THE mother of a teenage girl missing, believed murdered, for 16 years hopes someone in Leonora may have information that can provide police with fresh clues.
Last month Victorian homicide squad detectives announced a reward for information had jumped from $100,000 to $500,000 and Jenny Bird is hoping someone who knew her daughter during a stay in Leonora will come forward with new information.
Prudence Bird, known as `Prue', 13, disappeared from her home in Melbourne about 2.10pm on February 2, 1992, leaving a hot meal uneaten on the table and the television going. Her mother was out with Prue's sister at the time.
Ms Bird said Prue had spent part of 1991 living with her grandmother, Julie, her grandmother's partner, career criminal Paul Kurt Hetzel, and an associate of Hetzel's named 'Maurie', in a rented house in Gwalia Street, Leonora.
She had attended Leonora District High School and her “nanna” and Hetzel had bought a house in Leonora and were renovating it while she was staying with them, Ms Bird said.
She said her daughter came to Melbourne with her grandmother and Hetzel in late 1991 but decided not to return to Leonora with them.
“She said to me 'I'm not going back - he's nuts'," Ms Bird said.
She said she learned later that about the time her daughter went missing from her home, Hetzel's associate 'Maurie' was supposedly on his way to Melbourne from Leonora to deliver a parcel of clothes and other items that Prue had left behind.
Ms Bird said she also found out later that when her daughter disappeared without trace there was no publicity about the case in Leonora.
“At the time Hetzel was taking part in a police witness protection program so, of course, the police didn't want any publicity about where he was,” Ms Bird said.
“I was so angry when I found out there had been no publicity in Leonora.
“Somebody there might have seen something while Prue was living there or heard something after she left that might have helped police get a picture of what could have happened to her.
“I'm hoping that publicity now (the reward for information leading to a conviction has been increased) might still jog someone's memory,” Ms Bird said.
She said she was under “no illusions” about her daughter's disappearance.
“I just want to know what happened,” she said.
Ms Bird said she severed all contact with her mother and Hetzel after her daughter's disappearance.
Hetzel spent years in the witness protection program after testifying against three associates convicted over a bomb blast that killed one person and injured 23 outside the then Victoria Police headquarters in 1986 and armed robberies.
Police have said they interviewed “several persons of interest” in relation to Prue Bird’s disappearance and suspected murder, however “these avenues of enquiry have proven fruitless”.
Former crime reporters, John Silvester and Andrew Rule, covered Prue Bird's disappearance in their book Underbelly 3.
Anyone with information which may help police is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppers.com.au and quote reference number CA2025.
MISSING: Prue Bird went to school in Leonora. Her disappearance in 1992 featured in the book Underbelly 3.
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