Passy Reyes: Police use podcast to help crack cold case disappearance of Mona Vale teenager
Passy Reyes was 18 when she vanished from Mona Vale 19 years ago — now police are using a podcast to help crack the cold case mystery.
Manly
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Cold case cops have created their own dramatic podcast to help crack a decades’ old missing person mystery on the northern beaches.
In episode one of a series by the NSW Police State Crime Command, the chilling disappearance of an 18-year-old HSC student from Mona Vale is examined in detail.
Detectives are hoping the professionally produced podcast may spark a hidden memory in people who may know something about how Passy Reyes vanished in the early hours of July 18, 2001.
In the podcast Passy’s mother Margaret and her brother Chris relive the dark days when she disappeared after leaving their Barrenjoey Rd duplex at 4.45am. She was never seen by them again.
The podcast asks: Was she a run-a-way or did she plan a getaway to escape her old life?
Ms Reyes still believes, 19 years on, that her beautiful daughter is still alive.
Detective Sergeant Jason Ferns also reveals insights into how police, at the time and now, are trying to solve the mystery.
In 2001, Mexican-born Passy was studying for the HSC at Pittwater High School at Mona Vale. Ms Reyes, a widow, said Passy was feeling the strain of completing artworks for the end of year assessment and studying for her final exams.
On July 18, it is believed that Passy put on a dress she had picked out for her upcoming Year 12 formal and walked to nearby Mona Vale Beach.
A bus driver, doing an early run into the city, told police he saw a young woman matching Passy’s description, and wearing the blue-green formal dress, walking in the gutter along Barrenjoey Rd.
Later that day her neatly folded dress was found on steps leading down to Basin Beach at Mona Vale.
An extensive police search of the ocean and the local area, including Mona Vale Headland, failed to find any trace of the teenager.
In the weeks after her disappearance there were reported sightings of Passy walking on Pittwater Rd at Narrabeen as well as at Bondi Beach and Darlinghurst.
An electrician from Dee Why swore to police that he saw Passy in a cake shop at Kings Cross two months after she was reported missing.
The family never gave up the search, even travelling to Mexico in case Passy had travelled there to reconnect with her dead father’s family.
Sgt Ferns says in the podcast that while police are keeping an open mind, the likelihood is that the young woman took her own life.
But he said there was still a possibility that she is alive and simply does not want to be found or that she went swimming at Basin Beach and drowned.
Ms Reyes tells the podcast that her intelligent daughter was capable of planning “her getaway”.
But she still pleads with her to come home.
“She is scared of what we will say,” Ms Reyes said. “You need to have a lot of courage to go and you need a lot of courage to come back because we will ask ‘why?”
A tearful Ms Reyes makes a heartfelt plea to see her daughter once more.
“Passy, I love you very much.
“Where ever you are, it’s all right.
“When ever you are ready to see me, to see your brother, we welcome you with open arms.
“Every day is a new day and a new hope to see you, for you to be with us, to give you a good hug and be close again, together.
“There is no day that I don’t think about you.”.
Police say that since January 2019, there has been 38 long-term missing teenager cases in NSW.
If you can help, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The podcast is streaming now on:
Apple: https://apple.co/3iRmwYX
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3gXGkZN