Western Advocate editorial: August 5, 2021 | Three stories we'd be happy to stop writing

As we mark another Missing Persons Week we again find ourselves wondering just what could have happened to Jessica Small, Janine Vaughan and Andrew Russell all those years ago.

And we find ourselves publishing another story hoping to jog someone's memory, hoping that someone might finally come forward with the vital piece of information to crack one of these cases.

It is now almost 24 years since teenager Jessica Small was last seen alive on Hereford Street; it's approaching 20 years since Janine Vaughan disappeared on a night out with friends; and it is well over a decade since Andrew Russell and was last seen.

The three cases are unrelated but are inextricably linked in the Bathurst psyche.

The three victims never met and their killers' paths had likely never crossed. But the manner of their disappearance and the mystery they created all bear similarities that mean Bathurst cannot think of one without thinking of them all.

Those three unsolved cases remain a dark stain on the recent history of Bathurst, a stain our community wants to see erased.

But the sad reality is that every passing year must inevitably make those answers more elusive, though we can never give up.

Losing a loved one in any circumstance is a tragedy, especially when that person is a child or grandchild.

But the pain of losing someone without ever having the chance to properly say goodbye or lay them to rest can only be imagined by those who have gone through it.

There are too many of those families in NSW and too many here in Bathurst.

The stories of their disappearances are stories we would gladly not write again, because that would mean the mysteries have been solved.

But until that happens our community owes it to Jessica, Janine and Andrew - along with their family and friends - to keep telling their stories and keep looking for those answers.

And we will keep writing their stories until the day we don't have to.

As mark another Missing Persons Week our hope for the grieving friends and families remains unchanged: We hope they one day get the answers that can provide the comfort they crave - and deserve.