Missing schoolgirl Quanne Diec was murdered: coroner

A missing girl who vanished into thin air on her way to school was murdered, a coroner has declared, but plenty of unanswered questions remain.

A Granville girl who vanished into thin air on her way to school more than two decades ago was murdered, a coroner has declared.

Quanne Diec, 12, was wearing her school uniform and clutching a dark blue book bag when she left home at around 7.35am on the morning of July 27, 1998.

Her mother Ann, as she did every morning, watched Quanne disappear into the distance towards Clyde Station to catch the train to school. It was the last time she would ever see her daughter.

Quanne’s body has never been found.

In 2019, Vinzent Tarantino was found not guilty of her murder, despite having confessed to police.

He argued at trial he had falsely confessed as part of a misguided bid to protect himself from bikie gangs, who he believed were after him.

Quanne Diec’s mother Ann (left, pictured with Quanne’s father Sam) last saw her daughter as she walked to the train station on July 27, 1998. Picture: James Gourley

Deputy state coroner Derek Lee, who presided over an inquest into Quanne’s disappearance, said on Monday the 12-year-old had died by homicide.

Magistrate Lee’s findings documented various admissions Mr Tarantino made to different people about having killed Quanne.

A former girlfriend told police in October 1998 that Mr Tarantino had admitted to killing Quanne, and another said he had confessed in 2011 to murdering Quanne, Magistrate Lee wrote.

In November 2016 he told police in an recorded interview that he had strangled and killed Quanne.

Police were unable to recover her body based on the information offered by Mr Tarantino.

He was found not guilty by a jury in November 2019 after they deliberated for almost six days.

Vinzent Tarantino confessed to murdering Quanne but later retracted his admissions and was found not guilty at trial. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Magistrate Lee could not determine where, how, or exactly when Quanne died, but said he was certain she was dead.

He noted that although Mr Tarantino’s admissions offered some information about how Quanne died there was no forensic evidence to back up his statements.

The magistrate said he hoped Quanne’s mother, father, sister and brother would one day have more answers about what happened to the much-loved 12-year-old.

“The unbearable anguish, uncertainty and loss that a family experience after a loved one is reported missing is indescribable,” Magistrate Lee said.

“This is particularly so when that loss is felt by a parent in relation to a child.”

Magistrate Lee referred the case to the unsolved homicide squad.