Australia Australia - Melissa Brown, 15, Blair Athol, SA, 13 May 2000

symbah

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  • #1
https://www.police.sa.gov.au/sa-pol...ther-and-daughter-to-be-reviewed#.WMU3mnDnLG4

Disappearance and murder of mother and daughter to be reviewed

The mysterious disappearance and murder of mother and daughter Rosemary Brown and Melissa Brown (aka Trussell) in 2000 will be subject to a review as part of Major Crime Investigation Branch’s Operation Persist.

The 33-year-old and her 15-year-old daughter disappeared after leaving a property in Dover St, Blair Athol early on 13 May 2000, and never reaching their intended destination in Klemzig.
The body of Rosemary Brown was found in mangroves at Garden Island about seven weeks later, and her daughter, who has never been seen again, is presumed by police to also be dead.
Major Crime Detective Brevet Sergeant Jodie O’Brien said Rosemary went to work on the afternoon of Friday 12 May 2000 at a Windsor Gardens school where she was a cleaner.
After work she was at the Windsor Gardens caravan park along with a number of associates and both her children, Melissa and Nathan, then aged 11.
Her son went to stay with friends, while Melissa and Rosemary went to the Dover Street address where they had been staying in a caravan in the back yard of the address.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, (13 May 2000) Rosemary left the caravan and Melissa followed her. That was the last time they were seen.
Rosemary’s handbag was later found by a member of the public at a Northfield address – on 14 May – but was not handed to police until media coverage of the case on 23 May.
Detective Brevet Sergeant O’Brien said Rosemary had been evicted from the Windsor Gardens caravan park where she was living on 7 May and that night she stayed, with an associate, in the caravan in a car park at Garden Island.
On Sunday 2 July, Rosemary’s body was found in vicinity of where the caravan had been parked that night.
Her associate, who was the owner of the caravan, has been interviewed by police, but Detective Brevet Sergeant O’Brien said he is not the only person of interest to investigators in relation to this matter.
“He had contact with Rosemary in the days leading up to her death, but police have an open mind in relation to what has occurred in this matter,” she said.
“We still don’t know where Rosemary was murdered, and we have never found Melissa although we suspect she may have been murdered and disposed of in the same area.
“Children fishing with their family found Rosemary and a police search of the area subsequently failed to find any sign of Melissa.”
The case was reviewed in 2004, will be subject to fresh analysis as a result of the long-running police cold case campaign, Operation Persist and was featured in the Sunday Mail today in a bid to elicit new information from the community.
Also as part of the operation the mother and daughter were featured on a set of playing cards distributed in SA prisons (pictured below) which highlighted unsolved matters.
The cards are intended to highlight rewards offered by the State Government in connection with unsolved matters to those within the prison system.
A reward of up to $1 million is available for anyone providing information leading to the apprehension and conviction or a person for Melissa Brown’s suspected murder, or for the recovery of her remains.
A reward of $200,000 is available for anyone with information which leads to the apprehension and conviction of a person in relation to the murder of Rosemary Brown.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report online athttps://crimestopperssa.com.au/ - you can remain anonymous.
 
  • #2
  • #3
No one has seen Melissa Brown since she and her mother Rosemary left their home at 1.30am on May 7, 2000 to find her brother.

Two months later, on July 2, the 33-year-old mother's body was found in the mangroves of Garden Island, 15 kilometres north west of Adelaide CBD.

Police fear the 15-year-old girl was also murdered and a $1 million reward has been offered for information leading to a conviction.
1693954474277.jpeg

Melissa Brown before she disappeared from Adelaide in May 2000.

The mother and her two children had been evicted from their caravan at the Windsor Gardens Caravan Park in Adelaide and were staying with a friend named Mark Nicholls.

Mr Nicholls had a neighbouring caravan at Windsor Gardens and invited the family to move in. But then all four tenants were evicted from the park three days later, on 7 May 2000.

They slept at the Garden Island boat ramp in Mr Nicholls' caravan and had arranged to move the caravan to a friends backyard in Blair Athol.

Ms Brown would be 38-years-old.
 
  • #4
Rosemary Brown had three jobs she loved her son and daughter, Nathan and Melissa ,I think I read that she on Friday she worked two jobs that day, by accounts she was a very good mother looking after to children you ask anywhere who works three jobs or two jobs by the weekend comes they're in bed they're tired they're not going to go walking 1.40 am in the morning besides she knew where a son was, he was staying with friends . The story that MN said that she went off looking for a son is very dubious, and maybe something happened at the caravan that night.
Considering rosemaries body was found in the mangroves in the vicinity where the caravan used to park is also another red flag.
The pictures of Rosemary and her daughter Melissa a very haunting.... Knowing they are now dead ,such a loving mother and a beautiful daughter .
 
  • #5


Family Plea For Cold Case Closure​


Following decades of heartache, the family of Melissa Trussell (Brown) have joined police in a renewed call for information regarding the historic disappearance of the 15-year-old, and unsolved murder of her mother, Rosemary.

Rosemary Brown, 33, along with her daughter Melissa, were last seen leaving their Blair Athol home at about 2.30am on Saturday 13 May, 2000.

Today marks exactly 25 years since Rosemary's body was discovered in the mangroves at Garden Island on 2 July 2000. Melissa's remains have never been found.
 
  • #6
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"Despite the passage of time,
police believe they may be closing in on a breakthrough,
aided in part by advances in DNA technology.

'We're following some positive lines of inquiry
but we can always have more information
and sometimes it's those little pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that we're looking for to put it all together',
Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke said."
 
  • #7
  • #8
A girl smiling in a school photo

South Australian police divers have launched a new search for the body of 15-year-old Adelaide girl Melissa Trussell, who went missing in 2000 in a suspected double murder.

Melissa and her 33-year-old mother, Rosemary Brown, were last seen in Blair Athol, in Adelaide's north, at about 2:30am on Saturday, May 13, 2000.

Ms Brown's body was found seven weeks later in mangroves at Garden Island in Adelaide's north-west on July 2, but Melissa's body has never been found.

A previously unsearched area of water and mangroves on the northern side of Garden Island was the focus of the fresh search on Friday.

SA Police suspended the search on Friday afternoon, and said a vehicle had been located in the area.

South Australian schoolgirl Melissa Trussell was last seen with her mother Rosemary Brown in Blair Athol in Adelaide's north at about 2.30am on Saturday, May 13 in 2000.
South Australian schoolgirl Melissa Trussell was last seen with her mother Rosemary Brown in Blair Athol in Adelaide's north at about 2.30am on Saturday, May 13 in 2000. She was 15 at the time of her disappearance and her mother was 33.
 
  • #9
July 18 2025 rbbm
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''A fresh search was launched today after a new location was identified duringa comprehensive cold case review of the original investigation. The review also resulted in new leads being pursued by South Australia Police's major crime investigation branch detectives.
The police, including their water operations unit, today conducted a fresh search on Garden Island for the remains of Trussell and located a vehicle within the search area.''

"A section of the front grill was retrieved to assist with identification of the vehicle," it said.
"Further enquiries are being conducted by Major Crime to determine whether the vehicle is connected with the murder of Rosemary Brown and suspected murder of Melissa Trussell.''

1752936345794.webp
 
  • #10



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  • #11
  • #12
Aug 2, 2025
''It's a cold case that has been brought back into the spotlight.
South Australia's major crime detectives are re-visiting the murder of Rosemary Brown and her daughter Melissa Trussell in 2000.
Tonight, a former police diver exclusively told 9News of his role in the investigation, while supporting this fresh search for answers.''
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The retired police diver was among those first on scene and tasked with retrieving the body of Brown from the Mangroves in 2000. (9News)
 
  • #13

Police reveal vehicles of interest in Rosemary Brown and Melissa Trussell cold case murder investigation​

 
  • #14
Can they not get any dna or evidence from her mother’s body?
 
  • #15
1756213477764.webp

A new witness claims they saw a blue Ford XD Falcon sedan in the Mutton Cove area days after the disappearance. Picture: SA Police
25 August 2025 rbbm.

'New evidence on two cars has sparked a fresh search in a 25-year cold case.
New information has emerged in a 25-year murder cold case that stunned the nation, with specialist divers now hunting fresh evidence in a murky cove.''

'The cold-blooded murder of Adelaide woman Rosemary Brown and disappearance of her daughter Melissa Trussell has puzzled detectives for decades, but Tuesday’s fresh search could provide critical new evidence.'
1756213397950.webp

Melissa Trussell were last seen leaving her Blair Athol home with her mother about 2.30am on Saturday, May 13, 2000. Picture: SA Police
'Ms Brown’s body was discovered in 2000, face down among the mangroves of Garden Island in Adelaide’s northwest. Her 15-year-old daughter has never been found.
More than 25 years later, police have launched a fresh search at the Mutton Cove Conservation Reserve in Osborne, next to Garden Island.''
 
  • #16
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Aug 26, 2025 #BREAKINGNEWS #7NEWS

Forensic officers have seized bone fragments in a new major crime search for a teen cold case murder victim.Fresh information suggests the body of 15-year-old Melissa Trussell might have been dumped there.
 

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