On Monday, 24 years after his heinous crimes, 56-year-old Craig Rumsby was sentenced to 32 years for the murder of Michelle Bright, as well as the attempted rape of a different 18-year-old woman years later.

Murderer Craig Rumsby killed a bright-eyed teen with the world at her feet in cold blood, strangling her to death on a dark, lonely road just a few hundred metres from her home in the dead of night.

An innocent Michelle was walking her from a birthday party at The Commercial Hotel in Gulgong, in the state’s central west, on February 27, 1999, before she was preyed upon by the older man, who Michelle knew as a child.

Rumsby left her lifeless body on the side of the road - her shirt pulled over her bra and pants and underwear ripped down to her ankles.

The teen girl wouldn’t be found for three days after the killer, who was known to the family, “stole her” life.

Dubbo crime scene senior sergeant Neil Pearce told the supreme court trial the teen girl’s body was found lying face down in scrub on the shoulder of Barneys Reef Rd, Gulgong.

There were no “obvious external injuries”, but Michelle’s body was in a state of decomposition, stains were spatted on her underwear, and vomit was found by responding officers at the crime scene.

Officers who found her made reference to a “darker area on her skin above the torso”.

Motivated by his own sexual desires, a murderous Rumsby “strangled” and “suffocated” Michelle when there was no one else in sight, leaving her vulnerable in complete darkness. 

But this wasn’t Rumsby’s first encounter with Michelle.

The jury heard the now-convicted killer had met the Bright family when their only daughter was just two years old.

Lorraine and Greg Bright moved their three children to Cook’s Gap from Port Macquarie following a job offer for Michelle’s father Gregory, where they were introduced to the Rumsby’s whom they would often buy fresh cow’s milk from.

Later in the trial, Greg Bright would accuse his daughter’s killer of “pestering” a young Michelle – a claim not previously raised during the initial investigation.

Rumsby moved to the western Sydney suburb of Penrith just two weeks after Michelle’s death and rejected any suggestion he was involved in the 17-year-old’s death during three police interviews in 1999.

The lack of a person of interest for investigating officers broke the Bright family, psychologically and literally, with Lorraine and Greg’s marriage unable to survive the trauma of their much-loved daughter’s death.

Lorraine feared that her daughter’s killer was still living amongst them in the tight-knit, 2000-strong community of Gulgong. A shadow of uncertainty forced her to leave the last place she and her family shared with their daughter because she “kept wondering, was it you?” every time she passed through someone in the street.

Despite exhausting a series of leads, Michelle’s murder case wouldn’t be revived until 2019.

The case was reopened by homicide detectives through an undercover police operation in order to befriend the killer and persuade him to confess to both crimes. 

After eight months of undercover operations, Rumsby described the attempted rape of the 18-year-old woman while also detailing the horrific murder of the Year 11 student. 

Following his confident confessions, Rumsby was arrested at Mudgee Police Station on August 11, 2020, where he pleaded not guilty to the crimes. 

The trial wouldn’t commence at the Supreme Court in Dubbo for nearly three years, where Rumsby donned a suit and tie, scribbling on bits of paper throughout nine weeks of proceedings.  

His defence barrister Nicholas Broadbent tried to convince Supreme Court jurors his client was “pressured” to confess, as the undercover operators promised him a “lavish lifestyle” without financial stress. 

During the trial, Mr Broadbent spoke on Rumsby’s behalf, telling the court Michelle was “like a sister” to him.

Rumsby’s case came crumbling down 12 weeks after his Dubbo Supreme Court trial started, following a tense two weeks of deliberations by the jury, when he was found guilty of Michelle Bright’s murder and the historic rape of another girl on June 30.

Back in Gulgong following the sentence, Stock and Rural employee Peter Willis said he is “very relieved” the trial has “gone to court” so justice could finally be served to the family.

Another resident in Gulgong, who did not wish to be named, said it was a relief for the town that the murderer had finally been caught.

The ex-boyfriend of the 18-year-old woman who was raped in 1999, said the jury’s findings of Rumsby being guilty for both the murder and rape was a “great outcome”.

The night when his girlfriend was raped, the man said he found Rumsby’s wallet and identification, he told The Dubbo News that he knew he was guilty from then on.

When her daughter’s killer was finally found guilty, Lorraine Bright told The Dubbo News it felt like she was in an “out of body experience”.

“24 years of waiting for justice,” she said through tears. “At the end of the day she will never walk through our door again but I’ve wanted this for 24 years and finally got it - I can’t even explain it.

“I didn’t want to go to my grave not knowing who did this to her, because it’s something that I had thought about for 24 years, and my biggest fear was that they wouldn’t catch him while I’m alive.”

While she described the “shame” for the killer to walk free for 22 years, Lorraine said she was glad Rumsby is finally “exposed for the person who he is”.

Lorraine said she was annoyed with how he described her as he did not know her personally, she continued saying the family used to get milk from Rumsby’s father but Michelle was only a baby during that period. 

On Monday, Michelle’s brother Leslie Bright said, “we’re really happy with the sentence, we’re extremely happy he’s not going to get the chance to hurt any more young women”.

“I think I speak for everybody when I say that I hope he rots in hell,” Mr Bright said.

The ex-boyfriend of the 18-year-old woman who was raped in 1999, said the jury’s findings of Rumsby being guilty for both the murder and rape was a “great outcome”.

Handing down his decades-long sentence on Monday, Acting Justice Robert Allan Hulme said it was unclear whether the killer had identified whether the young woman was the teen girl he had known as an infant, as he waited until she became “vulnerable in isolation and the darkness” before he struck.

“The attack was clearly sexually motivated… How far the offender would rest in his sexual gratification was not clear,” Acting Justice Hulme said.  “What must’ve been the most horrific and terrifying circumstances…she was helpless to prevent her life from being taken.

“The offender’s actions have taken so many aspects of a good life.

The judge quoted Lorraine Bright’s victim impact statement saying “there can never be closure”, however closure has marked the justice for his sentence.

“The family’s grief continues till this day.

Michelle Bright’s killer walked free for 22 years after her family reported her missing on February 28, 1999.

Rumsby, who was sentenced to 32 years behind bars on Monday, will be eligible for parole on August 10, 2044, with his full sentence expiring on August 10, 2052.