New lead in search for missing teen
Police prepare to interview workers at a local timber mill as new information emerges over the disappearance 14 years ago of NSW teen Jessica Small.

NEARLY 14 years after Jessica Small was last heard screaming in the back of a car near Bathurst, police have descended on the area in the hopes a local timber mill will reveal the mystery of her demise.
The 15-year-old's abduction about 12.40am on Sunday, October 26, 1997, has haunted the central tablelands town for more than a decade. But police say they have now established their strongest lead yet.
New information suggests a man, aged about 30, was asking about Jessica at a Bathurst games parlour, Amuse Me, where she and her best friend, Vanessa, had gathered with other teenagers on the Saturday night.
Heard screaming ... Jessica Small
Heard screaming ... Jessica Small
''It [was] frequented by young teenagers and on the night in question there was an adult male in the centre, about 30 years old, who was actually making inquiries about Jessica Small,'' Detective Sergeant Peter Smith, from the homicide squad, said.
The man had revealed he worked at the local timber mill in nearby Oberon, where 20 investigators set up camp yesterday with plans to stay ''as long as it takes''.
Detective Sergeant Smith said they would interview every male worker at the timber mill who, in 1997, was aged between 18 and 45.
The hunt is on ... State Emergency Service workers search near the area where Jessica Small vanished in 1997.
The hunt is on ...
State Emergency Service workers search near the area where Jessica Small vanished in 1997. Photo: Andrew Taylor
Jessica and Vanessa, also 15, hitched a ride from central Bathurst with a man - thought to be driving a white VK Holden Commodore sedan - to Kelso, just east of the town.
The man stopped the car and turned off the headlights just short of their destination, then grabbed Vanessa around her throat. While Vanessa broke free and was able to run to neighbours for help, Jessica was never seen again.
Jessica's mother, Ricki Small, said she had long suspected the man who took her daughter might have been a local.
''I've always had a gut feeling it might have been someone from around the Bathurst area,'' she said.
''It could be truth time and I'm hoping so, because we need closure - our family does.''