Final hours of 10 baffling Far North deaths, disappearances
TEN families want answers.
For some of them the mystery of what happened to their loved ones in the Far North has tortured them for almost 40 years.
The lost souls are mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends who either disappeared without a trace or died in unsolved suspicious circumstances.
Rewards of up to $250,000 lie on offer to help solve four of these cases, while one has already been the subject of an inquest and another is about to be.
From the Cassowary Coast to Cape York and west to Atherton and Julatten, virtually nowhere in the region has been immune to these mysteries - some of which police know people are hiding secrets.
These are their stories and the final moments which led to their disappearances or deaths.
Alexandra Gowing
Missing Since: May 29, 2004
Last Seen: Cairns.
Description: 170cm, slim build, brown hair, brown eyes, fair complexion
Alexandra was born in 1954 and would now be 66, but would have been 50 when she vanished in Cairns in 2014. At the time she was wearing a faded one piece dress in green colour with floral pattern. She also had a scar above the left eye and a tattoo of a dove carrying a fig leaf on the left side of her shoulder or back.
Allison Bernard
Missing Since: February 10, 2013
Last Seen: Archer River
Description: 155cm, slim build, brown hair, brown eyes, dark complexion
The eight-year mystery behind young mum of two Allison's death is set to become the subject of a coronial inquest in Cairns in June following an intense campaign by her distraught family for answers.
The then 23-year-old was last seen at the Archer River quarry where she had travelled with the caretaker Thomas Byrne, who she had met earlier that day, for a sexual encounter.
During a pre-inquest hearing in February, the court heard she vanished sometime during the night and despite a large scale police search through the quarry and nearby waterways, no trace has been found.
Frederick Bamboo
Missing Since: June 1, 1995
Last Seen: Palm Island
Description: 165cm, thin build, black hair, brown eyes, dark complexion
Frederick, who would now be 71, was living in Mossman when he travelled to Palm Island in 1995 to attend a family funeral. He has not made contact with family, friends or associates since and not been located despite extensive inquiries.
Katie O'Shea
Missing Since: December 29, 2005
Last Seen: Atherton
Description: 171cm, slim build, dark hair, green eyes, tanned complexion
Kathleen, or Katie, O'Shea had come to the Tablelands in late 2005 to await the birth of her first grandchild. The mum of five went to play pool at an Atherton pub and was not seen again.
She is suspected to have been murdered which was what Coroner Jane Bentley ruled following an inquest into her disappearance in 2014, saying her death was caused by "unknown person or persons" and her body hidden.
Convicted sex offender Frank Wark has been named as a "person of interest" in her disappearance.
Katie's daughter Lily Parmenter has continued to campaign relentlessly for answers and recently appeared on a podcast called Missing or Murdered.
Katie would be 59 now.
Martin Frodsham
Missing Since: July 1, 2012
Last Seen: Cairns
Description: 169cm, medium build, brown hair, green eyes, fair complexion
Martin travelled from Western Australia to Brisbane in June 2012 as a 44-year-old with the intention of looking for work in the Gladstone area. He was last seen in the Cairns and Cooktown areas the following month and there has been no trace of him since.
He would be 53 now.
Michael Lorenz-Schrader
Missing Since: August 21, 1996
Last Seen: Gordonvale
Description: 185cm tall, solid build, black hair, brown eyes, olive complexion
Michael was known as "Adrian" to close family and friends and was believed to be planning to travel to the Northern Territory via western Queensland.
He has not been seen since.
He was aged 33 at the time and would now be aged 57.
William Paul and Grayuyda Maria Clarke
Died: 24 May, 1981
Location: Julatten
Reward: $250,000
The remains of two people, believed to be couple William Paul and Grayuyda Maria Clarke, were found in their burned out residence on Pinnacle Rd in Julatten on May 24, 1981.
A post mortem found both of them had been shot with a shotgun.
A reward of $250,000 has been issued by police for anyone with information which leads to a conviction over their suspicious deaths.
Howard Hobson
Died: 20 January, 2004
Location: Cairns Hospital
Reward: $250,000
Howard was located unconscious and bleeding on a footpath in Wharf St about 1.30am.
He was suffering from a severe head wound and died later that morning in Cairns Hospital.
Police investigating his death found he had been the victim of a "callous and brutal assault", however have been unable to identify the person responsible.
Marko Jekic
Died: April 1989
Location: Unknown
Reward: $250,000
The 44-year-old opal dealer left Cairns with a briefcase of cash on April 1 1989, with plans of conducting business deals through the Cassowary Coast, but was never heard from again and police strongly suspect he met with foul play.
Police have never revealed the nature of the "business deals" Mr Jekic was involved in or his link to the associates he was due to meet with.
Detectives remain certain there were several people still living in the region who know what happened, but were being held back by "blind loyalty" or fear.
The cold case was reopened in late 2019 with a $250,000 reward issued.
Angela Mealing
Last Seen: 1 April 2000
Body Found: 15 May 2000
Location: Behana Creek
Reward: $250,000
An off-duty police officer was the last person to see schoolgirl Angela Mealing alive in April 2000 when he picked her up in his car as she walked home from a party.
Her badly decomposed body was then found six weeks later at Behana Creek in what is believed to be a staged suicide with a note carved into a tree.
The officer, former Constable Adrian Deemal, spent a year in jail for perjury after lying to police about his whereabouts that night.
But no charges have been laid over her death with an inquest unable to determine the cause of it.
A $250,000 reward is still out for information which may solve the baffling cold case.
Angela's mother Jackie Shadforth campaigned hard for answers until her death in 2008.
Originally published as Final hours of 10 baffling Far North deaths, disappearances
