E63 | Special | Sydney Unsolved - The Disappearance of Juanita Nielsen

She published a local newspaper out of her own front room and used it to fight a developer who wanted to put three forty-five storey towers on her street. On a Friday morning she walked into the Carousel Cabaret in Kings Cross for a meeting about advertising, rang her business partner at half past ten to say she was running late, and was never seen again. Two men were later convicted of conspiring to abduct her four days earlier. Nobody has ever been charged over her disappearance. In 1983 a coroner's jury found police inquiries had been inhibited by an atmosphere of corruption. Eleven years later a federal parliamentary committee found something else.

IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING

A $1 million reward, announced on 21 June 2021, stands for information about the 1975 disappearance and suspected murder of Juanita Nielsen, or for the location of her remains. The case is held by the Unsolved Homicide Team as Strike Force Euclid.

Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000, or nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. Do not report through police social media.

A NOTE ON SOURCING

Juanita Nielsen has never been found. There is no body, no scene and no cause of death. The only physical trace ever recovered is her handbag and personal effects, found on a freeway near Penrith on 7 July 1975.

Nobody has ever been charged over her disappearance or death. Two men, Eddie Trigg and Shayne Martin-Simmonds, were convicted of conspiring to kidnap her on 30 June 1975, four days before she vanished. A third man charged with that conspiracy, Lloyd Marshall, was acquitted in 1980 and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Frank Theeman, Abe Saffron, James McCartney Anderson and Fred Krahe are all named in this episode. All four are dead. None was ever charged in connection with Juanita Nielsen. Theeman, Saffron and Anderson each denied involvement on oath at the 1983 inquest. The committee that examined Anderson's dealings with the National Crime Authority recorded that he had apparently never been convicted of any offence.

Loretta Crawford's 2004 television account has never been tested in a criminal court and no one has been charged as a result of it. This episode reports that she made the allegation. It does not repeat the names of the individuals she placed at the scene.

The 1983 coronial finding of City Coroner Bert Wilson is not published online. Its wording here is taken from the Australian Dictionary of Biography. The 1984 internal police inquiry that cleared three senior officers was not obtained.

SOURCES

The National Crime Authority and James McCartney Anderson, report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority, March 1994, read in full: aph.gov.au

NSW Police, reward and appeal, Strike Force Euclid: police.nsw.gov.au

Australian Dictionary of Biography, Juanita Joan Nielsen, by Richard Morris, volume 15

Dictionary of Sydney, on the 1983 inquest, by Darrienne Wyndham

ABC News, $1 million reward announcement, 21 June 2021

ABC News and Unravel: Juanita, Michael Dulaney, 2021, for Arthur King's account in his own words

SUPPORT

This episode deals with the abduction and suspected murder of a woman, and with the kidnapping and threatening of a man.

Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14. 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732.

New Zealand: Need to talk? 1737. Safe to Talk 0800 044 334.

While some dramatic license is taken during the retelling of these stories, but you can be sure that these true crime stories are all based 100% on real events and facts.

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This podcast is researched, and written by the Brevity Studios team using AI tools, and is narrated in its entirety by - Ryan Wolf.

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