Australia Australia - Sharron Phillips, 20, Brisbane, Qld, 8 May 1986

[OkieGranny]

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...-sharron-phillips-murder-20160520-gp0cjc.html

Police are being urged to re-investigate the 1986 disappearance and suspected murder of Brisbane woman Sharron Phillips, as new allegations continue to emerge.

Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said cost would not impact a decision to reopen a cold-case investigation where life had been lost. That comes despite comments from a senior cold case officer on Thursday, who said land next to the Phillips' household might prove too costly to search.

Mr Danslow questioned the need to search the block of land near the family house at Riverview without direct evidence. He doubted the land had ever been searched.

"I would suspect not, because there was never anything to implicate the family," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-...ase-detectives-scour-mother's-diaries/7433806

Diaries penned by the mother of a Brisbane woman who vanished from a roadside 30 years ago after running out of petrol are being examined by cold case detectives...

Mr Dallow said he was struck by several statements penned by Dawn Phillips in the latter years of her life while she was heavily medicated.

He said one read, "tell the whole truth, why so many lies, keep your big mouth shut".

 

[HavenWood]

http://matthewcondon.blogspot.com.au/2006/05/disappearance-of-sharron-phillips.html

heartbreaking article with lots of detail.

"On the night of Thursday, May 8, 1986, young Sharron Phillips was in high spirits for several reasons. She was enjoying her independence, having moved out of the crowded Riverview family home and into her own flat at Archerfield five months earlier. She had a good job at the Peaches ‘n Cream fruit market in Kenmore. And she had a potential new beau.

Only days earlier she had met a 26-year-old Acacia Ridge man called Martin Balazs, and they had planned a dinner date at Sharron’s flat on Friday, May 9. She was excited about Balazs, although they barely knew each other. So on that Thursday evening, she and work colleague Samantha Dalzell went shopping together at Sunnybank Plaza on Mains Road. Sharron purchased some new lingerie.

Later, the pair had coffee at Sharron’s flat. Sharron left the lingerie unwrapped in the small ground-floor apartment. She then drove Dalzell home to Redland Plains. On the way, according to retired police investigator Ken Foreman, who worked on the Phillips case, she drove past Balaz’s flat and tooted the horn – an anonymous message to her new man, a tease as prelude to their date the next evening. She dropped off Dalzell, and was travelling city-bound on Ipswich Road at Wacol, up the hill from the old three-pump Shell service station (since demolished), when her canary-yellow Nissan Bluebird ran out of petrol. It was around 11pm."

"Sharron’s car had stopped outside the former Wacol migrant centre. Directly across busy Ipswich Road was the main entrance to the Wacol Army Barracks. She needed a telephone.

It was established later she had walked into the army camp, past the boom gates and guard booth, and been told by partying soldiers there were no telephones for her to use. (A few soldiers were later interviewed by police but discounted as suspects.) She then headed down towards the Shell garage and Wacol railway station."

If you look at the comments after that story ... and you have to go down a fair bit, skip past some general spam, people advertising stuff etc, one poster actually names a guy, and claims it was him (says the guy was Sharon's lover ... NOT her boyfriend, and was a mechanic)

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Sharron Phillips cold case: Police begin excavating near Ipswich road in search for clues to 1986 murder

Homicide detectives have begun digging up the drains near Cobalt Street in Carole Park, after receiving new information about the young woman's suspected murder.
Police have received fresh information about Ms Phillips' suspected murder which has led them to the drains on council-owned bushland, Homicide Group Acting Detective Superintendent Damien Hansen said today.
"We're looking for Sharron's remains – the information is specific that she has been buried out here," he said.
"We have not spoken to this person previously and no member of the current investigation had spoken to them."
The informant had "come forward because of their conscience," Act. Det. Sup. Hansen said.

Read more at http://www.9news.com.au/national/20...-for-clues-to-1986-murder#uGI4T7kkCEQikeje.99



This is such big news!! I hope Sharron's remains will be found and the culprit/s brought to justice!

(has this person come forward because Sharron's dad was mentioned as a suspect, I wonder? Or ......?)

 

[PrimeSuspect]

'Credible witness' tells police Sharron Phillips was dumped in drain in 1986

At the time of Ms Phillips's 1986 disappearance, the area was bush land and only used by trail bike riders.
Thirty years later, Cobalt Street formed part of a large industrial estate beside a small, sandy creek near the turn-off to Johnson Road.
Police said the 35-metre drain contained about 100 cubic metres of silt and investigators expected to be at the site for about a week.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...-dumped-in-drain-in-1986-20160531-gp8215.html

 

[Bohemian]

Sharron's disappearance was the topic of a segment on tonight's '7:30 Report' on the ABC. The segment won't be uploaded until later tonight at:

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/

Interviewed were one of her sisters, and a crime reporter and a former detective who worked on her case. Also presser with lead detective of current cold case investigation.

 

[Bohemian]

Sharron Phillips: Sister calls for new inquest into 1986 disappearance of Brisbane woman
7.30 Report
by Josh Bavas (staff)
ABC
Updated about an hour ago as at 21:41 AEST

'The sister of Brisbane woman Sharron Phillips, who vanished in 1986 after her car ran out of petrol, is pleading for a new inquest into her death.

Key points:

Donna Anderson calls on police to search old family property at Riverview for missing sister.

Family members fear their sister's final resting place is under the old family home.

Call on Attorney-General to grant new inquest.

Detectives and forensic teams hunting for Ms Phillips' body today began excavating a site on an industrial estate at Carole Park in Ipswich after a tip-off from a member of the public.

But in her first TV interview, her sister Donna Anderson repeated calls for detectives to instead hunt for a grave at the family's old home at Riverview, Ipswich.

She also repeated her suspicions that her father killed Bob Phillips killed his own daughter, saying the alibi he gave detectives at the time did not stack up.'

 

[Bohemian]

Sharron Phillips' sister claims father may have killed her
7:30 Repoer
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 31/05/2016
Reporter: Josh Bavas

'Police started excavating a site in Queensland today after a tip off from the public. They hope it may lead to the discovery the body of Sharron Phillips, a woman whose disappearance has become one of the state's most baffling cold cases. She vanished from the side of a main road in Brisbane 30 years ago, presumed murdered. Now, her sister is giving her first television interview with startling revelations.'

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4473052.htm

 

[crabstick]

Why would he kill his own daughter Bohemian?

 

[0101ABA]

Police have created a crime scene in the area after receiving what they describe as "very credible" information on the location of Ms Phillips' remains.

Police said today that a new witness had come forward and provided them with information that backed up previously known information about the case.

The excavation will focus on a 30m section of drain running underneath Cobalt St, with an estimated 100 tonnes of earth to be moved.

Although police remain tight-lipped on the identity of the informant, they told the QT that the person approached them after their conscience got the better of them, following a recent series of media reports coinciding with the 30-year anniversary of Ms Phillips' disappearance and suspected murder.

http://www.qt.com.au/news/police-dig-sharron-phillips-remains/3036070/#/0

 

[Bohemian]

Why would he kill his own daughter Bohemian?

By accident in a (drunken?) rage, crabby? (And, please, call me 'Bo'.)

One of her sisters said her father was 'a violent man' in the interview I posted from the 7:30 Report on the ABC last night (see my previous posts for links).

Many women have been violently assaulted by their fathers. Domestic/family/relationship violence is not only between 'sexual partners', otherwise, why are there so many children in foster care or murdered by their parents; accident or no?

 

[JLZ]

“As I said to one of them, I couldn’t be in the back seat with her (Sharron) every time she went out, I just couldn’t,” 'Bob says. “A lot of people who knew the family said - if you had interfered with them when they were younger and they were all living together, you picked on one you picked on the whole bloody nine, you know? But today, I’ll look after my bit of dirt and you look after yours. When they were growing up they were very close, extremely close. I don’t know what happened to them, I don’t, honestly.”' http://matthewcondon.blogspot.com.au/2006/05/disappearance-of-sharron-phillips.html

From a link that was posted earlier. It sounds like the father is admitting to having (sexually?) abused at least one of the nine children. Sharron having recently moved out, I suggest the father may have killed her out of possessive anger and sexual jealousy.

I feel guilty about commenting on this after the sister asking everyone not to discuss it like it was an episode of Neighbours.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Imo, Sharron's siblings speaking out about their father has prompted someone else to contact police with the truth, so that's one good thing they've brought about. I'm highly skeptical of their accusations against their deceased father. No matter if he was horrible, abusive, to make him the scapegoat is just unthinkable, imo. This was not done for Sharron's sake.

To imagine Donna Anderson's scenario (btw, is older than Sharron), that Sharron rang her father (how? no mobiles existed in '86),he turns up, drags her immediately into the bushes, killed her and disposed of her body just doesn't ring true. Sharron's boyfriend could have turned up at any moment, a stranger wouldn't know that but Bob did. If Bob and Sharron argued/fought, it would have been out on the road in view of passers-by. If Donna Anderson thinks Sharron rang her father, why isn't the call logged at the exchange, yet the other 2 calls are. Phfft!

Maybe, Bob was having an affair at the time which he didn't want exposed, so gave a lame alibi. Why did he make such a huge effort to find Sharron? Why wait till his funeral to talk about their suspicions? Did they fear being cut out of the Bob's will if they approached the police while he was alive? Now they want to claim the reward? :thinking:

 

[JLZ]

Imo, Sharron's siblings speaking out about their father has prompted someone else to contact police with the truth, so that's one good thing they've brought about. I'm highly skeptical of their accusations against their deceased father. No matter if he was horrible, abusive, to make him the scapegoat is just unthinkable, imo. This was not done for Sharron's sake.

To imagine Donna Anderson's scenario (btw, is older than Sharron), that Sharron rang her father (how? no mobiles existed in '86),he turns up, drags her immediately into the bushes, killed her and disposed of her body just doesn't ring true. Sharron's boyfriend could have turned up at any moment, a stranger wouldn't know that but Bob did. If Bob and Sharron argued/fought, it would have been out on the road in view of passers-by. If Donna Anderson thinks Sharron rang her father, why isn't the call logged at the exchange, yet the other 2 calls are. Phfft!

Maybe, Bob was having an affair at the time which he didn't want exposed, so gave a lame alibi. Why did he make such a huge effort to find Sharron? Why wait till his funeral to talk about their suspicions? Did they fear being cut out of the Bob's will if they approached the police while he was alive? Now they want to claim the reward? :thinking:

Weren't the calls we've heard about 1100 calls, where she rang the exchange and asked for the number? Perhaps there was another call (from the phone box) that didn't go through 1100, so wasn't recorded grouped with the others. She would have known her father's number.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Weren't the calls we've heard about 1100 calls, where she rang the exchange and asked for the number? Perhaps there was another call (from the phone box) that didn't go through 1100, so wasn't recorded grouped with the others. She would have known her father's number.

That's right. Sharron had no change for the phone, she needed to be connected by 1100 (Elizabeth St, Exchange). The calls from that phone box are logged at the exchange, even if she had the money for one call before ringing 1100, that call would be recorded as being made from that phone box ID, the time of the call and the number called.

The siblings who are making these wild accusations are grasping at straws. Are we to believe Bob just happened to be driving down that road precisely the time Sharron had broken down and decided to kill her? :no:

 

[JLZ]

That's right. Sharron had no change for the phone, she needed to be connected by 1100 (Elizabeth St, Exchange). The calls from that phone box are logged at the exchange, even if she had the money for one call before ringing 1100, that call would be recorded as being made from that phone box ID, the time of the call and the number called.

The siblings who are making these wild accusations are grasping at straws. Are we to believe Bob just happened to be driving down that road precisely the time Sharron had broken down and decided to kill her? :no:

No. If she didn't phone him, the only other way I see it is that he was out looking for her. Perhaps had been to her home to check up on her, didn't find her there and was enraged. I don't know the area, but it seems to have been a major road where she broke down. Perhaps a necessary route for both under the circumstances.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

No. If she didn't phone him, the only other way I see it is that he was out looking for her. Perhaps had been to her home to check up on her, didn't find her there and was enraged. I don't know the area, but it seems to have been a major road where she broke down. Perhaps a necessary route for both under the circumstances.

Anything is possible but not probable.
Donna Anderson hasn't provided a motive for her father to kill his daughter on the night her car broke down, imo. Bob spent 10 yrs searching for his daughter. Dawn was losing her mind near the end of her life and made accusations against Bob. Who knows, maybe Dawn resented his obsession with finding Sharron, when she became ill she said things that weren't true.

The three older Phillips siblings on May 19 told Fairfax Media for the first time they wanted police to check their father's alibi that he had driven to collect "one of his trucks at Gilgandra" the night Sharron disappeared.
They were reluctant to question their father and their other siblings have angrily denied their allegations.
Detective Inspector Damian Hansen said police they did not have enough specific information to search the land at Riverview next to St Peter Claver College.
"The family has given us some information, but it is not detailed enough to go into a search there and we have spoken to the family in detail about that," he said.


Fairfax Media separately understands a man told police on May 20 that his father - who lived at Redbank - took Ms Phillips from near Wacol station and has provided vehicle registration numbers for police to verify. That man's father has also died.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...ps-killer-after-30-years-20160531-gp8ivq.html

People coming forward blaming their dead fathers. :shakehead:

 

[mscactus]

[video=twitter;737917255669927936]https://twitter.com/9NewsBrisbane/status/737917255669927936[/video]

Seems it may have been a car accident. Above link is for the news story just on Channel 9

 

[wewillgetyou]

It was said on the channel 7 news in Brisbane tonight that more information has been given today regarding the person with the new information. His father was a taxi driver at the time.
Perhaps he came along while Sharon was waiting for a lift and she willingly got into the car with him thinking he could take her home.

 

[JLZ]

[video=twitter;737917255669927936]https://twitter.com/9NewsBrisbane/status/737917255669927936[/video]

Seems it may have been a car accident. Above link is for the news story just on Channel 9

I don't believe that story even if they do find the body.

 

[JLZ]

People coming forward blaming their dead fathers. :shakehead:

(snipped)

It's becoming a competition.

But . . . what if someone had reason to suspect their live husband, or darling grandchild? Would you expect them to come forward, or stay quiet for loyalty's sake?