Katrina Bohnenkamp: Inquest into missing teen begins

Posted on her Facebook page prior to her disappearance, the NSW Coroner believes this image could unlock the mystery of what happened to Katrina Bohnenkamp.

Police want to speak to the man pictured left.

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This is the man who may hold the clue to solving the mysterious disappearance of Katrina Bohnenkamp.

Today, the NSW Coroner’s Court has released this image as the inquest into the suspected death of the Sydney teen begins.

For seven years, detectives have never been able to track him down, amid rumours from friends and family of the then 15-year-old’s “new boyfriend”.

A number of people will this week give evidence about what they know about Katrina, but the mystery man pictured kissing the teen three months before she vanished from her father’s Strathfield home is the source of many questions.

It is thought the man, left, could have been her new boyfriend

After absconding from various care homes in August 2012, she handed herself into Sutherland Police Station and offered a reason for her absence.

Two months later, she disappeared, this time for good

“She told staff (at the station) she had been staying with a new boyfriend and his mother in Campsie, but that could be Kempsey,” counsel assisting the coroner Phillip Strickland SC said.

“Despite efforts by (detective) Christie Houldin and others we have no idea if she had a new boyfriend or who he was.

“About that time there were a number of records and various people who say Katrina had one or more boyfriends ... but this particular person has not been able to be located it would.

“We’d like for it to be known that we are interested in finding out the identity of that person.”

The appeal came after a number of stunning claims on the first morning of the inquest.

Coroner Carmel Forbes was told there was a series of failures by those legally and morally obligated to protect the teen, who was surrounded by criminals, sex offenders and drug users before she vanished.

The last confirmed sighting of Bohnenkamp, then 15, was at her father’s home in Strathfield in October 2012 after absconding from a series of care homes.

A $500,000 reward was last week announced for information relating to the disappearance of Katrina Bohnenkamp.

“She was an intelligent teenager, she evoked feelings of love and tenderness from those around her,” counsel assisting the coroner Phillip Strickland SC said.

“She also got into a lot of trouble, trouble way beyond what 15-year-old girls experience.

“She was a victim of violence … and undoubtedly of sexual assault as she was having sex with adults when she was way below the age of consent.”

There have long been grave fears for Katrina.

As well as the man pictured above, other persons of interest expected to give evidence this week are a series of residents at her father Maiko Bohnenkamp’s boarding home on Homebush Rd, Strathfield.

Chief among them, a registered sex offender in his 40s who would regularly take Katrina out for day trips following which she would return “stoned”, the inquest heard.

This morning, the inquest has been played the last suspected vision and audio of Katrina.

The video depicts the young smiling teen walking past the camera and at one stage looking distressed with her head in her hands.

The inquest heard she had been mixing with criminals and drug users

The audio – a call to the Department of Family Services – is the last time her family have been able to hear her voice.

“I’m Katrina Bohnenkamp,” she says frantically after being banned from a shopping centre after stealing soft drinks.

Mr Strickland slammed the role of social media giant Facebook in the efforts to piece together Katrina’s final movements.

The teen would use the service as her main point of communication, with the inquest hearing data from Facebook could hold the key to unlocking the mystery.

Half sister Jade Simpon during the appeal to find Katrina

“Facebook’s capacity and willingness to assist this inquest will be an issue,” he said.

“It is a unique case as she was very vulnerable so her main, sometimes sole, form of communication was Facebook.

“It will be our attempt to ensure Facebook cooperates with this inquiry and if necessary we will summons Facebook’s office in Australia to come and give evidence.”

The inquest before Coroner Forbes continues.

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