Bowraville murders: Police and family plead for information on 36th anniversary of triple murder

The families of three murdered children have called on anyone with information about their deaths to come forward 36 years after they were killed.

The cold case is known as the Bowraville murders after the regional NSW Aboriginal Mission where all three victims lived before they vanished between September 13, 1990, and January 31, 1991.

Colleen Walker-Craig, 16, was the first of the three who disappeared sometime between September 13 and 15.

Her family reported her missing but the only trace of her was her clothes weighed down in the Nambucca River.

While her body has never been found, a coroner determined she had most likely been murdered.

Just weeks later, on October 4, Colleen’s four-year-old cousin Evelyn Greenup vanished after being put to bed at her grandmother’s home.

Unlike Colleen, Evelyn’s remains were tragically found months later along Congarinni Rd on April 27, 1991.

The discovery of her remains followed 16-year-old Clinton Speedy-Duroux disappearing on January 31 and his body being found on February 18.

Police initially investigated the murders as separate incidents before the cases were unified and sent to NSW Police’s Unsolved Homicide Team.

A man was charged with two of the murders on numerous occasions but was later acquitted by the courts.

A $1 million reward for any information that can solve any of the cases has been in place for a number of years and 36 years later, police have re-issued that appeal with the support of the three victims’ families.

Evelyn’s mother Rebecca Stadhams issued a heartbreaking statement as the anniversary of her first daughter’s disappearance nears.

“Evelyn was only four years old when she was taken from us in 1990. Her murder has remained unsolved, and for more than three decades, our family has lived with the pain of not knowing who was responsible and why this happened to our little girl,” Stadhams said.

“But before Evelyn became known as an unsolved murder victim, she was a little girl who was deeply loved.