By Bonny Burrows
Friends of Berwick schoolgirl Catherine Headland hope an unprecedented $6 million worth of rewards on offer for information about the baffling ‘Tynong North murders’ will help put the case to bed after 37 years.
Cheryl Goldsworthy and Vicki Ferguson, school mates of Catherine’s, hope the unprecedented cash incentive will help solve the 14-year-old’s death, which haunts them to this day.
“The more that it’s brought up and the more that it’s publicised and the more people that know about it, sooner or later somebody’s going to say something and put it to rest for us,” Ms Goldsworthy said.
Catherine was last seen on 28 August 1980 leaving her boyfriend’s address in High Street, Berwick, about 11am.
She intended to catch a bus from Manuka Road and High Street, Berwick, to the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre but never made it.
Instead, on a hot December afternoon in 1980, friends Graeme Brenchley, Len Trewin and Tom Looby made the grim discovery of a human skeleton near a quarry off Brew Road in Tynong North.
Shortly after, the trio found another body, and the next morning search crews found another.
Catherine was identified as one of the victims, along with, 75-year-old Glen Iris woman Bertha Miller and 18-year-old Ann Marie Sargent who was last seen visiting her mother in Cranbourne.
Another death, that of 34-year-old Narumol Stephenson, was also linked to the murders after her body was discovered three years later on 3 February 1983 by a man who pulled over on the Princes Freeway, Tynong North, to change a flat tyre.
Mr Brenchley reflected on the gruesome discovery in an article in the Gazette in 2005, telling reporter Jim Mynard that while he was not traumatised by what he had found, he wanted to see the case closed.
“Finding the bodies was not traumatic, but the thought of what happened to those people and their families bothers me,” he said.
Over the years, investigators have spoken to more than 2000 people in relation to the murders and a number of persons of interest were identified.
However, the killer or killers have never been found.
In a bid for fresh information, Victoria Police on 21 October announced six rewards of up to $1 million for information regarding Operation Lyndhurst, an investigation into the deaths of the women, and another three found in Frankston, believed to be linked, during the 1980s.
Ms Goldsworthy said until Catherine’s death, everything thought they were safe.
“It shocked me and it shocked us all,” Ms Goldsworthy said.
“It dictated how I raise my children and I know it’s had the same effect on her other friends, with their daughters.
“I wouldn’t let my girls go out, wouldn’t let them go on a bus, because it happened in broad daylight.”
Ms Ferguson said while the announcement of the award “opened up a lot of wounds which are quite scarring and painful” she hoped someone would come forward to put an end to three decades of wondering.
“Even if people know something they might think is tiny, I encourage them to go to Crime Stoppers. It might just be the one piece of the puzzle,” she said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
