Bung case 'like opening a bag of dirt'

Mex Cooper The Age October 25, 2011
Police have compared the ‘‘troubling’’ case of missing schoolgirl Siriyakorn ‘Bung’ Siriboon with the disappearance and suspected murder of an eight-year-old girl in a Melbourne bayside suburb 35 years ago.

Eloise Worledge was discovered missing from the bedroom of her Beaumaris home and her window’s fly wire cut in January, 1976.
Despite the state’s biggest-ever missing person case and years of subsequent police work, nobody has discovered what happened to the little girl and her body has never been found.
Detective Superintendent Brett Guerin today said detectives had even less to work with to find Boronia schoolgirl Siriyakorn, who vanished four months ago, than those who investigated Eloise Worledge’s case.
Siriyakorn was last seen by her step-father Fred Pattison and her mother Vannida as she set off for the short walk from her Elsie Street home to her Boronia high school on June 2.
The couple still believe their daughter is alive.

Detective Superintendent Guerin today said the newly formed Task Force Puma would double the number of police officers working on the case, which he described as ‘‘very unusual’’ and ‘‘troubling’’.
He said the diligence of the homicide squad, originally tasked with investigating Siriyakorn ’s well-publicised disappearance, had led to a large number of enquiries that still needed to be worked through.
Police have received more than 500 phone calls relating to the case and 70 people have been touted as possible suspects.
Detective Superintendent Guerin said this list had been whittled down to a ‘‘handful’’ and police had no ‘‘firm suspects’’.
‘‘Some of these have been discounted reasonably quickly but others need far more work,’’ he said.
‘‘We have a number of individuals that cannot be alibied at the moment. That doesn’t make them suspects, it just makes them people of interest to the investigators.’’

About 100 registered sex offenders in the surrounding areas and the residents of 450 homes that live on routes that Siriyakorn could have walked to school are to be spoken to by police.
Detective Superintendent Guerin said there ‘‘was no evidence whatsoever’’ that whoever was responsible for Siriyakorn ’s disappearance would target another victim.
But he warned parents to discuss ‘stranger danger’ with their children, including trusting their natural instincts and going to a populated area if they felt threatened.
‘‘They have a good sense of what’s dangerous to them,’’ he said.

Detective Superintendent Guerin said the lack of evidence surrounding Siriyakorn’s disappearance had reminded investigators of the case of Eloise Worledge, which has never been solved.
‘‘The detectives in that case at least had a crime scene to work from - there was a bedroom with a cut wire window so they knew that she had been taken from her bedroom from an intruder,’’ he said.
‘‘The detectives in this case have an absolutely cold start, like opening a bag of dirt with a spoon and taking the first bite. This is not a sexy investigation, it will take a long time, it’ll be painstaking and thorough.’’

Detective Superintendent Guerin said investigators had been in contact with Thai police and Siriyakorn ’s biological father in Thailand and her step-father and mother were not considered to have been involved in her disappearance.
‘‘At this stage, no one’s ruled in, no one’s ruled out,’’ he said.
‘‘However, in cases like this we often start with the family obviously, and we’re satisfied at this stage that we’re on the right track by pursuing alternative avenues of enquiry.
‘‘There’s no evidence to suggest that they’re involved in any way’’.

Siriyakorn left her home just before 8.30am on June 2 dressed in her Boronia Heights College blue-and-white striped uniform, blue raincoat, blue-patterned backpack and black Dunlop Volley runners with white socks.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Fears held for missing Vic girl

Xavier La Canna June 24, 2011 SMH

Police fear a 13-year-old Melbourne girl who disappeared without a trace on her way to school three weeks ago could be dead.

Siriyakorn Siriboon, nicknamed Bung, vanished during a 10-minute walk to school, Detective Inspector John Potter from the homicide squad said.
The last person to see her was a neighbour who watched her begin the walk to Boronia Heights College, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, on June 2.

Det Insp Potter said there was a possibility the teenager had died and the homicide squad had taken a more active role in the investigation in the past week.
Despite the fears, Det Insp Potter said Bung's family still believed she was alive.
He said the girl may also have been abducted, but he discounted early speculation that Bung led a double life using social media websites.
"We don't believe her use of social media is connected to this case," Det Insp Potter said.
"This is a worrying case, worrying because here is a girl 13 years of age walking to school who disappears.
"We have had nothing, no information to suggest what has happened to her."
Asked whether there could be links to the Mr Cruel attacks on young girls in the late 1980s and early '90s in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, he said no connection with other disappearances had been drawn.
Child rapist Mr Cruel was believed to be responsible for at least four attacks on children, and two of his victims were 13-year-old girls.
While three of the victims were released, Mr Cruel went on to murder his last known victim, 13-year-old Karmein Chan.
Mr Cruel was never caught but police last year said a fresh taskforce had been established to track him down.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

The Stirling Hwy Timeline

Over the last 25 years in Western Australia there has been multiple incidences of young women being attacked, murdered or ...vanishing. With several attacks put down to the Claremont Serial Killer (CSK). A 5km section of Stirling Hwy running through Claremont, Cottesloe and Mosman Park has seen many attacks. Statistically far too many attacks and with the Pamela Lawrence murder back in the unsolved column and The Sharon Mason murder conviction looking less and less safe the statistics only seem likely to get worse. 1988 June 20 Julie Cutler was last seen leaving the Parmelia Hilton Hotel Perth on St Georges Terrace at 12.30am after a staff function. Julie is not seen again. Her car is found 2 days later in the sea off Cottesloe Beach. 1994 Jan 1 woman driving home from Club Bay View fights off man who dragged her from her car and tried to rape her near the Claremont subway 1994 May 23 Pamela Lawrence is murdered at her shop in Mosman Park. Andrew Mark Mallard is wrongfully convicted of her murder in 1995. He is ultimately cleared some 12 years later 1994 Oct A 31-year-old woman breaks her ankle when she leaps from a speeding taxi on Princess Road after the driver and another man try to attack her. 1995 Feb 12 Teenager abducted in Rowe Park, tied with electrical flex and raped at Karrakatta Cemetery. 1996 Jan 27 Sarah Spiers 18, spends the evening with friends at Club Bay View. At 2.06am, she calls taxi from a Claremont phone box. When the taxi arrives she has gone and is not seen again. 1996 Feb Police confirm they have received reports of bogus taxis in Perth. 1996 Mar 3 A 21-year-old woman is bashed and indecently assaulted in Church Lane behind Club Bay View. 1996 Jun 9 At 12.15am Jane Rimmer is last seen by four friends outside the Continental Hotel after deciding not to share a taxi home. 1996 July 1 Police issue questionnaires to 100 suspects. 1996 Aug 3 Rimmer's naked body is found in bush at semi-rural Wellard, 35km south of Perth, lightly covered with sticks and twigs a few metres off road. Police comb bush, divers search lakes. 1996 Aug 31 More than 35 taxi drivers are sacked during August after new checks reveal histories of violence or perversion. The search for overseas convictions eventually leads to 78drivers losing their licences. 1997 Mar 14 Ciara Glennon farewells friends outside Continental Hotel about midnight. 1997 Mar 16 Police say they fear a serial killer is on the loose, release year-old photo of Glennon with dark, curly hair. 1997 Mar 17 State Government announces $250,000 reward for information. 1997 Mar 18 Denis Glennon makes an emotional appeal for help from the public. "Clara's alive - we believe that," he says. Police say more than 3,000 people have come forward with information. 1997 Mar 19 Police release up-to-date photo of Glennon, showing much lighter hair. 1997 April 3 Glennon's body found in bush north of Perth. 2000 November 8 Sarah Anne McMahon, finishes her shift at a Claremont retail store. Leaves work and fails to make it home.