Ahead of National Missing Persons Week, which is on the first week of August each year, one of the cases in St George has once again come to light, in the form of a book that shares the stories of heartbroken family members.
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Nicole Morris is an author based in Queensland, but she continues to be captivated by one missing persons case that has its roots within St George. She has included a local family's story in her new book, Missing: More True Stories From Families of Australian Missing Persons.
National Missing Persons Week is an annual campaign that aims to raise awareness of people who are reported missing, profiles those who have been missing long-term, and aims to reduce the number or missing persons in Australia. The National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) is a non-operational arm of the Australian Federal Police. A total of 55,000 people go missing each year in Australia. Most are found safe within a few days, but some are never found.
During the week, Ms Morris, who is the Director of the Australian Missing Persons Register (AMPR) will present every missing person case that she has on the register on the AMPR Facebook page, which has 183,000 followers. These posts she said, had previously reached more than one million people.
Her latest book follows from her best-selling debut release, Vanished: True Stories From Families of Australian Missing Persons, which was released in 2023. Following from that success, her new book will be released in September. It includes 12 new cases about people who vanished, leaving behind a void of unanswered questions and enduring pain. Ms Morris brings attention to the cold cases from families of missing persons, in the hope of uncovering new leads for desperate families searching for the truth.
"One of the stories is from the St George area," Ms Morris said. "[The Leader] has covered his case before." This masthead indeed ran several stories about this person's disappearance. The author is referring to Mortdale's Stephen Mitchell who went missing from Peakhurst in 2007 at age 35.
He was pronounced dead by the NSW State Coroner's Court in 2012, with the court stating it was satisfied he died sometime after his disappearance. A brief of evidence included a report that showed Mr Mitchell was diagnosed with, and had been prescribed medication for schizophrenia. His family stated he had also suffered from depression. They said there had been previous possible sightings of him. Investigating police at the time said he could have committed suicide, met with foul play or changed his identity. But his family has held onto hope that he is still alive. One year after his disappearance, they noticed a flower placed at his mother's resting place in Sydney's eastern suburbs. The flower had not been there the previous week.
"I've known the family for many years," Ms Morris said. "I've always featured Stephen's case on the register, so it was an easy choice, they are so lovely. I also wanted to show some cases that people might not be aware of, like Stephen's. It's such a mystery as to what happened to him."
