Belinda Williams’ mother Shirley Macey dies without answers of who killed her daughter
Shirley Macey – the mother of murdered Ballarat woman Belinda Williams – has died without ever knowing the truth behind who snatched and killed her daughter 25 years ago.
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Shirley Macey, the mother of murdered Ballarat woman Belinda Williams, has died without knowing the truth behind who snatched and killed her daughter in the dead of the night.
The 87-year-old succumbed to cancer after bravely battling the disease for years.
It’s understood she died with her children by her bedside at Gandarra Palliative Care Unit in Ballarat last Sunday.
Ms Macey was born in New Zealand in 1936 before moving to Australia.
She volunteered at Friend of Sovereign Hill Living Museum and was a lover of cats, art, furniture, antiques and op shops.
Ms Macey spent 25 years trying to unmask the murderer who took her daughter and discarded her body at Mt Buninyong in 1999.
On the night she vanished, Ms Williams entertained some friends at her Buninyong home when her six-year-old daughter asked her mum to lie with her, afraid of the dark.
The next morning, Ms Williams could not be found.
No possessions had been taken, there were no signs of forced entry and her car was still in the driveway.
A pair of local bushwalkers discovered Ms Williams’ body about 11 days after she disappeared.
She was dressed only in a nightshirt and dumped in scrub on Mt Buninyong.
At the time, Ms Macey told the Herald Sun her daughter’s death was “hell on earth”.
“You just think about her dying in terror and fear,” she said.
“It’s been hell on earth.”
Over the years, Ms Macey made countless appeals for anyone with knowledge of her daughter’s death to come forward.
“You think of it every day. You try to solve the crime every day. Someone needs to be held to account,” she said.
“Why would anyone cover up for somebody who is obviously evil?
“We want them to please contact police.”
Ms 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.”
In 2015, Victoria Police announced a $1 million reward for information leading to a break in the case with that reward still remaining in place.
It comes as the search for the remains of Samantha Murphy continues.
Like Ms Williams’ death, Ms Murphy’s disappearance rocked the community with locals, police, family and friends scouring dense bushland and old mine shafts around Ballarat.
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