How an embroidered bag of personal belongings could be the key to solving the 20 year mystery disappearance of a hitchhiker
- Detectives are confident more information can solve mystery of missing woman
- Joanne Butterfield went missing in North Queensland in 1998 after hitchhiking
- Her embroidered bag was found near Innisfail about two hours our of Cairns
- Ms Butterfield’s credit cards were eerily posted home after her disappearance
Police are hoping to make a breakthrough in the two decade mystery surrounding the ‘suspicious disappearance’ of a hitchhiker in North Queensland.
Queensland Police are hoping to crack a mystery of more than two decades surrounding the ‘suspicious disappearance’ of a woman while hitchhiking in the far north of the state.
Joanne Butterfield was 37 when she disappeared in June 1998 near the Captain Cook Highway north of Cairns, after telling friends she planned to hitchhike south.
Joanne Butterfield went missing after she went hitchhiking near Cairns in 1998
Three days later the embroidered bag she ‘took everywhere with her’ was found between a public lookout and the bank of a cane train track near Innisfail, about two hours south.
An envelope containing Ms Butterfield’s Medicare card, bank cards and personal documents was delivered to her Mossman home just over a week after she was last seen.
Detectives are now confident more information could lead to a breakthrough in the case.
They want to speak with anyone who saw a woman hitchhiking between Port Douglas and the South Johnstone area between Thursday, June 25 and Sunday, June 28, 1998.
Ms Butterfield was last seen wearing a short black dress with shoulder straps, flat black shoes and carrying her floral embroidered bag.
She is described as Caucasian, approximately 160cm tall, with long auburn hair and blue eyes.
Joanne Butterfield’s belongings were found at a public lookout after his disappearance