Family longs for answers in Joanne Butterfield case
COLD CASE Investigation
The sister of missing Mossman woman Joanne Butterfield, Norell Standley, has revealed seven weeks had passed before she got news the mother of two, 37, had vanished without a trace on June 25, 1998.
And it has been 21 years since Joanne’s older sister, now 68 , has been given any news in the cold case to give her any confidence it is being looked at.
“Hopefully my family gets some answers soon,’’ Ms Standley wrote on Newsport’s coverage last week.
“It's been 28 years now. Our mother passed away eight years ago never knowing what happened to her beautiful daughter.’’
Ms Standley said busy lives and changing family dynamics in the 1990s meant communication between her and Joanne was not frequent at the time she disappeared, having last been seen in Mossman where she lived and having said she planned to hitch-hike to Sydney. Joanne is believed to have left from a Mowbray address and items of hers - a dress, bag and passport - were found on a railway line near Innisfail.
An envelope containing her Medicare card and bank cards were anonymously posted to her family.
“I’d had a couple of phone calls from her and then one phone call she said she was moving up to the Daintree… I’ve never known or been up there. So she moved up there.
“We kept in touch for a couple of weeks in a row and then I didn’t hear from her, so I just said everything must be going well for her and the kids and I heard she’d had another baby, another daughter.
“And all of the sudden out of the blue, Skye rang me crying and said mum’s been missing now for seven weeks and that’s the first I heard of it.
“Of course we all just went into shock.
“I was contacted by the detective who was on the case at the time and he was saying to me how they had found some belongings of hers and how she was hitchhiking.
“He said at the time that they were found near a very heavily infested crocodile area and he said to me if there’s been any foul play we may never find her body.
“And that was that. That’s the last time I heard from him until after seven years he rang me again and said to me that they are classing it now as a cold case, missing presumed murder, and he said to me ‘Norell you never know, one day someone might say something’.
“I’ve never heard anything again since.’’
Ms Standley was unaware of renewed efforts launched in 2021 when Acting Detective Inspector Kevin Goan said police had reopened the cold case following several new tip-offs that had been made to Crime Stoppers concerning Joanne’s disappearance.
"An inquest in September, 2014, found that Ms Butterfield had died shortly after last being sighted on the 25th of June in 1998, that it was unlikely that she had taken her own life and more probably that she was killed by a person or persons unknown," Acting Detective Inspector Goan said.
"We suspect that she might have been collected in a vehicle and that her personal belongings were discarded in that area."
Acting Detective Inspector Goan said they had begun re-interviewing people in the Mossman area about Joanne's disappearance.
He said they were particularly interested in speaking to those with information about two men.
"We have an interest in the two men who might have had recent dealings with Joanne at that time in the Mossman area," he said.
“We would like to speak to any person who may have information in relation to the men and their connection to Joanne.’’
The investigative true crime podcast Sleepers will feature an episode looking into the Joanne Butterfield case in coming months, including interviews with family members and Australian Missing Persons Register’s Nicole Morris who featured Joanne’s case in her book, MISSING.
"I would just like to ask if anybody knows anything, no matter how small, it might seem insignificant but it could mean a lot and finally put this to rest and so we can find out what happened to Jo for her children and her family,'' Ms Standley added.
Any information should be made known to Queensland Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 where you can remain anonymous.
Supporters can also contact or comment via the LEAVE A LIGHT ON INC page, a foundation supporting families of long term missing persons and keeping cold cases in the spotlight.
A SLEEPERS podcast episode capturing the full interviews in regards to the Joanne Butterfield case is being produced.