Startling new evidence provides ‘glimmer of hope’ in Terry Floyd mystery

Stunning new evidence has been uncovered that could finally see charges laid over the 50-year-old disappearance of Avoca schoolboy Terry Floyd.

Daryl Floyd and former homicide cop Charlie Bezzina are hoping the fresh evidence will finally see charges laid. Picture: Rob Leeson

Stunning new evidence has been uncovered that could finally see charges being laid over the 50-year-old mystery disappearance of schoolboy Terry Floyd.

The 12-year-old vanished from Avoca in 1975 but his remains have never been found and no one has ever been charged.

The Herald Sun can now reveal a high-ranking surgical nurse saw Terry talking to prime suspect and paedophile Raymond Kenneth Jones, who was in the driver’s seat of a parked fawn-coloured panel van, at the spot where the young boy was last seen on the Pyrenees Highway.

Elizabeth Gribble knew Jones – who was on bail for sexually abusing a young Ballarat boy at the time – as a “shady character” and alerted police as news of Terry’s disappearance spread the following day.

But when she went to Avoca police station she was dismissed and no information of what she told them was passed on to investigating Maryborough police station.

Ms Gribble died in 2021.

However, she dictated what she saw to her daughter, Rowena, who made comprehensive notes.

Terry’s brother Daryl Floyd and former homicide Charlie Bezzina hold a necklace and remains of shoes that maybe evidence. Picture: Rob Leeson

Jones, then aged 23, admits driving along the highway at 5pm but says he never saw Terry.

This is the first evidence to refute that claim.

A work colleague of Ms Gribble has also recounted what she was told by the witness at the time, and it corroborates the detailed notes.

Private investigator Charlie Bezzina – a decorated former detective with 17 years in the homicide squad – is assisting Terry’s brother Daryl.

Mr Bezzina is confident the notes and corroborating statement constitute significant new information and are enough, with other evidence, for charges to be brought for the first time.

“The police investigation until now has been one of sheer incompetence, inaction and lost evidence,” Mr Bezzina said.

“Daryl and the Floyd family have been living in torture for 50 years. They want finality and those responsible to be held to account. And now, we finally have a glimmer of hope that will happen.

Daryl Floyd says his family have been suffering for half a century. Picture: Rob Leeson

“This means everything to me and 10 times more to Daryl,” he added.

It is understood Victoria Police knew of the notes but ruled them inadmissable due to the ‘hearsay rule’ contained within the Evidence Act.

This prevents a person from giving evidence about something that another person told them.

But Mr Bezzina says there are many exceptions to the widely misunderstood law, including if the “maker” of the evidence is “unavailable”.

Daryl Floyd said his family has been suffering for almost half a century.

“The nurse did the right thing. She went to the police, she reported what she saw but she was sent away,” Daryl said.

“It’s so frustrating. We could have known within two weeks of him going missing. My mum and dad would have known what happened before going to their graves still frantically worried about their son. It’s gut-wrenching we’ve gone through this.”

He added: “I relive every day of my life not knowing where he is. It’s a living nightmare and the investigation has been so wrong on so many levels.”

Terrence Floyd who was 12-years-old when he disappeared from the Avoca area on June 28, 1975.

From top: Ray Floyd, Terry Floyd and Daryl Floyd.

Mr Bezzina, who has been refused access to the police case file, says he has filed his brief of evidence to the missing persons squad at Victoria Police, after attempting to track down the officer who initially spoke to Ms Gribble in 1975, to strengthen the case even more.

The brief also includes;

* Inconsistencies in Jones’ statements

* A prisoner who claims Jones confessed to the crime

* Two witnesses contradicting Jones’ alibi, and

* A silver necklace and parts of a leather shoe both believed to belong to Terry which were found in a mine

It is hoped the Morning Star mine at Bung Bong Hill – believed to be where Terry’s body was dumped – will be completely excavated if Daryl receives $100,000 in extra funding by the state government.

Mr Bezzina said the discoveries gave him confidence they would find Terry’s skull or femur bones in the 60m deep mine.

The mine is just 200m from where Terry was last seen and where several witnesses spotted a fawn panel van parked.

Raymond Kenneth Jones is a suspect in the disappearance of 12-year-old Terry Floyd in 1975.

Police interviewed Jones two weeks later and seized stained blue overalls from the back of a fawn panel van he owned. DNA wasn’t available then and now they can’t be forensically examined because Victoria Police has lost them.

Mr Bezzina believes the stain may have been Terry’s blood or that the clothing could have implicated a second person of interest, Graeme Wardlaw, who was often seen wearing blue overalls.

The pair were each others’ alibis but Mr Bezzina says he has evidence their stories do not stack up.

“They said they were at Nicklyn Motors in Avoca between 2pm and 5pm and gave the name of the customer’s car they were working on. Well, I’ve spoken to the garage owner, and he said he was a football club president so shut up shop at noon every Saturday to go and watch the footy and no one else had keys to get in,” Mr Bezzina said.

“He also lived at the back of the garage and his wife who was home all afternoon did not see or hear anyone in the garage.

“I also spoke to the car owner who said no one worked on his car and his car wasn’t even there. He’s a bush mechanic and carries out repairs himself.”

Jones told police he left Wardlaw at 5pm to travel back to his caravan in Maryborough, have a shower and shave, before returning at 7pm to go to the pub.

“By his own admission he’s on the Pyrenees Highway at the very time when several witnesses saw Terry waiting on the side of the road,” Mr Bezzina said.

“And this man is meant to be travelling a 40-min round trip just to have a shower to go to the pub when he was known as always being stinky and wearing the same clothes for days on end – please.”

Wardlaw, who now lives in Queensland, later changed his story to say the pair were together until 6pm.

Jones was on bail for sexually assaulting a young boy in a Ballarat toilet block when Terry disappeared.

Daryl Floyd at an old God mine near Avoca. Picture:Rob Leeson.

In opposing bail, police had evidence from a psychiatrist who stated Jones had “urges he can’t control” and that the Ballarat attack may have led to murder if the victim screamed out for help or fought back.

Jones received two years and nine months for the heinous crime.

He was behind bars in Pentridge by 1 August 1975. On that day, he and an armed robber cell mate were listening to the radio.

Terry’s mum, Dorothy, was making pleas in the media for information about her lost son.

The prisoner has contacted Daryl and said when Jones heard the report about Terry, he said: “I’m responsible for that.”

“Daryl has been banging and banging and banging on Victoria Police’s door pleading for help, but he may as well have been banging his head against a brick wall because the police response was to throw their hands up in the air,” Mr Bezzina said.

“We’re not talking about a pet here, we’re talking about an innocent 12-year-old boy, who was snatched off the street and killed.”

A Victoria Police spokesman said: “The investigation into the disappearance of Terry Floyd by the Missing Persons Squad remains ongoing.

“The case remains open and police are always prepared to act on new information and commit resources where appropriate.

Mr Bezzina added: “Police say 50-years on it is a live investigation. I say bullsh*t.

“I will complete my investigation and I will get the information and evidence to be able to charge these two men. At the very least, this compelling new evidence warrants another coronial inquest which I would hope would point the finger at these two being named responsible.

“If police won’t do their job, we’ll do it for them,” he said.

A $1m reward for information leading to a conviction in the case remains on offer.

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Originally published as Startling new evidence provides ‘glimmer of hope’ in Terry Floyd mystery