Between 1970 and 2018, 12 people were murdered or vanished along the 800km Flinders highway.
Across the country in some of the other most remote parts of Australia, dozens of crimes are waiting to be solved and families are seeking answers about what happened to their loved ones years ago.
They are some of the hardest cases to crack due to the passing of time, fading memories, lost evidence and the deafening silence of tight-knit communities.
“Because of the remoteness of these places, an offender often has time to cover up a crime scene and it won’t be discovered for weeks or longer,” says retired veteran homicide investigator, Charlie Bezzina.
“By then, the perpetrator has disappeared. But the people within those communities are the eyes and ears of the police and any little piece of information can be important to help bring a deceased love one home to their family.”
CONNECTED KILLINGS
Anna Rosa Liva left her home and family in Italy to explore Australia but in November 1991, the 30-year-old tourist vanished while in Coober Pedy. She arrived in the opal mining town by bus the night before she disappeared and Anna was last seen in the town centre near the council offices on November 28.
Police investigating her disappearance say Anna had plans for the day – she’d booked a tour of Coober Pedy and was going to a Jehovah’s Witness meeting.
Police and Aboriginal trackers combed the area but Anna has never been found.
Police believe Anna’s disappearance may be linked to the unsolved death of a 16-year-old girl, Karen Williams.
Karen vanished in the early hours of August 4, 1990, after spending time with family and friends at a restaurant in Coober Pedy. A man allegedly offered to drive Karen home and the teenager was never seen again. In 2016, a man was arrested and charged with Karen’s murder but was found not guilty.
Meanwhile the families of Anna and Karen are still waiting, and hoping, for answers
DOUBLE TRAGEDY
A $250,000 reward is available to anyone who can help police find the person or persons who killed Robin Jeanne Hoinville-Bartram and Anita Cunningham, both 18.
The art student friends from Melbourne began hitchhiking to Mount Isa on July 4, 1972, planning to continue up the east coast to north Queensland to visit Robin’s mum. They never arrived.
On November 15, 1972, a passer-by found Robin’s remains in a shallow grave under a bridge near Pentland, west of Charters Towers. She had been shot and sexually assaulted.
Anita is presumed dead but her remains have never been found. Her brother Christopher still hopes for a resolution, saying that not having answers after all this time is “extremely frustrating”.
STILL LOOKING
Lisa Marie Mott was only 12 years old when she vanished from her home town of Collie, WA, on October 30, 1980. After playing basketball and having pizza with friends, Lisa started walking home at about 9pm. She was last seen crossing a railway line towards Forrest Street.
Lisa had been allowed out by her mother on the understanding that she’d get a lift home with a friend’s mum. But instead, Lisa began walking towards her house with a friend who accompanied her part of the way. There were reports of Lisa getting into a yellow panel van on Forrest Street.
She was wearing a light blue T-shirt, dark blue towelling shorts with white trim, brown sneakers and white socks. A $1 million reward is on offer to help solve the case, with police believing someone in the local community holds vital information about what happened to Lisa.
In November last year, cold case detectives travelled to Collie to appeal for help from the public and a new WA Police podcast has also renewed the spotlight on the case.
“We want to be able to find her, even if it’s just a few bones,” Lisa’s sister, Bernadette, said last year.
“There are no goodbyes, there’s no knowing where she is… I just want to find my sister.”
