The sister of missing Queensland woman Sharron Phillips thinks their father was hiding something

THE sister of Sharron Phillips believes their father could be behind her disappearance in one of Queensland’s most baffling mysteries.

Sharron Phillips went missing at Wacol in May 1986

THE sister of Sharron Phillips believes their father could be behind her disappearance in what is one of Queensland’s most baffling cold case mysteries.

Ms Phillips vanished in the middle of the night from Wacol in 1986 after her car ran out of petrol and she called a friend from a payphone to pick her up.

The mystery has endured for 30 years with no body found and no arrests — but this week the case was reignited after a new tip off led police to excavate a site in search of her remains, southwest of Brisbane.

Police on Tuesday started excavating nearby Ipswich City Council owned land at Carole Park, with investigators particularly focused on drains at the site.

Some 100 cubic metres of soil will be removed from drains during the search, which is expected to last around a week.

And that followed Ms Phillips’ sisters explosive claims they believed their father Bob Phillips could be involved somehow.

Bob Phillips told police he was with his wife, Dawn, on the night of Sharron went missing, collecting a truck interstate in Gilgandra in western NSW.

But his daughter, and Sharron’s sister, Donna Anderson, thought he was home in bed.

“I thought he was at home in bed — or, you know, at home. And I honestly thought — and I repeated it to people,” she told ABC’s7.30last night.

Ms Anderson told 7.30 she spoke with her siblings at their father’s funeral last year about the “alibi”.

“One of my brothers is saying now, you know: ‘You know, how do you think we feel? We’ve just found out about this?’ I said, ‘Well, I’m sorry but I’ve been carrying this for a long time’,” she said.

The first she knew about where her father said he was that night was when a reporter interviewed him and then asked her about it.

“None of us knew he had the alibi that night. To me, that was the first alarm bell.”

She said she had been trying to get someone to listen to her for five years.

Bob Dallow, who was one of the original detectives on the case, said Mr Phillips insisted on being close to the investigation team.

“He made sure that he was right with us all the time on the investigation. And, like, you couldn’t scratch unless he was with you,” Mr Dallow told 7.30.

Bob Phillips died last year and his wife Dawn died in 2010. Last week, police collected Dawn’s old diaries her husband mistakenly gave to Mr Dallow, who now runs a book store and became a family friend.

He said they contained entries like things: “Sick of telling lies” and “Keep your mouth shut” and all these sorts of things.

Ms Anderson didn’t think her family were honest.

“We all know that dad was not honest: I’m sorry. And we all know that dad was violent.

And sadly, I think there’s an even darker side to him.”

She is calling for a fresh inquest which she hopes will lead the family closer to the truth.

Detective Superintendent Damien Hansen said the tip-off that led to the excavation was credible.

“The aspects of what they say have been verified in a lot of detail from previous investigations,” he said at the site on Tuesday.

“We had not spoken to this person previously ... the person has come forward because of their conscience.”

A $250,000 reward remains on offer for anyone who provides information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Supt Hansen said police were “very committed” to solving the case and appealed for anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers.

But Ms Anderson wasn’t optimistic the search would lead them to her sister.

“I told the police that I’ve heard that story before,” she told The Brisbane Times.

“It could be true and it would be great to know that it wasn’t dad.”

— with AAP

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Originally published as The sister of missing Queensland woman Sharron Phillips thinks their father was hiding something