Missing Qld women may be linked to murder

6 Jul 2012, 8:20 pm   -   Source: AAP

The disappearances of two women on the Sunshine Coast more than a decade ago could be linked to the murder of a teenage babysitter.

The murder of a teenage babysitter could be linked to the disappearance of two women on the Sunshine Coast almost 14 years ago, police say.

With the victims' families desperately hoping for answers, detectives said on Friday they had renewed investigations into the fates of English backpacker Celena Bridge, 28, and Kenilworth teacher's aide Sabrina Ann Glassop, 46.

They vanished about a year apart but both were last seen near Booloumba Creek Road at Kenilworth, on the edge of the Conondale National Park on the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

It's believed the cases could be connected to the murder of 16-year-old Nambour schoolgirl Jessica Gaudie who disappeared while babysitting in August 1999.

Derek Bellington Sam, who was a supervisor on a property for troubled Aboriginal youth at Kenilworth, was convicted of her killing in 2001.

During Sam's trial, a judge said he had lured Jessica, a trusting girl, away from the house where she was babysitting for his estranged partner, for his own sexual gratification.

Although her body was never found, a jury convicted Sam of her murder and he was given a mandatory life jail term.

Her half sister Tracy, who has declined to give her surname for privacy reasons, says she wants to able to give Jessica a proper burial.

"We want a place where we can visit her," she told AAP.

"I can't put a price on that. It would mean everything."

She will light a candle on July 13 to mark Jessica's 30th birthday.

Last year, police found the remains of Daniel Morcombe on the Sunshine Coast about eight years after he disappeared. The 13-year-old schoolboy's remains were discovered in muddy bushland near Beerwah.

Sunshine Coast CIB Detective Senior Sergeant Darren Edwards told AAP detectives now had the time and resources to focus on other cold cases.

Police reviewed Jessica's murder and the women's disappearances about six years ago but failed to find fresh clues.

"We will start from scratch. We will open the books right from the start and read all the statements," Det Sen Sgt Edwards said.

"There are people who have traversed through the area that may have come across things."

He said it was also possible someone might reveal information that they were reluctant to reveal during the previous investigations.

Ms Glassop's mum Joan Worsley, 90, says she remembers hearing her daughter's vehicle pulling out of the driveway of their Booloumba Creek Road house early one Saturday morning in 1999.

She found her handbag in the house and her pet poodle missing.

"A little while later my husband discovered her car parked in a rest area not far from the house and that's when we got really panicked and called the police," Ms Worsley said.

Police scoured a nearby national park but could not find her daughter or the dog.

She says she has mixed feelings about the new investigation.

"I'm hopeful but I'm dreading having it all dragged up again because it will bring the pain back sharply into focus."

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