By Stuart Kavanagh
On Friday April 22 back in 2016 Broken Hill resident Christine Young walked out of the town’s hospital and hasn’t been seen since.
Christine is just one of thousands of people nationwide who disappear each year, with as many as 35,000 annually reported missing and going off the radar for brief periods before returning or being found, but Ms Young is one of around 1600 people who go missing each year and are either missing for a long time or simply never found.
As a part of Missing Persons Week, NSW Police are renewing calls for help from the public in a bid to solve the mystery of what happened to Ms Young.
Missing Persons Week is an annual national campaign to raise awareness of the issues and impacts surrounding missing persons and runs between Sunday July 2 and Saturday August 6.
Ms Young went missing on Friday April 22, 2016, after leaving Broken Hill Hospital around 5 pm. She was last seen around an hour later near scrubland north-west of Broken Hill near Silverton Road.
Despite the best efforts of the Dog Unit, Polair and volunteers, along with police officers attached to the Barrier Police District, an intensive land and air search came up with nothing. The case remains open, and Detective Inspector Tom Aylett, Crime Manager at Barrier Police District, is urging anyone with information to come forward.
“Police have conducted extensive enquiries with the aim to find out what happened to Christine and are seeking closure for Christine’s family,” Detective Inspector Aylett said.
“Any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, could be the missing puzzle piece to solving the disappearance of Christine.
I urge you to pick up the phone and call Crime Stoppers if you believe you have information that could assist us in our investigations.”
In September 2018, a coronial inquest determined that Ms Young had likely died in the scrubland surrounding Broken Hill sometime between Sunday April 24 and Tuesday April 26.
Ms Young is described as of Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander appearance.
She had an olive complexion, about 165cm – 170cm tall, with black hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing dark tracksuit pants and bright blue joggers.
Any information is treated in the strictest of confidence, and the public is reminded not to report anything on NSW Police Force social media pages.
For more on Missing Persons Week, visit missingpersons.gov.au
If you have any information about the disappearance of Ms Young, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000
