Missing Australia podcast: Desperate search for Debbie Ashby

Debbie Ashby disappeared as a teenager and plunged her family into a living nightmare. But there are still people out there who could help end the mystery.

A teenager who vanished without a trace is a victim of one of Australia’s worst serial killers, her family fear.

Debbie Marie Ashby was last seen on October 7, 1987 when she left her family home in Leumeah in Sydney’s west – a 10 minute drive from where Ivan Milat lived when he was arrested for the backpacker killings.

Milat was convicted of seven murders, but homicide detectives have long suspected there were many more, with victims buried in the Belanglo State Forest.

Mary Ashby is one of those who fears Milat could be responsible for her daughter Debbie’s disappearance.

“Do you think Debbie could be buried somewhere out there in Belanglo?” former police officer turned investigative journalist Meni Caroutas asks Mrs Ashby in the first episode of the News Corp podcast The Missing, a six-part series aimed to breaking new ground on cold cases.

“Yes, definitely,” Mrs Ashby replies.

Mrs Ashby always clung to hope her daughter would return home; she kept the same phone number, held onto her clothes for decades, and never stopped searching.

Debbie's mum Mary Ashby and daughter Michelle Murphy, pictured, are still searching for answers. Picture: Ryan Osland

But when Milat’s victims began to be discovered, a chill ran through her.

“I thought there was a possibility she had run away, as time went on I started to think something had happened to her, then they started finding all the bodies in the forest, and I was convinced they’d find her. I was convinced of it,” she tells the podcast.

Serial killer Ivan Milat who is now dead.

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Debbie’s sister Hayley Farmer believes it is a “highly likely scenario” – one she hoped wasn’t true.

“I think we know that Ivan Milat was probably active in his serial killings before those first bodies were found. And it’s just the likelihood he could have been passing through Leumeah … it’s not one that I would really want to find out was correct, because then we would know that something horrific happened to her, but unfortunately it is a possibility,” Ms Farmer said.

It’s a theory police have not been able to rule out.

Computer generated image of Debbie Marie Ashby at age 25.

Detective Inspector Ritchie Sim of the NSW Missing Persons Registry said Milat could be responsible, but there was no evidence to suggest he was.

“Do I personally think Ivan Milat, no I don’t. Is it possible? Yes,” Det Sims said.

Debbie's mum Mary Ashby (pictured) with a photo of her daughter. Picture: Ryan Osland

Computer generated image of Debbie Marie Ashby at age 30.

In the mid-1980s Milat began working as a surface sprayer on NSW roads which meant he travelled all over the state, including the Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley and the NSW South Coast. Co-workers said he would often disappear by himself overnight on away jobs.

In the months before she disappeared, Debbie had been having trouble at school. The bullying was so bad she’d had death threats and the school asked Mrs Ashby and her husband Tonyto keep her home for her own safety.

LISTEN TO MENI’S THEORY ON WHAT HAPPENED TO DEBBIE ASHBY:

Despite that tension, Caroutas said it was Debbie’s “loving” home life that he has never forgotten and the reason why he returned to the case, more than 30 years after he first met Mrs Ashby.

“Many runaways came from dysfunctional homes … But Debbie had a loving family who suffered terrible trauma when she went missing and they’ve never given up on trying to find her,” Caroutas said.

Debbie Ashby as a child, who was last seen leaving her family home at Leumeah in Sydney's west on October 9, 1987. Picture: Supplied

Mrs Ashby said the investigations the family embarked led them to some astonishing places – including face-to-face with a prison inmate who claimed to be Debbie, and knocking on the door of a NSW house she believed her daughter was living in.

“It was shattering at times, however while I was doing that, I was doing something, I wasn’t just sitting back. I was doing something. So in some ways it was good to at least be out there not sitting back waiting to get feedback from the police. We’re out there trying to find it,” Mrs Ashby said.

A new undated photo of Debbie Ashby with her family. Picture: Supplied

Debbie’s sister Hayley said the prison encounter was “quite scary” – but there were other places they were drawn to, desperate for answers the police couldn’t provide.

She revealed police would phone her mother and let her know what tips they were getting from Crimestoppers, in the hope she would follow the leads for them.

“Of course we really didn’t have the investigative skills to ask the right questions, but … We visited the house of a lady who was a prostitute and she was living with her pimp. We have been to Kings Cross several times … There were just many situations where we shouldn’t have been in because we didn’t have the skills.”

Caroutas found the revelation staggering.

“It’s the first time I have heard of such a thing – giving the family police tips so they can act on it themselves.”

Do you know more? Call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Originally published as Missing Australia podcast: Desperate search for Debbie Ashby