Convicted killer David Collison feared murdered – with police launching major search in NSW Central West

A man who murdered a teenager in 2000 is now suspected of having been killed himself, with NSW Police launching a major investigation to find his body.

Collisson was last seen on October 15, with Strike Force Utyana launched to investigate his disappearance. Picture: Facebook

A man who murdered a teenager in 2000 is now suspected of having been killed himself, with police launching a major investigation to find his body.

David Leonard Collisson was found guilty by a NSW Supreme Court jury of murdering 17-year-old Shahab Kargarian as he sat with his girlfriend at Greenwich Point, on Sydney’s lower north shore, on October 8, 2000.

Collisson and another man demanded the high school student’s wallet before one of them shot him twice.

Now, less than five years after his release from prison, NSW Police believe Collisson has been murdered and are currently searching for his body near Mudgee, in the state’s west.

The State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad launched Strike Force Utyana after he was reported missing to local police on October 15.

Homicide Squad detectives have commenced a search as part of an ongoing investigation into a man missing from the state’s Central West., , David Collisson, aged 53, was last seen at a property on Wilbertree Road in Menah – about 9km north-west of Mudgee., , He was reported missing to Cumberland Police Area Command on Friday 15 October 2023 when he was unable to be located or contacted.

He was last seen in Menah, about 9km north-west of Mudgee.

Collisson is understood to have also since failed to comply with the conditions of his parole.

Police sources said while they are appealing for information about his disappearance, they do not expect he will be found alive.

Collisson was just 30 when he came across Kargarian and his girlfriend looking at the lights of the city from down at the water at Greenwich Point.

The young couple had been enjoying a lovely night together, driving over to Manly to meet with family and friends, before having dinner and drinks, and then driving back towards North Sydney — before stopping at Greenwich Point.

As they sat together Collisson and another man came up to them and one man said: “Give me your wallet … give me your fucking wallet or I’ll shoot you”.

Kargarian replied: “I don’t have a wallet”.

Collisson was found guilty of murdering Shahab Kargarian at Greenwich Point in 2000.

One of the men then punched the teenager in the face, before his girlfriend tried to stand between the men and her boyfriend, only for her to also be hit.

“She nearly fell backwards and the next thing she heard was gunshots,” Justice Tony Whealy said in his judgement.

Collisson was sentenced to a maximum of 24 years in jail, with a minimum of 18 years.

He appealed that sentenced to the Criminal Court of Appeal but it was unanimously dismissed by all three judges on the bench.