By Shelby Brooks
Victoria Police has a renewed focus on the unsolved Tynong North murders in a bid to try close the 40-year-old cold case.
Details on the abduction and murder of six women, whose bodies were found in the Tynong North and Frankston areas in the early 1980s and commonly referred to as the ‘Tynong North murders’, have been highlighted on Victoria Police’s Cold Case Hub website.
The initiative has been applauded by friends and family of the victims.
Unfortunately there are no new investigative updates on the case.
A video package and social media posts are among the tools police are using to try gain some answers for the victims’ families.
Acting deputy commissioner of Crime Command Robert Hill said the multimedia site was all about keeping the stories in the minds of the public who may hold the key to solving the case.
“(The hub) is a game changer for our organisation and the first of its kind in Australia,” he said at the launch of the hub.
“It’s basically to engage the community to help us in solving some of our cold cases in this state.
“We recognise there is a need to make sure information on [cold case] investigations remains easily accessible to the public to give them the greatest opportunity to be solved.”
Allison Rooke, Bertha Miller, Catherine Headland, Ann-Marie Sargent, Narumol Stephenson and Joy Carmel Summers were each on foot and did not have access to a motor vehicle, with the majority intending to travel on public transport, when they disappeared between May 1980 and October 1981.
59-year-old Allison Rooke was last seen leaving her home in Hannah Street, Frankston North at about 11am 30 May 1980, intending to catch a bus from the Hannah Street and Frankston-Dandenong Road bus stop to the Frankston shops.
Her body was discovered in Frankston by a man walking his dogs in scrubland near McClelland Drive two months later on 5 July 1980.
After that, 73-year-old Bertha Miller disappeared after leaving her home in Kardinia Road, Glen Iris about 10am on 10 August 1980, intending to catch a tram from Malvern Road and High Street to the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Prahran.
18 days later, 14-year-old Berwick girl Catherine Headland was last seen leaving her boyfriend’s address in High Street, Berwick about 11am 28 August 1980, intending to catch a bus from Manuka Road and High Street, Berwick to the Fountain Gate Shopping Centre in Narre Warren.
Two months later on 6 October 1980, 18-year-old Ann-Marie Sargent was last seen leaving her mother’s address on Cranbourne Drive, Cranbourne about 9.30am, intending to catch a bus to the CES employment office in Dandenong and from there intended to travel to the Clyde Post Office.
Tragically, the bodies of Bertha, Catherine and Ann-Marie were found in scrub land near a quarry off Brew Road in Tynong North on 6 December 1980.
Before that discovery though, 34-year-old Narumol Stephenson was also reported missing after being last seen outside a friend’s home in Park Street, Brunswick in the early hours of the morning of 29 November 1980.
It wasn’t until three years later on 3 February 1983 when Narumol’s body was discovered in Tynong North after a man noticed a bone sticking out from the bush while changing a flat tire on the side of the Princes Freeway.
In 1981, 55-year-old Joy Carmel Summers was last seen at a bus stop at Chile Street and Frankston-Dandenong Road, Frankston about 1pm on 9 October, intending to catch a bus to the Frankston shops.
Joy’s body was subsequently found in scrubland near Skye Road, Frankston North a month later on 22 November 1981.
Pakenham woman Catherine Miller-Reid was named after the third victim Catherine Headland, her mother’s childhood best friend.
Ms Miller-Reid and her mum Vicki moderate the private Facebook group ‘Remembering a Cold Case -Tynong Murders’.
Ms Miller-Reid said having the Tynong North murders featured by Victoria Police was a valuable tool to try find justice.
“It’s definitely good to keep it in the public eye as much as possible,” she said.
“Cold cases are such a trend now. They’re considered really cool so it’s much easier to get in back in the limelight.
“But there are people who live locally who have no idea this happened in the small town in the outskirts of Melbourne.”
She has taken up the cause of trying to keep the victim’s stories alive.
“I never met them, but I do feel like it’s my legacy,” she said.
“My mum tried hard to keep the story in the media but it was disheartening for her when it never eventuated. I’m a step further back doesn’t hurt me as much.
“Any publicity for it is good, I think. We’ll never stop. My 13-year-old daughter has vowed she’d carry it on when I might be unable to.”
Ms Miller-Reid said she hoped the families of the victims would one day have a name of who took their loved one’s from them.
“Someone knows something, we’re not going to give up,” she said.
“The person responsible would be old, if not dead, so they’re not as scary anymore and don’t have any leverage.
“We’re never going to enjoy justice or closure but they would have a name.”
Police urge anyone with knowledge of who is responsible for their murders to come forward.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report via the Crime Stoppers Victoria website.
You can learn more at the Cold Case Hub via police.vic.gov.au/cold-case-tynong-north-murders.
