The brother and sister of Janine Vaughan have requested NSW Police consider providing immunity to anyone who comes forward with information leading to her body.
Ms Vaughan was last seen leaving the Metro Tavern in Bathurst at about 3:50am on Friday December 7 2001.
A coronial inquest, strike forces and a Police Integrity Commission probe have not provided definite answers on what happened to Janine.
Appearing today at the Inquiry into unsolved murders and long-term missing persons cases in New South Wales, Janine’s siblings Adam Vaughan and Kylie Spelde were emotional as they gave a statement on how a lack of answers has deeply impacted family.
Ms Spelde told the Inquiry family members have been looking for answers since being told police were no longer actively investigating the case.
“We’re desperate to know what happened to her in the early days of her going missing,” she said.
“Now we’re looking for scattered bones or any sort of piece of clothing or something that’s going to be able to lead us to her.”
Adam Vaughan said while they are not requesting the immunity be extended to a perpetrator, he fears witnesses may be witholding critical information due to fear of prosecution.
“We feel it is possible there is someone out there who knows something [but may be] scared that their silence may give them criminal charges,” he said.
“Maybe they were involved in some way after the fact and they are scared that they could be charged as an accomplice.
“Maybe they were in the car that night but had nothing to do with Janine’s murder.”
Request for CCTV recording
Family also requested the original tape of Janine’s final moments leaving the Metro Tavern be handed to Bryan Neumeister, a forensic video analyst based in the US.
Mr Neumeister told the Inquiry while he doesn’t know the resolution of the tape, he would need to receive the original to attempt to sharpen its appearance.
“In a 4:2:2 uncompressed codec, you can get up to about 60 times the pixel resolution from an alternate line recording than you can just by viewing it on a CRT,” he said.
“You’re not going to create new pixels, you’re just going to get a better look at what’s there,” he said.
Adam Vaughan described the lack of answers as a form of ongoing torture.
“After 25 years, what are we supposed to do?
“We can’t sit and do nothing, we need these answers,” he said.
Anyone with information on Janine’s disappearance is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
