbane where she lived with her boyfriend.

On Thursday night, Brisbane man Rodney Williams, 60, was charged with her murder, even though a body is yet to be found.

He appeared in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Friday morning where he was remanded in custody until October 9.

Detective Superintendent Dave Hutchinson claimed Williams met Ms Taylor via an online dating website, the day she disappeared.

"We've also been able to establish that Tiffany was offering sexual services for money over the online dating service," he said.

Police are hoping to speak with anyone who may have met with or had any interaction with Tiffany through dating websites or people who know anyone else who may have had interactions with her.

Ms Taylor's elder sister Chloe and mother Leanne Dillon held a press conference on Friday.

Chloe still holds out hope her younger sister is alive.

She had been living with and supporting her boyfriend of four years who was "heart broken beyond words", Chloe said.

"I believe her word that she was pregnant," she said.

"My sister was a lovely little girl, a good girl. Very friendly, she'd talk to anybody.

"This is very out of character. She is a young girl after a little bit of attention from the wrong people.

"She knew what she was doing, she knew what she was getting into."

Chloe has pleaded for anyone who may have Ms Taylor to return her home.

"If you do have her, just hand her to us, because she's not in any sort of trouble, we just want her home and safe," Chloe said.

"She's a very family orientated girl, which is why it's very weird that she hasn't come home.

"I still hold that hope every day."

Detective Superintendent Hutchinson said Ms Taylor left the hotel on 11:45 on Sunday July 12 "and took up with Mr Williams in his car".

"Our investigations have failed to find any proof of life since that time."

He said it was believed the teenager's body may have been dumped near the Brisbane Valley Highway between the Warrego Highway and Fernvale.

"We do intend to hold SES searches in the area in the near future," he said.

Detective Superintendent Hutchinson alleged the pair had been travelling in Williams' champagne-coloured Hyundai and appealed for any information from the public.

Investigators are looking for a champagne coloured 1995 Hyundai Excel with Queensland registration 649VFO.

It was parked on Logistics Place, Larrapinta on Sunday, July 12 between 12:00pm and 12:45pm.

The same vehicle was seen in the vicinity of the Brisbane Valley Highway between Fernvale and Blacksoil on the same day between 1:00pm and 1:45pm.

Tiffany's white Samsung smartphone which may have been disposed of within the Bundamba or Riverview areas is also yet to be recovered.

Tiffany Taylor: Police call off search west of Brisbane for teenager's body

Updated 15 Aug 2015, 9:30pm - ABC

Police have called off their search in scrubland west of Brisbane for the body of a teenager who is believed to have been murdered.

Tiffany Taylor, 16, was last seen leaving a Logan motel on July 12 with Rodney Wayne Williams, a 60-year-old man she had met on an internet dating site.

Queensland Police said the teenager had been offering sexual services for money over the dating site and was 20 weeks' pregnant at the time of her death.

Williams has been charged with her murder.

Ms Taylor was reported missing three days after she disappeared and a joint search by police and SES volunteers took place in scrubland off the Brisbane Valley Highway between the Warrego Highway and Fernvale.

Ms Taylor had gotten into Williams' car, a 1995 Hyundai Excel sedan, about midday on the day she disappeared.

It is believed they travelled about 15 kilometres to an industrial estate at Larapinta, then a further 40 kilometres to the Brisbane Valley.

Her mobile phone was disposed of on the way, police said.

Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Bristow said it was not known why Ms Taylor and Williams would have travelled to the Brisbane Valley, or if the teenager was already dead.

Forty SES volunteers and 20 police took part in the search but it proved fruitless and was called off about 3pm.

Police have not scheduled a search for Sunday.

"The terrain is quite thick bushland. There are some pastoral areas, however there are pockets of this which is extremely thick lantana and various water courses," Senior Sergeant Bristow said.

He said Williams had provided police with "a number of versions" of events which were being investigated.

SES volunteer Brenda Berry said she was determined to find Ms Taylor.

"If we don't find a body, at least we've ruled out this area, that she's not in this area," she said.

"I have determination to find her, if it was my daughter I'd like to have her found to put it to rest."Family still holds out hope

Chloe Taylor said her younger sister was a family-oriented girl who was eagerly awaiting the birth of her child.

She had been living with her boyfriend of four years at a Waterford West motel, where she was last seen alive.

She was not in school and had been working to support her family.

Chloe said her sister's disappearance was out of character and she still held hope that she was alive.

"My sister was a lovely little girl, a good girl. Very friendly, she'd talk to anybody," she said.

"She is a young girl after a little bit of attention from the wrong people.

"She knew what she was doing, she knew what she was getting into.

"If you do have her, just hand her to us, because she's not in any sort of trouble, we just want her home and safe."

Missing Queensland teenager Tiffany Taylor's boyfriend says he did not know she was 'dating' online

Updated 16 Aug 2015, 1:45pm - ABC

The boyfriend of a missing pregnant teenager says he had no idea she was offering sexual services for money on internet dating sites.

Tiffany Taylor, 16, was five months pregnant when she was last seen leaving the motel she was living in to meet Rodney Wayne Williams, 60.

Police believe Williams killed her on the day she got into his car, July 12, but her body is yet to be found.

Ms Taylor's boyfriend Greg Hill told the Seven Network that she had been acting suspiciously but he did not know why.

The pair had been dating for four years and living at a Waterford West hotel, south of Brisbane, where Williams picked her up from.

"She told me she was meeting her uncle to get money all the time and having coffees and coming home," he said.

"But sometimes she was gone for a long time but I had my suspicions but I never really knew.

"I cared for Tiffany and loved her. She was special to me."

Ms Taylor had gotten into Williams' car, a 1995 Hyundai Excel sedan, about midday on the day she disappeared.

It is believed they travelled about 15 kilometres to an industrial estate at Larapinta, then a further 40 kilometres to the Brisbane Valley.

Her mobile phone was disposed of on the way, police said.

Yesterday more than 40 SES volunteers and police searched a large area of bushland along the Brisbane Valley Highway near Fernvale, but her body was not found.

The search was called off, but a Queensland Police spokeswoman was unable to say why the decision was made.

Williams has been charged with murder and is due to appear in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court in October.

Tiffany Taylor: Mystery of teen who sold sex on Facebook

She was 16 and — according to some — very young and naive for her age. Her boyfriend was also an older man. In his 40s, he had been dating her since she was just 12.

Police officers claim that on July 12, Tiffany left home and got into a champagne-coloured Hyundai driven by a 60-year-old man named Rodney Williams.

Williams had allegedly arranged to meet Tiffany — 44 years his junior — through an online dating site.

Police would later discover, after she didn’t come home, that the teen had been offering sexual services in exchange for money.

Her boyfriend, Greg Hill, would say he knew nothing of her online activities.

She would go out for coffee or to meet her uncle and come home with money.

Then she didn’t come home.

Young and beautiful, the petite Tiffany used the name “Gwenyth” online. She was a frequent poster on a Queensland-based online dating group.

“Who’s taking me out tonight?” she posted in March.

Dozens were keen.

“Some lucky guy,” one man replied.

Users of the site were astounded to discover the truth of her age. She had told many she was 19 or 20. Tiffany had been reported to the group’s administration officer on numerous occasions by people concerned with her approaches.

Rodney Williams used the screen name “muddles 54” on the site. After living much of his life in Tasmania, the “bush mechanic” eventually moved to Queensland, settling in Annerley in Brisbane’s south.

Police claim Tiffany and Williams crossed paths on July 12.

Eventually, when she failed to return home, Tiffany’s boyfriend called her sister Chloe. “Her partner came to me wondering where she was — and I obviously didn’t have her myself — so we both went to police (to say) she’s missing, obviously,” she said.

They went to police on July 15.

“It’s heartbreaking. If someone has done something to hurt her — that’s disgusting,” Chloe said, describing her sister as a “lovely little girl”.

Police were able to track Tiffany via her mobile phone to an area of bushland 40 minutes west of Brisbane.

A search of an area of scrub near Ironbark on Saturday failed to find her or her phone.

Williams was arrested and charged with murder on Thursday night.

In the weeks following Tiffany’s disappearance, Williams listed various items for sale on online community Gumtree.

A fridge and washing machine were listed a day after he allegedly met Tiffany and on August 10 he listed a jacket for sale.

Police have appealed for anyone who had contact with Williams online – either before or after July 12 – to contact police.

But we may never know what happened to the troubled 16-year-old, whose family has described her as a “lovely little girl, a good girl”, who would talk to anyone.

Tiffany has been missing for over a month and the last time she was seen alive was when she left the motel room she shared with her boyfriend, and got into a car belonging to 60-year-old Rodney Wayne Williams.

Police believe she was using an online dating site and had allegedly set up a meeting with Williams. An online profile that has reportedly been linked to Williams said “I have been told I have a magic tongue”.

Police believe Tiffany, who was believed to be pregnant, was using online sites to sell sexual services before she disappeared. They have since charged Williams with her murder.

Despite extensive searches, police have not been able to find Tiffany’s body.

Meanwhile her Facebook page, which was created using the name Gwenyth Taylor, remains testament to her double life online.

At the time of her disappearance, Tiffany was living at Waterford West hotel, south of Brisbane, with her boyfriend. He didn’t know she was going out to meet men. He said he thought she was meeting her uncle for coffee and getting money from him.

Tiffany’s sister Chloe said it was out of character for Tiffany to sell sexual services online and she must have resorted to it to support her family. The teenager was believed to be five months pregnant.

“She’d talk to anybody — just a young girl after a bit of attention from the wrong people, I think,” Chloe said on Friday as she sat beside her tearful mother, Leanne.

Despite being just 16 years old, Tiffany could have passed for an older woman. She was likely just 12 years old when she left home.

While some would be shocked at her age, adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said age did not define maturity and what people used to associate with 12-year-old behaviour could now be quite different.

“Children are now more physically mature so they can get away with a lot more,” he said.

Those aged 12 to 14 also presented unique challenges because, despite not being psychologically mature, they were more able to challenge their parents’ authority.

“It’s much easier with younger children because parents have more control and autonomy whereas the older ones say things like, ‘I know my rights’, they are able to articulate better and use existing support agencies set up to support young people,” he said.

While Tiffany’s behaviour was on the extreme end of the scale, Dr Carr-Gregg said risk-taking could partly be explained by brain neurology.

“The brain is not fully developed until 23 and until then [teenagers] are extremely susceptible to peer pressure and an overwhelming desire to be accepted. They are more likely to take risks and want to emancipate from mum and dad,” Dr Carr-Gregg said.

“When we look at Tiffany’s story, that explains virtually everything.”

While Dr Carr-Gregg did not have personal insight into Tiffany’s case, he said extreme behaviour, such as Tiffany’s, could be motivated by a desire to be loved, for affection or recognition. Another common motivator for risky behaviour was the need for money to pay for drugs.

“Obviously it’s not a functional way to get these things but this was a way all her needs could be met,” he said.

But Dr Carr-Gregg said risk-taking behaviour during the teenage years could be managed with supervision and monitoring.

“The key is to know their [child’s] individual personality and psychology and parent accordingly. I have two boys and one of them is more risk averse, so they require different levels of supervision,” he said

He said one tactic was to channel children’s energy into activities such as art, music, drama and sport because “while kids are doing one thing they can’t be doing another”.

Unfortunately, he said agencies set up to support young people were massively underfunded and were in desperate need of an overhaul. These services are provided by states and can vary widely, but Dr Carr-Gregg said there was a need for improvements across the board.

“Staff need to be trained properly and provided decent support once they are in the role,” Dr Carr-Gregg said. “My understanding is that this is not happening at the moment.

“There have been multiple occasions when clients have run away and have not been able to be cared for properly because staffing is inexperienced and inadequate.”

Police are expected to continue the search for Tiffany after unsuccessfully scouring bushland next to Brisbane Valley Highway, northwest of Ipswich, for the teenager last weekend.

Police on horseback were involved in the search near Brisbane Valley Highway and Lovers Lane, with Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Bristow describing the terrain as extremely difficult to navigate.

“The terrain is quite thick bushland. There are some pastoral areas, however there are pockets of this which is extremely thick lantana and various water courses,” he said.

Tiffany has not been seen since allegedly meeting up with Williams on July 12.

“Williams has provided a number of versions to police, which we are still investigating,” Snr Sgt Bristow told reporters.

Police would like to speak with anyone who may have seen a champagne-coloured 1995 Hyundai Excel sedan seen at Logistics Place in Larapinta, south of Brisbane, about noon on July 12, the day that Tiffany disappeared.

Detectives believe the car later travelled along Brisbane Valley Highway, between Warrego Highway and Fernvale.

Tiffany’s white Samsung smartphone has not been recovered and police believe it was dumped around the suburbs of Bundamba and Riverview.

Police would also like to speak with anyone who may have met with or had any interaction with Tiffany through dating websites or who know anyone else who may have been in contact with her.

If anyone has any information they believe may be able to help police with this investigation, phone Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or go to the website.

Family of missing Tiffany Taylor clings to hope as police search for her body

She’d met him online, organising a time and a place. He’d pick her up and they’d drive somewhere secluded.

For an entire month, her family waited for news. For an entire month, Tiffany Taylor didn’t call. She didn’t turn on her phone or touch her bank account. For an entire month, Tiffany did not come home.

Then, on August 13, 60-year-old Rodney Wayne Williams — a stranger to her friends and family — was charged with murder.

But until her body is found, the 16-year-old’s family cannot bring themselves to believe she is dead.

“This has brought our family to our knees, literally begging for crumbs of her existence,” Tiffany’s sister Chloe told The Sunday Mail in a heartfelt tribute to the missing girl.

“Tiffany is very mature for her age — way beyond most 16-year-olds. She was very much independent and had been for some time.

“She is very much loved by her family and missed. Queensland Police will bring our sweet Tiffany home and this nightmare will be over.

“We want the public to hold hope with us. Hold our hand in peace and wait for her to come home.”

Detective Superintendent David Hutchinson called on residents along the Brisbane Valley Highway — from the Warrego Highway to Fernvale — to check their properties for anything unusual.

A similar call following the disappearance of Gatton teen Jayde Kendall resulted in her body being found in a paddock at the end of a narrow, dead-end lane. Jayde’s family can now plan her funeral.

Chloe described her sister as “the nicest of souls”.

The second eldest of six girls, she was friendly and generous and a loving and gentle aunt.

“From a young age, Tiffany always wanted to be a grown-up,” she said.

“She loved playing ‘teachers’ with her sisters, having responsibilities (and) counting money.

“As soon as she was old enough to drive, that’s all she wanted to do. She loved driving.

“She was also a talented singer when she had the confidence to do so — and she knew she was good.

“Tiffany also loves cooking and (was) always trying to impress us and her partner with her new creations.

“She’s the best sister. I could tell her anything.”

Police will allege Tiffany contacted Williams on her mobile phone shortly before noon on July 12 after communicating with him through an online dating site.

It will be alleged Williams agreed to pay Tiffany $500 for the encounter.

Police have claimed Williams drove to Logistics Place at Larapinta where his Hyundai Excel remained stationary for 22 minutes.

The teenager’s phone stopped working shortly before 2pm.

Police claim forensics link Tiffany to Williams’ car.

Williams was allegedly found on August 13 by police at the Roma Street Transit Centre attempting to catch a train to northern Australia.

Chloe said her sister, who was 20-weeks pregnant when she disappeared, had become “a little lost in the wrong crowd” and had put herself in a “bad position”.

But she was overjoyed about becoming a mother and had even picked out a name for her baby.

If she’d had a girl, Tiffany wanted to call her Isabella Rose.

“Tiffany doesn’t need to be put to shame and blamed for this outcome,” Chloe said.

“Tiffany has taught me life lessons that have been very valuable to how I live my life … the most friendly girl you’d ever meet but shy and reserved at the same time.

“Tiffany would love to be remembered, not as a silly child, but as a young woman trying in whatever way just to (get) somewhere in this life — that’s all she wanted.

“The house with the white picket fence and perfect little family. The good life. For herself, her partner Greg Hill and their unborn child. And she will be remembered for that.”

If you have any information contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

CHLOE TAYLOR’S FULL TRIBUTE TO HER SISTER TIFFANY:

“From a young age tiffany always wanted to be a grown up- she loved playing teachers with her sisters, having responsibilities, counting money she always wanted to be a ‘big girl’.

As soon as she was of age to drive that's all she wanted to do she loved driving. she was also a talented singer when she had the confidence to do so. and she knew she was good :)

Tiffany and her partner loved getting out and doing activities; walking her dog that she adored and cared for from a pup his name is terry. or swimming, going out for lunch/dinner ... She was always busy..

She is the nicest of souls, would do anything for anyone and put everyone first. Tiffany also loves cooking and always trying to impress us and her partner with her new creations :)

She is also very generous with her love, money and time.

Tiffany is the second eldest of 6 girls. I'm the oldest. She's the best sister I could tell her anything, I have confided on her heaps of times..

I have many memories with tiffany as a child she was very cheeky always had mum on her toes in a good way though. always had fun wherever she went always made friends. The most friendly girl your ever meet but shy and very reserved at the same time..

I see my sister getting so far in life she was a go getter

She knew what she wanted in life and was on the right track. just a little lost in the wrong crowd..

She is a fantastic Aunty toward her niece so loving and gentle. tiffany was so very much looking forward to being a mother to her own child. she had pretty much planned this pregnancy with her partner. She even has a name picked if her child happens to be a girl. ‘Isabella Rose Hill’

They are both very much looking forward to being parents.

Tiffany is very mature for her age way beyond most 16 year olds. Also in a good way. She was very much independent and had been for some time. On her free will of course.

Tiffany has taught me life lessons that have been very valuable to how I live my life. She is very clever and helpful ...

This has brought our family to our knees literally begging for crumbs of her existence..

We know the bad positions she put herself in. We don't need to be reminded and tiffany doesn't need to be put to shame and blamed for this outcome..

Tiffany would love to be remembered not as a silly child..

but as a young women TRYING in whatever way just to somewhere in this life. that's all she wanted. “The house with the white picket fence and perfect little family” The good life. For herself, her partner Greg Hill and their unborn child.

And she will be remembered for that.

She is very much loved by her family and missed. Qld police will bring our sweet tiffany home and this nightmare will be over.

We want the public to hold hope with us. Hold our hand in peace and wait for her to come home.”

Tiffany Taylor: Hopes fade teen's body will be found

The area was the last signal location given by Tiffany's white Samsung Galaxy phone on July 12, the day she disappeared.

Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Ralston of the Logan Child Protection and Investigation Unit said information from the public was critical due to the size of the search area.

"We're definitely looking at that Fernvale area out towards Lowood and we would again ask anyone there with any information to contact CrimeStoppers," he said.

"Because it's such a big area and there are so many hidey holes in such a massive area makes it so difficult, any information we'd appreciate."

Tiffany, 16, was five months pregnant when she went missing from a motel in Waterford West, near Logan, on July 12, where she had been living with her boyfriend.

Rodney Wayne Williams, 60, has been charged with her murder, despite the fact her body has not been found.

At the time of her presumed death, the teenager was offering sexual services online and was last sighted when she went to meet Mr Williams that day.

The Annerley man was charged with her murder in mid-August and remains in custody.

Mobile phone data collected from Tiffany's phone led investigators to believe her body was dumped in the area between 12pm and 1.45pm the day she disappeared.

Data records showed the Logan teenager and her alleged killer spent about two hours in the area near Lovers Lane at Pine Mountain on July 12.

Two unsuccessful searches of the area have ensued, one near the Brisbane Valley Highway between Blacksoil and Winora, prompted by the information collected from the teenager's phone data, and a second about 10 kilometres north a week later, sparked by a tip-off from the public.

Neither search yielded any clue as to the whereabouts of Tiffany's body.

Detective Senior Sergeant Ralston renewed his appeal for anyone who may have seen Mr Williams' beige 1995 Hyundai Excel around the time of Tiffany's disappearance to phone CrimeStoppers.

He said the teenager's family were desperate for answers.

"We have a family liaison officer contacting them weekly, just to keep in contact with them because they are still looking and still hoping for information," he said. 

"It's very sad for them, they are good people. I can't imagine what it would be like not knowing where she is." 

Mr Williams is due to front Beenleigh Magistrates Court again on October 9. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or at crimestoppers.com.au

Why is it that we seem not to care about the death of Tiffany Taylor?

Life had never done Tiffany any favours. At just 16, she was five months pregnant and living out of a motel on the city’s outer fringes with her 41-year old boyfriend. And things were about to go from sad to tragic when police allege Tiffany met a 60-year-old stranger online who arranged to pay her for sex.

On Sunday, July 12, at about 11.45am, she stepped into a car, never to be seen again. It was three days before Tiffany was reported missing and more than two weeks before Queensland police issued a brief media statement headed “Missing Teen, Waterford West”. An accompanying photograph showed a pretty young girl with shoulder-length brown hair and wide green eyes.

The statement attracted little attention until, one month later, on August 14, police announced they had charged the stranger, Rodney Wayne Williams, with Tiffany’s murder. Few even knew the teenager was missing. The fact a murder investigation had been ticking over came as a shock — particularly as her body had not been found.

At a media conference to appeal for information after the charge was laid, the details of Tiffany’s life began to become public. Police announced they had been “able to establish that Tiffany was offering sexual services for money” on internet dating sites.

Speaking to a bank of cameras and journalists, her sister Chloe Taylor, 19, was adamant that no matter what choices Tiffany had made, they needed to find her. In the process, Chloe mentioned Tiffany and her boyfriend had been together for four years. That put Tiffany at 12 when the relationship began, but the boyfriend insists it did not become sexual until she turned 16.

What had brought Tiffany to this, delivering her to that motel forecourt that morning? Before any questions could be answered, the case quickly slipped from public view — overshadowed by the disappearance of another teenager. Tiffany Taylor had fallen through the cracks before she met her fate. And in disappearing she seemed to have become a victim again — of timing and indifference.

CHLOE TAYLOR WAS ROPEABLE. ON THE “Where is Tiffany” Facebook page she — or someone writing as her — unloaded about a lack of interest in her sister’s disappearance and the judgments about her family flowing thick and fast online.

“Just makes me sick to [my] stomach how all these other children/young teenage girls/people in general have recently gone missing. And just because my sister, Tiffany Taylor, was in the position she was in … ‘People’ seriously don’t give a crap,” she wrote.

It was August 26 and Tiffany had not been found. But another missing girl was dominating the news in a way Tiffany had not.

Two weeks earlier, on the very day Chloe and her mother, Leanne Dillon, fronted a press conference to make an emotional public appeal to help find Tiffany’s body, Gatton schoolgirl Jayde Kendall allegedly got into a red car and vanished.

Jayde, 16, was rostered on at McDonald’s that evening but when her father went to pick her up after work he was told she hadn’t arrived for her shift. Just like Tiffany, Jayde was a pretty teenager with green eyes. Gatton, 90km west of Brisbane, was awash with missing person flyers bearing her photo and searches were under way. A farmer would find Jayde’s body on a patch of land off a dead-end road 19km from Gatton, and her school friend, Brenden Bennetts, 18, would be charged with her murder.

But Tiffany remained missing. At the time of Qweekend going to press, her remains were yet to be found. It leaves her loved ones unable to hold a funeral; to grieve; to say goodbye.

Her sister could be forgiven for feeling Tiffany had simply become “the other missing girl’’. “There [are] special days held for murdered/missing persons, candlelight vigils, public searches even … flyers, banners,” Chloe vented. “And for my sister … to everyone she is a ‘dirty little slut’, or whatever. I [know] what everyone is thinking. I’ve been going through this for just about two months. I’ve seen girls/children be missing for just hours and because they weren’t ‘selling sexual services’ they’ve had every person either help look or actually give the family involved a little bit of respect.”

While Tiffany’s disappearance has brought uncomfortable judgment upon her family, it also points to a wider failing of societal safety nets.

Who was looking out for Tiffany, making sure she was living somewhere safe and going to school? And who was this man she had been with since she was 12?

Nathan Stocks gets angry as soon as the subject of Tiffany’s boyfriend, Greg Hill, comes up. Stocks, 21, is Chloe’s partner and answers the phone number listed on the “Where is Tiffany” Facebook page. Stocks says Hill met Tiffany’s family when they were living in a two-storey house in the Logan suburb of Boronia Heights — sisters Tiffany and Chloe upstairs and mum Leanne downstairs. Hill had become friends with Leanne first. Before long he was spending less time downstairs and more time upstairs with Leanne’s daughters. Tiffany was just 12. Says Stocks: “He’d be buying her stuff, taking her to the movies, taking her to the shops, buying anything she wanted.” Tiffany stopped going to school and started spending most of her time with Hill.

Huge arguments broke out between Tiffany and her mother. Stocks says: “We started getting angry with Greg and telling him he couldn’t come over any more, and then all of a sudden Tiffany ran off with him.” At first she and Hill stayed at the home of a terminally ill friend called Don — a heavy drug user, according to Stocks. Don died within a few months and Tiffany and Hill were soon on the move. They would drift from place to place.

I find Greg Hill at the Logan home of one of his friends. He and Tiffany stayed here on and off for a year. Hill wants to make something clear from the outset. “I’m definitely looking for an older chick now. It wasn’t my plan, I don’t go looking for … ” he tells me, trailing off.

What he implies is he doesn’t go looking for younger girls. “It’s just the way it happened,” he continues. “I can see the way it’s sort of portrayed me, which is unfortunate. I could have made some smarter decisions in life, with everything, I suppose. It’s a shame, because we had a good relationship. We got on well.”

ONE OF THE MOST SHOCKING DETAILS OF this case is the seeming failure of authorities to act when Tiffany, at 12 or 13 (details of her exact age when she left home are unclear), moved in with Hill.

Tiffany’s immediate family did not want to be interviewed for this story but said they had tried to get her away from the older man. They say child protection workers told them Tiffany was “fine”. According to a family member, Hill was Tiffany’s approved “carer”. At least some of her welfare payments went to Hill to look after her.

Hill confirms Queensland government child protection officers investigated her living arrangements. How a 13-year-old could be living with a man in his late thirties is a worrying question. For his part, Hill is adamant that although Tiffany lived with him for years they only began a sexual relationship last Christmas, two months after she turned 16, the legal age of consent for sex in Queensland. He also claims he had no idea Tiffany was having sex with men for money. He thought his young girlfriend was working as a hotel cleaner or receptionist. Tiffany had also claimed she had an inheritance, he says.

“DOCS [the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services] used to come here because they were worried,” Hill says. “I never got involved in the conversations. It was always just [to see] if she’s safe or wants to be here or stuff like that, I suppose. She’s the one who wanted to be here with me. It has nothing to do with me influencing her or anything like that.

“She said she wanted to be with me for the rest of my life and take care of me when I got old. Push me wheelchair, down the stairs, she reckons.” He laughs at the joke. “There were theories before that, because of the way it looked with an older person. But I’ve got family who accepted us. I’ve got friends who accepted us. You can’t help who you fall in love with.”

So what can be done when a child leaves home against a family’s wishes? No government agencies would discuss Tiffany’s case. But the Child Safety Services department said in a written statement there were limits on what it could compel children to do. “Children can only be detained in Queensland at mental health facilities under involuntary treatment orders or at juvenile detention centres,” a spokeswoman said.

“The department has no means of compelling children to live at a specific address.” She added that if a parent suspects illegal activities, “they should immediately contact police”.

Where a child was homeless, the department worked with youth shelters and accommodation services and assisted them to return home when it was the best option. When underage children dropped out of school, the department, in conjunction with the education department, sought to find out why; the latter department would then seek to re-engage them in school.

The Queensland Police Service said its powers were limited too.

Parents or guardians had a legislative duty to protect children and should contact police if they were concerned they were at risk, a spokeswoman said. “Police will then endeavour to locate the child and confirm they are safe and well,” she said. “Police will advise the parents or guardian that the child has been located, and where, however [police] cannot compel the child to return home. Police cannot compel a child to live at a specific location.”

Truancy was “a behavioural issue, not a criminal offence”, and police could not compel children to go to school but in some circumstances could prosecute their parents. (In Queensland, children must attend school until they are 16 or complete Year 10.)

The final reports of commissioner Tim Carmody’s child protection inquiry, presented on July 1, 2013, revealed the depth of family dysfunction in Queensland, and the need for more family support and early intervention before events reached crisis point. “After 12 months of careful deliberation, the commission has concluded that the current child protection system … is not ensuring the safety, wellbeing and best interests of children as well as it should or could,” Carmody found.

He recommended a “secure care” model be introduced, allowing the state to restrain — as a last resort, and with an order from the Supreme Court — children at significant risk of serious harm to themselves or others.

DOCS was “currently seeking input from the child protection sector on how secure care could be implemented”, a spokeswoman told Qweekend. “The Queensland Government acknowledges that strategies to better meet the needs of young people in out-of-home care who present a significant risk of serious harm to themselves or others need to be considered,” she said. The department’s Family and Child Connect program tried to connect families struggling to cope with the services they needed. By next year it would have helped 35,000 families annually, according to the spokeswoman.

GREG HILL LEFT SPRINGWOOD STATE HIGH School in grade 10 and did welding, but he’s out of work now. Wearing tracksuit pants, a faded T-shirt and a grey beanie pulled down low over his forehead, he is missing two front teeth and the gap contorts his voice into a lisp.

Since Tiffany went missing he’s been struggling to sleep or eat, he says. He’s seen photographs of Tiffany’s accused killer and asks, “Why would you get in a car with someone that looks like that?”

His version of events is that he took Tiffany away from an unsafe situation at her family home, gave her food and shelter, and even got her back to school at one point. Tiffany’s father died when she was young, Hill says.

“Apparently he committed suicide in front of a train, when she was five.” She smoked marijuana for the first time at just seven, Hill claims. “Me and Tiffany only smoke weed. She was smoking weed before I met her,” he adds.

Tiffany was supposed to be on the waiting list for public housing, but it was hard when she had a dog, a shar pei called Terry. Hill had a 14-year-old wolfhound cross. “We were having trouble finding accommodation, a place to live with two dogs,” says Hill. “Some nights we slept in the car. Sometimes we couldn’t get a motel. Sometimes couldn’t afford it, slept in the car at the park with two dogs and all our stuff cramped in.”

Tiffany had recently said she was pregnant and that Hill was the father. Photos of the positive pregnancy test had been sent to friends.

“She was happy as … [she] wanted me to stay at home and be a stay-at-home dad,” Hill says. “But I wanted to go to work. I was starting to think I’ve got to get up and do something now; then all this happened.”

On the morning Tiffany went missing, her last words to Greg Hill were, “I’ll be back soon, babe.” She closed the door to the couple’s motel room, one of 24 in the tidy complex, and walked out into the sunshine. A champagne-coloured 1995 Hyundai Excel pulled up in front of the motel and Tiffany got inside. When night fell, she hadn’t returned.

“I was back at the motel, minding the two dogs and waiting for her to come back,” Hill says. “She said she’d paid until Wednesday [three days later].”

A winter cold snap had descended and Hill had a comfy bed in the warm motel room. He did not call police to report Tiffany missing. The next morning, Hill had more pressing things to deal with than his absent girlfriend. It turned out the room rent hadn’t been paid and Hill was kicked out. As far as he could tell, Tiffany had left the motel with only her white Samsung smartphone, but he couldn’t reach her on it. He spent that night in his car.

Finally he decided to check if Chloe knew where her sister was. Chloe, a mother of one who lives at nearby Browns Plains, hadn’t seen or heard from Tiffany. On Wednesday, July 15, Chloe reported her sister missing to Browns Plains police.

The police investigation quickly led to the door of Rodney Williams. Police will allege Williams was in contact with Tiffany on an internet dating website and by phone had agreed to pay her $500 for sex. Police claim Williams picked Tiffany up from the motel and drove 15km to Logistics Place at Larapinta, bordering Logan, about 20km south of Brisbane CBD, where they stayed from about midday to 12.45pm. From there, the Hyundai travelled on to the Brisbane Valley Highway between Warrego Highway and Fernvale from 1pm to 1.45pm.

Police claim they tracked the car’s movements through traffic cameras and mobile phone signals. A clincher for police was the alleged discovery of Tiffany’s blood at several points in Williams’ car. Williams was arrested at Brisbane’s Roma Street Transit Centre, about to catch a train north.

TIFFANY TAYLOR HAD LIVED MOST OF HER life under the radar. And there are many reasons her death, too, was under the radar of many — a police strategy that kept the investigation a secret, and a society where too many go missing and victims are often judged to be complicit in their own downfall. But that doesn’t lessen the pain.

“I shouldn’t have to explain to randoms how my family raised Tiffany, what my sister was up to or has done,” wrote Chloe. “I have no closure, bloody nothing. I’m at the point where I don’t care what has happened to her ... I just want to hug her body.”

October 19 was Tiffany’s 17th birthday. .

A year on and they’re still waiting.

On this day 12 months ago Tiffany, 16, allegedly climbed into a Hyundai Excel sedan with Rodney Wayne Williams and was never seen again.

Police claim Williams, then 60, was much older and had allegedly met Tiffany, from Logan, south of Brisbane, online and she agreed to meet him for sex, for which he offered her $500.

A little more than a month later Williams was charged with her murder without her body having been found.

From the start there were confronting details about Tiffany’s life. She had been in a relationship with a man for four years when she was killed. But at 41 years old, he too was much older than her and they would have begun their relationship when she was 12.

He insisted the relationship wasn’t sexual until after her 16th birthday. They were living together in a run down motel and she was 20 weeks pregnant.

On a Facebook page set up to help find Tiffany, her older sister Chloe Taylor said today was “the worst day of my life”.

“Today my baby sister, my blood my ‘other half’ has been ‘missing’ for a year,” she said.

Ms Taylor was clinging to hope Tiffany was still alive.

“How does the world know she’s ‘dead’. The police say they have enough ‘evidence’ but no one knows what the evidence is.”

She said talk about a search for Tiffany’s body was “heartless and inconsiderate”.

“I find it disgusting her being referred to as a body as I seriously have no closure or proof ... To come to the conclusion she is dead.”

She was unhappy with the coverage of her sister as “a prostitute” as well as the scrutiny her family had endured.

“Now she’s gone I have everyone up my arse telling me what I should have done, could have done, and how we should have raised her.”

She suggested the family had asked for help from social services when Tiffany began seeing her much older boyfriend.

She also took aim at the public who appeare disinterested.

“We [the family] feel not much is being done considering other children go missing and there is a lot more is done regarding public services banners.”

She pointed to the Tialeigh Palmer case which was back in the news this week as an example of a similar case that has attracted more publicity.

Detective Acting Inspector Mick Thiesfield told The Courier Mail police had kept looking for Tiffany after Williams was charged with her murder.

“As important as it is for the police, it’s probably more important for the family with respect to any person out there who may know any information in relation to where the body may be,” he said. “It would be very important to them that the body be recovered.”

Police allege Williams picked Tiffany up from the motel and drove 15km to Logistics Place at Larapinta about 20km south of Brisbane CBD, where they stayed from about midday to 12.45pm. After that, police allege they have tracked the car’s movements through traffic cameras and mobile phone signals.

They further allege traces of Tiffany’s blood was found throughout his car.

Williams will next be in court on August 24.

Rodney Williams jailed for life for murder of pregnant teenager Tiffany Taylor

A 65-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murdering pregnant teenager Tiffany Taylor.

Rodney Williams had pleaded not guilty to the murder of the 16-year-old, who went missing after meeting him at Waterford West, south of Brisbane, on July 12, 2015.

Ms Taylor's body has never been found.

Williams will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years in jail.

During his sentencing, the Supreme Court in Brisbane heard Williams had previously been convicted of the murder of an elderly woman in Tasmania in 1978. He was sentenced to life in prison for that crime.

The court heard he had punched his elderly neighbour, then stabbed her in the back during a robbery.

Williams was also convicted for the indecent assault of a girl in 1994.

'You preyed on her'

In sentencing him for Ms Taylor's murder, Justice Ann Lyons said the teenager was "clearly defenceless".

"Ms Taylor's life had value," Justice Lyons said.

"She was excited about her pregnancy, she was close to her sister, and her diary reveals her plans for the future.

"As her family said, she was underneath it all a naive young girl.

"There can be no doubt you preyed on her.

"Only you will know what transpired that afternoon but the conclusion is she died at your hands.

The Supreme Court jury in Brisbane deliberated for about eight hours before finding him guilty.

Killer created 'false digital trail'

During the trial, crown prosecutor Philip McCarthy QC told the court Williams murdered Ms Taylor after meeting her for a paid "sexual liaison" on the day she went missing.

The jury was shown a chain of message exchanges between the pair, in which Williams said he had $500 to pay.

The court heard that before she went missing Ms Taylor was regularly using a website to meet men for paid sex, and she had threatened several men who refused to pay her.

In his closing address, Mr McCarthy told the court Williams repeatedly lied to police.

He said Williams sent Ms Taylor a message hours after meeting her on July 12, 2015, which read: "Sorry I didn't turn up. Decided I wasn't going to pay for it."

"The first thing he's done is to create a false digital footprint, a false digital trail denying any physical contact with that girl," Mr McCarthy told the court.

"A pretence to the world that he'd never met her. A pretence to the world that he thinks she's still alive.

"It is a false story.

During the trial, the court heard Williams told police he met Ms Taylor but had not had sex with her, instead saying he drove her to Redbank Plains where she got out of the car at traffic lights.

In a later police interview, Williams changed his story, telling officers he dropped the teenager at a truck station on the Warrego Highway where two men were standing, the court heard.

The prosecution alleged Williams tried to flee interstate after being contacted by police to arrange a second interview in August.

"He [Williams] goes down to Roma Street station, he had packed up all his worldly belongings and that wasn't done in haste," Mr McCarthy told the court.

Teenager's blood found in car

The prosecution argued Williams drove Ms Taylor to an industrial estate at Larapinta for about 20 minutes, when he had "plenty of opportunity" to kill her.

The jury heard Ms Taylor's blood was found in Williams' car.

Williams told police he noticed Ms Taylor had a nosebleed when she entered his car.

In his closing argument, Williams' defence lawyer Eoin Mac Giolla Ri said there was evidence Ms Taylor's older partner, Gregory Hill, was violent.

During the trial, the court heard Ms Taylor moved out of home when she was 12 to live with Mr Hill, who was 38 at the time.

"The ultimate lie is from Greg Hill, 'I don't remember where I was on the 12th of July,'" Mr Mac Giolla Ri told the court.

Crown prosecutor Mr McCarthy said there was evidence that Ms Taylor intended to return to the hotel room she shared with Mr Hill, and that Mr Hill was very upset when she went missing.

"No matter what he did, she loved him. It seems to be the resounding thing here," Mr McCarthy told the court.

The defence argued the police investigation was inadequate, and that officers had not had an open mind to other suspects.

Mr Mac Giolla Ri argued that what Williams said in his police statement and interview, as well as the supposed false trail, could all be explained if he in fact had sex with Ms Taylor and was concerned she might have been under age.

Man jailed for killing of pregnant Qld teen wins retrial, conviction set aside

A man jailed over the death of a pregnant Queensland teenager has had his murder conviction quashed and won a retrial.

A man jailed for life for the murder of a pregnant Queensland teenager has been granted a retrial by the state’s highest court.

“The directions … wrongly invited the jury to conclude they might find that Tiffany tried to extort the appellant and that, in order to prevent her from making a false complaint, he formed the intention to kill her and did,” Justice Sofronoff said.

“No such case was advanced by the crown nor, on the evidence, could it have been.”

Mr Copley argued another miscarriage of justice occurred in directions concerning the identification of the deceased girl and whether the jury was satisfied by the evidence.

The defence had urged Tiffany was still alive after leaving Mr Williams’s company and had been seen by two men when he dropped her off.

“The theory was that, if the jury was satisfied that Tiffany was dead, then it was her partner (Gregory Hill) who had probably killed her,” Justice Sofronoff said.

He said the crown had to satisfy the jury the girl had not been seen by the two men, not the defence.

“The direction that the jury had to exercise caution before concluding that ‘identification has been established’ wrongly suggested the appellant bore a burden to prove (the men) had seen Tiffany,” Justice Sofronoff said.

“It wrongly implied the warnings … applied equally to identification evidence that was relied upon the defence to raise a reasonable doubt.

“In doing so, in my respectful opinion, the direction denied the appellant a fair chance of acquittal.”

All three Court of Appeal justices allowed Mr Williams’ appeal, set aside his conviction and ordered a retrial.