Welfare concerns for Hunter woman missing for five days

BY DAKOTA TAIT

Newcastle Police are looking to the public for assistance to locate a woman who has been missing since Friday. 

Belinda Jones was last seen in Waratah on 26 August 2022.

The 45-year-old is described as being of Caucasian appearance, 160cm tall, thin build, blonde hair, and brown eyes. 

She was last seen wearing a black hoodie and black pants. 

Police have concerns for her welfare. 

Belinda is known to frequent the Central Coast and Raymond Terrace areas and may travel on the trains. 

Anyone with information about her whereabouts should contact Waratah Police or Crime Stoppers.

DNA collection program offering hope for families of Hunter missing persons

BY DAKOTA TAIT

A pop-up DNA collection centre is in the Hunter today, in the hopes of helping families locate their lost loved ones.

It's part of a National Missing Persons Week program, with investigators from the State Crime Command's Missing Persons Registry running a number of the centres across New South Wales.

There's hope the program could help police find out what happened to some of the Hunter's most high-profile missing persons cases, such as Gordana Kotevski, Amanda Robinson, and Robyn Hickie.

Registry Manager Glenn Browne says investigators will use the information to draw possible genetic links with unidentified persons or human remains.

"Generally when someone's reported missing these days, we try and get their direct DNA sample very quickly, by seizing personal effects like toothbrushes and hairbrushes," he said.

"But for a lot of our older cases, we didn't gather DNA. We didn't understand the importance of DNA."

The Newcastle collection centre is open from 10am to 6pm on Tuesday, in the Banquet Room at Newcastle City Hall.

Investigators are also running pop-up centres at Surry Hills, Dapto, and Penrith throughout the week.

Mr Browne says it's a simple process for relatives. 

"All people need to do is turn up to our DNA collection centre in Newcastle," he said. "We take a quick swab from their mouth, and from that swab it gets sent off to our laboratories and they develop a DNA profile from that swab."

"That DNA profile then goes on to a very specific index, in both the New South Wales and national databases, where it can only ever try and match against the DNA profile from unidentified bodies.

"There's absolutely no risk at all that anyone might come along and provide a sample and we'll discover that they committed a crime ten years ago. 

"Legally, we're not allowed to even try and find links between these samples that we get through these centres, and other DNA profiles that have been developed from crime scenes and things like that."

Police earlier this year announced a $1 million reward for information into the disappearance of 16-year-old Gordana Kotevski in 1994.

$1Mil In Separate Rewards Offered To Solve 40 Year Hickie and Robinson Cold Cases

BY IAN CROUCH

Police Minister David Elliott has announced separate rewards of $1 million each for information into the disappearance and suspected murders of Lake Macquarie teenagers Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson 42 years ago.

18-year-old Robyn left her home on the evening of Saturday April 7, 1979 and was last seen standing at a bus stop on the Pacific Highway at Belmont North.

Two weeks later, 14-year-old Amanda was last seen walking along Lake Road at Swansea on Saturday April 21 after attending a high school dance at Gateshead.

Police Minister David Elliott says despite extensive investigations over the years, the mystery of their disappearances has never been solved.

"It's important that the people of Lake Macquarie, and indeed right across NSW, look into their hearts to see if they have any information that might lead to the conclusion of this matter, " he said.

Amanda Robinson (top) and Robyn Hickie disappeared  within a fortnight of  each other in April 1979