'One million reasons': Reward soars for clues into teen's disappearance
A new reward of $1 million has been offered for information about the 1997 kidnapping and murder of a 15-year-old girl in the state's central west, increasing the amount tenfold.
Marking the 21st anniversary of the disappearance of Bathurst teenager Jessica Small, homicide investigators made a renewed appeal for information about the investigation, which is now focused on the search for an old white sedan, the vehicle in which Jessica was last seen.
"We know there are people who know what happened to Jessica," homicide squad commander Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said.
"We know there's people who are close to those people who were involved in Jessica's kidnapping and we're encouraging them to come forward. There's now a million reasons to come forward."
Jessica was last seen in the early hours of Sunday October 26, 1997, after she and a female friend attended the Amuse Me amusement centre on Russell Street, Bathurst.
The teens entered a white-coloured sedan driven by an unknown man, in an attempt to hitchhike home.
Both girls were then allegedly assaulted by the man when he stopped the car on Hereford Street, Bathurst, before Jessica’s friend escaped. The car drove off with Jessica still inside.
She was last heard screaming in the back of the car just east of Bathurst about 12.40am.
Jessica has not been seen or heard from since and a subsequent coronial inquest found that she had been murdered.
Superintendent Cook said investigators were particularly interested in hearing from anyone who was in the Eglinton area on the day Jessica was abducted.
"We have new information regarding the vehicle that was used to abduct Jessica and we believe it was sighted in Eglington heading towards Hill End."
He said homicide investigators had looked at more than 100 vehicles of interest, five of which were forensically examined "in detail".
Jessica’s mother, Ricki Small, who has campaigned for a reward since her daughter went missing, said it was great news "but not before time".
"We’ve fought for this for so long, now we’re just really hoping for an outcome," Mrs Small said.
In 2011 investigators door-knocked about 500 homes of men aged 14 to 45, who worked at the local timber mill near Bathurst in 1997, although Superintendent Cook said on Friday the current line of inquiry was no longer examining the mill, but related to the white vehicle.
"We know there have been conversations about Jessica's murder and we know the people who weren’t involved, but know about it, haven't come forward," he said.
He urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers.
The reward for information about Jessica’s disappearance was last set at $100,000 in January 2015.
It is only the fifth time a $1 million reward has been offerred by the NSW government, after the unsolved cases of William Tyrrell, Maria Smith, Lynette White and Raphael Joseph.
With Jacinta Carroll (The Western Advocate)
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