Spookiest moment in Gordana Kotevski search

A FATHER searches for his daughter. A daughter searches for her sister. When they separately consult different psychics on opposite sides of the world the result is extraordinary — and devastating.

The father of Gordana Kotevski has never given up in his search for her and remains haunted by the moment he came devastatingly close to seeing her again.

THE father and sister of missing teenager Gordana Kotevski who was abducted in New South Wales in 1994, believe a deserted farmhouse in the Hunter Valley vineyards may be key to unravelling what happened to her — after three separate psychics eerily nominated the same house.

Gordana Kotevski was just 16 when she was abducted in 1994.

Twenty-four years after his daughter vanished, Branko Kotevski, breaks down when recounting how close the family came to finding Gordana alive, after the advice of two separate psychics led both him and his daughter, Carolina Kotevski to the same deserted farmhouse.

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Two days after the 16-year-old’s abduction from Charlestown, Newcastle, Mr Kotevski tore down the highway with an entourage of 4WDs, after a telephone psychic in his homeland of Macedonia told him Gordana was being held at the house at Polkobin.

Pulling up to the timber shack, he was about to enter when he heard several cars arriving at the same remote destination.

A shocked Mr Kotevski turned around to see his daughter, Carolina Kotevski, arriving with her own search party of 4WDs. Carolina had independently visited a psychic in Newcastle, and without consulting her father, followed the psychic’s directions to the same house.

“Why are you here?” she said.

“Why are you here?” an equally shocked Mr Kotevski uttered in reply.

Unnerved by the coincidence, the father and daughter entered the house to find signs the property had only recently been abandoned.

“It was just a just a rundown little shack thing. You know the old farm shacks, not so much a house, just an old timber looking thing,” said Carolina, 45.

“Do you know what we found inside? Three wine glasses, some rice crackers and my sister’s favourite cake. Madeira cake,” she said.

“It’s very sad,” said Mr Kotevski between sobs. “It was very fresh, very fresh. Like they were there overnight.”

The family immediately notified police who attended the house but said they were unable to get any forensic evidence, such as fingerprints.

The chilling event has haunted Mr Kotevski, 65, and his daughter since, with a third Melbourne-based psychic also giving directions to the same location.

Peggy and Branko Kotevski visit a monument to missing people on Newcastle's foreshore on the second anniversary of Gordana's disappearance.

Mr Kotevski never returned to work after Gordana’s abduction, becoming obsessed with following every lead.

He has diligently collected every note from his personal investigation in big cardboard boxes stored at his Melbourne house and often goes through to files to look for new information or a lead he may have missed.

After Gordana’s abduction, his devotion to the search saw him only return to the family’s Cardiff home to sleep for one to two hours each night for weeks on end.

Each morning he would rally groups of volunteer 4WD search parties, mostly made up of members of the local Macedonian community, and covered the living room in highlighted maps, to track their progress.

Frustrated with police efforts, Mr Kotevski also employed a private investigator for six weeks at huge expense and has narrowly escaped arrest on several occasions for trespassing on private property, while searching.

In one incident his search led him to a house in Newcastle, whose occupants threatened him with a gun if he did not leave.

His doggedness contributed to the disintegration of his marriage, with wife Peggy Kotevski becoming frustrated as the sole breadwinner, but Mr Kotevski is unfazed.

“I will search and keep searching until I find her,” he said.

He has personally consulted more than 20 psychics, costing him thousands. The family also made a trip to snow-covered Bulgaria to visit blind Bulgarian prophetess Baba Vanga, renowned for her 85 per cent accuracy.

Mr Kotevski with some of the material he has collected in relation to his daughter’s abduction. Picture: Ian Currie

In 1995, Vanga told Gordana’s mother Peggy and her aunt Julie Talevski that the person who took the teenager was “known to the family” and that she was “still alive but not in good hands”.

This week her prophecy took on ominous significance.

Bulgarian prophetess Baba Vanga.

On Monday, we reported a local Newcastle family with business links to the Kotevski family, had come forward to True Crime Australia with information about an alleged predator relative they believe should be investigated in relation to Gordana’s disappearance.

The man in question, who cannot be named for legal reasons, owned a vehicle similar to the white Toyota Hilux used in the abduction, was a striking match for the Penry sketch of the offender released by police, and allegedly molested several of his relatives.

“She said it was someone that was known to the family which brings me back to this guy, the one that the family came forward,” said Carolina, who confirmed the suspect visited the family’s takeaway shop on numerous occasions.

Baba Vanga, who died aged 85 in 1996, was known as the “Nostradamus of the Balkans” and is believed to have predicted the 9/11 terror attacks, Brexit and foretold “unstoppable” Vladimir Putin will one day rule the world.

Originally published as Spookiest moment in Gordana Kotevski search