Arabic version: تحقيق قضائي يبحث خيطاً جديداً في اختفاء مارلين وولمان

According to ABC News, a second coronial inquest into the 1972 disappearance of Mackay schoolgirl Marilyn Joy Wallman has identified a relative by marriage, Noel Morris, as a person of interest. The first inquest, held in 1980, did not determine who was responsible for the 14-year-old’s death. The new hearing is expected to hear from 20 witnesses over three weeks.

Marilyn disappeared soon after 7:42am on March 21, 1972, after cycling about a kilometre along a dirt road to catch a school bus. Counsel assisting Coroner David O’Connell, John Aberdeen, said Noel Morris was implicated in two similar accounts relayed by members of the Morris family. The inquest also heard that Mr Morris drove a car of a similar description to one sought by police after Marilyn vanished. Mr Morris is due to appear as a witness.

Errol James Morris told police in a 2016 statement that his brother Lionel, known as Joe, had said while drinking about 20 years earlier that someone in their family was involved in Marilyn’s disappearance. Another witness, Denis Riddel, denied telling a neighbour that he believed his cousin Noel Morris was involved. Mr Riddel said he could not recall making the alleged comments.

Marilyn’s brother Rex Wallman, who was eight at the time, said he and his older brother David followed her towards the bus about 10 minutes later. He found Marilyn’s bicycle and bag beside the road, then said he heard a girl’s voice and another voice from a cane field before silence. Rex Wallman told the inquest he did not doubt what he heard, despite being questioned as a child about an earlier police statement. Retired detective Andre Wijtenburg also gave evidence about other possible suspects and said Noel Morris had not been willing to discuss Marilyn’s disappearance in an interview around 2009.