Amanda Robinson, Robyn Hickie: Police issue $2m reward for 42-year missing person cases

Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson’s cases been linked for 40 years, and now two of the state’s most harrowing missing person cases have received a record $2 million lifeline.

There are “strong lines of inquiry” into the disappearances and suspected deaths of two Lake Macquarie teenagers who disappeared almost 40 years ago, police say.

The Newcastle News revealed on Monday that the State Government had agreed to release $1m rewards for information relating to the missing persons cases of Robyn Hickie, 18, and Amanda Robinson, 14, in 1979.

Amanda Robinson (left) and Robyn Hickie. disappeared in eastern Lake Macquarie in 1979

The teens vanished within a fortnight and 11km of each other amid long-held suspicions that their probable murders were the work of a serial predator who roamed Lake Macquarie looking for young victims.

When asked about the two cases being linked at a press conference on Monday to formally announce the rewards, Lake Macquarie crime manager Detective Inspector Steve Benson said: “Obviously the geographical nature of the two incidents, and the time frames, that is something we are still looking at.’’

Lake Macquarie crime manager Detective Inspector Steve Benson said detectives were following “strong lines of inquiry” into the disappearances and suspected murders of Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson in 1979. Picture: Peter Lorimer.

Det Insp Benson had earlier told reporters: “We are following strong lines of inquiry but I am not going to comment on persons of interest or those lines of inquiry at this stage.’’

Robyn, 18, disappeared from a bus stop on the Pacific Highway at Belmont North on April 7, 1979 as she waited for a service to take her to a Belmont pub to catch up with friends.

Exactly a fortnight later, 14-year-old Amanda Robinson vanished just a few hundred metres from her Swansea home after she got off a bus from a school dance and was last seen walking along Lake Rd.

Strike Force Arapaima was established more than two years ago to reinvestigate the 1979 mysteries, detectives ruling out long-held belief that backpacker killer Ivan Milat, who was staying in Lake Macquarie working on the roads, could have been responsible.

Instead, they believe a second serial killer was calling eastern Lake Macquarie home and is responsible for both disappearances.

Robyn Hickie was last seen at a bus stop on the Pacific Highway at Belmont North on April 7, 1979. Picture: Peter Lorimer.

The suspicions were heightened after another woman came forward last year to tell investigators that she was able to escape the clutches of a would-be abductor as an 11-year-old at Blacksmiths, just a few kilometres from both disappearances and four months beforehand.

The significant increase in the reward of $1 million for each of the two teenager’s disappearances comes almost three years after the Robinson and Hickie families issued a plea for a $1 million stake for information in the unsolved cases.

Amanda Robinson was last seen walking along Lake Road at Swansea on the night of April 21, 1979. Picture: Peter Lorimer.

Police Minister David Elliott said he hoped the increase in the reward to a total of $2 million would lead “to the conclusion of the investigations into the murder of Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson”.

“Even though the disappearances were two weeks apart, and police are investigating both matters as a single investigation,” Mr Elliott said.

“It’s important that the people of Lake Macquarie, and indeed right across NSW, look into their hearts to see if they have any information that might lead to the conclusion of this matter.”

Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The Police Minister said the disappearance of “two young teenage girls at the prime of their life” is a tragedy.

“And that’s why the New South Wales Government will never let up providing the support to the police to ensure that their investigation leaves no stone unturned,” he said.

“A 40-year-old investigation is not something that is unusual for the New South Wales Police.

“This increase in the reward to a million dollars for each of the investigations will hopefully spark the conscience of somebody who knows anything about the disappearance of these two teenage girls.”

Det Insp Steve Benson, hopes this reward will encourage those who have been holding onto vital information since 1979 to share what they know with police.

“The disappearances of these teenagers triggered every parent’s worst nightmare. The Hickie and Robinson families have been fighting for the truth for four decades, they deserve to know what happened to their girls,” Det Insp Benson said.

“Our dedicated detectives under Strike Force Arapaima have re-examined all the evidence compiled over the past 40 years and are hoping this government reward will result in further information being provided to detectives to follow up and investigate.”

Strike Force Arapaima is also reinvestigating the abduction and probable murder of Gordana Kotevski at Charlestown in 1994.

Although not linked to the two other disappearances, Det Insp Benson revealed today that detectives were also following “strong lines of inquiry” into the Kotevski case.

Gordana, 16, was snatched off Powell Street on November 24, 1994 - just metres from her aunt’s home.