Aspiring model Linda Suzanne Davie, 22, disappeared from Wollstonecraft, New South Wales, Australia, in April 1980 after leaving a strange note for her boyfriend who was hospitalized then. She has never made contact with him or her family since. Australian police linked Linda’s disappearance to at least one other similar missing person case.
Who Was Linda Suzanne Davie?
Linda Suzanne Davie was born in New Zealand in November 1957 to Tom and Mearle Davie. She and her brother, Nigel Davie, grew up in Whakatāne.
Linda was an aspiring model who relocated to Australia in 1978, living with her boyfriend Stephen Lavender in Wollstonecraft, New South Wales (NSW). Wollstonecraft is located on Sydney’s lower North Shore and is considered an affluent harbourside community. Stephen and Linda shared their home with others, although their identities are unknown as far as I can tell.
Friends have described Linda as “beautiful,” “trusting” and a bit of a risk-taker.
In April 1980, Stephen became a patient at Royal North Shore Hospital, but the reason for his admission is unclear. During his hospital stay, Linda wrote letters home to family and friends in New Zealand, often complaining of boredom and restlessness.
Disappearance of Linda Suzanne Davie
(Photo credit: Australian Missing Persons Register)
Desperately wanting a night out, Linda and a female friend went to a club called The Manzil Room, 15 Springfield Avenue, in Sydney’s Kings Cross on April 5, 1980. There, two men approached the women and attempted to pick them up. What happened in the bar between the four is also a mystery. However, the two men later gave both women a ride to their homes. (Some sources say it was only Linda)
The next day, Linda visited Stephen at the hospital. That was the last time anyone saw the aspiring model.
Stephen grew concerned on April 7 when Linda failed to visit him at the hospital. Three days later, on April 10, 1980, he received a letter from Linda in her handwriting.
Stephen later told the police the letter and Linda’s sudden absence was entirely out of character. He was discharged from the hospital on April 17, but Linda failed to pick him up. When he returned home, the light was on in their bedroom, but she had not slept in their bed. Additionally, all of Linda’s belongings were still in the house.
Police believe the two men who drove Linda and her friend home from Kings Cross on April 5 may have vital information to the investigation. Investigators searched for the men in 1980 but never found them.
Thirty-one years later, in 2011, NSW Police released two computer-generated images of the two men, hoping they would jog someone’s memory and solve the mystery.
The first man was around 5’10” tall, 25 years old, slim build, fair complexion, longer hair in a ponytail, hazel eyes, and an oval face. He also wore a watch and said he was from Melbourne.
The second man was 5’8″ tall, 25 years old, with a medium build, medium complexion, a rounded face, curly collar-length hair, and a pointed nose. He wore a gold-colored chain and said he was from Sydney. The man owned a pale yellow four-door Japanese car, possibly a Datsun.
Unfortunately, no one came forward with information about the two men.
Linda Davie’s Disappearance Linked to Others
In 2002, NSW Police investigated a possible link between Linda’s disappearance and those of Marion Anne Sandford, 23, also from New Zealand, and Mary Wallace, a 33-year-old Australian.
Marion was a nurse who turned to sex work to fund her heroin addiction. She disappeared under nearly identical circumstances as Linda.
Marion’s brother last saw her in January 1980 at their home in Cammeray, a little over a mile from Linda’s home in Wollstonecraft.
“Three days later, Peter received a letter claiming to be from Marion, letting him know she was all right and that she’d be away until later that week,” said Acting Police Minister David Campbell in 2010.
Peter never saw his sister again, and she is presumed to have been murdered.
Mary Wallace, also a nurse, was last seen in Crows Nest in September 1983. She was supposed to attend her sister’s birthday party at her parent’s home in Lane Cove but never arrived. Mary worked at Hunters Hill private nursing hospital in Sydney. DNA later linked Mary’s murder to Robert Adams, whom Mary met at a bar called New Alpine on the night she disappeared. He was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison for Mary’s murder.
Authorities ruled out one possible suspect in Linda and Marion’s cases. Terry “Mr. Asia” Clark was a big-time violent drug smuggler and head of the Mr. Asia drug syndicate. He died in a British prison in 1983. Police thought Marion might have been his drug mule and that he was responsible for her murder. Furthermore, Linda’s friends said she had used drugs on occasion. However, Clark was in British police custody in 1979 for the contract murder of Marty Johnstone, aka Mr. Asia, and still in jail when both women disappeared.
In 2007, NSW Police considered the disappearance of 14-year-old Tanya Irene Farrington, who went missing from Crows Nest on March 22, 1979, possibly connected to Linda and Marion’s cases.
Here’s a map showing how close the victims were to one another. Linda lived in Wollstonecraft, Marion in Cammeray, and Tanya in Crow’s Nest. You may need to zoom out a bit to see all three suburbs.
Tanya’s brother last saw the teenager watching TV late at night in the family home. However, when their mother awoke the next morning, Tanya was gone and had not slept in her bed.
She had been known to sneak out of the house and might have hitchhiked to Manly to spend time with friends, possibly visiting a disco. She has never been seen again.
NSW Police believe Tanya took this picture shortly before she vanished. The man on the right resembles the photo of one of the two men who took Linda home.
Tanya’s brother said his younger sister’s demeanor had changed after the family relocated to Sydney from the Central Coast for work opportunities. She became drawn to the city’s nightlife despite being only 14.
NSW Police reopened Linda’s case in 2010 and announced a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those involved in her disappearance and presumed murder.
2011-2012 Coroner Inquests
A coronial inquiry into Linda’s disappearance began in December 2011.
On the first day of the inquest before Deputy State Coroner Paul McMahon, the inquiry heard Linda “changed jobs regularly, was unemployed for much of the time she lived in Sydney and that her relationship with boyfriend Steven Lavender was an on-again, off-again affair.” (Campanella, 2011)
Earlier in the day, the inquest also heard that Linda wrote letters to her friends and family in New Zealand at least twice a week. These stopped on or around April 6, 1980.
The letters often stated that “Linda felt unloved, bored, broke and was feeling sorry for herself after Stephen was admitted to hospital.” (Campanella)
One or both unidentified males with Linda that night invited her on a trip to Melbourne.
The inquest also heard about a woman who claimed to have sat next to Linda on a flight to New Zealand shortly after she vanished. According to the woman, Linda told her she was “sick of Steve and was moving back to New Zealand for good.”
However, the address and phone number the woman gave the police did not exist. They chalked it up as a fake tip and could not locate the woman.
Annette Lees, a friend of Linda’s, testified via video link. She said she and Linda had experimented with drugs. At a party in 1979, a man told Annette that Linda was “too trusting” and would be “easy to murder.”
Another friend, Marjorey McMillan, stated Linda often hitchhiked. The two had vacationed together in Greece and frequently hitched rides nearly every day. Once, two men drove the women to a remote area instead of back to the village, where the women requested the men take them.
At the end of the inquiry, McMahon handed Linda’s case over to the NSW Homicide Unit. It is unclear whether the case is still active.
Stephen attended the inquiry, although it’s unclear whether he testified. However, he spoke about his long-missing love outside the Coroner’s Court in Glebe.
“I loved her very much — I used to run home along the rail tracks every afternoon to see her,” he said. “We really don’t know what happened — it’s like she just disappeared off the face of the earth.”
Enter pic of Stephen.
In February 2012, at an inquest into Marion’s disappearance, McMahon ruled foul play or a drug overdose contributed to her death.
TCD’s Thoughts
I think those two men who drove Linda home that night showed back up at her home or contacted her via phone and lured her away, maybe with the promise of something, and then forced her into human trafficking. It’s clear to me that sex work was their sole purpose in approaching Linda and her friend at the club on April 5, 1980. Now, why they didn’t take her friend, I do not know. I am not sure who she is. She might be Marjorey.
Linda was trusting, so she likely gave the men her phone number. They knew where she lived, so they could have knocked on her door. Stephen was in the hospital. They had roommates, but they could have been gone.
There is the slight possibility that her roommates were responsible. There is no info on them, but we know she was at home shortly before she disappeared because the light in the bedroom was still on when Stephen returned home. Her belongings were there, which clearly proved she never left home of her own free will.
Obviously, someone forced Linda to write the note.
Marion’s disappearance is identical to Linda’s, so I think the “couple of friends” she met were probably these two men or other members of the same trafficking ring.
I also think at least one of the two men might be involved in Tanya’s disappearance. One of the guys in that photo of Glenna looks like one of the two men in Linda’s case.
Sources
Australian Missing Persons Register. “Linda Suzanne Davie.” https://australianmissingpersonsregister.com/ampr/LindaDavie.htm
Australian Missing Persons Register. “Marion Anne Sandford.” https://australianmissingpersonsregister.com/ampr/MarionSandford.htm
Australian Missing Persons Register. “Mary Louise Wallace.” https://australianmissingpersonsregister.com/ampr/Wallace.htm
Australian Missing Persons Register. “Tanya Irene Farrington.” https://australianmissingpersonsregister.com/ampr/Farrington.htm
Bibby, Paul. “Mystery of ‘Naive’ Model Linda.” Sydney Morning Herald, December 12, 2011. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/mystery-of-naive-model-linda-20111212-1oqn7.html
Campanella, Nastasia. “Missing Woman An Easy Target, Court Told. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), December 12, 2011. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-12/missing-woman-was-an-easy-target/3727106
Hoerr, Karl. “Mary Wallace Murder Trial: Robert Adams raped three women before meeting missing nurse, court hears.” Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), October 25, 2016. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-25/mary-wallace-trial-robert-adams-raped-three-women-before-meeting/7961968
Jones, Nicholas. “Brother Has Doubts Cold Case Will Be Solved.” New Zealand Herald, December 14, 2011. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/brother-has-doubts-cold-case-will-be-solved/FLCTLD522FUVKUDYLAFSJ3BRLY/
New South Wales Police. “Reward of $100,000 to Solve Disappearance and Suspected Murder of Linda Suzanne Davie.” https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/can_you_help_us/rewards/100000_reward/20100411_reward_to_solve_disappearance_and_suspected_murder_of_linda_suzanne_davie
Wells, Jamelle. “Missing Sydney Prostitute Dead, Coroner Finds.” Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), February 15, 2012. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-15/missing-sydney-prostitute-dead2c-finds-coroner/3831794