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Warning: this article contains the name and image of an Aboriginal person who has died, and distressing content.
New South Wales police have increased the reward for information into the 2003 murder of a Gomeroi woman.
Theresa Binge disappeared on the afternoon of July 18 after being last spotted departing from the O’Shea’s Royal Hotel located in Goondiwindi, Queensland.
Her badly beaten body was discovered two weeks later in a drainage culvert beneath the Mungindi-Goondiwindi Bridge Road – formerly known as Boomi Road, 10 kilometres south of the New South Wales border.
A subsequent coronial inquest found she was most likely murdered.
On Tuesday, detectives in Moree announced the reward for information leading to an arrest in the case had been increased tenfold, from its initial $100,000 to $1 million.
Her daughter, Daylene Barlow, remains steadfast in her quest to uncover the truth about who is behind her mother’s tragic death.
The increase in the reward money follows new information provided to Ms Barlow last month.
“We just need answers,” she said at Tuesday’s press conference.
“It’s been 22 years too long. We just want justice for my mum, a grandmother. She was a sister, aunty, grandmother.
“She was real loved, happy-go-lucky. Why did she deserve this?”
The new reward also comes with a clarification of earlier details: a former police notice regarding the incident advised that Ms Binge had left the nearby Victoria Hotel on the evening of the 17th.
The NSW police minister, Yasmin Catley, said the increase was made in the hope of providing closure for Ms Binge’s family.
“For more than twenty years, Theresa’s loved ones have lived with the pain of not knowing what happened to her,” she said.
“This $1 million reward is a reminder that justice never expires and that every piece of information is critical … If you know something, no matter how small, now is the time to do the right thing and come forward.”
Police said a mobile billboard bearing Ms Binge’s face and name will travel between Moree and Goondiwindi in the hope it will spark renewed interest.
Flyers with the same information have been posted around the area.
Homicide Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi, encouraged anyone with information to come forward.
“Time can change things,” he said.
“As time passes, people and circumstances evolve, making it easier to share what once seemed too difficult,” Barlow remarked. “If you have any information, now is the time to come forward.”
