Police hope to one day reunite missing Warwick woman Tanya Buckland with loved ones

The disappearance of a southwest Queensland woman more than a decade ago has failed to leave the mind of a police detective, holding out hope to one day notify her family of her location.

Tanya Buckland went missing from the Warwick area in 2013 and has not contacted family or touched her bank accounts since. Supplied

A question which has remained in the back of a southwest Queensland police detective’s mind for more than a decade — where is Tanya Buckland?

While the investigation has yielded no real leads to her whereabouts, her family and Warwick police continue to hold out hope.

Ms Buckland was last seen on Palmerin St in Warwick almost 12 years ago, having told her then 14-year-old daughter she was going away for a year and was headed into New South Wales.

She was 36 at time of her disappearance in August 2013 and would have celebrated her 48th birthday on September 11.

Detective sergeant Glen Roche of Warwick CIB has long hoped to reunite Ms Buckland with her now ailing grandmother, who first reported her missing.

Ms Buckland would now be 48-years-old. Supplied

While initial investigations led police to believe Ms Buckland had a personal reason for leaving the Warwick area, police continued efforts to locate the mother-of-three.

“In early November we attended an address where she had been residing just outside of Warwick and spoke to the resident, who indicated he didn’t have any knowledge (of her whereabouts),” Sgt Roche said.

“We advised the resident that Tanya needed to let people know that she was okay.”

Sgt Roche declined to comment on Ms Buckland’s connection to notorious criminal Vincent O’Dempsey.

A matter of weeks later three letters arrived from the Hunter Valley area, addressed to Ms Buckland’s grandmother, Warwick Police and the Daily News.

“All three letters had photographs of Tanya and written on her arm was ‘Palmer comes to Canberra’ that was consistent with Clive Palmer having just become an MP, there was also certain personalised messages to family that indicated to us Tanya had been the author,” Sgt Roche said.

Photos believed to have been sent by Ms Buckland to family and police in November 2013.

Since receiving these letters in late November 2013, Ms Buckland has not made any further contact with police or her family, nor has she touched her bank accounts.

Police were unable to pinpoint where exactly in the Hunter Valley region the letters were sent from.

Sgt Roche said police hadn’t received any genuine leads to her whereabouts.

“I’d love to be able to tell her grandmother that we’ve located Tanya,” he said.

“If she’s out there and able to get in contact with her grandmother, I’d strongly encourage her to do so, especially in this part of her grandmother’s life.”

Ms Buckland is still considered a missing person and her investigation remains open.

She is described as 174cm tall with hazel eyes and was reported to have light brown hair around the time of her disappearance.

Ms Buckland is also known to have gone by the names Tanya Walker and Tanya Radic, her married name.

Anyone with knowledge of her whereabouts or information that could reunite her with her family is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Warwick police on 07 4660 4444.

Originally published as Police hope to one day reunite missing Warwick woman Tanya Buckland with loved ones