Arabic version: عائلة جانين فوغان تثير مخاوف بشأن التحقيق

According to ABC News, the family of missing woman Janine Vaughan has criticised the police investigation into her disappearance while giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into unsolved murders and long-term missing persons’ cases.

Ms Vaughan was 31 when she was last seen getting into a red car outside a nightclub in Bathurst, in central west New South Wales, in December 2001. A 2009 coronial inquest determined she was likely killed by an unknown person. Her body has never been found and her cause of death remains unknown.

Her brother, Adam Vaughan, and sister, Kylie Spelde, told the inquiry that 25 years without answers had been “torture”. The inquiry heard the family had concerns about how aspects of the investigation were managed, including that a knife found with blood and hair on it was not forensically tested. The family also said they did not believe police had adequately communicated updates on the case.

Adam Vaughan said the family had repeatedly sought access to the original VHS CCTV footage showing Janine getting into the red car, the last time she was seen alive. The family has engaged US-based forensic expert Bryan Neumeister, who told the inquiry that film restoration technology could potentially help identify details including the car’s make and model.

Former senior crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi AM KC told the inquiry he believed the NSW Police Unsolved Homicide Unit had struggled with insufficient resources. The parliamentary inquiry has heard from families and friends of dozens of missing or murdered people and is due to hold another hearing next month.