Cops set to push for charges over deaths of missing women
Coast detectives are just weeks off finalising a report likely to recommend prosecutors charge Derek Sam over the deaths of two other missing women.
Sunshine Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sunshine Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
COAST detectives are just weeks off finalising a report likely to recommend prosecutors charge Derek Sam over the deaths of missing women Celena Bridge and Sabrina Ann Glassop.
Sunshine Coast Criminal Investigation Branch officer in charge Detective Senior Sergeant Daren Edwards said they were left with little option, given Sam continued to refuse to cooperate with investigators still working to locate the bodies of the women presumed dead.
Sam is currently serving a life sentence for the August, 1999 murder of 16-year-old Burnside State High School student Jessica Gaudie.
He's the prime suspect for the suspected murders of 46-year-old Kenilworth teacher aide Sabrina Ann Glassop in May, 1999 and British backpacker Celena Bridge, who disappeared after being last seen in July, 1998, walking on Booloumba Creek Rd.
In 2002 a coroner determined Celena had been murdered.
Sen-Sgt Edwards said pressing charges was just about "the only option we've really got” if they were to ever get closure for the families.
"The ball's in Sam's court really,” Sen-Sgt Edwards said.
Sam had been eligible for parole since 2016, but under no body, no parole laws, had been unable to be released as he refused to reveal Jessica Gaudie's whereabouts.
Sam has continued to claim his innocence, denying killing anyone and Sen-Sgt Edwards suspected he may have refused to locate Jessica's body for fear of further imprisonment if it helped police confirm his responsibility for the murders of Celena and Sabrina.
"It's very frustrating,” Sen-Sgt Edwards said.
The experienced Coast investigator said he'd written to Sam previously, seeking co-operation in a bid to find the bodies, but his efforts had been fruitless.
He said police and Sam's legal representatives had "gone around in circles”.
Sen-Sgt Edwards said some consideration was being given to whether immunity could be offered to Sam for Celena and Sabrina's murders, in a bid to find their remains.
"It's obviously something to consider,” he said. "How much more time is he really going to get (sentenced to for their murders)?
"One day he's going to get out. I'd rather the Gaudie family recover the remains of their sister and daughter and the other families find the remains of their daughters.
"It's probably been to his detriment that he's never said anything.”
‘Free lunch for the little criminals?’: Voter lets fly at Miles
A seething Townsville retiree has unloaded on Steven Miles and the Labor party for their handling of the youth crime crisis and school lunch plan.
Early favourites revealed as pre-polling kicks off
Voters across the Sunshine Coast have begun casting their ballots in the upcoming state election, with exit polling revealing the early favourite for one of the region’s marginal seats.