Calls could be a key in Joanne Butterfield disappearance case
Joanne Butterfield Inquest
Questions have been raised around why police investigating the disappearance of Mossman woman Joanne Butterfield in 1998 took almost 20 years to make contact with a man phone records show she had regular contact with in the weeks leading up to her vanishing.
The nine day inquest into the matter is being held in Cairns Coroner’s Court before Coroner Stephanie Williams and has heard from more than 30 witnesses.
Joanne Butterfield, 37, was last seen at her Mossman home in June 1998, having made the suggestion she was going to hitchhike to Sydney.
She vanished, and while belongings of hers were found near South Johnstone, and some mysteriously posted to Mossman Primary School addressed to her daughter, her body has never been found and there remains no sign that she remains alive.
Among those witness was detail heard on Wednesday from Counsel assisting Peter Ah Gee that Detective Senior Constable Kevin Spies, who is excused from giving evidence at the inquest on medical grounds, had two conversations with a man named Victor Varga who Ms Butterfield had made up to nine calls to in the weeks leading up to her disappearance. Mr Varga has since died, but Det Spies, who took over the investigation in 2019 had conversations with him as recently as 2021.
It was raised in the inquest that the original detective on the matter, Graeme Eaton, had not unearthed the detail of the phone calls, but that had not detracted from his efforts on the case during the time he was investing, from 1998 to 2002.
Homicide squad detective Senior Sergeant Glenn Kite told the inquest detectives had gone “above and beyond what you’d normally expect to see” in a missing persons investigation. During that time, he was also investigating the January 1998 disappearance of American toruists Tom and Eileen Lonergan who were unintentionally left behind during a scuba diving trip off Port Douglas.
The inquest also heard about a time Ms Butterfield hitched a ride to Cairns with Mr Varga. Anthony van den Broek, a work colleague of Mr Varga’s and partner to his daughter, earlier told the inquest he was in the car when Mr Varga picked up Ms Butterfield who had stayed at Mr Varga’s house.
Mr van den Broek said he was not aware of if Mr Varga and Ms Butterfield knew each other before the event of the lift.
Coroner Stephanie Williams is due to hear statements from two of Ms Butterfield’s children and final submissions from lawyers next month before considering her findings.
