The Night Driver podcast: Sister’s odd phone call with ‘nice guy’

Kylie Spelde phoned one of the key persons of interest named in the probe into her sister’s unsolved murder.

Kylie Spelde, sister of Janine Vaughan, in Muswellbrook, NSW Picture: Milan Scepanovic

When Kylie Spelde phoned one of the key persons of interest named in the investigation into her sister’s unsolved murder, she hoped it might finally help with her search for answers.

Despite being warned by homicide detectives against contacting any of the men identified as part of their investigation into Janine Vaughan’s disappearance, Kylie says she was unable to resist calling former Bathurst pharmacist Andrew Jones.

■ Subscribers of The Australian will be able to hear The Night Driver podcast before the rest of the nation, exclusively in The Australian app. Episode six is available now. Subscribe to The Australian here, and download the app via: Apple App Store | Google Play Store

“All our detectives have always said to us, ‘You can’t’,” she tells The Night Driver podcast series about Janine’s abduction and almost certain murder. “‘Don’t you dare speak to anybody’. Well, I did another one of those ‘don’t do’ moments today and I rang Jones, and he answered.”

For the better part of two ­decades, Kylie has questioned whether Jones might know more than he has let on about what happened to Janine when she vanished after a night out with friends. The 31-year-old had been with friends at the late-night Metro Tavern in her hometown, Bathurst, three hours’ drive west of Sydney, before leaving the venue shortly before 4am on Friday, December 7, 2001.

After resolving to head to another nearby pub, she was walking alone along the town’s darkened streets in the pre-dawn rain when a small red car pulled up behind her and she unexpectedly got in.

Janine was never seen again and successive investigations concluded she had been abducted and murdered. However, the identity of the car’s driver, her ultimate fate and her final resting place have all remained enduring mysteries.

Kylie had hoped Jones would be able to address at least some of the unanswered questions that have been raised in the 19 years since her sister went missing.

Instead, she says, she was disarmed by Jones’s candour and they ended up bonding over the impact her sister’s disappearance has had on both their lives. “I rang him out of the blue and he was really good. He said, ‘I don’t know what you want from me. I’ve got nothing to do with your sister’s disappearance’,” Kylie tells The Night Driver podcast.

“He said, ‘People just keep hounding me … I’m just so sick of it. I’ve been roped into this murder investigation and it’s ruined my life’. So I’ve had my demons, he’s got his demons — all to do with my sister going missing — so there’s a connection there.”

The pharmacist had worked in the same shopping centre as Janine and had also owned a small red Renault sedan that matched the description of the car she was seen getting in when she vanished. These factors contributed to attracting the attention of detectives in the days after Janine’s disappearance.

■ READ MORE: The Night Driver — the new podcast from the investigative journalist who brought you The Teacher’s Pet

Jones would later be named officially a key person of interest in the investigation and was called to give evidence at a coronial inquest in 2009 into Janine’s death. He has always vigorously denied being involved in any way in the clothing story manager’s disappearance, and no adverse findings were made against him.

“I have never picked up Ms Vaughan in any car at any time,” he told The Night Driver in a statement. “The suggestion I did is false, based on conjecture and simply not true. I had nothing to do with her disappearance or suspected murder.”

Having spoken to Jones, Kylie says she finds his denials credible.

“Just the way he spoke. He says to me, ‘Look, I don’t drive around at night in my car. That’s just not what I do. I wouldn’t do that. I’m a nice person, I’ve got a kind heart’,” Kylie says.

“He even said to me at one point, ‘I’ll pray for you’. ”

In the past two months, three women have independently come forward and recounted to The Night Driver investigation their experiences with a Bathurst man they say tried to coax them into a small red car around the time Janine vanished after getting in a car matching that description. All of them said the man behind the wheel was Jones; however, he strenuously denied trying to persuade any of the women to accept a ride in his car.

“Andrew has never asked any woman to get in his car as has been suggested,” his lawyer, Karen Espiner, said. “Andrew categorically denies that these claims are true. If these women were approached by someone who asked them to get in their car, it was not Andrew.”

After suspecting Jones of possibly being the mysterious driver who picked up her sister, Kylie says she is perplexed by their phone conversation.

“He’s a really lovely guy and I’m just completely thrown again,” she tells The Night Driver.

She had been keen to further discuss her thoughts with him but her hopes were dashed shortly after their initial conversation.

“Kylie, I thank you so much for reaching out to me. It really means a lot. And I hope you have a great day there, filled with lots of love,” he told her in a text after their conversation.

Despite numerous messages and repeated calls, Kylie has not heard from him again.