Cold case hunt for killer who raped beauty queen Bronwynne May 27, 2010
Bronwynne Richardson ... raped, strangled and drowned.
Seventeen-year-old beauty queen Bronwynne Richardson was waiting for a lift home after her shift at Coles in southern NSW when she was abducted.
She was forced into a vehicle and driven to a reserve six kilometres from Albury where she was raped, strangled and drowned.
Thirty-six years later police are still searching for her killers.
A $200,000 reward is now being offered by the NSW government to encourage anyone with information on the murder to come forward.
Bronwynne's family has begged her killers or anyone with information to contact police.
"We really plead to you to come forward and help put some closure to this dreadful murder," her mother Noel Richardson said as the reward was announced in Sydney today.
Mrs Richardson said she always believed that someone in the Albury community knew what happened to her daughter.
Bronwynne moved to Albury after being crowned Miss Corowa Show Beauty Queen in 1973 - the same year she was killed.
On the night of her murder a friend of Bronwynne's boyfriend was to have picked her up after her shift but found no sign of her, Mrs Richardson said.
Police said it was likely Bronwynne knew her killers.
"Not being a large community ... it's a very strong possibility that Bronwynne did know her killers," Detective Chief Inspector John Lehmann said.
Bronwynne's sister, Janet Swinton, who was 19 when the murder occurred, said it had affected the family for over three decades.
"It has affected myself and the way I have brought up my children as to what they were allowed to do," Mrs Swinton said.
Bronwynne's death will be investigated by a second coronial inquest later this year.
The first inquest in 1975 found she died of strangulation and drowning, but failed to identify any perpetrator.
In 1990, based on new information, police charged three men in connection with the crime, but to date no one has been convicted of her murder.
The case was reopened in 2008 and since that time police have interviewed a large number of new witnesses and evidence has been reexamined.
Bronwynne was abducted from opposite Coles in Smollett Street in Albury at 7pm on October 12, 1973.
Her body was discovered in the Murray River two days later.
AAP
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cold-case-hunt-for-killer-who-raped-beauty-queen-bronwynne-20100527-wg1z.html#ixzz1PLzBwlqk
Personal Details
Last seen:
Employment:
Age:
Year of birth:
Height:
Build:
Eyes:
Hair: Fair
Complexion: Fair
Gender: Female
Distinguishing Feature:
Circumstances: Barbara McCulkin, 34, and her daughters Vicki, 13, and Barbara, 11, pictured, disappeared from their Highgate Hill home in January 1974 after being visited by two men.
Personal Details
Last seen: On 15 November 1972
Age: 18
Year of birth: 1954
Height:
Build:
Eyes:
Hair: Fair
Complexion: Fair
Gender: Female
Distinguishing Feature:
Circumstances: Left Melbourne in July 1972 to hitchhike to north Queensland with college friend Robin Hoinville-Bartram, 19, from Bowen. On 15 November 1972, Hoinville-Bartram's remains were located in Sensible Creek under a bridge on the Flinders Highway, approximately 80 kilometres west of Charters Towers. Robin had been sexually assaulted and shot in the head with a .22 calibre rifle.
No trace of Anita Cunningham has been found. Hoinville-Bartram and Cunningham were two of seven female hitch-hikers who were killed in Queensland between 1972 and 1976. Police have not ruled out that the women may have been the victims of a serial killer. Information indicated the pair, who began their journey from NSW's Hume Highway, had gone to Darwin before travelling to Mount Isa.
Police have been examining the movements of backpacker killer Ivan Milat when the pair disappeared, but also are interested in Arthur Stanley Brown, who was charged in 1998 with the murder of two Townsville schoolgirls in 1970.
Any member of the public with information which could assist Police is asked to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000
REWARD:
The Minister for Police and Corrective Services has approved a reward of $250,000 be offered for information which leads to the apprehension and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of Robin Jeanne Hoinville-Bartram and Anita Cunningham in September 1972.
INDEMNITY FROM PROSECUTION:
In addition, an appropriate indemnity from prosecution will be recommended for any accomplice, not being the person who actually committed the crime, who first gives such information.
The allocation of the $250,000 reward will be at the sole discretion of the Commissioner of the Police Service.