True Crime Collection

Disappearance of Sarah MacDiarmid

Sarah MacDiarmid was a 23-year-old Scottish-Australian woman who disappeared from Kananook railway station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 11th July 1990. She is presumed murdered, although no trace of her body has ever been found.

Sarah, who emigrated with her family in 1987 from the Scottish Highlands to Australia, had been playing tennis after work with two of her friends at what was then known as Flinders Park in Batman Avenue, East Melbourne, before walking to Richmond Station, where they found that they had just missed a Frankston line train. They caught a train to Caulfield, then changed to a Frankston service. Sarah's friends left this train at Bonbeach while she remained, continuing on to Kananook station where her vehicle was parked. She was last seen alighting the train and heading for the poorly lit car park at approximately 10:20pm.

Police suspected that Sarah had been assaulted based on bloodstains found beside her red 1978 Honda Civic abandoned in the station car park and drag marks leading into the bushes, as well as finding a cigarette lighter on the ground belonging to Sarah, but no trace of her was ever found. Later, witnesses said Sarah got off the train and crossed the footbridge to the car park, where some people heard a woman shouting, 'Give me back my keys.' A 21-day extensive air, sea and land search with more than 250 police produced no results. A later appeal for information led to two witnesses reporting they had also heard a woman exclaim, 'Give me back my keys!' .

In May 2006, an inquest held by coroner Ian West, found Sarah 'had met her death as a result of foul play but the exact circumstances were unknown'.

An initial State Government reward of $50,000 was increased after an additional $75,000 was offered by an anonymous benefactor. This was increased to $1 million, in 2004, and remains current.

In 2011, convicted Australian serial killer Paul Denyer was interviewed by police and denied any involvement in Sarah's disappearance.

In May 2014, News Corp Australia claimed police investigators considered convicted Australian serial killer Bandali Debs to be a suspect in the case. Fairfax Media quoted a 'senior police source' who said 'it was "common practice" for homicide investigators to examine links between unsolved murders and known offenders'. A Victoria Police spokesperson declined to comment to Fairfax Media as Sarah's disappearance was an 'active' case.

The cold case was featured in the first episode of the Australian psychic TV series Sensing Murder, which aired on Network Ten in September 2004. The psychics used by this programmed opined that Sarah had been murdered and her body thrown into a now-closed rubbish dump on the Mornington Peninsula.

In 2010, marking the 20th anniversary of Sarah's disappearance, her family and friends visited Kananook railway station to leave wreaths at a memorial established there. Her family also announced they had created a website Not Alone which was 'designed to help other families who find themselves in a position similar to them'. Police used the anniversary to issue a new call for information on the case with Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Dannye Moloney stating 'You do not close the books on these sorts of crimes... History proves that if you continue to communicate with the people out there, in Victoria, in Australia, in the world in some cases, that piece of information, that key will come forward and we'll solve it.'