Mid-North Coast missing women: Questions raised over possible links of missing elderly residents

Police Minister David Elliott has been asked whether NSW Police are investigating if the disappearances of three elderly women on the state’s north coast are linked.

Questions have been raised in parliament as to whether NSW Police are investigating possible “linkages“ between the disappearances of three women from suburbs spanning across the state’s Mid-North and Coffs coasts.

Greens MLC David Shoebridge questioned Police Minister David Elliott in the Upper House on Monday, over whether NSW Police were investigating if the disappearance of three women in Brooms Head, Tintenbar and Port Macquarie are linked.

NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

However, Mr Shoebridge told NewsLocal he was not suggesting that there was a serial predator stalking elderly women on the state’s north coast.

Mr Shoebridge said he was contacted by Mid-North Coast residents, particularly frightened older women, questioning whether theire were links between the disappearances of 73-year-old Annemarie Jeffery from a campground at Lake Arragan in August, 72-year-old Elizabeth Forman from Brooklet in October and 78-year-old Adele Morrison — whose body was found on Sunday — who went missing on March 16 from her son’s Port Macquarie home.

However, the last known locations of the three women a separated by more than 370km and close to four hours between Port Macquarie and the suburb of Brooklet -— just outside Byron Bay.

“These are three cases that I found particularly troubling,“ he said. “Members of the community say there is disquiet over the fact that there are at least three identified in the last eight months, which is why I put the question on notice.

Elizabeth Foreman was last seen in Brooklet.

Adele Morrison, 78, was last seen leaving her home in Port Macquarie about 6am on Tuesday, March 16.

“I know Adele Morrison’s body has been found, and obviously it is important there is a coronial investigation, but there are concerns about the way her body and her car were found.“

Mr Shoebridge said the circumstances following Ms Morrison’s disappearance and the time it took for her body to be found — despite flooding across the Mid-North Coast — needed to be investigated.

Port Macquarie woman Adele Morrison, aged 78, is believed to have been travelling in a red 2017 Toyota Corolla with NSW registration plates DSN 47R.

“Until the discovery of Adele’s body (this week), none of these women have been found,“ he said. “Annemarie was last seen at a really crowded campsite in a highly observed part of the world.

“The question is are the police considering whether or not these disappearances are linked.“

The Greens MLC said he had been contacted by residents in the state’s north since mid-March to raise the issue in parliament.

A large-scale search was conducted for a woman missing from a campground on the state’s north coast. Annemarie Jeffery, aged 73, was last seen at the campground in Lake Arragan, just north of Brooms Head, about 9am today (Tuesday 25 August 2020). Serious concerns are held for her welfare as she failed to return to her campsite and her family has not been able to locate her.

Police Minister David Elliott said he found the question from the Greens MLC to be “completely inappropriate“.

“For a member of parliament to politicise several police investigations is very wrong,“ he said.

Police sources have confirmed that Ms Morrison’s death was being treated as misadventure after her body was found downriver from where her car was washed off a causeway.

The sources also said there had also been large-scale searches for the missing women and significant investigations into both cases had ruled out any suspicious circumstances.