THE daughter of murdered Gold Coast woman Tina Greer has spoken out for the first time since her disappearance eight years ago, opening up about why she cried when her mother’s boyfriend died and how she hopes a huge reward will finally solve the case.
WHEN Tina Greer’s bikie boyfriend died, her daughter Lili broke down in tears.
But not for him.
Speaking for the first time about the tragedy of losing her mum in a suspected murder plot, Lili Greer told The Courier-Mail why she cried over the death of Les ‘Grumpy’ Sharman and how she hopes that a $250,000 reward from the Queensland Police Service could provide closure for the eight-year mystery.
Phil Greer pleads for any information on case of missing Gold Coast woman Tina Greer
Missing woman Tina Greer's dad draws strength from Morcombes
Phil Greer pleads for any information on case of missing Gold Coast woman Tina Greer
Lili Greer was just 13 when she spent a January day with her mum shopping on the Gold Coast for the start of the school year in 2012.
She never saw her again.
Now 21 and living interstate, the university student said she feared Sharman’s death might lead to a dead end for the long-running investigation.
Sharman was long considered a “person of interest”, but was never arrested in connection to the case and died in a car crash in late 2018.
“I cried,” she said.
“But not for him. I was angry. I just wanted to know what happened to my mum.
“He was the last person to see Mum alive so when he died, I thought all the answers went with him.
“That’s why the reward is a good thing. It’s been a long time coming, but hopefully it brings someone forward to help solve it.”
After some struggles with personal issues, Tina Greer had forged a tight bond with her daughter and told those close to her that she was making a fresh start and had everything to live for.
After the girls’ shopping trip, she dropped her teenage daughter at a friend’s place and headed west to visit Sharman, her on-again, off-again boyfriend of five years.
She was due back on the Gold Coast the following day but never arrived.
“I knew something was wrong,” said Lili.
“We spoke every day so when she didn’t come back I knew something bad must have happened.”
She said she begged Sharman, who did not consent to interviews with detectives beyond an initial missing persons report, to talk to police.
“I said if he didn’t do anything, then why wouldn’t he come to the police station,” she said.
“But he wouldn’t do it.”
Birthdays (Tina Greer would have turned 41 on Australia Day), holidays, Mother’s Days, they have all left a hole for Lili, whose social media accounts are filled with tributes to her mum to mark important dates.
Losing her mum at such a young age could have broken the young teen.
But it didn’t.
She spent several years in the Army Cadets, aced school and is now studying a double degree at university in anthropology and international relations.
She remembers the last time she saw her mum with a mixture of great sorrow, but also inspiration.
“If I had got in that car with her, I don’t know what would have happened to me either,” she said.
“I definitely struggled for a while there, but eventually 100 per cent I looked at it like maybe it was a second chance for me and I threw myself in to everything I could and really devoted myself to those things.
“It was how I coped. I just wanted to make Mum proud of me.”
