The Sunday Mail has obtained a transcript of one of the calls in which a well-spoken man claimed to know where her body was hidden.

Queensland’s cold case detectives open file on 1972 disappearance of Gaye Baker

Housemates warned missing air force policewoman Gaye Baker about hostess job

The mysterious 1972 disappearance of Gaye, after she drove to Clayfield to meet a man who’d given the fake name “John Taylor”, has baffled police for years – but is now the focus of a renewed homicide investigation.

It is also the subject of a new true crime podcast, Person of Interest.

The meeting was Gaye’s first job as a “hostess” with a Fortitude Valley agency.

The part-time job – which she took up to earn extra money to travel and pay for her sick mother’s medical costs – involved accompanying men to events and corporate functions.

Police in 1973 took the calls seriously and sent divers to conduct a search of the five-acre water hole off Upper Kedron Rd.

It also sparked an argument as to whether $1000 would be spent to drain the quarry, with authorities in 1973 deciding it was not worth the expense without verified information.

The caller rang detectives at Nundah on September 12, 1973, and made a second call to homicide at 4pm.

Asked whether he wanted to speak to a particular detective, the caller replied: “No, I have some information.”

“It’s about the missing air force policewoman,” the caller said.

“She’s buried in the quarry out at Keperra. You know, the one out near the drive in.

“It’s been buried there for months.”

The detective who answered the call asked the man for his name, but he replied: “I’ve got to go now” and hung up.

At the time, police had already investigated more than 1100 lines of inquiry in an effort to find Gaye’s killer.

“But everything has proved negative and we’ve found no angle in the girl’s personal background to help in any way,” a detective said in 1973.

Gaye had grown up in a poor household but her job as an air force policewoman had allowed her to save a lot of money - the equivalent of $65,000.

She was very close to her mother, who was sick and died soon after Gaye disappeared.

Friends have told the Sunday Mail Gaye worried her mother would need to have surgery and she wanted to be able to pay for it.

Six police divers were sent into the waterhole off Upper Kedron Rd at Ferny Grove but found no trace of Gaye.

They were unable to search the entire body of water because of its size.

Reports at the time said the owners of the land had agreed to police draining the quarry but when a quote for the process came in at $1000, authorities decided not to proceed.

There had also been earthworks in one area of the quarry where it had been filled in. Police pleaded with the caller to phone again and provide more information but he never did.

“It was decided that expenditure of $1000 on such slim, anonymous information as not justified,” the acting assistant commissioner for crime told newspapers at the time.

Detectives from the Homicide Investigation Unit’s cold case team, as well as Gaye’s family, have made a renewed appeal for information from the public.

“It’s been 47 years since Gaye Baker was last seen alive and we are urging anyone with information, even if they spoke to police at the time, to come forward and give Gaye’s family some closure,” Detective Senior Sergeant Tara Kentwell said.

“We are particularly interested to hear from those who were in the area at the time who may have seen Gaye, or a vehicle near Gaye’s car on Bayview Tce, described as a dark brown or maroon Holden Monaro or Valiant Charger.”

Gaye had driven to Clayfield in her new yellow Datsun 1200. It was later found abandoned on Bayview Tce.

A $250,000 reward is available for information leading to the conviction of a person or people responsible for Gaye’s murder.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.