Australia Australia - Sharron Phillips, 20, Brisbane, Qld, 8 May 1986

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marlywings

marlywings

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DOB - 1965 (20 years old when missing)

Height - 178cm

Dark brown, shoulder length, straight hair; brown eyes. Fair complexion. She is of medium build.

Clothing: When last seen she was wearing a blue shirt and a long sleeved blouse in a brown/cream/blue check. Her large black leather hand bag with shoulder strap is also missing.


Sharron Phillips was last seen at about 11pm on 8 May 1986 at a telephone box near the Wacol Railway Station. She had walked there to ring for assistance after her yellow coloured Datsun bluebird sedan had run out of petrol on Ipswich Road near the entrance to the Wacol Migrant Centre. A person matching her description was seen by a number of people between the Wacol Railway Station and where her car was located off Ipswich Road. Sharron Phillips has not been heard from since that time and her body has never been located. Any member of the public with information which could assist Police is asked to contact:Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000

sharronphillips3.jpg



http://www.australianmissingpersonsregister.com/SharronPhillips.htm
 
I was in primary school and lived not far from Ipswich Road when Sharron disappeared. I remember hearing a lot about it at the time - it was distressing to hear that a woman could just disappear like that. There has been quite a bit of media coverage over the years - I think it was on Australia's Most Wanted, and/or similar shows many years ago. I haven't seen a lot recently about the case.

I'll do some research and try to get some more info up. Anyone who is good with maps that could post the local area and Wacol Station?

There has been development and road upgrades since her disappearance, but it could give us a general idea of the distances she walked, etc.
 
http://matthewcondon.blogspot.com.au/2006/05/disappearance-of-sharron-phillips.html

heartbreaking article with lots of detail.

"On the night of Thursday, May 8, 1986, young Sharron Phillips was in high spirits for several reasons. She was enjoying her independence, having moved out of the crowded Riverview family home and into her own flat at Archerfield five months earlier. She had a good job at the Peaches ‘n Cream fruit market in Kenmore. And she had a potential new beau.

Only days earlier she had met a 26-year-old Acacia Ridge man called Martin Balazs, and they had planned a dinner date at Sharron’s flat on Friday, May 9. She was excited about Balazs, although they barely knew each other. So on that Thursday evening, she and work colleague Samantha Dalzell went shopping together at Sunnybank Plaza on Mains Road. Sharron purchased some new lingerie.

Later, the pair had coffee at Sharron’s flat. Sharron left the lingerie unwrapped in the small ground-floor apartment. She then drove Dalzell home to Redland Plains. On the way, according to retired police investigator Ken Foreman, who worked on the Phillips case, she drove past Balaz’s flat and tooted the horn – an anonymous message to her new man, a tease as prelude to their date the next evening. She dropped off Dalzell, and was travelling city-bound on Ipswich Road at Wacol, up the hill from the old three-pump Shell service station (since demolished), when her canary-yellow Nissan Bluebird ran out of petrol. It was around 11pm."

"Sharron’s car had stopped outside the former Wacol migrant centre. Directly across busy Ipswich Road was the main entrance to the Wacol Army Barracks. She needed a telephone.

It was established later she had walked into the army camp, past the boom gates and guard booth, and been told by partying soldiers there were no telephones for her to use. (A few soldiers were later interviewed by police but discounted as suspects.) She then headed down towards the Shell garage and Wacol railway station."
 
I lived down that way when this happened- they used to have a signpost with her name on the road before the roads were all upgraded. I knew a newspaper reporter who worked at the Qld Times newspaper and was reporting on the case. his view was that Army guys had something to do with it. The investigation was flawed from the start - the family moved the car and were in her flat before police could work the scene. All very sad for her family- tore them apart I remember reading.
 
Strangeworld said:
I was in primary school and lived not far from Ipswich Road when Sharron disappeared. I remember hearing a lot about it at the time - it was distressing to hear that a woman could just disappear like that. There has been quite a bit of media coverage over the years - I think it was on Australia's Most Wanted, and/or similar shows many years ago. I haven't seen a lot recently about the case.

I'll do some research and try to get some more info up. Anyone who is good with maps that could post the local area and Wacol Station?

There has been development and road upgrades since her disappearance, but it could give us a general idea of the distances she walked, etc.
Click to expand...

If you want to find the maps I would first start with the State Library. I have a relative interested in history and I was amazed at what he could find. He had to ask the staff for help though.

http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/resources/qld-history

They have an online search of their catalogue here
http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/pri...9913979&vid=SLQ&fromLogin=true&fromLogin=true
I haven't personally tried this.
 
http://urbex.50megs.com/Abandoned_D..._Army_Barracks/Wacol_Army_Base_Entrances.html
I found this interesting website with some photos of the Army Barracks entrance -now overgrown and unused except for a few buildings still standing. The middle photo shows the boom gate where Sharron would have gone to ask for help. I find it hard to believe a young woman was turned away and told there were no phones she could use.
 
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Is there something in particular I could research? :seeya:
 
There is a new story on CM site - still trying to find a free to view link in one of the other papers. In the meantime, here's the link to the CM article:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...rucial-evidence/story-fnihsrf2-1226694831924#
Sharon Phillips cold case: car speeding to mine dump site 26 years ago could be crucial evidence

TWENTY-six years ago, truck driver Tony Prowse and his workmates were negotiating a hidden dirt track that spat out at the bottom of a coalmine dump at Swanbank near Ipswich, when a car without lights sped past them.
 
TWENTY-six years ago, truck driver Tony Prowse and his workmates were negotiating a hidden dirt track that spat out at the bottom of a coalmine dump at Swanbank near Ipswich, when a car without lights sped past them.

It was 3am and pitch black when the "carload of hoons" went tearing by on the little-known mining road.

It was unheard of to see a car on the path used by dump trucks carting waste from the nearby coalmine, and the men would later discuss it over their morning tea.

That was the early hours of May 9: the night Sharron Phillips disappeared.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...crucial-evidence/story-fnihsrf2-1226694831924
 
Search on Google Maps for "Redbank Plains Road" and you'll soon see the mining site which the gentleman referred to.

Obviously, it doesn't look very "hidden" now, but trust me, the Western suburbs of Brisbane looked A LOT less settled/developed 27 years ago. I assure you. Also, if you use the "street view" option to look at the area of RedBank Plains Road near the mining site, you will notice that the street view pictures are taken in November 2007, before this area was as developed as it is now. This will perhaps give you SOME idea about how remote/isolated the area was back in 1986.

But yeah, I remember this case. I was seven when she "disappeared". I grew up in Middle Park, which is a much MUCH safer area than Ipswich, but my Mum used to work in Ipswich until about 1990, so I knew Ipswich Road fairly well, especially the area where Sharron was taken (let's face it, she's a murder victim, not a "missing person").

I've long suspected she could be buried on the army site, which was apparently never searched by the police themselves (the army apparently did it). However, equally likely is that she could have been taken by a carload of hoons. There were some really, REALLY feral young people (and even families) out near/past Ipswich who would have used Ipswich Road. Sure, they were only a minority...but they did exist. Trust me. The murders of nurses LORRAINE Wilson and Wendy Evans being a gruesome example:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...ys-creek-in-1974/story-fnihsrf2-1226671594611

^And yes, the police definitely had the right people...it's just a tragedy they didn't have all the evidence they needed.

As for Valmae Beck and Barrie Watts, as far as I know the police believe (although don't necessarily know for sure) that they were living in Western Australia at the time of Sharron's disappearance. So....I guess I have to go with that until someone proves otherwise.
 
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...sharron-phillips/story-fnihsrf2-1226698945393


Was Sharron Phillips' murderer a soldier/s from the Wacol Army Barracks?...Or was it someone who knew her? Some very interesting questions are raised in this article.

Here are my thoughts about each of these scenarios...


1. One or more soldiers from (the former) Wacol Army Barracks.

1.1. Reasons for.

- Firstly, obviously, these claims that a soldier bragged about killing her to these women, and that he was a dangerous character.

- Secondly, there have always been different accounts from soldiers at the base, according to reports. Some say she DID visit the base asking to use a phone, others say she never visited.

- The fact that they didn't let her use their phone/s is never going to look good in retrospect. I would like to know more about their reason/s for turning her away.

- They would have had LOCAL KNOWLEDGE of the area in and around the army barracks, and would have felt more "comfortable" attacking/killing someone in this area than someone who was merely driving home than night, and wasn't familiar with the Wacol area.

- They would have had the chance to observe her for a while, and would have known, since her car was out of petrol, that she was vulnerable.

- They may have known (e.g. through looking at maps) good places not too far away in which to dispose of a body.

- They may have been part of a tightly-knit group which would have covered for one another afterwards...and having more than one person involved in the murder would have been beneficial, given that Sharron was (according to friends/family) someone who was likely to have put up a real struggle.

- If the "carload of hoons" driving through the "hidden" mine road at Swanbank were involved in Sharron's murder, it is possible this could have been a group of soldiers and possibly friends of the soldiers.


1.2. Reasons against.

- Someone would have likely talked by now.

- No evidence was ever found against the soldier/s who were investigated (although this WAS before DNA testing and other modern methods were introduced).

- No sign of a struggle at or around Sharron's car.

- The "carload of hoons" (non-soldiers) has been a well-respected theory, and Ipswich/Wacol/Oxley/Redbank and surrounding suburbs would have had more than their fair share of this class of persons back then. It's possible they grabbed her


2. Someone Sharron knew.

2.1. Suspicions for.

- Detectives have said there was no sign of a struggle, and Sharron would have fought back against anyone she didn't know.

- If Sharron did get in a car, it would HAVE to have been someone she knew (e.g. her new boyfriend, who she had called to come and pick her up).

- Her boyfriend was in the area at the time (on his way to give her a lift home).


2.2. Suspicions against.

- Her boyfriend got a flat tyre on the way to pick her up, and then he stopped at the wrong Shell service station (there were two in the area - a larger one and a smaller one). This was apparently a reasonable mistake to make, given that Sharron had not specified which one she had actually broken down near.

- The boyfriend has apparently been investigated (obviously), and his story apparently checks out.

- The boyfriend had no obvious motive for her murder.
 
Sharron Phillips cold case: car speeding to mine dump site 26 years ago could be crucial evidence

KATE KYRIACOU CHIEF POLICE REPORTER
THE SUNDAY MAIL (QLD)
AUGUST 11, 2013 12:00PM

TWENTY-six years ago, truck driver Tony Prowse and his workmates were negotiating a hidden dirt track that spat out at the bottom of a coalmine dump at Swanbank near Ipswich, when a car without lights sped past them.

It was 3am and pitch black when the "carload of hoons" went tearing by on the little-known mining road.

It was unheard of to see a car on the path used by dump trucks carting waste from the nearby coalmine, and the men would later discuss it over their morning tea.

That was the early hours of May 9: the night Sharron Phillips disappeared.

The 20-year-old shop assistant was last seen just after midnight on Ipswich Rd, Wacol, after running out of petrol.
http://m.couriermail.com.au/news/qu...crucial-evidence/story-fnihsrf2-1226694831924
 
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