Belinda Williams cold case murder at Mount Buninyong, near Ballarat: new hope for justice

INVESTIGATORS are chasing fresh leads in the shocking murder of a young mum in country Victoria 16 years ago.

Belinda Williams image for cold case reward story.

COLD case investigators are chasing fresh leads in the shocking murder of a young mum in country Victoria.

The body of Belinda Williams was found 16 years ago this week at Mount Buninyong, near Ballarat, after she vanished from her home.

She was last seen alive climbing into bed with her six-year-old daughter, who had been spooked by the dark.

Her death, probably at the hands of someone who knows the area well, is regarded by investigators as being highly solvable, but police have declined to discuss new information they believe can help crack the case.

Murdered mum Belinda Williams.

Detective Senior Constable Simon Hunt, of the cold case and missing persons squad, told the Herald Sun he hoped the passage of 16 years and a new $1 million reward can rejuvenate the inquiry.

“I’m hoping the million dollars is a life-changing amount of money and will bring someone forward. There is certainly an avenue of inquiry.

“We have fresh angles,” Sen-Det. Hunt said.

Detectives will soon begin reinterviewing people of interest and witnesses as they try to strengthen their case.

Ms Williams’s mother, Shirley Macey, said her daughter had been a vivacious, talented 36-year-old and a beautiful mother, whose death had never stopped hurting.

“It’s no different. Every day’s the same,” she said.

“You think of it every day. You try to solve the crime every day. Someone needs to be held to account.”

Belinda Williams with her six-year-old daughter Mietta.

Mrs Macey was confident there were people who knew what had happened and who could bring her family justice.

“It’s time they did the right thing,” she said.

“It’d be terrible to go to my grave and not have any peace.”

SES volunteers search the Mount Buninyong scene where the body of Belinda Williams was found.

Investigators say there had been no sign of a break-in at Ms Williams’s home. Her body was found by bushwalkers 11 days after she was murdered, about 15 metres from a road which runs to the summit of Mt Buninyong.

The walkers noticed a T-shirt nearby, which they had not seen as they roamed through the same area in previous days.

Police later confirmed the T-shirt had belonged to Ms Williams.

She had been left in waist-high scrub. No effort to conceal her body had been made.