Police find ‘items of interest’ during dig for Belinda Peisley’s remains
Police investigating the suspected murder of Blue Mountains mother Belinda Peisley have located three “items of interest” during the excavation of a Katoomba property this afternoon. Detectives were seen carrying three brown paper evidence bags.
Police investigating the suspected murder of Blue Mountains woman Belinda Peisley have located three “items of interest” during the excavation of a Katoomba property this afternoon.
The items were found underneath Ms Peisley’s property by police who are digging in the hope of finding her remains or any evidence that might help police crack the 20-year cold case.
NSW Homicide Detective Chief Inspector Grant Taylor and Detective Sergeant Glenn Morfoot emerged from the back of the Trow Avenue property about 2pm carrying three brown paper evidence bags.
The Daily Telegraph understands the pair — who are overseeing the investigation — are driving the bagged items straight to the Forensic Services Group laboratory for testing.
Ms Peisley’s father, Mark Wearne, is spending his birthday today outside the home where police are digging in the hope of finding his daughter.
Ms Peisley was a teenage mother of two when she disappeared on September 26, 1998 and police suspect she was murdered.
As police used chainsaws to cut down trees and shovels to dig underneath her Katoomba house this morning, Mr Wearne spoke to journalists on the front lawn of the property.
He said while he hoped the dig would unearth his daughter’s remains, nothing would ever bring him closure.
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“I hear a lot of people say are you looking for closure? There is no such thing. I’d say to anyone who thinks a situation is closed ask the Morcombe family whether they have closure and they will say, “No, we have a resolution”.
Mr Wearne has never been shy in criticising the initial “disgusting” police investigation but says the three-day forensic excavation has given him new hope.
“I’m very grateful to the police, particularly the homicide squad with what’s happening today and their ongoing efforts to resolve the case,” Mr Wearne said.
“The inquest I was hoping for a lot more and the inquest finished with more questions than answers and it is those questions the guys at the homicide squad are trying to answer today,” he said.
Also speaking outside the Katoomba home today was Homicide Detective Chief Inspector Grant Taylor who said police received several bits of information to suggest Ms Peisley’s remains could possibly be located underneath the house.
“Under the house is a quite a reasonably-sized area, you can stand up under the house in the area we believe, that we wish to examine,” Detective Chief Inspector Taylor said.
He said even if Ms Peisley’s remains were not found he was hopeful police would locate other pieces of “forensic evidence”.
The forensic excavation comes after an inquest in 2012 and 2013 where the Coroner found Ms Peisley most likely died from “the action of a third party” and referred the case to the unsolved homicide squad.
During the inquest six “persons of interest” were nominated and deputy state coroner Paul McMahon said there was suspicion at least three of those people had knowledge or involvement in her death.
He also found there had been a “failure” by NSW Police officers because her suspected death was not reported to the Coroner until eight years after her disappearance.
Mr Wearne told The Daily Telegraph it took seven years for the police to start the investigation into his daughter’s suspected murder.
“The initial police investigation was disgusting. It was non-existent,” he said.
He believed it was possible two groups of people were involved in his daughter’s suspected murder but did not want to view his thoughts publicly.
“I’m of two minds of who is involved but I can see the plausibility of both,” he said.
At the time of her death Ms Peisley was a heavy drug user and had been intoxicated at a party on the night of her disappearance.
Police took her to Katoomba Hospital with several injuries but she walked out before seeing a doctor at 8.50pm on September 26. It was the last time she was seen alive.
All her personal belongings — including her patchwork handbag and wallet — were found at her home. The Coroner found that she died about the time of her disappearance but did not make a finding on the manner or cause of her death.
The inquest into her death heard that a next door neighbour heard that she and her boyfriend at the time — Justin Kondek — had an argument at her house on the day of her disappearance.
It was Mr Kondek who reported Ms Peisley missing to police on September 28, 1998 after he said he found the front door of her home open and all the windows smashed.
It was later found that he took her Westpac bank card and withdrew $1772 over the next several weeks.
He has denied having anything to do with Ms Peisley’s death and the coroner found he was a credible witness and was unlikely to have been involved in her death.
The Coroner was less complimentary about three other “persons of interest” who knew Ms Peisley and were heavily involved in Katoomba’s drug scene at the time.
A large portion of the inquest — which ran over 15 days throughout 2012 and 2013 — focused on three Katoomba locals at the time: Jeremy Douglas, Heidi Wailes and Saxon Holdforth.
“The evidence available was inconclusive,” Mr McMahon found.
“The evidence did, however, raise considerable suspicion as to the possibility of such knowledge and/or involvement,” he said.
During the inquest Ms Peisley’s aunt Sharon Versace told the inquest her niece feared for her life.
“She believed that Jeremy Douglas was going to kill her. She said he had a gun.”
The court also heard Douglas and his girlfriend Heidi Wailes often frequented Ms Peisley’s home and in the week before her disappearance they broke into her home and stole a TV, microwave and a camera.
Yesterday a NSW Police spokeswoman said numerous ground searches had been conducted over the year for Ms Peisley’s remains but never at the Trow Avenue location.
“Investigators identified numerous persons of interest and explored various lines of inquiry, which were tested during a Coronial Inquiry,” a statement said. “Detectives from the Homicide Squad continue to investigate Belinda’s disappearance and suspected murder under Strike Force Belonidae.”
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