Speaker 1I'm Katie Page, CEO of Harvey Norman. Since 2018, Harvey Norman has been a key partner in the Australians' investigative podcasts such as Sick to Death, Bronwyn, Shandy's Story, The Teacher's Pet and The Night Driver. Harvey Norman are proud sponsors of the Australians' podcast investigations and their award-winning
Speaker 2journalism. Today on the front, bags of cash, dodgy hotel keycards, gangsters, free Rolexes, the stunning crime wave inside Australian casinos. Search the front to listen now.
Speaker 3Listeners are advised that The Night Driver podcast contains coarse language and adult themes. The Night Driver podcast is brought to you by the Australian newspaper and digital site. The family of
Speaker 4missing Baptist woman Janine Vaughan has made an emotional plea for information into her whereabouts. To be quite blunt with you, the moment this, if he's done it, arrests the man. This stuff has tortured me for a long time. It drives me insane. It breaks my freaking heart.
Speaker 3On a Wednesday afternoon, five days after Janine had disappeared, a member of the public spotted something lying on the ground. A member of the public spotted something lying on the ground. A sharp knife. There was blood and hair on the blade. When police were alerted to the find, it led to an immediate visit to the scene, the entrance of a local nursing home in a suburb called Kelso. At this time, there was widespread public knowledge that police feared Janine had been abducted and possibly murdered. Police had been looking for her body with cadaver dogs and a helicopter and searchers on foot had fanned out around Mount Panorama and in other places. Police had been looking for her body with cadaver dogs and a helicopter and a helicopter and in other places. Police had been looking for her body with cadaver dogs and a helicopter and in other places. Since Monday, the discovery of a knife with blood on the blade was possibly a major breakthrough. It might be a murder weapon. Here's how Senior Constable Lisa Anderson would describe it. These are her words, it's not her voice.
Speaker 5About 3.56pm I attended this location in company with Constable Kylie Holland. At this location I confiscated a red-handled knife which was located beside the exit driveway to the nursing home. I recorded the knife. Blood and hair upon the knife blade. From common practice I would have retrieved the knife using rubber gloves and placed same in a paper or a plastic bag.
Speaker 3The possibility of DNA evidence was obvious then. The officers took the knife back to the Bathurst Police Station. It needed to be formally logged and then subjected to forensic analysis. The police records that we've been examining show that the knife was logged in the miscellaneous property book. It had a red handle and an imperfect blade, as if it's been slightly damaged somehow. It looks like a sharp kitchen knife, one that could do serious damage. I can see the knife in the photographs taken at the time. It's got a red handle and an imperfect blade, as if it's been slightly damaged somehow. At 4.50pm the knife was handed to forensic crime scene expert Senior Sergeant Noel Payne. Detective Sergeant O'Donnell asked him to examine the knife to see if there was any damage. because of the chance that it was related to the Vaughan case. At that time, detectives from Sydney were newly arrived in Bathurst as part of Strike Force Toko, the newly minted name for the homicide investigation.
Speaker 6Police today revealed new developments they hope may lead to a breakthrough in the case. These images of Janine Vaughan were taken by security cameras at the Metro Tavern just minutes before she disappeared in the early hours of Friday, December 7th. Bathurst Police hope the footage may trigger someone's memory. They also want to hear more from people who were at the tavern around closing time that morning. We're hoping that someone might recognise himself or some friend on the image and come forward to the police. They may hold the key to some further information.
Speaker 3That's the voice of Paul Jacob. He's a veteran detective now with experience in numerous murder probes involving Sydney's homicide squad. Jacob came from Sydney to Bathurst and he led the Janine Vaughan investigation when the trail was still fresh.
Speaker 6After leaving the tavern, Janine Vaughan walked from George Street into Keppel where she was seen getting into a car. While police are disappointed they don't have answers for her distraught family, they aren't giving up. From an operational investigative perspective, we are very happy that the team is working as hard as they can to get to the bottom of this. We just haven't got that break yet. Vanessa Fabris, Prime News.
Speaker 3Senior Sergeant Noel Payne, who photographed the knife in the station, made a number of precise notes about its appearance. These are his words from a police statement. It's not his voice.
Speaker 7There was apparent bloodstaining on both sides of the blade. A group of apparent hairs adhered to blade near the handle. The blade was single-edged with a point or a tip slightly bent. There was a chip or dent in the edge of the blade near the tip.
Speaker 3Here's what should have happened next. The knife in its sealed bag should have been provided to police experts in forensics. The blade, the handle and everything else on the knife would have been carefully examined under laboratory conditions for fingerprints and DNA of a potential offender and a possible victim. The blood on the knife would have been compared with Janine's known blood type. The hairs on the knife would have been compared with the hairs from Janine's hairbrush that had been taken from her home in Rocket Street. Now here's what actually happened. Nothing. And then inexplicably it was destroyed by police. The fact that a bloodstained knife found just five days after a woman's apparent abduction ended up being destroyed before any testing was conducted was and still is bizarre but the destruction of the knife was not publicly disclosed for eight years the circumstances surrounding this destruction of potential evidence came out during a coronial inquiry in 2009 here's detective sergeant peter mclaughlin cutting to the chase after explaining that the bathurst police staff responsible for handling and disposing of miscellaneous property had destroyed the knife, apparently ignorant of the ongoing murder investigation by colleagues. It's not his voice.
Speaker 8It appears conclusive that there's been no consultation between the Bathurst exhibits, the original submitting police officer, other investigators or the Bathurst crime scene unit. By the destruction of such property, an opportunity has been lost for further forensic investigation into the current matter.
Speaker 3Janine's father, Ian Vaughan, could scarcely believe what had happened. He had developed a good rapport with Lisa Anderson, the senior constable who brought the knife back to the station. She'd had nothing to do with its destruction. Ian described her as a rock of support when he was in Bathurst and at the police station for interviews and updates. They'd have a cigarette and a cup of coffee together. Where is it, Ian asked, and then he answered his own question. It's gone. Gone forever. It is impossible to know now whether the knife was the murder weapon or completely unrelated. But for some in Bathurst, the knife's destruction in police custody would reinforce suspicions of a cover-up to protect other police.
Speaker 9I don't understand why, you know, it wasn't sent away immediately for analysis. Why is it still sitting in the station in February?
Speaker 3Janine's sister Kylie is a tower of strength most days. She works hard to contain her emotions when we talk about Janine. Now we're talking about the knife to try to make sense of what happened to it. Peter Murphy has been studying the evidence about the knife too and he's sharing his view about whether it was a deliberate destruction because the knife was damning evidence in Janine's murder, which is Kylie's suspicion, or a colossal, almost unforgivable mistake.
Speaker 10This could be wholly unconnected with anything to do with Janine, but. But it also could be the key.
Speaker 9It also could be, like, the whole investigation could have been solved.
Speaker 10And let's bear in mind in that respect that we've got what we'll call a confession from Mr Briggs nominating slicing Janine's throat as being the means by which he murdered her. So it's not fanciful to say that it could be connected with her murder. So this is what it looks like.
Speaker 9And this is the indentations that I was telling you about. That, you know, like if there is a body recovered at some point, you know, maybe they'll have that indentation where the knife's gone in or chipped the bone or.
Speaker 11These are official police photographs.
Speaker 3Yes. We agree the knife might, just might, have been vitally important. And the reason, and this is clear from the internal police documents, the reason is police are concerned that knife is connected to your sister's abduction and probable murder. Yeah. I mean, we know right back then that the police were concerned they were dealing with foul play within hours of Janine disappearing. So then within five days of her disappearing, they have this knife. But the knife disappears. In fact, it was destroyed. destroyed while in police custody and it was destroyed in February of 2002 so without two months being analysed no analysis photographed yes we can see the blade we can see the handle measurements are taken it's
Speaker 9even got a chip in it
Speaker 3yeah needs to be tested forensically but nothing nothing happens and it's actually destroyed and if that's the murder weapon prints possible DNA from the killer have been destroyed as well. Peter Murphy has been reading many witness statements about it.
Speaker 10It's a complete mystery as to how something like this happens this is you know murders this is not the sort of south side of Chicago murders don't happen in Bathurst every day or every week. Just common sense would dictate that you would take the greatest possible care with it and as to what happened to it no one seems to know except that it was destroyed how why was there any inquiries made of any active investigations before it was destroyed was there any contact made with those who were investigating Janine's disappearance before it was destroyed doesn't seem so.
Speaker 3The police immediately believed that it could be connected I mean is it possible the police investigating Janine's case picking up a knife and bagging it because it might be connected to Janine's case have actually destroyed the murder weapon.
Speaker 10Yeah of course it is of course it is of course that's possible and it's equally possible that it may have nothing to do with Janine's disappearance or murder but we don't know and we'll never know and can never know.
Speaker 3Kylie asked whether a police officer in Bathurst had identified the knife and organized its destruction to protect her. She said she had never heard of it. or a colleague.
Speaker 10That's the conspiracy slash odour of cover-up. Yes. You know cock up Trump's conspiracy almost always. I can see inefficiencies. I can see slackness. I can see things not being investigated that should have been investigated at a much much earlier stage. Yes. I can't see evidence of conspiracy. Note the words evidence of conspiracy.
Speaker 3But incompetence. Yeah cock up up. In the absence of evidence to suggest this really was a wicked act by a cop to protect somebody I find myself agreeing with Peter. The alternative is very dark.
Speaker 9You can turn left here and we'll just go back road if you like. That's the church where Janine got married. I got married there. First marriage I got married there.
Speaker 3Kylie is pointing out pubs that she's performed in and the resting place of her grandparents in her hometown of Musselbrook. We've been to the arcade where Janine worked in the jewellery store and Kylie in the news agency. But the town has been doing it tough. Much of the retail has shut down. The mines are hiring many fly-in fly-out workers. Kylie's second husband David is an electrician at a major energy company. I asked Kylie if her first marriage was affected by Janine's disappearance.
Speaker 9Yes most definitely. You know when you take a piece of someone's soul there's no coming back and you know people used to say oh yeah keep going back. You know when's Kylie coming back you know and I'm like I haven't gone anywhere. I'm still here. You know I used to get so frustrated because I'm like you know I was the person that they invite to the parties because it's always a party when Kylie's around you know. I was always there to be the entertainment for you know. I was the person that they invite to the parties because it's always a party when Kylie's around you know. I was always there to be the entertainment for the guests I suppose. I was fun and always always make people happy and yeah so yeah I definitely definitely went missing the same night Janine did. I felt like I couldn't continue on as that happy-go-lucky person because you know I mean one I just physically couldn't
Speaker 3on that happy-go-lucky person because you know I just physically couldn't continue on as that happy-go-lucky person because you know I just physically couldn't Janine was alive or dead a fortnight after she got into a red car and disappeared into a rainy night. But local speculation about her fate was rife and grim. Ian hoped for a simpler innocent explanation. Maybe she'd just hit her head and suffered temporary memory loss. Janine was alive or dead a fortnight after she got into a red car and disappeared into a rainy night. Maybe she'd just hit her head and disappeared into a rainy night. -
Speaker 12They are, the police have got
Speaker 3them, I think. -
Speaker 12Can I show you copies of them? - No, thanks, no,
Speaker 3no, no. - Okay.
Speaker 12I wondered why you'd found them. - The only thing they took from the house, then when she disappeared, I knew it was cold over in Bathurst, and I grabbed a jacket that I'd worn on the day of the grand final. And as I went to put it on, one of her long blonde hairs was on the back. So when I went over there, I said to this, I can't think of his name, can't think of it for love or money. And I said, "I haven't touched this." And he said, "Don't worry, we got a hairbrush full of them." So the only thing they took, apparently, was the hairbrush. Not fingerprinted or anything, nothing. Not one utensil or anything. - Looks like you took those notes straight to the police, when you found them. - Yeah. Well, I didn't know. I thought any of these could be some sort of evidence. When you're in a state like I was in, you don't think straight. -
Speaker 3They're a bit creepy, those notes. -
Speaker 12But I don't want to see them again.
Speaker 3I don't want to see them. - No, it's okay. - The stalking of Janine had started shortly after she went to Bathurst in 1998 to share her life with the man who had asked her to leave her family and her hometown of Musselbrook to be with him. After the breakdown of her marriage, Janine had fallen in love with Phil Evans. The electrician doted on her, but police investigation records show that Janine was increasingly scared because of the unwanted attention she was receiving from someone else. There were strange telephone calls and heavy breathing down the line. Handwritten notes had been put under the windscreen wiper of Janine's car and in the letterbox of the home she shared with Phil Evans. Sometimes, Janine would leave the house when the culprit had only a very brief opportunity. Janine believed she was being watched, closely. One of the notes at her home came with a white flower and it appeared to have been picked from her garden. A pair of black lacy panties, size 10, was left for her in a standard envelope. After each stalking event, she reported the facts to police. It's important at this point to look at the case of another female in Bathurst who went missing after a stalking. Jessica Small and her friend Vanessa Conlon were thumbing a ride when they got into a man's white car. The 15-year-old girls had been video gaming at the Amuse Me Parlour, a few hundred metres from where Janine subsequently disappeared. Jessica and Vanessa did not know the driver. They asked him to drop them at their friend's house a short drive out of town. As he drove, he asked if they had been enjoying playing pool and video gaming. She replied, "No, I haven't. "I'm just having a good time," he said. "I'm just having a good time," she said. He drove the car in the direction of their friend's house, but then he slowed down and stopped beside a wire fence on a dark stretch of road. His hands went around Vanessa's throat and she screamed in terror. Jessica opened the car's back door to try to escape. As the driver swung around in a bid to restrain Jessica, Vanessa broke free from the stranglehold. She ripped hair from her scalp to break his grasp. Yelling and pleading for help, Vanessa ran ahead of Jessica. She didn't look back, but she knew Jessica was running and must be panicking too, and hopefully not far behind. The lights were on in houses farther along the road and the girls ran towards them. -
Speaker 13Good evening and welcome to 60 Minutes.
Speaker 3Vanessa reached safety as residents came out of their homes and onto the street. Here's 60 Minutes reporter, Alison Langdon, with Vanessa and Bathurst woman, Faye Connors.
Speaker 13It's the night Vanessa will never forget. She and her best friend, Jessica Small, both only 15, were abducted from the main street of Bathurst.
Speaker 3Vanessa breaks down as she thanks Faye, who opened her door on hearing the screams.
Speaker 13The last time these two women saw each other, Vanessa was a terrified teenager, banging on Faye's front door in the middle of the night.
Speaker 14She was just shaking, white, very, very scared. I thought she was so scared that she might have even been going to be sick. It was very hard to understand because all she kept saying was, my friend, my friend, I need you to help me find my friend. And we didn't realise what had happened, so we didn't know where her friend was.
Speaker 13If you didn't let me in that night, I probably wouldn't be, yeah. It's been so long.
Speaker 3Jessica must have been caught by her abductor in the seconds after fleeing the car. She was not seen again. The night driver sped off. The neighbours immediately called police, but the police response was woefully inadequate given the seriousness of what had just unfolded. A girl was missing and every minute counted. There should have been roadblocks on highways, and a significant manhunt. Instead, one car with two police officers drove around for a while that night with a traumatised Vanessa to see if she could spot the white car on the road.
Speaker 14You'd like to think that if they had believed her and got more cars out and more police out, that they would have been able to do a bit more.
Speaker 3In the 23 years since Jessica was abducted, her mother, Rikki, has thought of the many ways her daughter could have been murdered.
Speaker 15I hope things. I hope for her quickly. If I may say it like that. I can't think I could. My head's entertaining the ideas of. her being locked up for days or held for days or tortured or. I hate to go there.
Speaker 13It's a pretty dark place.
Speaker 3It is. It's a very dark place. It is possible that there are connections with Janine's case. There's the case of teenager Michelle Bright, brutally murdered and sexually assaulted in the small town of Goolgong, a little over an hour's drive from Bathurst. And there's the case of Michelle Mills, last seen in nearby Mudgee. Two girls aged 17 and 15 and two women 31 and 39, murdered in four years from 1997 in a region with historically low female murder rates. Only one body, that of Michelle Bright, has been recovered. The others are still out there. But in December 2001, as Ian Vaughan went through his daughter Janine's personal effects, he knew nothing about Jessica's case. Because even though Jessica, a teenager, was almost certainly murdered in circumstances where a credible witness in her friend, Vanessa Conlon, described a terrifying abduction, police in Bathurst didn't take the case seriously. Even though several people came forward to police to report hearing a girl's obvious, piercing screams and terror, and to report seeing a man restraining a girl in a car like the one described by Vanessa. And even after police were told that this car looked highly suspicious too, driven at speed along a little-used dirt road at night with headlights off. Jessica's disappearance commanded relatively scant attention from Bathurst police in the four years leading up to Janine's probable murder, and for several years afterwards. But in 2013, the Deputy State Coroner for New South Wales began an inquest which would hear from witnesses over three weeks. The Deputy State Coroner, Sharon Fraund, concluded that Jessica Beth Small was abducted and murdered. In her findings, she sharply criticised the failures of police to properly investigate Jessica's murder, which by then was 16 years old.
Speaker 16This matter has unfortunately been complicated by the serious case of Jessica Beth Small. The case of Jessica Beth Small is a case of serious crime. The case of Jessica Beth Small is a case of serious inadequacies of the initial investigation into Jessica's disappearance. It is quite simply an indictment on those initial investigating detectives in the days and weeks following Jessica's abduction that their assumptions and prejudices compromised the investigation, caused immeasurable additional distress and hurt to the family of Jessica, and may also have put other future lives at risk. It is hard to believe that so little was done by Bathurst Police to investigate or take seriously Jessica's disappearance in the days, weeks and months which followed.
Speaker 3You heard earlier about the murder of 17-year-old Michelle Bright in the small community of Gulgong in 1999. A few days after the release of the first episode of The Night Driver, Michelle Bright's mother joined a top detective at a media conference in Sydney to plead for peace. She pleaded for public help and revealed a $1 million reward for information.
Speaker 17I'm Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty, Commander of the Homicide Squad, State Crime Command, and with me I've got Michelle Bright's family. I've got her mum Lorraine, father Greg and her brothers Les and Phil.
Speaker 18In my heart, I am sure that someone knows who took Michelle's life. It has left our family with immense pain, heartache,
Speaker 3and a lot of pain. Doherty is in charge of numerous murder investigations across New South Wales, including Janine Vaughan's murder in Bathurst, an hour from Gulgong.
Speaker 18We have lived with this for 21 years and all I ask is that somebody, if they know something, to please come forward and give us the answers that we need. It's the most unbearable pain that we've had in our lives. We have to live with every day of our life and we miss her so much. She was just the glue in our family. All I ask is please, please just come forward to the protectors, to the crime stoppers and give us some release of our pain because we need to know who did this to Michelle.
Speaker 17Inquiries revealed that Michelle was sexually assaulted prior to her death and as part of the ongoing investigations into this murder, we are looking at links to other sexual assaults of young women in the Gulgong area around the time that Michelle was murdered.
Speaker 18She's never, ever coming home. We know that. But we want someone to be responsible for what they've done to us as a family and what they've done to us. What they've done to Michelle.
Speaker 3One day after that plea by Michelle's mother, Lorraine, police swooped and arrested a man over the murder. Here's Sydney radio broadcaster, Ben Fordham.
Speaker 19Breaking news is very encouraging. New South Wales police have charged a man with the murder of Michelle Bright and this is a cold case. On Monday, police upped the reward to a million dollars. Then last night, after 21 years, police arrested a 50-year-old and a 53-year-old man and charged him with murder. Lorraine, good morning.
Speaker 20I've waited 21 years to hear this news, so I suppose it's the start of our next journey in our life.
Speaker 19I can't believe it was only yesterday we were talking about this 21-year-old cold case.
Speaker 20I've shed more tears in the last three days than I've shed in a lifetime. I'd say somebody out there has heard my cries for help, hopefully, and this is where we're at now.
Speaker 19I want to play you the moment that Emma Partridge from Channel 9 confronted Craig Henry Rumsby as he was being led away by police.
Speaker 4Did you have anything to do with her death? No. Would you like to say anything to her family or her mother, Lorraine?
Speaker 21I've known her mum for ages.
Speaker 20He was probably two houses down from us so our kids went to school together. I'm just so pleased that we've had all the help from the media and the detectives to get us where we are today.
Speaker 19It was February 27, 1999 and Lorraine was waiting on the driveway in the rain for her daughter to return from a party. She never came home. Her body was found in long grass three days later and for 21 long years Lorraine has been waiting for answers.
Speaker 3It is not suggested that the alleged killer of Michelle Bright has anything to do with Janine Vaughan's disappearance but for Kylie Vaughan and the rest of Janine's family news of this stunning development brought relief and great hope. Hope that these old cold cases can still be solved. Kylie and Lorraine have forged a bond these past two decades but it started in the months before Janine disappeared.
Speaker 22She'd started to build up a rapport with me and all of a sudden she was telling me about this daughter of hers that had been found murdered and so it was really, really sad at the start of our relationship relationship and then not long after, you know, her starting working with us. at the RSL club. When I say us, that was my dad as well. My dad was working there at the same time. Janine then obviously went missing.
Speaker 3Kylie's father, Ian, would often call Michelle's mother, Lorraine, on the phone and they'd talk about the loss of their daughters. They've supported each other over the years.
Speaker 22My dad has kept a relationship going with Lorraine all of these years and he gave her a call on Monday when I told him about the reward money being raised. You know, we're all so excited for them. And today I've woken up and straightaway it came up on my news feed and it just blew me away. I was so excited and it sort of gave me that little bit of hope that with everything that you're doing, Hedley, that maybe, you know, someone may come forward with something can, you know, give us a little bit of peace as well.
Speaker 3There's a community of deeply distressed families. They're the living victims of the murder victims and they're stronger for their ties and talking among themselves about their grief and their shared experiences and their hope that police never stop trying.
Speaker 11It is amazing after 21 years and I think it just reinforces the point that these cases are still being closely investigated by detectives and you shouldn't give up.
Speaker 22You know, they're clearly working behind the scenes doing things that the families are unaware of.
Speaker 3Let's return now to Janine Vaughan's stalking. There seemed to be a pattern in those incidents. When Phil Evans was away from Bathurst for sometimes five days at a time for his work as an electrician, the intimidation and stalking of Janine restarted. Janine suspected her pursuer was watching her and he seemed to know when she would be alone. and most vulnerable. Senior Constable John Ivanao documented a concerning detail about the timing of one of the notes with the words, I don't want to hurt you. Janine had parked her car at a barbecue chicken takeaway joint called Red Rooster. For this police officer and the one who comes after him, these are their words, but not their voices.
Speaker 23She was away from her vehicle for a short time and upon returning, she discovered a note on her vehicle windscreen. The victim had said, Janine has no knowledge who may have left the note, but she believes it to be the same person who has made two unwanted telephone calls to her.
Speaker 3Janine told the police officer that she had parked about 5.55pm, went into the Red Rooster outlet and walked to her car a short time later to find the note. She drove home and received two telephone calls about 20 minutes apart. Another note which was put there after a visit to the Red Rooster says, Get rid of him or I will. Are you too good for him? The stalker's demand begs several questions. Did Janine Stalker know her boyfriend, Phil Evans? Did he know Janine through Phil? Is this how he knew when to leave his mark, when Phil was away for work? After the more threatening note left on her car telling Janine to get rid of him, she went home and saw that the garage had been broken into. Phil was a car buff like many men in Bathurst who worshipped the Red Rooster. In the garage at home, he enjoyed pulling apart and rebuilding car engines. The stalker had come in and strewn Phil's engine parts across the garage floor. In the police files, there's a note written by Senior Constable Chris McGill.
Speaker 24Police believe the person of interest is someone close to the victims and has frequent contact with them as the victim's movements and work patterns are known and the phone call stopped when the trace was found. A few weeks later in December,
Speaker 3again when Janine was alone, there was another break-in and Phil's things in the garage were strewn about. It was as if the offender was becoming angrier, losing his composure. Some of Janine's jewellery pieces, yellow gold rings with diamond sapphires and emeralds, were stolen with a coin tin and wrapped Christmas presents that were under the tree. I know from talking to her and talking to Janine's former husband Rodney Ether in Musselbrook that she had a lot of anxiety about men who might hurt her.
Speaker 25Look, I'll share something with you, whether you hear it or not, because it was at a Year 10 party after Year 10 finished and there was a couple of guys that she went to school with that tried to attack her on that night and I don't know, but they didn't go through with the whole plan of what they were trying to do. And that's always frightened the hell out of her because these are people that she trusted. So I know that she'd be very, she would not get in a car with someone that she didn't know. I shared that with the police and when she told me, she said, you are the only person that's ever known this. And yeah, like if Janine sort of was frightened in any way, it would bring on an emotional asthma that she had. She'd start hyperventilating and she'd have to be on the puffer. Yeah, so it affected her. You know, she would have been 15, 16 at the time.
Speaker 3And she was describing it to you as an attempted rape.
Speaker 25Yep. To the point where they held her down and were trying to get her clothes off, but it's like she said, it just stopped and they ran. It made her realise the bad that is out there. She would have known these guys, and because she was at school and yeah, the trust of, this is why I say she wouldn't have got into a car. Because it had left its imprint.
Speaker 3The attempted sexual assault had made Janine permanently weary. But if you didn't know Janine's history, it's not inconceivable that you might wonder whether at least some of her anxiety was attention seeking. Another Janine in this case is Phil, Phil's sister, Janine Evans. In an early statement to police, Phil's sister described Janine Vaughan as bubbly, honest, friendly and outgoing. They got along really well. When Janine first moved to Bathurst, they worked together in a sandwich shop that Phil's sister had bought in the town.
Speaker 26Sometime in 1998, when Janine was working for me, she told me that she'd received several harassing telephone calls. These calls would happen when she was in the shop by herself. The calls seemed to panic her. I remember I signed a consent for Telstra to monitor incoming calls to the shop. I did not believe that Janine was receiving those harassing phone calls. The main reason I didn't believe her was the fact that no one was ever there when she received the calls and the fact that we pursued every avenue to find the caller and didn't. I thought she just wanted another drama. She was a bit of a drama.
Speaker 3She remembered the time that a frightened Janine Vaughan had called her about one of the notes left on her windscreen and the time that she received the black panties.
Speaker 26At this point, I did not believe what was happening to Janine. My fiancé and I thought that she was setting the scenes up herself. So much so that my fiancé went around stores in Bathurst trying to locate similar underwear.
Speaker 3After the break-in, Janine Vaughan did not want to stay in the house alone. She told me that some of
Speaker 26her jewellery had been stolen and, oddly enough, only the female Christmas presents had been taken. After this occasion, whenever Philip was away, Janine stayed with me. She stayed with my parents. Shortly after the break-in, Philip stopped travelling away for work. To my knowledge, the break-in was the last time Janine was harassed. My fiancé and I helped Janine with all the harassing things that were happening to her. I felt sorry for her because she was so disturbed. I never believed that the incidents had occurred. We helped her because she was my brother's girlfriend and I felt obligated to help her when he was away. As each threatening incident unfolded, I dealt with it. I took these situations seriously, whether it be notes, telephone calls, a break-in entry, underwear left on her car. She always became quite emotional and fearful and afraid. She would cry, she would become depressed, she would want to vacate the home and come and stay with a family member and it affected her work and affected her general functioning just on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker 3It seems unlikely that Janine Vaughan would have gone to the trouble of inventing stalking incidents. Friends, people who knew her from work and her family describe her as completely trustworthy, as honest as the day is long. Janine's father, Ian, recalls his daughter's distress over the stalking.
Speaker 11Was she obviously worried when she spoke to you?
Speaker 12Oh, about that, yeah, yeah, yeah. But she got over it, like the rest of us. You've got to bite the bullet and get on with your life. And in some cases it's bloody hard.
Speaker 3In the opinion of Janine's doctor in Bathurst, the intimidatory stalking was very real. Here's how Dr Anne Gilroy described her former patient to investigators from the Police Integrity Commission, the once powerful government agency set up to probe reports of police corruption and wrongdoing.
Speaker 27After I read the notes and it jogged my memory, I remembered that she had been extremely anxious. I remember her as being an exceptionally attractive woman. I remembered she was very, very anxious and shaky and that she had said she was being stalked. And I remembered at the time, as I normally would have done in that situation, asking her or telling her, I thought she should go to the police about that.
Speaker 3Dr Gilroy produced a medical progress note dated 29 August 2000. Some way down the page it says, Stalker,
Speaker 27not long after moving here.
Speaker 3I've read Anne Gilroy's file on Janine. It records the notes the doctor took during and after seeing her patient a year before her disappearance. In its relatively brief summary, it is a sad account of a popular young woman, her short life and some of the challenges that she faced growing up.
Speaker 27It says, Stressed and depressed, not eating or sleeping properly. At 27, divorced. Moved to Bathurst from Musselbrook two years ago. New partner. She had a stalker not long after moving here. Has been managing a store, Ed Harry's Menswear. No children. Tried last 12 months. Father was in the Navy. Gets on well with her natural father. Her biological mother gave her up at birth. Feels a failure. Janine grew up knowing her mother lived down the street. Early rejection. Mother gave her away.
Speaker 3This podcast is made possible by subscribers to The Australian and our principal sponsor, Harvey Norman. Since late 2017 when I started pursuing Chris Dawson for the 1982 murder of his wife Lynn, Harvey Norman has been a loyal backer. It began with The Teacher's Pet and Harvey Norman and its CEO, Katie Page's support has continued for over eight years. I'm proud to have had their backing on all of mine and The Australian's investigative podcasts, The Night Driver, Shandy's Story, Shandy's Legacy, The Teacher's Trial, The Teacher's Accuser, Bronwyn, and most recently, The Sick to Death podcast. For more information on this podcast, go to theaustralian.com.au. Today on the front,
Speaker 2bags of cash, dodgy hotel key cards, gangsters, free Rolex, and more.
Speaker 21It's a mecca for tens of thousands of
Speaker 3motoring enthusiasts and rev heads from across Australia who come once a year for one of the world's great car races and a long party weekend. Janine would come here too. Towards the end of her life, she had become close to students a decade younger than her and living in Bathurst to study at the highly regarded Charles Sturt University. Its campus is on the outskirts of the city of Bathurst. It's on the edge of the race circuit. She had bought a house in Rocket Street, a five-minute drive away. Her brother, Rod, remembers weekend trips from Musselbrook, where they grew up, to Bathurst to visit Janine there. They spent time together at Mount Panorama.
Speaker 28They'd show me the sights of town. I think one of the first times we went over when it was the Bathurst car race. So I got introduced to a lot of her friends that she'd already made at the car races and stuff like that. We were always sort of running into people that she knew.
Speaker 3This iconic race in Bathurst is etched into the minds and calendars of car people as a must-see. The TV broadcaster Fox Sports and commentator Matt Nabel hit the high notes with lusty coverage for those who can't get trackside.
Speaker 21Crowds, they just keep coming, growing, as this spectacle becomes a national institution. Through generations, it's DNA. A pantomime of speed.
Speaker 29That is off the scale.
Speaker 21A potent mix of horsepower, adrenaline, and endurance. Anything can happen at any moment. Never look away.
Speaker 30Never. Oh, Dan Rose has had a massive shot. The track is jammed. The reigning champion has had a monumental crash. Oh, he's hit the fence and he's gone off the track into a tree.
Speaker 21He'll ask any driver. A mountain, she ultimately decides the outcome. She turns gentlemen into animals. And battlers into demigods. And she makes heroes. Everyone has a Bathurst story. You see, life here isn't measured by the breaths you take, but rather by the moments that take your breath away.
Speaker 3Race is on. The overwhelming horsepower and roar from souped-up V8 engines can make this mountain overlooking Bathurst feel like it's reverberating too. Fueled by racing ethanol, beer, bourbon, adrenaline, and testosterone, the machines and the drivers and the spectators went all out in October 2001. Eight weeks later, in the gullies and paddocks around Mount Panorama, police with cadaver dogs would mount searches for Janine's body. Residents had reported hearing, a woman screams in the area. I've been watching footage from YouTube and mail-ordered DVDs from the 2001 race won by drivers Mark Scaife and Tony Longhurst, hoping to catch a glimpse of a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair.
Speaker 29In joyful strength, then let us sing Advance Australia Fair! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Speaker 31Very, very nervous times. The hearts are pounding. The engines are revving. It's a long day. 161 laps. All the drivers say it is difficult enough to put together one good lap around this 6.2-kilometre circuit, let alone 161 of them. We're counting down now to the order to start their engines. Local Mayor Ian McIntosh will tell. My friend Steve
Speaker 3Price is a long-time broadcaster and veteran of Bathurst Race Weekends. He understands its place in Australian sporting legend.
Speaker 32Well, you'd have to say Mount Panorama and Bathurst is a rite of passage for many Australians. I mean, it's one of those iconic events that you have to go once in a lifetime. And I think when people go once, they want to go back year after year after year. It was a real pilgrimage and still is. I mean, arguably, it peaked at that time around the turn of the century, around 2000, 2001, but still the crowds keep coming. It's just one of those things that many mums and dads, dads in particular, say to their sons, son, I'm going to take you to Bathurst one day and you're going to love it. And it's just gone down generation to generation, family to family.
Speaker 3I remember you once telling me that the atmosphere on the mountain during that race weekend is just electric and that. People go up there and they bury cartons of beer weeks beforehand. They drag old sofas up. Have you seen that?
Speaker 32Yeah, it happened. Look, I mean, in the old days, you could take as much grog as you wanted into Bathurst. No one cared. As long as someone didn't drive home drunk, no one worried about how drunk the people were on the mountain. And boy, I can tell you, when you get up there, the atmosphere is unbelievable. And they do consume a lot of beer and they would sneak up there probably in the middle of winter when there was no one around, dig a hole, bury 8, 10, 12 slabs of beer, and then they would know exactly where it was to go back and dig it up again. And I think in the end, the coppers just laughed. But, you know, plenty of people can look at scenes on YouTube of things that happen on the mountain, including I remember one year they actually set fire to the toilet block up there for some reason. The whole thing was on fire on the Saturday night, burned down, nowhere to go to the bathroom on the Sunday, but no one cared. As long as the race was on. 2001 was very different to 2020 or 2021. You wouldn't get away with today some of the things that they got away with back then.
Speaker 33Lee Diffie, the nerves are starting to really break. They are, Bill. There's a championship on the line. There's Australia's greatest motor race on the line right here today at Mount Panorama. And look at that. What a wonderful grid. It is overflowing with talent. It only happens once a year. That's why it is Australia's greatest motor race. As the seconds tick by. We are building up to the start for the 2001 classic. Now listen to the ref's rise.
Speaker 34A renewed search for a missing Bathurst woman fails to yield results. On the weekend, more than 70 personnel, including the SES, Chifley Police, the dog unit and police divers, searched a 50-acre area around Mount Panorama in the hopes of finding some clues to Janine's whereabouts. This is the second search of the Mount Panorama area, the first made just two days after Janine's disappearance. Strike Force Toko hoping this weekend's effort will help them refine a number of lines of inquiry. We've received some information. We've looked at that information. We can't discount it.
Speaker 3That's the Sydney-based homicide detective, Paul Jacob, again. He would stay actively involved in the case for several years.
Speaker 35It's been a hard day. It's been a harrowing week for Janine's family and close friends, adding to their worries the fact that two people in a home some distance apart heard a woman's screams coming from a bushland car park not far from the city's popular motor racing circuit on Mount Panorama. You've got my daughter. Bring her back home to us. We miss her so much. We want her home. We want her home so badly. Her desperate dad now saying that she was too mature, too smart to hitchhike. He thinks she knew the driver who abducted her. We just want her home. Contact the Bathurst Police, please. Somebody, if you've seen something.
Speaker 3Harry Potter, 10 News. Police investigation files describe the searches mounted in the days after Janine's disappearance.
Speaker 36The search extended to the lower grounds of the Charles Sturt University. The search concentrated in an area where a female was heard screaming on the evening of Sunday, 9 December. Information was received from a council worker that he had discovered a black ladies' bra, near the VIP stand at Harris Park, near the Mount Panorama racetrack.
Speaker 3The search party was doubled in size the following day. A police helicopter joined in to conduct an aerial sweep of an orchard and the top of Mount Panorama. Searchers looked for Janine's body in large bins, near what motoring fans know as the pit lane part of the racetrack. A woman who lived nearby told police she had heard suspicious noises. She described them as the sounds of the heavy lids of the bus, and the bins being slammed shut. But there were no signs of Janine.
Speaker 36The missing person's father, Ian Vaughan, and her uncle, Jeff Vaughan, were also involved in the search. The search included all bins, tyre stacks, and the disused amenities buildings.
Speaker 3The black lace bra which had been found in one of the searches was bagged, but it was excluded from evidence when Janine's friends told police it would not have been hers. It was the wrong size. We're
Speaker 34coming to. We're coming to a point in the inquiry where we're encouraging people to come forward. Someone must know what's happened to Janine. Janine's family making a renewed appeal to the public. Her uncle describing the 31-year-old's disappearance as an emotional torment for her loved ones. Well, that's the worst part, the not knowing and just sitting, waiting and waiting and not getting anywhere. We're just all missing her so much. So much. While the search failed to turn up any new leads, investigators aren't giving up hope. Madeleine Denham, Wynn News.
Speaker 3Two decades later and I'm in Bathurst, driving with Peter Murphy to the mountain.
Speaker 37Flash a left here, mate. See the sign up there? The panorama? Up on that ridge up there. Okay. That's it. It's where the famous race on ponds. That's the line. Oh, look at this. Oh yeah, I know this from watching it on the TV. You know, they did a lot of searches around here for her body. Which strikes me as odd. You know what I mean? Like, I mean, who knows what goes through the head of a murderer when he's got a body that, you know. But, seriously. You wouldn't hide it here, would you? You know, hide it in a place where they get, what do they get here, 50, 60,000 people?
Speaker 3In the hire car, Peter and I roll past Janine's old house on the way back from a lap of the famous racetrack at Mount Panorama.
Speaker 38Nine. This one here. Eleven. It's this one, is it? Yeah, that one there. Looks pretty modern. Yeah. It's an old federation, I think, that's been rented out. rendered over. Unassuming little place, isn't it?
Speaker 3It is. It's been a long day of interviews and digging into possible leads.
Speaker 10You know, it feels like new day, new suspect. You know, new day, someone else contacting Kylie, and I can understand her frustration. I mean, she primarily, but other members of the family too, of course, have been beavering away now for years, you know, trying to unpick this mystery. Things turn up and you think, where the hell did that come from? How come that wasn't investigated? Or was it investigated? And eliminated? It's a mystery within a mystery. It's bizarre. I also have sort of some sympathy, if that's the right word, I guess, with people who now want to say, 20 years later, I just want to get on with my life. I don't want to revisit all this. For us, you say, well, hang on. Don't you want to help as best you can? You know, try and solve this? Try and solve this mystery? This is terrible, what's happened to this woman, et cetera, et cetera. And their response, effectively, is yeah, but I've been living this for the last 20 years, you know? And for some of those 20 years, many of them have been under suspicion and or convicted by the Bathurst Rumour Mill and Town Gossip. Rumour gets repeated, you know, over and over again, and it gets repeated if it gets repeated often enough by enough people in enough different circumstances, and I think it becomes a fact by reason of that alone, you know?
Speaker 3I can imagine when the cops go and knock on a lot of doors to follow up leads and just call in on people they haven't seen for a while, some of these people they're talking to, trying to get information from, will be saying, well, you're just protecting one
Speaker 10of your own. But gee, it must be hard to receive this case as a cold case, as it were, and to know that so many police officers have trodden this territory before, no new information seems to be coming out of the town. Janine's offence, it just feels to me like a prowler, a stalker, you know, someone who's out in the middle of the night looking for a vulnerable woman by herself. Now, having said that, everyone seems to want to tell us that this person, this person who's out stalking in the middle of a rainy December night, is someone who's known to Janine, because she would never have got into a car with someone she didn't know, okay? Well, look, what people are saying is that effectively, this person is a local, and someone who Janine knows, and if it's someone Janine knows, it's someone that other people in the town know as well. Someone who's in Janine's circle. Someone who she sees, someone who she's at least well enough acquainted with to jump into a car.
Speaker 39She was an awesome friend of mine for only six months, but if I knew something about her, about what happened that night, I would have done something about it
Speaker 3straight away. Juanita Murphy was one of the very last people to see Janine that rainy night in December 2001.
Speaker 11You're really upset about just talking about this, and you told me before that it's because you think people have a perception about what you do or don't know. Can you tell me about that?
Speaker 39I've had numerous people call me and say, if you feel like you've been threatened or whatever, blah, blah, blah, that don't be, don't feel that way. And it just really irks me as a person because I'm not that kind of person.
Speaker 3They were dancing together, drinking and laughing at the Metro Tavern. One of Janine's admirers that night was also a cop, Andrew Holland, and he had noticed her earlier in the night at the pub known as The Ox. These are the words from his police statement. It's not the
Speaker 40officer's voice. I was drinking with friends when I noticed a female I now know as Janine Vaughan, standing at a table with a group of other females. She was laughing and joking with these people and appeared to be in a good mood. A short time later, she walked past me and I followed her to the bar. Whilst ordering a drink, I spoke with her for a short time, arranging to have a dance with her at a later time. I think it would have been around midnight when I danced with Vaughan for about two or three songs on the dance floor of the hotel. Whilst at the Ox Hotel, there was no shortage of men wanting to dance with Vaughan.
Speaker 3Holland was out with other cops who were also there that night. It had turned into a late one. Earlier they had been doing an alcohol breathalyser course while on shift. Holland recalled leaving the Ox about 2.45am and walking to the Metro Tavern where Janine had also gone.
Speaker 40I didn't have anything to drink while I was at these premises and at about 3am or shortly thereafter I noticed Vaughan had also come across to this location. She arrived with two or three men with whom I'd seen her dancing at the Ox Hotel. The last time I saw her was when she was on the dance floor of the Metro nightclub about 3.20am when I left.
Speaker 3The senior constable from the nearby town of Lithgow said he walked two blocks to his home and went to bed. Juanita just wishes she could remember as much about the night.
Speaker 39There's no way that I would get to here at 43 years of age and still be alive, seriously. If I knew what happened to her and I didn't say anything, I would have killed myself by now. If I was threatened by somebody, I couldn't live with the guilt. There's no way in the world. This stuff just really upsets me.
Speaker 11And it sounds like one of the things that upsets you a lot is that people suspect you've withheld information.
Speaker 3There are comments from random members of the public, people who didn't know Janine, and some have suggested that Janine's friends haven't told police all they know.
Speaker 39And everybody making their comments, and I know it's public comment, but people who don't even know, but like, oh, well, somebody knows, and I wish the people that knew the secrets would come forth and tell the truth and blah, blah, blah. I just, I feel guilty.
Speaker 11Because you think they're talking about you.
Speaker 4Well, I don't know, who else?
Speaker 3Juanita told me Janine was special. She was up front with her friends. They loved and respected her for being an open book. She was authentic and candid and friendly and outgoing.
Speaker 39I don't do fake people. I'm not into fake and lies and pretending and whatever, and she was not that.
Speaker 11She was the sort of friend who'd back you up if you were in a fix.
Speaker 39Yeah. But when things come up, anything in relation to Janine, it does traumatise me really bad. The thing is, I can't relax about any of this. The reason why I don't respond to any of it is because it kills me. Oh, my God. It kills me that I, we were the last people to see her. We didn't, I think about it all the time. I haven't for a few years now, but because I had to make myself understand that it wasn't my fault. But, yeah. Otherwise, it's like, why did you not pay more attention? How come you didn't drink less that night? Like, if you had not been so drunk, you might have paid more attention. Sounds like you've been blaming yourself for a while. I have been for a long time, and then I just, I block it out of my mind so that I don't have to because.
Speaker 11Juanita, she walked ahead. Janine walked well ahead of you both. You, you know, you, you weren't to know.
Speaker 39On a normal night out, and your friends, like, end up in a situation like that, like we did, you know, Janine getting upset and just like, no, I don't care, and Jordan and I were blueing with each other. It wouldn't matter. We'd wake up the next day and everybody would be like, oh, you're drunk idiots. Like, it's okay. But the shit has haunted me ever since then. Because it wasn't like that. Sorry. And we went back to Bathurst to do a video walkthrough, and Carly and Adam were there, and I heard Adam say, well, if they were standing here, why the fuck would they not see us there? Like, it was just, like, he was questioning what we knew, you know.
Speaker 11Did you try to explain to him?
Speaker 4Not really, because he was so angry, and I don't know, I don't know Carly and Adam personally.
Speaker 39The next day, we went down to the coffee shop in William Street, and I kind of tried to explain that, but I'm, I'm a very, very anxious kind of person, so I don't, I don't talk too much anymore.
Speaker 11That's okay, Vanita. You're speaking from the heart, you know. You're speaking very rationally, and you say.
Speaker 4It kills me. It fucking kills me. It has for a long time.
Speaker 39I feel like when it finally comes out, we're all going to be, like, astounded by, oh my God, we lived by this person, because it's going to be a local person, I'm assuming. So I cannot put blame on anybody. I don't know who to put blame on. I wish I did. I want Janine's family to find peace, but I can't do it.
Speaker 11People might come forward as a result of hearing your voice or hearing other voices.
Speaker 39And we're, like, 19 years on, and I just choose not to think about it anymore. Until, like, I have a phone call from somebody like you, or Carly asked me to do something, and it just brings it all back up again. I just, I feel so helpless and so guilty, and guilty because of the night that I didn't pay more attention, or I didn't drink less, so it just hurts. It fucking hurts. It absolutely breaks my heart. I've been really tough talking to you right now.
Speaker 11You've been incredibly brave and open. No, I'm not. Because you didn't even have to call me back. You called me back.
Speaker 4I didn't want to. And it drives me insane.
Speaker 11Carly and her family will be so pleased you spoke to them. I can't. I can't. Okay, cool. Okay, thank you. I hope it helps.
Speaker 3I asked Juanita about one of Janine's other friends. And did you know a guy called Scotty? He was an army reservist.
Speaker 39Yeah, yes. He was the guy that kissed her that night, is that correct? Yes. Okay, I thought he was a police officer.
Speaker 3He also ended up working for the police, but not as a sworn officer.
Speaker 11I talked to him today.
Speaker 3Scott, tell me, you were working at the Ox in December 2001. What do you remember about the night Janine disappeared? In a newspaper article from 2002, a young man called Scott Hyman was briefly quoted. He described having met and kissed Janine on the night she disappeared. Scott says he's thought about Janine a lot these past two decades.
Speaker 41I was there, and I am a former employee of the Oxford Tavern, being security. But that night, I was off duty, and I was drinking myself. And with Janine, it actually started outside on the old beer garden wall. And then we ended up moving inside. And then from there, once the Ox started to close down with lack of patrons, we moved down to the Dirty Taz, or what's known as the Metro Tavern. I'd recently had a breakup with a girlfriend, and I was getting familiar with her. I'd recently had a breakup with a girlfriend, and I was getting familiar with Janine. And another couple of gentlemen were at the same location, trying to get her attention as well. The night was jovial. It was just fun and drinks, and I'd left before she did, because I was due to do some work at the local army reserve depot as a reserve officer myself. I needed to leave, and by calculations, I probably left about an hour before she did.
Speaker 3And that's based on what you were told. And that's based on what you were told later, about the time she left.
Speaker 41Yeah, I've been interviewed at least three times by the New South Wales police force on this.
Speaker 3Do you remember when the last interview was?
Speaker 41The last interview was in 2007, of a firearms trainer for the Australian Federal Police. And a New South Wales detective came and conducted an interview at my office location in Canberra.
Speaker 3Did he ask you whether you had a red car?
Speaker 41He was asking about a red car. A small red car. I didn't see anything. He also asked about what were my thoughts on her disappearance. The Bathurst Dam was having works conducted on it at the time, extension works. And there were thoughts that, well, if anybody was going to bury a body, the best place would be in that because it would be concealed forever.
Speaker 3Scott came to know Bathurst well as a student. He moved away years later. But he has a high regard for the community. He's gone on to become an expert archer. And he gives professional advice via his website about survival techniques in the Australian bush.
Speaker 30This is the Hyman hatchet. This one is mine. I've got another one waiting for you. It has many edges, spade, axe, machete, knife. And along the spine of the knife, you've got a notching saw.
Speaker 3With his wife and child, he's often adventuring away from home, and the family has become adept at reviewing camping equipment. Scott also appreciates the difficulty of a challenge like finding Janine's remains. In the Army Reserve, he specialises in the recovery of human remains, those of Australians who fell in battles overseas, such as the Vietnam War half a century ago. There's painstaking research and a need for a forensic eye. You must have, over the years, tried to sort of figure out what might have happened to Janine. Janine, have you got some theories yourself?
Speaker 41You don't have to go far to get into the bush. And then whether you bury or leave on the ground, you can see how long a kangaroo lasts on the side of the road before it's just bare bones. Imagine what happens in the middle of a forest. Perhaps the perpetrator might have left something behind or perhaps they've even taken some sort of souvenir and it's sitting at home and it's on some sort of metal piece like a trophy. Be that a necklace or a piece of clothing. The Dirty Tav, or Metro Tavern, was a bit of a centre for drugs. as well back then. And it was like a dance nightclub playing doof-doof. That's the sort of crowd that hung around that area. As I said, there was a number of boys trying to get her attention that evening, including myself. There's so many different avenues you can look at. It's like writing a novel. There was just so much going on in and around Bathurst at that time.
Speaker 3Why did you leave when you were getting on so well? You were kissing her that night. And clearly, she was fond of you.
Speaker 41She wasn't necessarily fond of me. I think it was more like the alcohol talking. She kissed me twice. And I didn't see her kiss any other boy. Even though there were some others looking for her attentions as well. There was no groping. There was no nothing. It was more like a teasing, kissing sort of thing. I decided to leave because I didn't think it was going to come to any sort of fruition. And I didn't think it was going to come to any sort of fruition. Or sexual advancement that day. And when you're trying to make some advances and everything is going well, it seems like I was getting somewhere. But in the end, it never happened. So that's why I left.
Speaker 3I've often wondered about how unlucky Janine was that night. The rain. Her perhaps suspiciously lost handbag. And then she's walking ahead of her friends, Juanita and Jordan. They're having a distracting lover's tiff. While talking to Scott, I thought about another unlucky break. It too might have meant the difference between life and death. I mean, fate's a cruel thing sometimes. You were with her in terms of, you know, having a kiss at two pubs. If you and her had hooked up and gone back to her place or yours, she might be raising children now with her own family.
Speaker 41You always think about that. What if, what would happen if I had stayed on a little bit longer? Perhaps I could have gone nowhere again. Perhaps I could have been walking home. Or perhaps, again, nothing would have eventuated. I just simply would have stayed there for an extra hour and then I left an hour later. There's many different endings to that story. But no amount of thinking or dwelling on anything like that will actually bring her back. I'd love to know what happened to her. And especially for her family to resolve that and to have some sort of ending. But if you dwell on the what if, in these matters, it could send yourself crazy. And I'm sure that's exactly what's happening to Janine's family.
Speaker 3In the next episode of The Night Driver, one of Janine's best friends speaks about the blame game in the Bathurst community. If he has had nothing to do with, I feel really sorry for him because he's basically been forced out of town. He's lost his career. The Night Driver is a podcast series investigated and written by me, Hedley Thomas, with assistance from Peter Murphy. Music and audio production is by Blacksmith & Co with additional audio support from Chris Bosley. This podcast series is brought to you by the Australian newspaper and digital site. Visit thenightdriver.com.au for additional documentary material. as well as credits for the full team behind this multi-part production. Anyone with information about the disappearance of Janine Vaughan can contact me confidentially by email by going to thenightdriver.com.au. You can search for the Night Driver podcast official discussion group on Facebook and join in with the exchange of ideas and information. Harvey Norman has provided unwavering support for my investigative podcast since 2018. For more information on this podcast and on our entire investigative catalogue, go to theaustralian.com.au.
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