Kellie Ann Carmichael's remains found, 23 years after she went missing from hostel

Bones discovered by police in Katoomba, New South Wales are those of a young woman who went missing without a trace 23 years ago.

Kellie Ann Carmichael in 1992.

Human remains discovered by police in Katoomba, New South Wales are those of a young woman who went missing without a trace 23 years ago.

Kellie Ann Carmichael vanished after checking out of a backpackers’ hostel in the Blue Mountains back in April of 2001. She told staff at the hostel she was going for a walk, and would return to collect her belongings. But Ms Carmichael was never seen again.

She was 24 years old at the time.

Kellie Ann Carmichael.

On Sunday night, The Daily Telegraph revealed that police had found her bones.

“During an unrelated police operation on Tuesday 30 April, 2024, officers attached to Blue Mountains Police Area Command located human remains in bushland near Katoomba,” NSW Police said.

“Following inquires, police attended the same location on Monday 27 May, 2024, where they located further remains.

“The human remains initially located and seized have now been formally identified as those of missing person Kellie Ann Carmichael, and her family have now been notified.

“The investigation is being conducted by the Unsolved Homicide Team and a brief of evidence is to be prepared for the coroner.”

The initial discovery of human remains reportedly occurred during an unrelated search in Katoomba, as police were abseiling down a cliff face.

The investigation will now try to shed light, belatedly, on Ms Carmichael’s death. Her family has long suspected she was murdered.

Ms Carmichael’s parents, Margaret and John, in 2011. Picture: Zozan Balci/AAP

Kellie Ann as a teenager.

Decades of hurt

Ms Carmichael was reported missing in 2001 by her parents, John and Margaret, who grew worried when they hadn’t heard from her for almost a week.

They called the youth hostel where she’d been staying on May 5 – days after she had checked out on April 29 – to find her personal ID, wallet, phone, camera, toiletries and cards were all still there, unclaimed. The pair then filed a missing person’s report.

Amid feverish media speculation, several theories were advanced concerning Ms Carmichael’s disappearance, including that she may have fallen victim to a serial killer.

While police initially believed the young woman, who suffered from schizophrenia, may have taken her own life, the family consistently maintained she had been murdered.

Homicide Squad detectives eventually took control of the investigation, canvassing search areas in the Blue Mountains. But their efforts were fruitless.

An inquest in 2009, conducted by deputy coroner Carl Milovanovich, concluded that Ms Carmichael had died. But it could not determine when, where or how.

Kellie Ann Carmichael.

The state government later acted on the inquest’s recommendations, offering a $200,000 reward for information on the cold case and forming a special strike force.

“Please give her family the closure that they deserve. Please come forward with information,” Michael Daley, police minister at the time, told the public.

“And understand that if you have been responsible for doing harm to Kellie Ann, the police will never close this file.

“They will hunt you until the day you die.”

“I feel like we’ve been robbed of having our daughter, grandchildren,” Margaret told the media at the time.

“We’ve never had the chance to have our daughter.

“Anything at all, you know, we will be thankful because our life is never going to be the same.”