Remains of missing backpacker Kellie Ann Carmichael found in Blue Mountains after 23-year wait

The bones of a woman who vanished without a trace from a Blue Mountains hostel have been discovered, 23 years after she went missing.

The remains of Kellie Ann Carmichael were located in Katoomba during an unrelated search last month.

The bones of a woman who vanished without a trace from a Blue Mountains hostel have been discovered, 23 years after she went missing.

Kellie Ann Carmichael checked out of the backpackers she had been staying in on April 29, 2001, and told staff she would return later to collect her belongings after a walk.

She was never seen again.

This masthead can reveal bones discovered by NSW Police officers in Katoomba this week have been confirmed as belonging to her.

Kellie Ann’s parents, from Geelong in Victoria, were notified by officers from the Unsolved Homicide Team and a post-mortem examination will now be carried out on the remains, to see if any insight into her death - including evidence supporting her family’s belief that the 24-year-old was murdered - can be gleaned.

Police sources said officers had spotted the suspected human remains last month while abseiling down a cliff face as part of an unrelated search in Katoomba.

“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,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

Kellie Ann Carmichael went missing in 2001.

“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 that 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.”

Margaret and John Carmichael were the first ones to report Kellie-Ann missing when they called the hostel their daughter was staying at on May 5 having not heard from her in six days.

When they found out her ID, wallet, mobile phone, bankcard, Medicare card, camera and toiletries were all still at the hostel, they made a missing person’s report to Katoomba Police Station.

Kellie Ann’s parents Margaret and John Carmichael in 2011.

Kellie Ann’s disappearance resulted in much media attention in the early 2000s and many theories have surrounded her disappearance, among them that she could have fallen prey to a serial killer.

But police who initially investigated the case believed Kellie Ann likely took her own life, considering she suffered from schizophrenia.

However her parents and brother, who had all travelled north from their hometown remained convinced that she had been killed by someone else.

In 2004 the case was taken over by the Homicide Squad, with many witnesses spoken to and search areas canvassed.

But that investigation failed to uncover any conclusive evidence about Kellie-Ann’s disappearance, resulting in a inquest under deputy state coroner Carl Milovanovich in 2009, which resulted in him recommending a dedicated police strike force be set up and a reward offered to help solve the mystery.

Mr Milovanovich ruled Kellie Ann had died, but was unable to when, where or an exact cause.

The deputy state coroner’s suggestions were taken onboard and in 2011 the NSW government issued a $200,000 reward for information, the same year a special strike force was formed to solve the mystery.

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

“We’ve never had the chance to have our daughter ... our family has never been the same.”

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Originally published as Remains of missing backpacker Kellie Ann Carmichael found in Blue Mountains after 23-year wait