Missing Niamh - 7: Episode 7: Gocup Road

Episode Date: September 23, 2024

Because Jack’s story of dropping Niamh at Gocup Road seems to be accepted, the search focused on that area rather than Jack. His version is reported in the media two weeks after Niamh went missing. Witnesses come forward. https://missingniamh.com

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Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BidMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Please note that some names in this episode have been changed. Additionally, some audio clips are voiced by actors reading from statements or transcripts. Jack Nicholson, the man in the hearse, was supposed to drop 18-year-old Naomi in Butler on Easter Saturday. She planned to catch up with friends Joel and Sol that night, then catch the bus with a prepaid ticket to Sydney on Easter Sunday morning to stay with her sister. Her friend Joel looked around Batlow that Saturday night,

trying without success to find Niamh. The next morning, he went to the bus stop to say goodbye, but she didn't turn up there either. When questioned by police, Jack gave an unlikely story. He said he had driven her through Batlow and dropped her off on the Gokap Road so she could hitchhike. A couple of witnesses came forward to say they had seen a hitchhiker on Gokap Road that could be Niamh. Did the witnesses really see Niamh on Gokap Road, or were they just misremembering after seeing her picture on the news? In a lot of missing persons cases that get media coverage, there will be reported sightings all over the place. People see the case on the news and remember a girl who looked like the one who's

missing, then report it to the police. Detectives have to sort through the reports and consider ones that are more likely or less likely. There was a couple, an elderly couple, who says that they saw a person hitchhiking on the Go Cup Road with a backpack around the time that Niamh went missing. They were the only ones that ever said that. There was nobody else to corroborate it, but they said it and they saw her and she fitted the description of Niamh, a young girl with a blue backpack. So that had sort of added a bit of spice to the Go Cup Road theory

but still created doubts because at that time the Go Cup Road was being, particularly at the intersection of the Go Cup Road and the Snowy Mountains Highway, along the Go Cup Road from that point was under repair, like extensive repair. I think a new bridge went in, if I remember right. So there was a lot of, even though it may have been the Easter weekend, there was still water carts and traffic control and all that sort of thing. Jack's story that he dropped a knee-em off on Go Cup Road to hitchhike was aired on national mainstream news coverage. It was here on Go Cup Road where the 18-year-old was dropped off

by a male friend around midday on Easter Saturday. The 18-year-old was last seen on this stretch of road near Tumut after being dropped off by a friend. She was supposed to catch a Basta Kotamundra or Gundagai, then a train to Sydney. Inexplicably, she decided to hitchhike and was last seen trying to thumb a lift outside Tumut. She'd just finished picking fruit in Batlow and on Easter Saturday drove to Tumut with a friend in an old black hearse.

A very distinctive vehicle. It's a late 60s, early 70s model black Holden station wagon and it's described as a reconditioned hearse. Jack's story of Neham hitchhiking along Gokup Road became the mainstream narrative. A lot of the media coverage from the time appealed for witnesses who saw Nehamh hitchhiking on Go Cup Road. The best way to examine the Go Cup Road theory is to look at it chronologically.

With the benefit of hindsight, we can do what the investigators at the time couldn't. Early in the investigation, leads were coming in from everywhere. People had to be tracked down, and for police, there was a lot of information to process and dissect. If the possibility existed that Jack had left Neham to hitchhike, then anyone in the area with a history of violence or sex offending became a potential suspect and needed to be looked into. One troubled young man who lived in the area had disclosed he wanted to be a serial killer. There was also a murder of a young woman in Canberra, not too far

from Batlow, in the weeks before Neham went missing. On a sightseeing trip to Canberra with another picker during her time in Batlow, Neham actually witnessed police divers searching for evidence in relation to this murder. Possible connections had to be ruled out. There were also theories and sightings all around the country being phoned in. All of these had to be investigated and ruled out. But we have the benefit of hindsight, and a clearer picture does emerge It all starts on Sunday April 7, eight days after Niamh was last seen The NSW Police Media Unit issued their first press release Remember, the week's delay was because the Batlow Police Station was not staffed 24-7, setting the investigation back, and the local police didn't know Neham was missing until Kieran showed up.

So it wasn't until April 7, just over a week after Neham was last seen, that the first press release was issued. These were the key details. Tumut police are appealing for help to find an 18-year-old female who hasn't contacted family and friends for nearly two weeks. A number of inquiries by police in the Gundagai, Tumut, Batlo and Kutamundra areas have failed to locate the 18-year-old and they now hold grave concerns for her safety. Niamh is described as being of white European appearance, 18 years old, 170 to 175 centimetres tall, of slim build, with shoulder-length brown hair, blue-grey eyes, and a freckled face. She was last seen carrying a backpack, tent, sleeping bag,

and a metre-long stick. The metre-long stick was Niamh's fire-twirling stick. On that same day, Sunday April 7th, police spoke to the council worker who was operating the water cart on Go-Cup Road over the Easter long weekend. While there were extensive roadworks on Go Cup Road at the time, the road workers had taken a break over Easter. However, there was one council worker on that road over the weekend. He was operating a water cart to dampen the road to minimise dust. And there was, like, a water tanker and stuff.

The police did talk to them. They didn't see anyone. And they sort of said, oh, they should have remembered too because it was Easter Saturday, long weekend. The water cart operator worked all day Easter Saturday and did not see Jack or a girl hitchhiking or a hearse. Crucially, the spot where Jack mentioned dropping Niamh off on Gokup Road, one to two kilometres from the Snowy Mountain Highway intersection, is the very spot where the roadworks were happening. The council worker was on a break from 12.45pm until 1.15pm.

Jack said he dropped Niamh off between 1 and 2pm, leaving a 15-minute window where they could have missed each other. Crucially, Jack never mentioned anything about seeing roadworks when he allegedly dropped Niamh off at that spot. Yet, most of the witnesses who phoned police and provided statements mentioned the roadworks. It was a key detail in their sightings, not in Jack's. The next day, Monday April 8th, a witness named Robin contacted Tumut Police. Robin and her husband rented a shed on Smarts Lane, which runs off Go Cup Road. They were travelling along Go Cup Road in the afternoon, heading to their shed.

Just before the roadworks commenced on Go Cup Road, Robin and her husband saw a girl walking on the side of the road with a backpack and carrying a stick. Robin described for us what she saw. My husband and I were going to the shed to pick up some stuff from Mix, which it was, it was Mix's place. We had our stuff stored out there. And on the way, we did see this girl walking on the side of the road. And my husband said she shouldn't be walking on the side of the road. And we kept going.

When we come back, she was not there. She seemed to be a bit off the road. She was only walking slow. She was average height, I suppose. I'm not good on heights. But she had a pair of socks on, white coloured sneakers. She had khaki three quarter pants. She had a jacket on, a hat.

She had a stick in her hand. She had a backpack on her back with a roll, a bed roll. And her hair was loose and she was just strolling. She wasn't in a hurry and that's all I can remember about her but I still remember to this day what she looked, not actually looked like but what she was dressed in. Robyn's description she gave when we spoke to her for this podcast matches the description she gave in her police statement 20 years ago. A backpack, a stick, those are some key descriptors that fit the police media release.

But what is important about Robyn's statement is she mentions Go Cup Road and hitchhiking before there is any mention of them in the press. The first official New South Wales Police press release that we just quoted makes no mention of Gokap Road or hitchhiking and offers only Neham's description along with some bare details. Robyn said she saw the hitchhiker right near the spot where Jack says he dropped Neham off.. The problem is, Robin saw this hitchhiker on Thursday March 28, two days before Jack said he dropped Niamh off there. We know Niamh was actually with Jack on the Thursday, exploring Adelong Falls and Blowering Dam and later visiting the Butlow Caravan Park together to catch up with friends.

So it wasn't Niamh who Robin saw that Thursday, even though the description is similar. Robin contacted police just over a week after the sighting and signed a statement saying it was the Thursday. Yes, well if I told him it was Thursday it would have been. Peter was going out to Mix to get something to take to Queensland, so obviously it must have been Thursday. If I had talked to the police and said it was Thursday, it would have been. Robin also recalls seeing multiple road workers working at the time, and we know there were no road workers working from Good Friday through to Easter Monday.

There was only the one council worker operating the water cart working over the long weekend. So, if she saw a hitchhiker on the Thursday, the road workers would have been there. We will come back to Robyn's sighting later in the episode. On Tuesday April 9th, the day after Robin contacted police, the New South Wales Police Media Unit issued a second press release It contained the same information as the first and the same description of Niamh, but also included the following It has been almost two weeks since Niamh contacted her mother and that is out of character for her. Our inquiry is still being treated as a missing persons investigation and we have released an image of a vehicle that Niamh may have been travelling in. The car is a black Holden HT station wagon, which is described as bearing Victorian number plates.

I urge anyone with information about Niamh or the vehicle of interest to contact police immediately. So this time the distinctive hearse gets a mention, and a picture of Jack's hearse was included with this media release. But still no mention of Gokup Road or hitchhiking. Also on this day, the local newspaper, The Tumid and Atalong Times, runs the first of many articles on Neham's case. It was a front page article with the headline, Concerns over the Whereabouts of Teenager, and featured a photo of Neham and a photo of Jack's hearse. There is no new information in the article that hadn't been mentioned in the two press releases.

We gave it fairly heavy media attention and a lot of information came in. Some of it was, you know, good information, others was not so good. But anything that did come in and people said that they saw something or heard something or whatever it may have been had to be interviewed. So it became fairly extensive from that point on and still, even though we suspected Jason Nicholson has been involved

in her disappearance, at least her death, there wasn't much meat to the whole suspicion, if you know what I mean. We had nothing really apart from our gut feeling, you know, obviously bank records and medical records and all that sort of stuff start coming in in relation to Nehemiah and there was no activity there. So we knew that as time went on, it certainly became a little bit more suspicious. On Friday, April 12, the bi-weekly Tumid and Adelong Times ran another article. Again, it was a front-page story. No last-known definitive location is given in this article.

Quote, It appears she travelled to Djindjelik, a gathering point for many hundreds of campers at Easter time, where she spent Easter Friday and part of Saturday, before probably returning to Batlow and possibly Tumet on the Saturday afternoon. Just take a moment to think about that wording. Probably returning to Batlow and possibly Tumet. Probably. Possibly. The information in the article comes from the police, who are quoted in it, and it doesn't sound like they are sold on Jack's story at this point

There is still no mention of hitchhiking or Go Cup Road specifically anywhere in the media at this time Everything changes on Tuesday April 16, and the police source quoted in the media was the Tumet crime manager, a detective inspector. This front page article in the Tumet and Adelong Times has the headline, Niamh may have hitchhiked from Tumet Easter Saturday. The article says, The attention of a dozen police investigators probing the disappearance of an 18-year-old woman in the district 16 days ago is now being focused on Tumut. It is believed the woman secured a lift from Gingellic to Tumut on Easter Saturday and may have been hitchhiking on the Gokap Road, about 1km from Tumut, around 1.30pm to 2pm that day. According to the Tumut crime manager,

the investigation team has established Neem travelled to Gingellic with friends on Good Friday March 29. After the others decided to stay on at Gingellic, she apparently secured a lift to Tumut the following day, where she was probably dropped off on Gokap Road. Neem is known to have booked a coach and rail ticket to Sydney. Her ticket has remained unused and Strikeforce Yola investigators are at this stage holding to the theory that she intended catching the train to Sydney at Kutamundra. It was possible she may have decided to hitchhike and cash in the coach component of her ticket in order to save money. We are very keen to

hear from anyone who may have seen an 18-year-old woman on the Go Cup Road on Easter Saturday. So here it is, publicly mentioned for the first time, hitchhiking and the Go Cup Road. But why now? This wasn't new information. What is published in this article is essentially Jack's version of events, and Jack was interviewed at Deniliquin Police Station 10 days earlier, on April 6th. So police were aware of this information when press releases and previous articles were being written. It wasn't leaked to the press, a senior officer is quoted giving the information and appealing for witnesses to come forward.

So that means a strategic decision was made by the police to release this information. They also mentioned the possibility of Niamh cashing in the bus component of her ticket to save money, as Jack had alluded to But, as you have already heard, Niamh would have only saved $5.50 But to get that $5.50, she was making things infinitely more difficult for herself by giving up a free night's accommodation in Batlow, right near the bus stop. Why would she give that up to hitchhike to try and save $5.50? Where did she plan to stay in Kutamundra that Saturday night if she made it there? Accommodation in Kutamundra would have been a lot more than $5.50. Also on Tuesday April 16th, the day this article mentioning hitchhiking was published, investigators made contact with Jack over the phone. It's the first time they had spoken to him since he left the Deniliquin police station, at least according to the information that we had access to. He was asked some follow-up

questions and asked to confirm what Niamh was wearing when he dropped her off on Gokarp Road. Was it just a coincidence this story was released the same day the follow-up was made with Jack? Was it some sort of play? Look Jack, we believe your story, now talk to us some more. Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps the decision makers decided Jack's story did actually hold some weight and it was time to make a direct appeal for witnesses who may have seen Niamh, or the hearse, on Go Cup Road on Easter Saturday. Whatever the reason for the change in tactics with the media appeals, it worked. People came forward.

In fact, that very day a witness came forward to report seeing a woman with a backpack on Go Cup Road. But subsequent inquiries revealed this sighting was actually on Easter Sunday, so not Niamh. Two days later, on Thursday April 18th, a witness named Dorothy came forward and reported seeing a young woman walking along Go Cup Road on Easter Saturday morning between 10.30 and 11.30am. The time is too early for it to have been Neom, according to Jack's timeline. Dorothy remembers the young woman having a backpack and carrying a stick, but little else about her.

The next day, Friday April 19th, featured another appeal in the Tumor and Atalong Times for anyone who may have seen an 18-year-old woman on the Go Cup Road on Easter Saturday. This brought forward another witness. A man called Patrick told police he saw a girl walking along Go Cup Road on Easter Saturday around 3.45pm. When giving his statement, Patrick was shown a photograph of Niamh. He said, The girl I saw that day was of a similar mould to the girls in the photographs. However, the girl I saw didn't appear to be as tall as the one in the photograph. There's some similarities between the two girls and I lean towards that it's possibly the same girl. But being three weeks ago since I seen her, and I only seen her for a moment, I can't

be definitely sure that they are one of the same. It was on Tuesday April 23rd that everything changed. A brief snippet on page two of the Tumut and Adelong Times said, The special police strike force established to find a missing 18-year-old girl, who has been missing since Easter, is to embark on a doorknock of houses along the Gokup Road in the coming days in an endeavour to establish if she was seen travelling on that road on Easter Saturday. Later that day, Val and Cole, a couple who resided on Gokup Road, each provided a statement to police. We managed to track down Val, who is now living interstate. Her husband Cole has since passed away. Although over 20 years have passed since the sighting,

Val still remembers the day she and Cole saw the woman walking along Gokap Road. Yeah, when we saw the news in the paper, the local paper, I said to Cole and my husband, I said, I bet that's the girl that we passed. And we both said we'd better get in and report it, you know, which we did. Val and Cole had been visiting their children and shopping in Tumut on Easter Saturday and were driving back home along Gok Cup Road between 12.30 and 1pm. Val remembers the roadworks and then soon after, seeing a hitchhiker in front of them, walking in the same direction they were driving, towards Gundagai, which meant the hitchhiker had her back turned. Well, we'd been to town to do some shopping, and it was getting towards lunchtime, and

we were on our way home from Tumut, and we were almost to the turn off of our lane, and there's a flight still coming from town where Niamh was walking and we both passed, remarked, if you wanted to pick the person up from there, you couldn't because of the danger of the traffic right on the crest of the hill. Anyhow, we drove past. My husband thought it was a male and I looked back and I said, no.

This is corroborated in Cole's statement. He said, When we were about 100 metres north of the intersection of Go Cup and Go Cup Farms Road, I saw a person walking on the left-hand side of the road heading towards Gundagai. From the back, I couldn't determine if the person was a male or female. As we drove past, my wife told me that the person was a girl.

As we went past, she continued walking and put her thumb out for a lift. She didn't turn and face the car. She just kept walking at the same pace. I can't recall her actually using the thumb or anything like that because she had a stick and a backpack on and walking with the stick but I can't recall, I don't think she was although it's been a discussion between my husband and I since that he thought she was but I was on the same side that she was on so I don't think she was actually hitchhiking because she didn't turn her head around to look back at the traffic where we were. You know, she just kept walking.

Yeah, and anyhow, that was it. We just went home, started to prepare lunch and we had such good views in the dining kitchen room overlooking the highway. We will be back after a short break. games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. Download the BetMGM casino app today. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. BetMGM.com for T's and C's, 90 plus to wager Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you,

please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Val and Cole believed the woman must have gotten a lift because they didn't see her walk past their house. Cole told the police, I would estimate that it would have taken the girl about 10 minutes to walk up and past our house if she continued at the same pace she was setting when we drove past. Whilst preparing and eating lunch, I was often glancing out the window at the view and the road.

I was in the kitchen for about an hour. During this time, I didn't see the girl walk past. If she had done so, I would have certainly noticed her. I believe she must have got a lift between where I'd driven past her and our house. Because of the beautiful views we had and a lot of glass in the front of our house, we could see a lot of things that went on and off the road, you know, so we didn't actually see her walk past. In our endeavour to be as thorough as possible, we tested this.

The new occupants of Val and Cole's house kindly allowed us to check the view of the road from the house. We were mindful that 20 years had passed and the shrubbery and landscape would have changed in that time. So, while we found a good view of Gokup Road, it was not uninterrupted. We recreated what Val and Cole said they saw by having someone walk along Go Cup Road while we watched them from the house. In our experiment, it took 15 minutes to walk from the southern part of Go Cup Road, where you first see someone walking along the road from Val's kitchen, to the northern part, where you would lose sight of them. So Cole's estimate of 10 minutes was close. But within that 15 minutes walking time, a person walking on the road was only visible for a total of 5 minutes intermittently, walking in and out of view due to trees, shrubs and general landscape and slope of the terrain. So, having checked ourselves, we saw that it would be possible for someone to walk past Cole and Val's property and not be seen by them, particularly if they weren't watching the road non-stop.

We are not challenging the fact that they saw a young woman on the road, just the assumption that she would have had to have been picked up before she reached their property, otherwise they would have seen her. At the same time though, would you have been actively looking for her? Is it possible she could have walked past and you not noticed her? Yeah, but when you see something like that, you sort of look to see, yes, they're still walking or no, they're not. We're both looking out, well, I was looking out onto the roadway and couldn't see anyone walk past. Well, Cole was too because he was the one that mentioned that he had to see her go by. Val did her best to recollect what she had seen that day nearly 20 years ago. What she told us reflects the statement she

made back then. I thought she looked shortish. She had a cloth hat on. And please don't ask me colours. These are now my memories gone. But I thought she had on a check shirt over a T-shirt or something like that. And I'm not sure at this stage whether it was shorts or trousers. And did she have any bags with her? She had a, I suppose you'd call it a backpack on her back

and that I can call, but she was carrying a stick or a metre and a half, two metres long. Cole provided a similar description in his statement. Most importantly, at the end of Val's statement, she said I saw the picture of the missing girl in the newspaper and TV But I cannot confidently say that it was the same person I saw walking along Go Cup Road Easter Saturday The police officer taking Val's statement then showed her a picture of Niamh, to which Val said, I would say that the girl I saw hiking on the side of the road had that colour type of hair.

Upon looking at the photograph, I cannot say that it was definitely her I saw hiking, but the hair colour is similar to the girls in the photograph. I have no doubt Val and Cole saw someone walking along Go Cup Road, but was it Niamh? Keep in mind it's now over 24 days after Niamh was allegedly dropped off on Go Cup Road, and there had been heavy media reporting in the local area since. The description Cole and Val gave is similar to the description Robin gave in her statement a few weeks earlier. But remember, Robin saw the hitchhiker on Thursday March 28, not on Easter Saturday. Robin also came forward mentioning hitchhiker and Go-cup road before that information was in the media. In his statement, Cole admits that he only saw the woman from behind. In fact, he initially thought the hitchhiker was male.

It was Val who turned around as they drove past to get a better look and then corrected him that the hitchhiker was female. Cole was then shown two photographs of Nahum when giving his statement. After seeing the photos, he said, Prior to attending the station, I wasn't completely sure as I was only going off the black and white photos in the paper. But on seeing the colour versions at the station, I am convinced that the girl I saw on the go-kart road and the missing girl, Niamh May, are the same person. It is Cole who is most certain that it was Niamh he and Val saw. In fact, he is the most certain out of all the witnesses so far, even though he admits never seeing her face. He only saw her from behind.

Cole wasn't sure at the start of his statement, but after being shown colour photographs while giving his statement, he became certain. So, while Val and Cole did their bit to help in Niamh's investigation, seeing someone from behind like Cole, or with a glance around like Val, means we need to take this into consideration when we weigh everything up. Val and Cole were simply reporting what they'd seen, but given where the investigation headed from here, it raises the question, was too much weight placed on their identification when it contained some serious question marks? The next day, Wednesday April 24th, two more witnesses came forward to report seeing a person with a backpack on Gokup Road on Easter Saturday. Neither witness could determine if the person they saw was male or female, and other than the backpack, the descriptions were not similar to Neem. Despite none of the witnesses providing solid identifications so far, on Friday April 26, the Tumut and Adelong Times ran a front page story with the

headline, Missing Teenager Confirmed Hitchhiking on Gokap Road. The accompanying article read, There has been a minor breakthrough in the investigation into the disappearance of Neem May with a confirmed sighting of her on Easter Saturday on the Gokup Road, 4.5 kilometres north of Tumut. The sighting, believed to have been made by a resident of Gokup Road, appears to confirm earlier information told to police that after getting a lift from Djungelik to Tumut in a black ex-Hearse Holden station wagon, she had been let out of that vehicle and had intended hitchhiking. Information about the sighting was made known to police earlier this week.

Going by the dates, it's Val and Cole sightings that are referenced in this article. Specifically Cole, since he is the only person so far who is convinced it was Niamh he saw on Gokap Road, despite not seeing her face. By her own admission, Val couldn't confidently say it was Niamh, even after seeing her face. Regardless of accuracy, this is when the media started reporting it as fact that Neem had hitchhiked along Gokap Road. This isn't about criticising the media. They are only reporting what was relayed to them. Neem's family are forever grateful for the coverage her case got. However, once the news reports put Neham on Gokap Road with a giant leap to run a headline saying,

Missing teenager confirmed hitchhiking on Gokart Road. But again, this is not to criticise the media, this is information that would have been given to them by police. The witness statements to that point had been vague at best. Given the passage of time between seeing and reporting, is it possible that witnesses were remembering the same hitchhiker Robin saw on the Thursday? Jack's story was now being repeated. Police media releases and quotes changed from possibly and probably to confirmed hitchhiking. The mainstream narrative had been formed. People believed Nahum had hitchhiked. It was now the official theory. In what seemed like a series of unfortunate coincidences that kept adding fuel to the fire,

a farmer on Gokup Road reported a bad smell emanating from his property, like something was decomposing. Four police officers visited the farmer's property on Saturday April 27th. They were unable to conduct an in-depth search because of the nature of the terrain. They made a note that a further, more in-depth search would have to be conducted at a later date. However, at 11.15am, they did locate a box that contained 11 rifle bullets. The bullets were seized and taken into evidence. There was now no doubt where the police investigation was heading, as that very same day, an email was sent by a police inspector officially requesting assistance to search the Gokap Road from Tumet to Gundagai.

The wording in the email makes it clear that police were funnelling resources into the Gokap Road hitchhiking theory. The decomposing smell only cemented it further. The email said, The missing person was last seen on the Gokap Road approximately 5 kilometres from Tumut and it is believed that she may have been attempting to hitchhike to Kutamundra. It goes on to describe Gokap Road and the high chance of a hitchhiker being hit by traffic. It refers to a previous incident

involving a motorist running off the road around 10 years earlier, who died, but he and the motor vehicle weren't located for about two weeks. The email also mentioned the possibility of foul play. To eliminate the possibility of the missing person being deceased and her body lying somewhere along the Gokap Road, a thorough search of the bushland either side of the Gokap Road to Gundagai is proposed. occurred at 2pm, about 5km from Tumut, and to darkness not being until about 8pm due to daylight saving, it is possible to walk that entire distance to Gundagai. However, at this time, there have been no further positive sightings after 2pm. That is internal police correspondence referring to Val and Cole sighting as a positive sighting. The email proposes the search start May 2nd. A request was made for both Tumut and Gundagai SES to assist, as well as 10 Specialist Operational Support Group Police, two trail bikes and riders, and Pole Air. The proposed plan of action, the search, is the result of consultation between

the Tumor Duty Officer, the Task Force YOLA Commander, and Crime Manager, Kootamundra Local Area Command. So there it is. Gokup Road, hitchhiking. It was now the narrative. The request for assistance for the search was granted and on May 2nd, a large-scale search of Gokap Road was undertaken. It was covered by the media, where the hitchhiking theory was again repeated. Police investigating the disappearance of an Armadale teenager at Tumut say they've lost hope that she's still alive. Today they stepped up their search for clues near where she was last seen. A month since Niamh May disappeared and police were back at Tumut, this time though with grave concerns.

It was here on Gokup Road where the 18-year-old was dropped off by a male friend around midday on Easter Saturday. Niamh, who'd been fruit picking, planned to hitchhike 100 kilometres to Cootamundra to catch a train to Sydney to meet up with her family. It was a farmer who saw her last, walking alongside the road carrying a backpack and sleeping bag. It's been some 30 days since she's disappeared and as the passage of time, the worse it is. While police say she may have been hit by a car or truck, the matter is being treated as a murder investigation. As pole air searched bushland and nearby properties, dozens of police and rescue workers combed

the roadside. Police are focusing their search within 20 kilometres of the last confirmed sighting of Niamh May, and if no evidence is found, investigators are almost certain that she was picked up and taken out of the area. The search proved unsuccessful, and the decomposing smell turned out to be a dead kangaroo. But the story remained. Neem May hitchhiked from Gokap Road. It was repeated in news reports and newspaper articles from this point. Some more witnesses came forward with vague sightings, but nothing concrete. It seems a lot of weight was placed on Cole's sighting, and it seemed like Jack's story had been accepted by police.

But not everyone on the investigative team was really convinced. Detective Steve Rose. It was a really difficult investigation in the fact that we were probably searching places that Neem had never, ever been anyway. And just based on information we were told, and the first lot of information was the fact that she was dropped off on the Go Cup Road,

which now, looking back on it, was most likely a lie and we probably suspected that at the time. Steve Rose was never convinced of the Go Cup Road sightings. He believed Jack was lying. But other police on the task force believed the Go Cup Road sightings had real weight and Jack may have been telling the truth. We were interested to get a feel of what some of the local residents thought about all this. This is Millie. Well, that's the first thing you think. I mean, there's nothing on Go Cup Road. I mean,

there's really nothing there. There would be no point there's nothing on Go Cup Road. I mean, there's really nothing there. There would be no point being dropped off at Go Cup Road. I mean, yeah, I don't know. I don't know. That sounds a bit crazy. Did Go Cup Road make sense to local woman Michelle? No. No.

It's nothing at Go Cup Road. It's just a road in between two towns. So, like, it's weird to hear that she was last seen there. Like, I don't understand why. Batlow Caravan Park proprietor Penny didn't understand it either. I think it was pretty bloody strange, actually. Why wouldn't she just get on the bus here? But with the Jack's version gaining traction, it seemed he was in the clear. What did he and Garth get up to while all of this was going on? Just how closely could the police monitor him given his itinerant lifestyle? Detective Steve Rose explains the difficulties. It was difficult, he was an itinerant type

bloke who moved from town to town picking fruit and different types of fruit in it, in fact even interstate. Yeah, so over time we did keep an eye on his movements. We know that Jack and Garth were in the vicinity of Deniliquin on Saturday the 6th of April, because that's when they were interviewed by the police. But something else happened when Jack and Garth stopped off at the Deniliquin police station. When the police entered Jack's name into the system, it turned out that he had outstanding warrants. Seven years earlier, in January 1995, Jack had been charged in the country town of Orange in New South Wales with three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was given bail but didn't stay around to attend court, so arrest warrants had been issued

in New South Wales. When this came up on the police check, the Deniliquin Police arrested Jack. He had been wanted in New South Wales for over seven years. Jack was interviewed and the hearse was also seized for forensic examination. Jack gave his version of what happened on Easter Saturday when Nahum was last seen. Jack wasn't charged with anything to do with Nahum's case, but his outstanding warrants for the assault charges seven years earlier were processed. Jack was held in police custody overnight to front bail court in Deniliquin the next day. He was granted bail on the condition he provided a $500 surety

payment, a reasonable person also provided an additional $500 surety, and that he reported daily to Deniliquin Police Station. Jack agreed to these conditions. So, despite Jack being wanted by NSW Police for seven years and having no fixed address Essentially living out of his car from campground to campground following the fruit picking seasons And after having a history of failing to attend court, bail was granted The decision by the court to grant Jack bail would have consequences beyond belief On the next episode of Missing Niamh He didn't smile or anything He just kind of looked empty and just

like get in the car It was just kind of like aggressively like get in the car You wanted to sell the car, the hearse. You wanted to sell it, you wanted to go away and never come back.