Police reopen cold cases for three missing teens previously linked with dying serial killer Ivan Milat

Police are reinvestigating the disappearance of three teens linked to serial killer Ivan Milat after previous investigations were bungled.

NSW Police is re-examining the disappearance of three women who went missing from the late 1970s and 1990s after previous investigations involving serial killer Ivan Milat were bungled.

The girls’ disappearances from the NSW Hunter Region are being looked at again by a newly established task force, according to 9 News.

Robyn Hickie, 18, a dental nurse, was taken as she made her way to meet friends at a party in Belmont, 20km from the Newcastle CBD. She was last seen on the Pacific Highway.

Two weeks after Ms Hickie’s disappearance, Amanda Robinson, 14, was abducted at Swansea in 1979. She was last seen walking along Lake Road, where she’d been at a dance.

And in 1994, Gordana Kotevski, 16, was walking from a suburban Newcastle shopping centre to her aunt’s house when she disappeared. It’s believed she was taken about 8.45pm in Charlestown. The young woman had been out Christmas shopping before she was taken.

A new team of Lake Macquarie detectives, Strike Force Arapaima, has been established to investigate the disappearance of Amanda, Robyn and Gordana.

The team of detectives, led by Detective Sergeant Kristi Faber, will spend the next few months re-examining the missing person cases.

Leanne Goodall was 20 when she also disappeared after leaving the Star Hotel in Newcastle. The university student went missing in December of 1979. Her disappearance was previously grouped with Gordana, Robyn and Amanda’s and investigated at a 2002 inquest. Ms Goodall’s disappearance will not be reinvestigated by the newly established task force.

“I hope to God they get answers for some of us. It’s hell on earth, heartache and suffering for 40 years,” said Amanda’s mother Anne Robinson.

Amanda Robinson was abducted when she was 14 at Swansea while she was attending a dance.

Gordana Kotevski disappeared in Charlestown in 1994 when she was 17. Picture: Sue Graham

Robyn Hickie was last seen on the Pacific Highway as she made her way to a party.

Strike Force Fenwick was established in 1998 to investigate the disappearance of up to 20 young people from the greater Newcastle region over a 20-year period.

As part of Fenwick’s investigations, the owners of about 300 white Toyota Hiluxes were questioned and had their vehicles searched by authorities.

This was due to witness accounts linking the vehicle to Gordana’s abduction.

“She was seen leaving the Charlestown (Square) area,” Clive Small, former detective and assistant commissioner of NSW Police told news.com.au in 2016. “She was seen on the street, near the house she was going to, and she was abducted off the street by two young blokes.” Mr Small is dubious about suggestions Milat could have been involved in Gordana’s disappearance.

It had been thought the notorious serial killer, who lived in the Hunter Region in the late 1970s, could have been linked to various disappearances.

A witness, Audrey Barnard, said she’d seen two young, “athletic” men standing near the boot of a white Toyota Hilux in Gordana’s neighbourhood at the time.

“I saw two figures standing at the rear. They were half turned towards each other and they were moving their arms about in an animated fashion,” she said.

Forensic police at the scene where Gordana Kotevski was abducted outside her aunt's home.

Ivan Milat arrives to give evidence at the 2002 inquest on the disappearance of missing persons Robyn Hickie, Amanda Robinson, Gordana Kotevski and Leanne Goodall.

A 2002 inquest on the four disappearances included testimony from Milat.

The notorious backpacker killer recently spent time in a Sydney hospital and is believed to be close to death as he receives treatment for advanced oesophageal cancer.

There has been conjecture over the years from investigators that Milat may have unnamed victims. Milat has never confessed to any of his crimes and maintains he is innocent.

Former NSW coroner John Abernathy, who presided over the 2002 inquest on the girls’ disappearances, said the investigations were not properly handled by police, and he believed the girls’ cases had “had fallen through the cracks”.

“These are missing teenagers, they just don’t disappear into thin air,” Mr Abernethy told 9 News.

“The initial police investigation was perfunctory at best. It was just not a good investigation.”

Lake Macquarie Superintendent Danny Sullivan said the unsolved cases “struck at the core of the community in Lake Macquarie”.

Beth Leen, 83, with a photo of her daughter Leanne Goodall who went missing aged 20 years in 1978, and Anne Robinson with a photo of her daughter Amanda who went missing aged 14 years in 1979.