She was removed from her parents at two and placed under the parental responsibility of the Minister. Between two and fifteen she went through thirteen different carers and care facilities, and in her last two years she was reported missing thirty three times. Just after midnight on 26 October 2012, police found the fifteen year old inside a Strathfield boarding house, did a risk assessment and left her there. One of the adults present had given them a false name. A sergeant filed a Child at Risk report at two in the morning. Nobody followed it up, and she was not reported missing for another eight days. In 2020 a coroner found she is dead, and that she died in suspicious circumstances.
IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING
A $500,000 NSW Government reward stands for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Katrina's disappearance or death, and for information leading to her recovery. The investigation is Strike Force Delange, run by detectives at Auburn. Following the coroner's recommendation the case was referred to the NSW Police Unsolved Homicide Unit.
Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000, or nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence and you do not have to give your name.
In November 2019 police released a photograph taken from Katrina's own Facebook page in the months before she disappeared, showing her with an unidentified man with a shaved head, and asked the public to help identify him. He has not been publicly identified.
Police have never established where Katrina was sleeping during the last three months of her life. She told a cousin she had a little flat and was happy there. It has never been found.
A NOTE ON SOURCING
This episode is built on the findings of Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes, 2 October 2020, delivered after eleven hearing days and read in full.
The coroner found Katrina died on or after 26 October 2012, that the evidence does not allow findings as to the place, manner or cause of her death, and that she died in suspicious circumstances. She found the people last with Katrina gave inconsistent and varying versions of when they last saw her, then expressly declined to comment further because the police investigation is ongoing.
Nobody has ever been charged. No court has made any adverse finding against any person in connection with Katrina's disappearance.
Her father is named because she carries his surname, because he gave evidence at the inquest, and because he candidly accepted there that he was not a good role model for her. Nothing here suggests he had any involvement in her disappearance, and the coroner made no such finding. Other adults associated with the Strathfield address are deliberately not named, for the reason the coroner gave.
The coroner made no recommendations against the Department of Communities and Justice, on the basis that without a finding as to manner of death she could not assess how significant its shortcomings were. Katrina's caseworker is not named here.
SOURCES
Inquest findings, Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes, 2 October 2020: coroners.nsw.gov.au
NSW Police, reward and appeal, Strike Force Delange: police.nsw.gov.au
ABC News, Patrick Begley, on the delay in naming Katrina publicly, 19 Nov 2019
Yahoo News Australia, on the Facebook photograph, 28 Nov 2019
SUPPORT
This episode deals with a missing child, the death of a teenager, children in state care, family violence and drug use.
Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14. Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800. 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732.
New Zealand: Need to talk? 1737. Youthline 0800 376 633.
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