Disappearance of Jimmy Taylor

Last updated
Jimmy Taylor
Born
James Patrick Taylor

(1961-11-01)1 November 1961 [1]
Disappeared29 August 1974 (aged 12)
Derby, Western Australia, Australia
Status Missing for 49 years, 10 months and 17 days
Presumed dead by coroner [2]

James Patrick Taylor (born 1 November 1961) was an Australian boy who disappeared at the age of 12 from Derby, Western Australia on 29 August 1974. [3]

Contents

In 2014 a coroner ruled that Taylor, an Aboriginal boy, had died but was unable to determine when or how. [2]

In May 2023 a $1 million reward was offered for information relating to Taylor's disappearance. [4]

Disappearance

In the late afternoon of 29 August 1974, Taylor had walked to a local shop called Lwoy's Deli to buy lollies and softdrink for himself and his siblings. [2] He had walked from his home in Knowsley Street to a shop on Loch Street barefoot but wearing his school uniform. [2]

When he failed to return home, his family rationalised that he had met up with a friend and had stayed the night at their house. [2] The family commenced searching for Taylor the following day and his father reported him missing at the Derby police station on 5 September 1974. [2]

A witness later claimed to have seen a man driving a four-wheel-drive vehicle with an open tray carrying a 44-gallon drum approach Taylor. [2] The witness claimed Taylor got into the vehicle. [2]

Investigation

The Western Australia Police Force investigated Taylor's disappearance. Their investigations concluded in 1979. [2]

In August 2006, the Western Australia Special Crime Squad re-examined the investigation. [2]

In October 2006, Taylor's family watched a television documentary on ABC TV about convicted child killer James Ryan O'Neill called The Fisherman: Journey into the mind of a killer, produced by journalist Janine Widgery, where they learnt O'Neill had been living in Derby at the time of Taylor's disappearance. [2]

The SCS review was completed in December 2006 with the detective senior constable who performed the review identifying three persons of interest, including O'Neill. [2] He also recommended 28 investigative opportunities be pursued. [2] However, he deemed the new investigation to be of low to medium priority given that the persons of interest posed a low risk to the community because O'Neill was imprisoned, another was dead, and the third was an elderly man aged over 60 who had not committed any offences since 1988. [2]

In November 2011, the family publicly urged the police to again re-examine the case and the possible links to O'Neill. [5] Consequently, police officers contacted Taylor's family to update them with the ongoing investigation. [2]

In June 2013, Western Australia Police Special Crime Squad completed a report into Taylor's disappearance and suspected death, which was provided to the Office of the State Coroner. [2]

Coronial inquest

In June 2014, it was announced that the West Australian Coroner Barry King would hold an inquest into Taylor's disappearance at the Derby Court House in October 2014. [1]

A three-day coronial inquest was held from 8 October 2014 to 10 October 2014. [2] O'Neill gave evidence during the inquest via videolink from the Tasmanian prison where he was serving his sentence, in which he denied any involvement with Taylor's disappearance. [6]

The inquest was also told that the police originally tasked to investigate Taylor's disappearance did not consider foul play. [7] They presumed the boy had run away from home to escape an unhappy home environment which included an alcoholic father who occasionally beat family members. [7] All family members disputed that Taylor's father was ever a violent man, and said that until his death he had never stopped looking for his son. [7] Taylor's sister Heather Winifred Taylor said that her brother's disappearance had also traumatised her mother who began drinking and continued to cry for years. [7]

Documentary maker Janine Widgery also gave evidence in relation to her documentary about O'Neill. She said she had wanted to follow up a potential association between O'Neill and the missing Beaumont children, and said O'Neill had only agreed to being part of the program under the guise of the worm farm he owned while in prison and his trips around Australia.

At the conclusion of the inquest, King recorded an open finding. [8] [9]

Although King found that it was beyond all reasonable doubt that Taylor had died, it was unable to be determined when he had died or what had caused his death. [9]

King said that while it was possible Taylor had been kidnapped and murdered, there was insufficient evidence to suggest that it was what had occurred. [9] King said he was also unable to conclude whether O'Neill had abducted or killed Taylor. [9]

Taylor's family said that they accepted the findings, stating: "Based on the evidence provided to the coroner we accept the findings of his report and are pleased that Jimmy's case remains open. We feel that some justice has been given to Jimmy. He was a young boy who went to the shop and never came back. We have never stopped hoping he would come home and have loved him and missed him every day for 40 years. Grief is a private matter and we have never stopped grieving for Jimmy and will carry this grief forever." [9]

One million dollar reward

In May 2023 it was announced that a $1 million reward was being offered to anyone who provided information as to what had happened to Taylor. [4] [10]

Criticism of initial investigation

Taylor's sister Lyn Henderson-Yates accused the police of failing to properly investigate her brother's disappearance and as well as the potential involvement of James Ryan O'Neill. [5]

Writing in The Stringer, social justice advocate Gerry Georgatos described "he had gone walkabout" attitude from the Western Australia Police Force as "racist bullshit". [11] He criticised the amount of resources which are used to investigate white deaths as opposed to deaths of First Nations Australians like Taylor. [11] Georgatos also opined that deaths of First Nations Australians don't attract the same level of media attention as deaths of white Australians, comparing the disappearance of Taylor and the Bowraville murders to cases such as the disappearances of Daniel Morcombe, and the Beaumont children. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balibo Five</span> Group of foreign journalists killed by Indonesian forces in Portuguese Timor (1975)

The Balibo Five was a group of journalists for Australian commercial television networks who were murdered in the period leading up to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The Balibo Five were based in the town of Balibo in East Timor, where they were killed on 16 October 1975 during Indonesian incursions before the invasion. Roger East travelled to Balibo soon after to investigate the likely deaths of the Five and was later executed by members of the Indonesian military on the docks of Dili.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of the Beaumont children</span> 1966 disappearance in Australia

Jane Nartare Beaumont, Arnna Kathleen Beaumont and Grant Ellis Beaumont, collectively referred to as the Beaumont children, were three Australian siblings who disappeared from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia, on 26 January 1966 in a suspected abduction and murder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Azaria Chamberlain</span> Australian victim of animal attack

Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain was a nine-week-old Australian baby girl who was killed by a dingo on the night of 17 August 1980 during a family camping trip to Uluru in the Northern Territory. Her body was never found. Her parents, Lindy and Michael Chamberlain, reported that she had been taken from their tent by a dingo. However, Lindy was tried for murder and spent more than three years in prison. Michael received a suspended sentence. Lindy was released only after Azaria's jacket was found near a dingo lair and new inquests were opened. In 2012, 32 years after Azaria's death, the Chamberlains' version of events was officially supported by a coroner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derby, Western Australia</span> Town in Western Australia

Derby is a town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. At the 2016 census, Derby had a population of 3,325 with 47.2% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. Along with Broome and Kununurra, it is one of only three towns in the Kimberley to have a population over 2,000. Located on King Sound, Derby has the highest tides in Australia, with the differential between low and high tide reaching 11.8 metres (39 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Iraena Asher</span> New Zealand student and model missing since 2004

Iraena Te Rama Awhina Asher was an Auckland trainee teacher and model who disappeared under controversial circumstances at Piha, a West Auckland beach, on 11 October 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Daniel Morcombe</span> Murder of an Australian boy

Daniel James Morcombe was an Australian boy who was abducted from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, on 7 December 2003 when he was 13 years old. Eight years later, Brett Peter Cowan, a former Sunshine Coast resident, was charged with Morcombe's murder. In the same month, DNA tests confirmed bones in the Glass House Mountains were Morcombe's. On 13 March 2014, Cowan was found guilty of the murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, indecently dealing with a child, and interference with a corpse.

Rahma el-Dennaoui is a Lebanese Australian girl who went missing on 10 November 2005, when 19 months old. She was last seen early that morning in the bedroom of her home in Lurnea, Sydney, Australia, where she and her siblings slept. Despite a police search and investigation, appeals to the general public and a coronial inquest in 2012, no trace has been found of the child as of May 2019.

Shirley June Finn, née Shewring, was an Australian brothel keeper, nightclub operator and socialite who was shot dead at about midnight on 22–23 June 1975 in Perth, Western Australia. Her body, dressed in an elaborate ball gown and expensive jewellery, was found at dawn in her car, which was parked on a golf course next to a busy freeway. The murder is notable because of Finn's close relationship with Western Australia Police detectives who, in that era, controlled and regulated Perth's prostitution and gambling activities. The crime remains unsolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Tony Jones</span> Australian unsolved disappearance case

Anthony John Jones was an Australian man who disappeared while backpacking in North Queensland in November 1982. The case garnered substantial media attention, with critics charging that police mishandled the investigation into Jones' disappearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Milat</span> Australian serial killer (1944–2019)

Ivan Robert Marko Milat, commonly referred to in media as the Backpacker Murderer, was an Australian serial killer who abducted, assaulted, robbed and murdered two men and five women in New South Wales between 1989 and 1992. His modus operandi was to approach backpackers along the Hume Highway under the guise of providing them transport to areas of southern New South Wales, then take his victims into the Belanglo State Forest where he would incapacitate and murder them. Milat is also suspected of having committed many other similar offences around Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Jaidyn Leskie</span> 1997 child murder in Newborough, Australia

Jaidyn Raymond Leskie was the Australian child of Bilynda Murphy and Brett Leskie, murdered in 1997. Leskie is believed to have died of head injuries. Despite intense public interest, several leads, and the arrest and trial of a prime suspect, Leskie's murder remains unsolved. Although the decision was made in 2002 not to hold an inquest into the toddler's death, the case remained in the news for several more years. An inquest was later held in 2006, implicating the mother's boyfriend, Greg Domaszewicz, who at the time of the kidnapping was babysitting the boy at his house at Newborough. The exact circumstances of Leskie's disappearance and death were never clear, and were complicated by vandalism at the house on the evening of the toddler's disappearance; several false tips and pranks about the boy's fate; and the body not being discovered until six months later.

Tyler Jordan Cassidy was a 15-year-old boy who was killed by Victoria Police officers in Australia in 2008. His death influenced changes in the way Victoria Police respond to people presenting as mentally ill, and in the use of tasers.

Trudie Jeanette Adams disappeared in the early hours of 25 June 1978 after attending a dance at the Newport Surf Life Saving Club, New South Wales, Australia. She left the event early before hitchhiking home, at which point she entered a vehicle on Barrenjoey Road and has not been seen since. Her disappearance sparked New South Wales' biggest missing person search at the time, attracted extensive and ongoing national media attention, and eventually a $250,000 reward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Ms Dhu</span> Australian Aboriginal woman

Julieka Ivanna Dhu was a 22-year-old Aboriginal Australian woman who died in police custody in South Hedland, Western Australia, in 2014. On 2 August that year, police responded to a report that Dhu's partner had violated an apprehended violence order. Upon arriving at their address, the officers arrested both Dhu and her partner after realising there was also an outstanding arrest warrant for unpaid fines against Dhu. She was detained in police custody in South Hedland and was ordered to serve four days in custody in default of her debt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of William Tyrrell</span> Unsolved 2014 missing-person case

William Tyrrell is an Australian boy who disappeared at the age of three from Kendall, New South Wales, on 12 September 2014. He had been playing at his grandmother's house with his sister, and was wearing a Spider-Man suit at the time of his disappearance. For the first seven years of the investigation, Tyrrell was believed to have been abducted. On 12 September 2016, a reward of A$1 million was offered for the recovery of Tyrrell and did not require the arrest, charging or conviction of any person or persons.

Lyn Henderson-Yates is an Aboriginal Australian social scientist professor and deputy-vice chancellor of the Broome campus of University of Notre Dame Australia in Western Australia. She is the first Aboriginal woman to be hired to this position in any university across Australia.

Marion Barter was an Australian missing person, teacher and mother-of-two, who disappeared on Sunday 22 June 1997 from Southport, Queensland. She was dropped off at a bus station in Surfers Paradise, Queensland to go to the airport for a planned, long-term vacation in England. She has not been seen since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Jessie Earl</span> Unsolved death in 1980

Jessie Earl was a 22-year-old student who disappeared from Eastbourne, England in May 1980. It was not until 1989 that her remains were discovered in thick undergrowth on Beachy Head, where she would regularly take walks.

Melissa Louise Caddick was an Australian woman who disappeared in November 2020 amid an investigation by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) for carrying on a financial services business without holding an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence. She vanished the day after ASIC agents and Australian Federal Police officers raided her home at Dover Heights, Sydney, on the suspicion that she had misappropriated approximately A$30 million from investors, including her friends and family, in an elaborate Ponzi scheme.

Rachel Joy Antonio was an Australian teenager who is believed to have been murdered in Bowen, Queensland on 25 April 1998.

References

  1. 1 2 "Coroner to investigate disappearance of 12-year-old boy in Derby 40 years ago". ABC News . 7 June 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 King, Barry (15 December 2014). "Record of investigation into death" (PDF). Coroner's Court of Western Australia . Government of Western Australia . Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  3. ↑ Parke, Erin (31 May 2023). "Jimmy Taylor vanished in Derby 49 years ago. Now the cold case has a new suspect and a $1 million reward". ABC News. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  4. 1 2 Czachor, Emily Mae (31 May 2023). "Australia police offer $1 million reward in case of boy who vanished half a century ago". CBS News . Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  5. 1 2 Mills, Vanessa (28 November 2011). "Police urged to reopen case on Derby boy who vanished in 1974". ABC Local . Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "Jimmy Taylor inquest: Child killer James O'Neill denies abducting 12-year-old Derby boy". ABC News. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Jones, Natalie (8 October 2014). "Jimmy Taylor disappearance: Coronial inquest into Derby boy missing since 1974 begins; police thought boy ran away". ABC News. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  8. ↑ Hickey, Phil (23 December 2014). "Coroner makes open finding in case of Derby boy Jimmy Patrick Taylor who vanished 40 years ago". The West Australian . Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Coroner records open finding on disappearance of 12-year-old Jimmy Taylor more than 40 years ago". ABC News. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  10. ↑ "Open cases: James Patrick Taylor". Crimestoppers Western Australia . 31 May 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 Georgatos, Gerry (6 November 2014). "Waiting for Jimmy, since 1974 – a Black & White divide". The Stringer. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.