SOMEBODY KNOWS SOMETHING

POLICE ISSUE A REWARD FOR INFORMATION IN A COLD CASE THAT HAS LEFT A FAMILY HEARTBROKEN FOR OVER TWO DECADES

-  Michael Crooks 

After finishing top of her year at her high school, teenager Niamh Maye left her home in Armidale, NSW on February 14, 2002, for a gap-year working holiday, fruit picking in the south of the state. Weeks later, the 18-year-old disappeared while trying to make her way home for Easter, in what has become an enduring source of despair for her family.

“She was looking forward to studying and travelling – on the cusp of adult life,” Niamh’s sister Susan Maye tells WHO from her home in Melbourne. “My sister was kind and funny, the life of the party. She was a bright light.”

A light that continues to shine in the hearts of her family. Since Niamh’s presumed murder 21 years ago, her parents Anne and Brian, and her six elder siblings, have never given up their quest to uncover the truth and bring their “baby” home.

On what would have been Niamh’s 40th birthday on June 21, NSW Police offered a $250,000 reward for information in the case, in a move that has raised the family’s hopes of putting their loved one to rest. “Words can’t describe how special Niamh is to our whole family,” Niamh’s mum, Anne, said in a statement. “Her disappearance has left a gaping hole and we have never given up on finding her.”