‘We want justice’: Family of murdered 7-year-old confronts accused killer in court

The families of Colleen Walker-Craig, Evelyn Greenup, and Clinton Speedy-Duroux are demanding more decisive action from police to solve their children's 36-year-old cold cases. Homicide detectives have arrived in Macksville, a town north of Bowraville, for a week-long engagement with locals in a bid to find the body of Colleen Walker-Craig and gather information about the other two missing children.

Police have not previously targeted the Macksville community, and the families of the missing children are urging anyone with information to come forward. Colleen Walker-Craig, a 16-year-old Indigenous girl, was last seen in Bowraville on September 13, 1990, and her weighted-down clothes were found in the Nambucca River months later, but her body has never been discovered.

Her case remains a 36-year cold case, with a $1 million reward offered for information leading to the discovery of her remains. Similarly, four other Indigenous children - Evelyn Greenup and Clinton Speedy-Duroux - disappeared around the same time in the area and have also been missing for decades. A $1 million reward has been offered for information that leads to their cases being solved.

Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi acknowledged the families' concerns and assured them that the community engagement could help the investigation. He emphasized that this was not just a goodwill exercise but a result of valuable information obtained in a similar operation in Bowraville in 2024. The families are demanding police to stop appealing and directly solve the cold cases, as they have been suffering for three-quarters of their lives, unable to find peace.