The Night Driver podcast: Janine Vaughan case family link to human jaw bone find

A man, who recently spoke with the family of murdered Bathurst woman Janine Vaughan about her disappearance, on Monday found a human jaw bone by a local creek.

Janine Vaughan.

A man, who recently spoke with the family of murdered Bathurst woman Janine Vaughan about her disappearance, on Monday found a human jaw bone on the banks of a local creek while walking with his son.

The human remains were discovered near the historic Bridge Hotel in the village of Perthville, about 15 minutes south of Bathurst, in the NSW central tablelands about 2pm.

After picking up the bone, the local resident took it to his mother, a nurse, who identified it as a human jaw and he drove it in to police and made a statement.

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In what the man described as an extraordinary coincidence, the discovery comes just one week after he spoke with Janine’s younger sister, Kylie Spelde, for the first time after she contacted him to see if he might know anything, through his friendship circle, that might help solve the 31-year-old’s disappearance during a night out with friends two decades ago.

Kylie said she was waiting to hear more from police about the human jaw bone.

Bathurst Mayor Bobby Bourke told The Australian, which has been reinvestigating Janine’s unsolved murder, that all work on a levee being constructed on the banks of Queen Charlotte Creek in Perthville had been halted as a result of the discovery.

“I’ve been advised … that a member of the public has identified at the Perthville levee construction site what may be a human jaw bone. Details of where it came from and how it came to be on the site are unknown. NSW police have commenced an investigation with council staff and contractors assisting as required.”

NSW State Crime Command confirmed photos had been sent to a pathologist for examination.

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Mr Bourke said it was unclear whether the bone had been unearthed at the Bridge St site as a result of building work or whether it had been transferred there as part of the landfill to be used in the construction of the levee wall.

While he said it was important not to draw any early conclusions, he hoped the find might finally provide the Vaughan family with some answers. Janine disappeared after a night out in Bathurst, about three hours’ drive west of Sydney, on December 7, 2001.