One million dollar rewards for solvable cold case murders
A businessman killed by a sniper’s bullet, a young man betrayed by those he thought were friends and women murdered in the most brutal fashion. They are cold case murders where police are tantalisingly close to bringing their killers to justice.
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They are cold cases where police are tantalisingly close to bringing killers to justice.
Among them are women murdered in the most brutal fashion, a businessman taken by a sniper’s bullet and a young man betrayed by people he thought were friends.
So, five years ago, a $1 million reward on the table for each of them.
There are strong suspects in most but no one has yet given authorities what they need to write a seven-figure cheque.
The Herald Sun told their stories in 2015 in a series of special reports when the $1 million rewards were announced.
These are updated versions of those stories.
KADE HALL
Tamsin Derix is convinced her brother Kade Hall died at the hands of people he knew, possibly some he once classed as mates.
And she hopes the kind of flimsy loyalties of those who led him to death may help bring them to justice.
Mrs Derix knows only too well the quality of people she is talking about.
When 24-year-old gardener Kade disappeared in February 2002, the older sister started asking questions around the Croydon area and was met with worse than a wall of silence.
Threats were made to her life, and those who were meant to be close to Kade told her not to look for answers.
“I knew then and there that I was never going to see my brother again,” she said.
Mrs Derix found out she was heartbreakingly right 15 days later.
Kade’s body, a gunshot wound to the head, was found dumped on the side of the Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd at Kalorama.
“I just hope to God he didn’t know it was coming,” Mrs Derix said.
“The people who took his life were acquaintances, people he knew. He would not get in a car unless he knew the people and trusted them.”
Kade, who lived in Croydon, had a background of substance abuse and low-level drug dealing and it was this lifestyle which almost certainly ended his life.
He had collected heroin from a dealer in the Croydon area shortly before disappearing.
Mrs Derix, now a mother-of-three, said they shared a tough upbringing which probably drove him towards drugs.
“He had demons but he had the most gentle heart and the most gentle soul,” she said.
“Everywhere he worked, people raved about him. We were right on the verge of getting him out of that.”
Mrs Derix said in 2015 the $1 million reward announced for the cold case gave her fresh hope police can exploit some fluid relationships.
“There’s a whole lot of things that might have changed since 2002,” she said.
“The friendships that were there may not exist 13 years later. The mind boggles that people can hide such horrible secrets.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Boris Buick said the force remained committed to solving Mr Hall’s murder.
“Kade’s sister Tamsin and her children deserve the right to know who is responsible for his death,” Sen-Sgt Buick said.
“Tamsin’s children never got the opportunity to meet Kade. We want them and Tamsin to know he has not been forgotten and we will do everything we can to bring those responsible to justice.”
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the website www.crimestoppersvic.gov.au.
NINA NICHOLSON
It may be that only her killer knows why Nina Nicholson was murdered on the veranda of her Clunes home in 1991.
There is certainly no apparent motive for the killing of the young nurse, who was born in the same central Victorian town where she was bashed to death 22 years later.
Family and friends were to later recall a woman with no enemies who “would not hurt a fly”.
She worked in the children’s ward of Ballarat’s St John of God Hospital where she was a respected and popular figure.
Nina’s mother, Ann Jones, told the Herald Sun that Nina was a wonderful daughter who did nothing to deserve what had happened.
“She absolutely loved her job (as a nurse) and children,” Mrs Jones said.
“She was hoping one day to have some of her own.”
Mrs Jones said at the time of the reward announcement it was rare positive during what she called a “rollercoaster ride” of feelings, that began on the night of her daughter’s death.
“I think it’s absolutely great news,” she said.
“There’s got to be someone out there who knows who killed Nina.”
There was no indication robbery was a factor in the brutal bashing, as Nina’s handbag, containing cash and credit cards, lay undisturbed near her body.
One noteworthy element for investigators was that she had a year earlier called her parents, who lived a few hundred metres away, in a terrified state at midnight.
There was no sign of an intruder but Nina’s father, “Spike”, later told the Herald Sun she mentioned on that night having heard someone creeping around the house several times previously.
Detectives were later to explore a theory that a peeping Tom had been prowling around the property at times when her husband Nick was away.
Nick, a semi-trailer driver, was travelling the Adelaide route on the night his wife was fatally attacked.
Nina ate dinner at her parents’ home on the evening of September 10 then headed home at 8pm in preparation for a 9.30pm shift in Ballarat.
Ten minutes after she had been due to clock on, a colleague rang the Joneses to say Nina had not arrived.
Driving past her house minutes later, Spike and his son Andrew saw her white Nissan outside, indicating she had not left.
They found her lying in a pool of blood on the home’s veranda.
Nina appeared to have just locked the house and was heading to the Nissan when the killer struck.
Now, more than two decades later, police are making a fresh bid to lock up whoever was responsible.
It is unclear whether one man, reportedly regarded as a strong suspect, remains on their radar.
That individual was interviewed more than 10 years ago but never charged.
Det Sen Sgt Boris Buick said in 2015 that somebody knew who killed Nina.
He said it was high time the perpetrator was brought to justice.
“Nina’s body was found by her father and brother and all indications are that she was involved in a violent struggle with the offender. I can’t even begin to imagine the impact this has had on her family,” he said.
“She didn’t deserve to die in this manner, and her family didn’t deserve this to be the last memory they have of her.”
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the website www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
KEVIN PEARCE
It was a cold-blooded crime investigators came to believe was a simple business decision.
And police are asking for those who know who shot trucking contractor Kevin Pearce to listen to their conscience and make contact with police.
Money may again be on the mind of the sniper who squeezed the trigger to kill Mr Pearce.
This time around, however, the promise of money might be a haunting factor for the killer.
For more than 30 years, a succession of investigators have tried to bring justice to the family of Mr Pearce, gunned down at a Bendigo transport yard on April 15, 1985.
Cold case detectives hope a $1 million reward can loosen the loyalty of someone able to secure them a conviction for the execution murder of the father-of-three.
Mr Pearce, 45, was loading his rig at McPhee Transport on Bellevue Rd when, while talking to an employee, the fatal shot rang out near midnight.
The bullet from a high-calibre rifle ripped through his arm then into his chest. He was to die several weeks later in Melbourne’s Austin Hospital.
Investigators were to find the shooter fired from a mullock heap near the transport yard.
Mr Pearce’s former business partner, William Matthews, was charged with murder after an inquest held a year later.
Coroner Hal Hallenstein, who presided at the inquest, found the killing was carried out by someone with knowledge of the victim’s routine.
“It was a well-planned and clearly calculated operation,” he stated.
The subsequent homicide prosecution never proceeded and Mr Matthews remains a free man.
Business disputes had marred their relationship and the inquest heard they had become bitter rivals over mail contracts.
Mr Matthews was later to be charged with stealing fuel from Mr Matthews after a complaint by the latter.
He was acquitted.
In 2006, cigarette butts found at the spot where the shots were fired went under fresh DNA analysis.
Police have lingered close to a breakthrough and believe the $1 million reward may propel them to closing the case.
Detective Sen-Sgt Boris Buick said in 2015 it was clear there were people who could help bring justice to the Pearce family.
“It’s time for them to stand-up, show some compassion and give his family the resolution they need to properly grieve his death.” Sen-Sgt Buick said.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the website www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
BELINDA WILLIAMS
The body of Belinda Williams was found in 1999 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.
Detective Senior Constable Simon Hunt, of the cold case and missing persons squad, told the Herald Sun in 2015 that he hoped the passage time and the $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.”
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.”
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.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the website www.crimestoppersvic.gov.au.
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