The Murder Of Anita Cobby: Australia's Worst Crime

Taskforce Flooded with Tips

A task force was set up at Blacktown Police Station. Journalists reported the extent of the atrocities to their editors, but the full facts of what happened to Anita Cobby were never printed in any newspaper. Mirror police reporter Joe Morris recalled the night. "We sat around all night waiting for a scoop," he said. "But they wouldn't let us past the front desk to have a chat with the detectives. As more information about the killing filtered through, we just stood around in disbelief. I have covered a lot of shocking cases over the years and I thought I had seen and heard it all. But the horror of what I heard that night will live with me forever."

Police had little to go on. A thorough search of the Boiler Paddock revealed nothing. Although her body was naked, none of Anita Cobby's clothes was found. There was no murder weapon, no motive and no reason for Anita Cobby to be in the paddock at the time of her murder. She had no enemies and was not involved with criminals or drug dealers. There was no secret lover or married man in her life. Anita Cobby was the epitome of respectability. Police kept running into brick walls. They investigated the noises that Mr Reen had heard but got nowhere. Reen Road was popular with lovers and with joy riders. The noises could have come from anyone.

The task force started the long job of checking out the hundreds of local criminals. Sex offenders received special attention, but again the police drew a blank. Detectives interviewed the two friends with whom Anita had spent her last hours. At this stage, no one was even sure that Anita Cobby had caught the train to Blacktown that night

Then the first lead came in. Residents of Newton Road, a few hundred meters from the Blacktown railway station reported seeing a girl being dragged into a car on Sunday night. She was screaming. They rang police and gave the description of the car as a grey and white Holden Kingswood sedan. Uniformed police had investigated the call but a search of the area had revealed nothing.

The witnesses to the abduction told detectives that at 9:50 p.m., they heard a loud scream and ran outside. They saw a man with his leg sticking out of the open door of a Holden car. A dark haired woman was struggling violently and screaming as the man dragged her into the car. They could still hear the woman screaming as the car drove away with its lights off. Two of the witnesses, Linda and John McGaughey, were horrified at what they saw.

When their brother Paul and his girlfriend, Lorraine Busher, arrived home a few minutes later, they gave them a description of the car and then Paul and Lorraine went looking for it. One of the places Paul McGaughey checked was the notorious Reen Road, a couple of minutes' drive from where the girl was abducted.

About half way down Reen Road, they passed an empty grey 1970 model HJ Holden. They thought nothing of it as the description of the car that they were given was of a Holden Kingswood They searched the area and other likely spots for two hours before returning home.

Although they still hadn't confirmed that Anita Cobby had actually caught the train home to Blacktown, police had to assume that the reported abduction was that of the murdered woman. It fitted into the time that she would have arrived at Blacktown. But why didn't she ring her father to pick her up? Or why didn't she catch a taxi?

Police were working around the clock. They returned to the Boiler Paddock at night to give them a "feel" of what may have happened. Hundreds of cadet police were called in to search the paddock, but it proved fruitless.

The public support was overwhelming. Hundreds of calls flooded into task force headquarters. Every call was treated seriously and followed up.