New push to solve Sarah MacDiarmid cold case murder
Sarah MacDiarmid stepped off a train at Kananook station and vanished 30 years ago. Now police are making a fresh push to solve the cold case murder, with a violent prostitute their prime suspect.
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Police are making a fresh push for answers in the cold case murder of Frankston woman Sarah MacDiarmid 30 years ago.
The case’s prime suspect — violent prostitute Jodie Jones — is dead but detectives are searching for answers for Sarah’s parents, Peter and Sheila, now aged in their 70s.
They believe the most plausible scenario is that Jones and three others attacked Sarah in a late-night robbery at Kananook railway station on July 11, 1990.
Sarah’s body was never found but forensic testing around her red Honda Civic led police to conclude she was murdered.
Jones died of a heroin overdose in St Kilda, 14 months after Ms MacDiarmid vanished after getting off a Frankston-bound train.
Two of the others in her crew have also subsequently perished but one remains alive.
That person is believed to have had no direct role in the killing but may have helped dispose of Ms MacDiarmid’s body.
They have spoken to that woman without success.
Investigators suspect there are probably others who have been told key information.
“There will absolutely still be people who know what happened to Sarah and who is responsible. It’s been 30 years but it is not too late to do the right thing,” Detective Insp. Andrew Stamper of the missing persons squad said.
“There are very few murders where those involved have never spoken to anyone about it — someone will know about Sarah’s disappearance and we are again appealing to those people to come forward and speak to police.
“It may not be those who have been directly involved in the incident, it could be
people on the periphery or who are family, friends or associates of those involved.”
Insp. Stamper said police had not given up hope of being able to provide Sarah’s family with answers after an unimaginable 30 year ordeal.
He said such cases left families of the victims in a world of “ambiguous grief” because there are no answers.
“It’s hard to extinguish that last bit of hope and families are left hanging off every phone call, every knock on the door in case it’s the one that will give them those answers,” Insp. Stamper said.
There have been a number of suspects cross investigators’ radar over the years, including Frankston serial killer Paul Denyer, who denied involvement.
His proximity to the crime scene made him an obvious person of interest but other factors meant he was considered unlikely.
In three known murders — unlike the MacDiarmid case — Denyer made no attempt to hide his victims.
Also working against his involvement was that he confessed to those crimes but would later tell police he knew nothing about what happened to Ms McDiarmid.
Another serial killer, Bandali Debs, was also looked at but there is little to point in his direction.
A search of jewellery found in his possession after his arrest over the murders of police officers Gary Silk and Rodney Miller found nothing linked to Ms MacDiarmid.
A $1 million reward remains in place for anyone able to help solve the case.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the website www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
LIFETIME OF PAIN AND REGRET FOR GRIEVING PARENTS
A hardworking young woman gone and a lifetime of pain and regret for those left behind.
It’ll be 30 years this Saturday since Sarah MacDiarmid vanished from Kananook railway station but her parents Peter and Sheila remain starkly aware of the person they had and have lost.
“She was a daughter and friend combined,” Sheila told the Herald Sun.
“There are times when things aren’t right and I think, if she was here, I could talk to her.”
Sarah had a tough beginning in life, illness meaning it took three months before she could breathe unassisted and another before she was allowed to go home.
But the MacDiarmids said Sarah was made of stern stuff and that hardship — as it does with many people — somehow made her work hard and never give in.
The family moved to Australia briefly from Scotland in the 1970s but came back for good in 1986.
Sarah was unhappy initially, missing life back in Scotland.
Eventually she found her way, making new friends who remain close to Peter and Sheila today.
“She attracted people who were very true and honest and straightforward people,” Peter said.
Sarah finished her education and by 1990, she was working in the CBD as a finance clerk and had a wide social circle.
“She loved that job. She loved her friends,” Peter said.
“When we talked to the friends, we found she had a great sense of humour.
“She always made out she hated maths and arithmetic but she was very good with it.”
Their daughter was fiery and could “get mad as a hornet, Peter recalled, but it never lasted.
“She was such a character. She’s still part of life for us,” he said.
The MacDiarmids are stoic and realistic about their ordeal but Peter still harbours a deep hurt.
Though everyone who knows says Sarah had terrific parents, there is something important he wished he did.
“The one thing I regret is I never told her how much I loved her. That’s the thing you miss. I never told her exactly how much I loved her. Dreadful!”.
That chance to do that disappeared the night of July 11, 1990, when Sarah arrived at Kananook after a day’s work and a social game of tennis.
The 23-year-old was to pick up her car and drive back to the family home in Frankston but disappeared.
Blood was found near her Honda Civic but, with no body and no witnesses, it was always going to be a challenging investigation.
Peter and Sheila are now in their 70s and know there’s really only one thing that can help.
“It would be just everything to us if whoever knows what happened to Sarah could contact the police to tell them what they need to know.”
“It’s been so long that if we could find out what happened and where her remains are, it would be like having her back.”
Insp. Stamper of the missing persons squad said the agony for little William Callaghan’s parents when he went missing for two nights in the High Country last month showed the magnitude of the ordeal endured by Sarah’s family.
“Imagine 30 years of that. That’s what this is,” Insp. Stamper said.
“After 30 years of torture of Sarah’s parents, now is the time to give some answers, even if it is the location of her remains.”
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ONE MILLION DOLLAR REWARDS FOR SOLVABLE MURDERS