Three women vanish on Sunshine Coast. Did convicted killer Derek Sam murder them all?

THREE women all vanished from the same area on the Sunshine Coast within months of each other. Their bodies have never been found. Was it a serial killer? Police think so.

WAS a psychopathic serial killer stalking the Sunshine Coast in the late 1990s?

Police investigating the disappearances of Jessica Gaudie, Celena Bridge and Sabrina Ann Glassop certainly think so.

Celena Bridge, a British backpacker on the trip of a lifetime, was the first to vanish.

On July 16, 1998, the 28-year-old was making her way to a camping ground on Booloumba Creek Rd in Cambroon when she stopped to ask for directions.

It was a quiet road and she was on foot, her pack strapped to her back. She was lucky to find anyone. But she did.

Stopping at the gates of Piabun Farm, a prison alternative for Aboriginal youths, the nature lover asked a worker how much longer she would need to walk before reaching the camping ground.

They spoke for a moment before Celena continued on her way.

Derek Sam was jailed for the murder of Jessica Gaudie. Police still think he killed two others.

A few minutes later, a car turned out of Piabun Farm’s driveway and headed in the direction Celena was walking.

Farm worker Derek Sam, a skilled Aboriginal tracker, was at the wheel. He would have certainly passed the young backpacker as she walked along the road.

Police would later discover he was the one constant in all three women’s lives.

May 28, 1999 — less than a year after Celena disappeared — was the last time anyone saw Sabrina Ann Glassop.

Known as Ann to her friends, the devoted mother and animal lover had dinner with her ex-partner that night and went to bed, promising to have breakfast with him the following morning.

Kenilworth woman Sabrina Ann Glassop was last seen in late May 1999.

But on May 29, at 6am, the 46-year-old’s parents heard the sound of squealing tyres from their granny flat where they lived behind Ann’s house.

Ann’s house, by no coincidence, was on Booloumba Creek Rd. The same road Celena had walked the year before searching for her camping ground.

They heard their daughter’s dogs barking and woke to discover the gates wide open.

This, more than anything, convinced police it was not Ann behind the wheel. She doted on her dogs. She would never have left the gates open so they could escape onto the road.

Her car was later found at a nearby rest stop, left there to make it seem as though she’d taken her pet poodle for a walk.

Jessica Gaudie disappeared three months later.

The 16-year-old schoolgirl had been babysitting Derek Sam’s children the night she disappeared.

She didn’t really know Derek — or Mia, Derek’s ex-wife, who’d left her children with a sitter for the first time that night so she could go to a party.

Sixteen-year-old Jessica Gaudie disappeared on August 29, 1999 after babysitting in Nambour suburb of Burnside

Derek was at that same party. He’d been drinking and was furious when he spotted his ex-wife with a new man.

He drove back to collect Jessica, insisting she accompany him to the party. He knew Mia would immediately leave when she realised the children were home alone.

Jessica got in the car with Derek. He later bizarrely claimed he dropped her at an intersection near the party, rather than in front of the house, asking her to go inside and collect Mia.

He told police he never saw her again.

Derek Sam was sentenced to 15 years jail for the murder of the teenager, whose body has never been found.

Police are convinced he murdered all three. For years they have asked him to reveal where he left their bodies.

Derek Sam is led to Maroochydore watch-house by detectives after being charged with murder of missing babysitter Jessica Gaudie. Picture: Graeme Parkes.

“Ann Glassop’s mum is in her 90s and still lives in the area. It still upsets her to speak about it,’’ Sunshine Coast Detective Senior Sergeant Daren Edwards told The Courier-Mail last year.

“Wouldn’t it be nice for her to have some answers?

“Celena Bridge’s parents said goodbye to their daughter, a girl who enjoyed the environment, had a love for birdlife and wildlife, when she left to go on this trip to Australia — and nothing.

“To do what he did to Jessica — a young girl — you have to be a psychopath.

“Someone like that doesn’t care about anyone. They only care about themselves and will only do something if it benefits them.

Detective Senior Sergeant Daren Edwards says a psychopath must have been responsible

“Why not divulge where they are? After all his appeals failed, why not tell us?

“It’s disgusting and distasteful.’’

Ann Glassop’s son Leon Worsley would like some answers too. He misses his mum. Her disappearance changed his life and left him with many challenges to overcome.

“One of the things that upsets me so much is how she is now remembered as this person who went missing,’’ he said.

“She’s not just someone who went missing.

“She was a beautiful woman. She had a way with people where she could just level with them and make them feel comfortable.

“She was awesome.’’