Jessica lived in the town of Bathurst, Australia—about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west-northwest of Sydney. Known for the internationally recognized Mount Panorama racetrack, Bathurst has a rich history dating back to the gold rush era of the mid-to-late 19th century. In 1997, it was a small town with a population of just over 26,000 people.
That year, Australia was facing high unemployment rates, sitting at approximately 8.6%, due to economic downturns from the early ’90s. In March of the same year, the Western Australia Police confirmed they were investigating a serial killer in the Claremont area—what would later become the infamous Claremont serial killings.
Jessica had a wide circle of friends, and in the latter half of 1997, one of her closest friends was Vanessa Conlan. Vanessa lived with her father in Gormans Hill, a suburb of Bathurst. The two girls spent a lot of time together.
In the weeks leading up to her disappearance, Jessica travelled to Sydney for a shopping trip with Vanessa on 14 October. Shortly after, she spent some days in Orange, about 55km west of Bathurst, staying with acquaintances before being asked to leave. By 22 October, she was back in Bathurst, asking Mal Pollard, the owner of Amuse Me arcade, to mind a bag for her.
On 24 October, Jessica stayed overnight at her friend Chris Hogan’s house in O’Connell. The next day, Chris’s father drove them into Bathurst. That Saturday evening, Jessica met up with Vanessa, and the two went into town. They visited Jessica’s mother, Ricki, at a hotel, where she gave Jessica some money. They then spent the night socializing, playing pool, and drinking a small amount at Amuse Me. There were a large number of young people at Amuse Me that night.
Throughout the evening, the girls moved between Amuse Me, Mick’s Takeaway, and Kings Parade Park with friends, including Darren Mason, Chris Hogan, and Sarah Thornhill. There was a sombre mood among them—Luke Hutchins’ uncle had been found dead earlier that night.
Later, Jessica and Vanessa got a lift with a friend, Richard Dennis (“Frog”), to Ben Clarke’s house in Hereford Street. When Ben wasn’t home, they returned to town. Jessica and Vanessa went to Mick’s takeaway, but finding none of their friends there, they headed back to Amuse Me, which was then closed. The two girls ended up near the Acropole Greek restaurant (on William Street) and were discussing whether they should go home to bed. They decided, however, to go back to Ben Clarke’s place at Hereford Street;
As the girls walked along William Street towards Kings Parade Park, they noticed a car—a white four-door Holden Commodore sedan—drive past them before turning around and parking on the opposite side of the road.
The girls, accustomed to hitchhiking, approached the driver. Vanessa spoke to him first while Jessica sat on a nearby wall. The driver asked them about their night. The driver asked “How was your video games…and your games of pool?” (or something similar) and asked something to the effect of “What they were up to or where they were off to”. Before offering them a ride. They got into the car—Vanessa in the front, Jessica in the back.
As they neared their intended destination, the driver unexpectedly pulled over in a dark, isolated area along Hereford Street. He took off his seatbelt and turned to Jessica, saying, “Right, come here.” Vanessa responded, “I don’t think so.”
In a swift and violent move, the driver grabbed Vanessa by the throat, pushing her back into the seat. Jessica, acting quickly, opened her door, causing the man to release Vanessa and reach for Jessica instead. Both girls screamed and ran. Vanessa recalls:
“Jess and I then started running off toward the houses in Hereford Street where Ben Clarke (Bunge) our friend lives. We were both screaming out for help at the top of our voices. Jess was running behind me and I knew she was behind me because she screamed out first. We were yelling out “help, help us” and also to Bunge. I heard Jess scream, “Help” but it was a long sound for help. Then I didn’t hear anything more and I kept running. I didn’t look back as I ran.
Vanessa then ran to the group of houses at the end of Hereford Street, believing, she said, that Jessica was behind her. She ran to one of the houses and banged on the window, waking the occupants. What happens after this is unable to be verified but it appears at some point, Bathurst police were called and took a statement from Vanessa.
The inquest into Jessica’s disappearance revealed severe police failings:
- Police initially dismissed the case—They assumed Jessica had run away and that Vanessa was lying.
- No officer-in-charge was assigned—The case lacked a dedicated investigator.
- Key witnesses were ignored—People who had seen suspicious activity were not interviewed until years later.
- Vital evidence was neglected—Reports of a white car acting suspiciously in the area were overlooked.
According to the findings of Magistrate Sharon Freund, Bathurst police had formed a view, without a proper basis and without any real investigation, that Jessica had falsified her disappearance to escape her mother and her lifestyle. Additionally, they believed the claims made by Vanessa Conlan that Jessica had been abducted were false.
The initial police investigation had failed and /or neglected to carry out a general canvass to find out who was at Amuse Me the night of 25 October 1997 or at the Kings Parade Park, nor did they attempt to then take statements from those people.
The initial investigating police also failed to take statements from witnesses who actually approached police in the days following Jessica’s disappearance with information that they believed may have been possibly related to her abduction and disappearance.
In particular, the brief of evidence gathered by police spans over 11 volumes of material and contains reports of various theories and rumours that have been advanced over the years to explain Jessica’s disappearance.
Quote: “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,” end quote.
In the evidence of the two police officers, who between them at the time of Jessica’s disappearance had many years’ experience, both claimed to have accepted Vanessa as a witness of truth. However, 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 that followed.
As a Deputy State Coroner, as per section 21 of the Coroners Act 2009, a Coroner’s usual function is to seek to answer five questions namely, who died, when they died, where they died, and the manner and cause of their death. Accordingly, the primary issue for the inquest into Jessica’s disappearance was to determine is whether or not Jessica had died and if so, what were the circumstances of her death.
Quote from the coroner, “This matter has unfortunately been complicated by the serious inadequacies of the initial investigation into Jessica’s disappearance. It became abundantly clear upon receipt of the brief of evidence, that very little was done between the period between 1997 and 2007 by Bathurst police in relation to Jessica’s disappearance. Accordingly, I requested that the Police Commissioner or his representative consider making a concession that there were deficiencies in the initial investigation, at the outset of the inquest.”
The barrister for NSW Police, a Mr M. Spartalis, said, quote:
“My client (the police) does acknowledge that the early investigation, that is the investigation from 1997 to 2007 was deficient in a number of respects, largely because of the structure of the police force as it then was, and probably based on the views of the investigators at the time. There were witnesses that should have been followed up, but were not. The significance of those witnesses we 10 Page | 11 11 will never know. They may have been good, they may have been bad, but nevertheless they should have been followed up…”
Regarding witness testimony, the Deputy State Coroner said Vanessa provided her first statement to police on 26 October 1997. Quote, “Since that time she has provided a number of statements and given oral evidence to this inquiry. Her evidence has remained consistent throughout and I found her to be a forthright, compelling and honest witness.”
Another witness, William Ross, William Ross who was working at Amuse Me on the night that Jessica went missing. No statement was taken from Mr Ross until 2008, despite the fact that Mal Pollard had indicated to police the day after Jessica’s disappearance, that Mr Ross had spoken to a man in Amuse Me who had taken a keen interest in Jessica. Despite the lengthy delay in providing his evidence Mr Ross ultimately gave evidence to the effect that:
he spoke with a man in Amuse Me that night, who seemed to recognise him. That the man looked about 34 years of age or maybe older and said he was working at the Oberon Timber Mill. He described the man as Australian, about 5 foot 8 inches tall, medium build with a bit of a beer belly and dark hair. He said the man was wearing jeans, joggers and a long-sleeved buttoned shirt, between a cowboy-type shirt and a flannelette shirt and that he had a set of keys hanging from his jeans on a little hook-on sort of thing. Mr Ross said that the man was looking at Jessica (who was dancing or making some noise) and said “Who’s that?…She looks like she’s out for a good time”. Mr Ross had told the man “That’s Jess”.
Darren Mason who was a patron of Amuse Me on the evening of 25 October 1997. Mr Mason also only provided a detailed statement in 2008, despite his efforts to tell the initial investigators about this man in 1997, which he said were just “shrugged off”20. Mr Mason ultimately describes seeing a male with “a big build, with dark brown straggly shoulder length hair and wearing a red and black flannelette shirt and jacket”21; and Sarah Thornhill, a friend who had attended Primary School with Jessica and had spent some time with her the night of her disappearance. Ms Thornhill provided her first statement to police on 28 April 2008 wherein she stated that she observed a man at Amuse Me whom she had seen in a white Commodore earlier that evening
Mr Robert Fitzpatrick, who in 1997 lived at 34 Turondale Rd, Eglington, whose evidence can be summarised as follows;
- at about 1.00 am that night, he heard screams, and saw a “whitish” coloured car, which he said was either a Holden Commodore or a Holden Camira stop near his house;
- the screams were of a woman, that they were “panic” screams, and he thought he heard something like “help”; he saw a hand coming out over the driver’s shoulder (apparently from someone in the back) and that the car stopped about 30 or 40 metres from his house, at which point there seemed to be a scuffle taking place with the driver kneeling and reaching over into the back of the car;
- After this the driver opened the boot of the car and was “fooling around trying to find something”, and he heard a “little bang”. The driver then went back and knelt on the front seat over to the back seat, after which he drove off normally;
- The driver was described by Mr Fitzpatrick, as not being a big man, and said his impression was that he was between the 30 and 40 age group (he did not see his face);
- Mr Fitzpatrick said he took a mental note of the number plate (which he thought from the colour might have been a Canberra or a Queensland plate), but that he did not write the number down when he returned to his home as he could not find a pen.
Mr Fitzpatrick’s evidence was that when he had heard about “Ricki’s daughter” going missing, he went to Bathurst police station to report what he had seen. Police took his number and said they would call him, but when he had not been called he went back into the station and a detective spoke to him. He got the impression that the police did not want to take a statement from him. Mr Fitzpatrick’s version of events is corroborated to some degree by two notes in the police records made on 28 October 1997. No statement was taken from Mr Fitzpatrick until more than ten years after Jessica’s disappearance, upon the commencement of Strike Force Carica II.
Mr Colin Cole also gave evidence that he contacted Bathurst police by telephone shortly after Jessica disappeared in 1997 to provide information to the effect that in the early hours of the morning on 26 October 1997, he was driving along Sydney Road from Bathurst when a “dirty white” car (that he described as a Commodore with a louvre on the back window) came out of a street on his left, at high speed, with its headlights off. He said the car caused him to brake so hard that he stalled his car, and that the other car went onto the wrong side of the road. It then continued along the Sydney Road before turning right and heading towards Oberon, at which point the lights were turned on. He did not get the registration numbers and did not see the driver or any other occupant. To be fair, no record exists of this alleged call to Bathurst police and it is possible none was made. Ultimately, no statement was taken from Mr Cole until July 20112
Dianne Edmunds gave evidence that on 27 October 1997 she contacted Bathurst Police as she had observed the tail lights of a car going down the “bush track” that leads to a creek opposite her house. At the time she lived at “Stratford Cottage” at O’Connell, on the road between Bathurst and Oberon. In the time she had lived there, she had never seen a vehicle using that track. She could not determine what type or make of car it was, but was concerned that it might be “young kids” drinking and partying. Police records indicate that a call was made by Ms Edmunds24, despite this no statement was taken from Ms Edmunds until May 2012. It should be noted that the police attached to Strike Force Carica II after taking over the investigation in late 2007, regarded her evidence as so significant that they arranged for a re-enactment of the car travelling down the “bush track” and eventually engaged in excavation equipment to dig up the creek area in the hope of finding some evidence of Jessica. Nothing relevant was found.
Fifthly, in 1998 some items of clothing were found by forestry workers in the Jenolan State Forest, near Oberon. They included a blanket and various items of women’s underwear. These items were given a preliminary examination about 12 months later and were then destroyed. Despite their possible significance to the Jessica Small case, it appears that no serious investigation was conducted to determine whether they may have been linked to Jessica. Indeed, Jessica’s family were not even informed about the items until after their destruction. While it is not possible to conclude that the items were connected with Jessica it is surprising that no proper consideration seems to have been given to this possibility.
There is nothing within that material to indicate that Jessica was ever suicidal. It is also highly unlikely that she would have disappeared without a trace if she had in fact taken her own life. Accordingly, I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that suicide can be ruled out. There is evidence that Jessica used drugs,
An inquest such as this has the ability to either inculpate or exculpate persons of interest. However, in this case, there is no direct evidence linking either Mr McBride or Mr Robertson to Jessica’s disappearance. The converse is also true, there is also no evidence to eliminate them as persons of interest.
Jessica Small went missing in circumstances that indicate that she was abducted. Her abduction was witnessed by her friend Vanessa Conlan. Unfortunately, her disappearance and suspected murder did not receive the attention it deserved until the formation of Strike Force Carica II in late 2007, under the guidance and direction of Detective Sergeant Peter Smith
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. Hopefully, lessons will be learnt and other families do not have to go through the same distress as Ricki, Rebecca and Vanessa in the future.
If you have any information, no matter how small, please contact Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000. Cases like these are solved when someone decides to come forward.
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Jessica’s story isn’t over until she is found.