Exclusive: Coroner's handwritten note baffles family decades after NSW teens vanished
Apr 9, 2019
A handwritten note with crossed out sentences remains one of the biggest mysteries Helen Cooper has faced in the search for her missing sister.
Ms Cooper was just 12 when her blue-eyed, blonde haired older sister, Elaine Johnson, vanished from southern Sydney one day in early 1980.
Elaine is one of four siblings who grew up living a “good family life” in the beachside suburbs of Cronulla and Kurnell after relocating to Australia from the UK as Ten Pound Poms.
The beloved carefree hippie child, who rode bikes, skateboards and wore flower pants, was the kind of big sister who of an evening, after their parents had gone to bed, would wake up her younger sibling to sit up together and watch Monty Python on TV.
The last known sighting of the then 16-year-old was at a caravan park not far from the Johnson’s family home in the Sutherland Shire.
Elaine had been rooming with neighbourhood friend, 17-year-old Kerry Joel, at Woronora caravan park.
The teens left their homes over friction - Elaine from her father after an argument about a party and Kerry from her mother after she smashed her car.
Yet, on or around 1 February, 1980, both Elaine and Kerry disappeared never to be heard from again. In the almost 40 years since that time, the Johnsons, their friends and even police continue to grapple with how the pair could just vanish.
In the past few years alone, Ms Cooper has lobbied to have her sister added to the digital missing persons’ database
First missing poster after 38 years
Elaine was only placed on a missing persons poster for the first time and age progression photo completed last year - 38 years after her disappearance.
“There’s nobody that we feel we can talk to about the case,” Ms Cooper told nine.com.au.
She said when her father first reported Elaine missing police didn’t take him seriously, treating her as a runaway. By the time police started investigating Elaine’s case the trail had gone cold.
In 2014 Ms Cooper and her husband met with a detective who reopened the case. She said the detective got back in touch in 2015, informing them two detectives were now on the case.
“They started looking into (the case) and said they would interview friends and then it (the case) went to coroners,” Ms Cooper said.
After all the hard work to get the case to the coroners, it feels like nothing is now getting done, as the case is just sitting there. She also incredibly claims that it was only in 2015 police realised they were looking for two missing girls.
“They know they’re getting benched and they don’t have the staff due to insufficient funding and staff to handle the cold cases,” she said.
“Police said they’d interview all of the friends and go through their statements and they’d bring back (people to interview) and no-one got re-interviewed due to being moved to unsolved homicides.”
In August 2016, the New South Wales Coroners Court held an inquest into Elaine and Kerry’s disappearance and suspected deaths. In a single sentence, Magistrate Mary Jerram ruled the pair were likely “deceased”. She referred the cases to the Unsolved Homicide Squad.
The lost file
The scant details in the coroner’s findings stands out as unusual, given the police’s assurances to Elaine's family that individuals would be interviewed, though it might be explained by police stating at Coroner’s inquest that Elaine’s file was lost.
“Magistrate Mary Jarram asked was it put to Microfiche? Police replied no it does not exist,” Ms Cooper said.
What is perhaps more incredible is that another inquest into the teens’ disappearance was held in 2007. However, this inquest was allegedly held behind closed doors.
“They (the coroner) pronounced them deceased as 1979 and I refused to let them go with that. You don’t have any (evidence) to come up with that finding. I refused to get the death certificate,” she said.
“That’s the biggest question mark over our head - why did they do that… one bit of paper hand written from the coroner.”
These days Ms Cooper and her family continue to follow any and every possible lead into Elaine’s whereabouts. They are hoping to raise enough funds to hire a private investigator to work through the case.
“I believe the police that dealt with the case did what they could and the best they had. They came in with nothing.” she said.
“When they picked up the case in 2014 they had little information. As Elaine didn’t really have a file and no statements from any friends.”
Ms Cooper has even taken on the task of looking for Kerry too. She believes if there’s evidence on one of them it could lead to finding Elaine or, even better, both.
A sister’s plea
“We are striving to get in contact with any residents or visitors of the caravan park at that time,” Ms Cooper said.
“If anyone saw the girls at the Woronora Caravan Park back then, or spoke to them about where they were going, please come forward.
“If someone has any information at all, no matter how little it is, it could help.”
Ms Cooper has set up a Facebook page
Help Find Elaine Johnson- Missing persons, to gain help and more exposure into her sister’s disappearance.
“There are many leads that we’ve followed up over time that has come to dead ends but you’ve got to,” she said.
“We’re at a standstill. I don’t believe myself that they left the Shire. I can’t, there’s nothing that says they have. There’s nothing to prove they went anywhere else.
“You get someone say I seen the girls here there or somewhere but nothing. They’ve essentially vanished.”
A NSW Police Force spokesperson told nine.com.au Elaine and Kerry’s case “will be formally reviewed under the Unsolved Homicide Unit’s new framework in due course.
“Anyone with information that may assist Strike Force Derrington investigators is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.”
Crime Stoppers can be contacted on 1800 333 000.
Handwritten note baffles family decades after NSW teens vanished
