Last Seen Katoomba 05 | The Visitor

This is an ABC podcast.

Just a warning, there's some strong language in this episode and discussion of domestic violence.

Also, if this is your first time listening to the series, it'll make a lot more sense if you go back and start from episode one.

In September 1998, the month Belinda Peasley disappeared, a 26-year-old man from the Blue Mountains, who we're calling Luke, was in the process of splitting up with his partner.

I had my own shit going on in an ongoing relationship meltdown.

At the time, I mean, every minute I had, I was

trying to contact and get in contact with my ex.

We've changed Luke's name and disguised his voice for legal reasons.

Luke's ex-partner had ended the relationship and didn't want to see him anymore.

And the inquest into Belinda's disappearance heard that there was a good reason for this.

I want to put this to you.

In September 1998, you were completely out of control, weren't you?

I was.

I did your name, he was a friend of yours.

Well, did you agree?

No.

Did you agree that in September 1998 you were prone to violent outbursts?

No.

Never.

No.

But you never engaged in violence in September 1998?

No.

But this isn't true.

That month Luke was charged with breaching an apprehended violence order against his ex after a wild scene broke out at the local Katoomba shops just five days before Belinda went missing.

Isn't it the case that

on the morning of 21 September 1998 you entered the Seoul Patterson chemist and had an argument with

and her mother

no comment.

We've beeped out the names of Luke's ex-partner and her mother for privacy reasons.

You threatened to stab

didn't you?

Who cares?

No comment.

And you were approached by m

and you punched her in the face, didn't you?

No, no comment.

You were convicted of those offences, weren't you?

And you were convicted of them because you committed them.

Is that right?

No comment.

Did you plead guilty or not guilty to that?

So far we've looked at five of the six persons of interest named at Belinda's inquest.

Now in the final episode of this season you'll hear from the last person of interest, the man we're calling Luke.

Do you wish to answer questions relating to Belinda Peasley's disappearance?

Yes all.

Unlike his associate Jeremy Douglas, Luke agreed to answer questions at the inquest.

And that led to some of the most explosive moments in the courtroom.

Did you ever...

No!

Don't shout at me.

Well, stop accusing me of shit.

I'm asking you a question.

You fucking making up shit.

No!

I'm Gina McEwen, and this is Unravel Season 3, Last Seen Katoomba.

In 1998, Luke was living in Katoomba and he hung in the same crowd as Belinda.

You know, you grow up with people, you've lived with them all your life in a little shithole like this, you tend to know everyone, you make out it's all sinister that we know each other.

How can we help it?

We've all lived in this little shithole together.

Back then, Luke was a big guy, and he was a bit older than most of the crowd who hung out at Belinda's house.

And like a lot of their crowd, Luke was using drugs.

Now, I think you said at that time you used heroin from time to time, is that right?

Yes.

You take steroids?

I had in the past, but not at this point.

I wouldn't use heroin and steroids at the same time.

It would be a waste of money.

Luke says he met Belinda about a year before she disappeared, and he stayed at Belinda's for a short time in 1998.

I stayed on the mattress in the other floor.

And did you ever ask Belinda if you were able to stay on the floor at her place for a couple of weeks?

I don't recall asking her, but she seemed to think it was okay.

I'd only been there for two weeks.

I mean, it wasn't like I was going to keep on trying to stay there.

It was only for two weeks, and she knew that, so

she didn't have a problem with it.

She actually was to let me use a CR and stuff like that.

Luke was out on bail at the time, and he thought he'd be going to jail at the end of the month.

So he was looking for a place to stay.

You said you were at Belinda's house for about two weeks.

What were you doing at that stage?

Really, what was I doing at that stage?

Were you working?

No.

What were you doing?

I thought.

How did you spend your day?

Who cares?

You don't know how you spent your day?

Yeah, probably breaching AVAs and gone to jail.

In September 1998, Luke was arrested twice and went to jail that month.

You had a number of apprehended violence orders against you in relation to ⁇ didn't you?

Big deal.

We've beeped the name of Luke's ex-partner to protect her privacy.

And you breached them, didn't you?

Yeah, I did.

There were bail conditions, weren't there, that you weren't to approach her house, correct?

You're not going to charge me that at NeoAr?

Have I done something wrong to offend you?

Yeah, I did.

So what?

And you're trying to get out.

And you've breached those bail conditions.

Yeah, I did.

I said that.

Yeah, I did.

So there was no court order that you were going to obey with.

You were going to obey at that time, were you?

No, I'm done with this.

I've served this.

But you're not answering any more questions?

I'm not about this, because it's just pointless.

You're going on the bullshit that's got fuck all to do with the case.

You're just trying to besmirch my name for things I've been charged and sentenced with in the past.

Who cares?

Who gives a fuck what I've been charged and sentenced with?

Luke has a violent past and a long rap sheet.

He has a host of convictions for assault, malicious damage, break and enters, stalking, intimidation, and contravening domestic violence orders.

Now, in your record of interview with police,

you said

that the only assaults that you ever did

were very minor.

Yeah, they were, yeah.

You said that you never stuck guns into people's faces.

Nope.

That's the truth?

That's the truth, yeah.

And you say that you did not stand over people for money.

Nope.

It's the truth, isn't it, though, that you stuck a, that you pointed a shotgun at Joe Ravisi's face as well.

No, it's not, no, it's a baseball bat.

A baseball bat.

A baseball bat.

In the lead investigator's statement prepared for Belinda's inquest, Luke is described at the time of Belinda's disappearance as, quote, highly volatile, extremely violent towards towards women.

And the investigator went on to say he's been quote described by many as more than capable of murder.

All persons of interest were given the opportunity to read a lot of the brief of evidence presented to the coroner before the inquest started.

More than five years worth of investigation by New South Wales Police, which included statements from people in Katoomba about Luke and others.

Luke had read the brief before he stepped into the witness box and made it clear he wasn't happy with what he'd read.

You have posted threats up on your Facebook page, is that right?

No, what I did is when

I first got the brief of evidence, I hadn't heard anything about this whole investigation and I was quite shocked at all the people that had written statements about me and a certain couple of people that had called my disabled daughter a spastic and I had the fucking shits and I put up there that you're all putrid dogs, everyone is.

And I said, I hope a fire rips through the place and kills a lot of you.

In the lead up to the inquest, Luke threatened a number of people online.

These were people who'd given statements to police in preparation for Belinda's inquest.

You posted on your Facebook, you said, Joe Ravisi, bad dog, don't go to jail.

Lots of guys have read your statements.

No, it probably says something like that, yeah.

You said, in all jails, be careful who you inform on.

There's people in the system waiting for dogs like you.

It probably is, yep.

Several witnesses who appeared at the inquest to give evidence said that they were fearful of Luke.

There was one witness called to give evidence about Luke, who didn't turn up to the inquest at all.

Karen Fitler was called to give evidence at the inquest in March 2013, but failed to show up.

Karen was 17 when she started hanging out with the Katoomba drug crowd.

One piece of evidence handed to the inquest was a handwritten statement Karen reluctantly gave to police in 2010.

In it, she says Belinda's name came up a few times when she started hanging out with the crowd in 99, the year after Belinda disappeared.

Karen said at the time she wasn't too sure who Belle was, but she now believes it was Belinda Peasley.

In her statement to police in 2010, Karen recalls something Luke said to her.

It said, quote, It was at this time he said they did something to somebody and they put her in a boot.

I don't know if it was a she, but they put them in a boot and apparently the body was pushed over a cliff.

For some reason, I keep thinking Blackheath Cliff near Evans Lookout or one in between Wentmouth Falls and Lura or Lura and Katoomba.

that was pretty much it.

We only really hung around for a week.

Karen also notes in her statement that Luke didn't say the name of the person, so we don't know who it was.

Karen ends her nine-page statement by summarising what she's heard over the years about what happened to Belinda.

She doesn't say who she's heard rumours from, but she does say she heard Jeremy, Luke and another man quote, took her in a car and bashed her and left her somewhere.

After they've left her, they've come back and got her body and done some things to her before or after she was dead and chucked her over the cliff.

I heard she was killed over drugs or she wouldn't give them what they wanted.

I mean Luke and Jeremy when I say they.

Obviously Karen doesn't use the name Luke in her statement.

She uses his real name.

The detective who got the statement from Karen said Karen was reluctant to speak to police and only supplied the handwritten statement after multiple attempts to get it.

When Karen was first contacted by police in 2008, she told them she didn't want to talk to them as she had fears for the safety of her children.

We don't know why Karen didn't turn up to the inquest, and we've tried to reach out to her but haven't heard from her.

At the inquest, Luke said he's never spoken to Karen Fidler about Belinda's disappearance.

I wanted to know more about Luke and what he was capable of, so I tracked down someone who knew him and Belinda back then.

Sorry, that's my Rott Wheeler.

Hello.

How you going?

Good, I'm Gina.

Hi Gina.

G'day, how are you?

Nice to meet you.

In the process of moving.

Yeah, sorry.

I went to meet Jason Wright, but everyone calls him Bundy.

That's my Rottwheeler.

That Rott Wheeler Bundy points to is a tiny white chihuahua circling at his feet.

Bundy's a massive guy and he's covered in tats.

And when he picks up his dog, it fits neatly into the palm of his hand.

Bundy's eyes crinkle as he smiles.

He has a warm, open vibe about him.

We start talking about what he says he was doing for a living in the Blue Mountains in the late 90s.

You know, somebody would approach you and say, look, heard you might be able to help me.

You know, and people you wouldn't expect to ask you

and just say, look, I want an uncle of mine bashed, you know, or, you know, and

kneecaps and stuff like that, you know.

It was enough to pay the bills, you know.

Bundy's a pretty open book.

He says you shouldn't be ashamed of your past, but own it it instead.

Something he says has come from having quit drugs and done therapy.

Bundy used to be a so-called standover man in Katoomba, and he hung out with Belinda a few times and heard she'd inherited a fair bit of money.

There was a whisper that, you know, there were leeches hanging off her.

Bundy says he knew Belinda had been using speed and weed, but after a while she'd started using heroin.

Something he says made him sad because it meant she was hanging in a dangerous crowd.

They would take advantage of vulnerable people, especially females.

They would get into their homes and then use intimidation and sign over money and stuff like that.

Two of these leeches, according to Bundy, were Jeremy and Luke.

We've beeped out Luke's real name.

And that's what it is like.

That's what it is like.

And Jeremy didn't, Jeremy had no brains at all.

He was just an idiot, a junkie, really.

He was just, loved his heroin, loved his drugs.

Different case.

Wasn't about the drugs.

It was about fear and intimidation.

He had a lot of people scared, that guy.

Why are you not, are you scared of him?

No.

I'm not scared of anything.

I'm scared of my dog, you know, that he might run away one day.

You know, that'd probably be my biggest fear.

But no, I'm not scared of him.

Bundy tells me there were rumours going around at the time Belinda disappeared and Jeremy and Luke's names came up.

So the reality of it is that,

you know, those two names were always the question mark when it happened.

And,

you know, there was whispers amongst the crowd, you know, that

had done it.

But nobody,

nobody proved anything.

Then almost a decade later in 2007, Bundy says he heard something about Belinda's case again.

But this time it was from someone he'd become very close to.

Someone he dated.

Someone you've already heard a lot about in this podcast.

Heidi Wales.

He didn't go to the police straight away, but about two months after they broke up in September 2007, Bundy told police, quote, Heidi knows something or she's got a lot of suspicion.

She's angry about the fact.

I knew Heidi was scared.

She was scared.

But I think if you spoke to Heidi, I don't know if you'll get it anywhere.

But, you know,

I think she has the key to a lot of to unlock the truth on a lot of things in this.

We've reached out to Heidi to ask for an interview, but she didn't respond in time for this episode.

Heidi has given statements to police about Belinda's case over the years.

At the inquest, Heidi was questioned about one of those statements, one where she mentions Luke.

Court officer, can you just give me the document?

Do you see that bit?

Yes.

Then you said, so yeah, in the last three months, you know, Jeremy or

would come bang, bang, bang, bashing at the door, and we just would not let them in.

Remember?

Do you remember saying that to the police?

I don't know.

I remember coming a few times, but...

Ms.

Wells,

just listen to my question, if you could.

Just listen to my question.

Does that refresh your memory that that, in fact,

from time to time came bashing on Belinda's door and he would not be let in the house?

Yes.

We've beeped out Luke's real name.

As Strickland reads the statement to Heidi in the witness box, she seems upset.

The coroner suggests a short break.

When Heidi comes back, she seems distant as she sits facing Belinda's family, Jeremy, Luke and the rest of the courtroom, who are peering back at her, waiting.

Then the coroner jumps in.

Miss Wayes, recalling these events is clearly distressing at times.

I understand that.

And some of the events that you are being asked to recall occurred some time ago.

I understand that.

The best way of helping you is to listen to the questions which are being asked and then answer them simply.

If you need a break, let me know.

It's important we get your evidence.

So we're going to have to go through this process and we'll do it as easily as possible for you, but it has to happen.

Yeah.

You understand?

I do.

Thank you.

Mr.

Strickland.

Did ⁇

to your knowledge ever ask Belinda for money or harass her for money?

I think he may have.

I know.

You knew that stood over people for money generally, didn't he?

Yes.

How did you know that?

I've seen him do it.

What did you see him do?

I've seen him

be nasty to people to get what he wanted.

I'm talking specifically about money or drugs.

Have you ever seen him be nasty to people because he wanted money or drugs?

Yes.

Heidi says Luke's threats weren't just verbal.

He used to carry a gun around and

that's how he would get his drugs.

Then Phil Strickland reads Heidi another statement about Luke that she gave to police in 2010.

I've heard that

trying to get money out of her and she wouldn't give it to him and that's why you know

where I found the bag.

It sort of makes sense.

A bit more sense to me.

remember in a previous episode heidi said she'd found belinda's bag stuffed down the back of the couch at belinda's house the day after belinda disappeared and that seemed like a bad sign to heidi like belinda was trying to hide it from someone like she may be sitting there hiding it so that he couldn't find her key card and stuff like that or something i don't know but back in those days he would go off his brain, he would smash anything, he would hit anyone.

Was that answer the truth?

Yes.

Phil Strickland presses on, asking more and more questions about this allegation that Luke was trying to get money out of Belinda.

When the police asked you about what your belief was about her disappearance, what you said was you had been told that

was trying to get money out of her.

And then you linked that fact with the fact that her bag

had been hidden

from your observation is that right

yeah well I went to Belinda's home the next day yeah

and everything was smashed and

that's when I found her bag but you linked the two things didn't you

demanding money from her and the hidden bag where her wallet normally was correct do you understand my question

no I do understand but I feel like

you're trying to make me say something.

I don't know.

I've I've I

me finding her back

I didn't necessarily

immediately say anything.

I was just found her back and concerned about my friend wanting to know what happened to her.

She told you didn't she that she hated?

Yes she did.

Or did she say more or less, approximately the guts of why she hated ⁇ it would have been because of his behaviour, because he was threatening and violent.

What, threatening her or violent towards her?

Yeah, I think he was.

It's the case, isn't it, that you are terrified of

today, aren't you?

He does scare me, yeah.

Have you received any Facebook or other threats?

from

him as a result of you having to come to court to give evidence at this inquest?

Just that

threatened some of us people who had to come to court.

Are you scared about that?

Yes, I was.

Yeah.

So I want to stop here for a minute and just go back over what we know about Luke and Jeremy.

Remember Belinda had just heard that Jeremy and Heidi were involved in the break and enter at her house a few days before she went missing.

And the inquest heard that when Belinda found out who did it, she didn't want to go to the cops about it because according to her former boyfriend, she was scared.

And what made you think that she was scared?

Just to say the way that she saw it changed.

Can you describe that?

Or mainly after she got robbed.

In the days after Belinda disappeared, Jeremy and other unidentified males were seen stealing items from Belinda's house.

And according to Heidi, Jeremy suggested that Belinda wasn't coming back.

He was talking about, oh, I'm going to go and steal Belinda's washing machine and he would just be like, ooh,

it doesn't matter, it's gone anyway, or whatever.

We also know a few months before Belinda disappeared, she called her dad Mark asking for help, saying she'd been threatened by Jeremy.

Oh, well, she rang asking me to come up there that Jeremy Douglas was smashing the house up and he was going to kill her.

Belinda also told her aunt Sharon something similar just a week or so before she disappeared.

So the very last time I saw Belinda, she was in an in quieter state.

She was

fearful for her life and she was sure that somebody was trying to kill her.

And then there was the story Carla Priestley told the inquest.

The story about Heidi coming to Carla's flat in an agitated state and saying Jeremy and Luke were standing over Belinda.

Basically

she had

told us that they went to

they meaning Heidi Jeremy and

had gone to Belle's house

to I think stand over her this is a story that Heidi denies telling and that Luke denies ever happened this is what Heidi had told me that they got Belinda in the car Heidi was in the front Did she say she's in the back?

Belinda is in the back.

That's what she said.

Yeah, Belinda was in the back.

Heidi was in the front.

Yes.

Things started getting ugly in the car.

And then there's that other story about a car.

The story you heard earlier in this episode from Karen Fitler.

Something she says Luke told her.

It was at this time he said they did something to somebody and they put her in a boot.

I don't know if it was a she, but they put them in a boot and apparently the body was pushed over a cliff.

The last confirmed sighting of Belinda was on the night of September 26, 1998 at Katoomba Hospital.

The big problem in this case is there's not enough evidence to know for sure where she went next.

She might have gone home.

She might have been picked up.

But there's not enough evidence to show that either of these stories about a car actually took place that night after she walked out the doors of the ER.

At the inquest, Luke denied dealing drugs in Katoomba.

He denied standing over Belinda and he denied any involvement in Belinda's disappearance.

But there was evidence presented at the inquest from someone we'll call Witness A about an alleged conversation Luke had during a prison stint.

I need to warn you that the things Witness A alleges was said in this conversation are pretty disturbing.

Lawyer Phil Strickland questioned Luke about this at the inquest.

Did you have a talk with Witness A about the police being hopeless or crimes that you had done which the police hadn't caught you with?

No.

Did you say to Witness A that you fucking choked her?

No.

Or that you grabbed and smashed her to the ground?

No.

Or that you got a rock and fucking smashed her head in?

No.

Or that she tried to scratch your eyes out?

Where?

Got any proof of that?

Who scratched my eyes out?

She tried to.

She tried to.

Well, you know, I've still got them.

There is evidence in this case that on a number of occasions you regularly bashed on Belinda's door at Travenew.

Do you agree with that?

No.

Demanding money?

No.

Or hassling her?

No!

There is evidence that.

Well, where's the evidence that I bashed on the door?

Wait, I haven't seen it.

Well,

Ms.

Wales's statements.

Please.

Yeah, keep going.

You're doing well, aren't you?

You're really nailing my ass, aren't you?

So

if you wish to continue.

You're a prosecutor.

Serious.

15 years and you've got nothing on me.

Nothing.

Nothing, because I didn't do anything because I'm telling the truth.

And you push and push and push and push and it's got you nowhere.

In 15 years, you've got fucking nothing.

That's right.

Keep pushing and pushing and pushing.

Maybe I'm telling the truth.

Maybe at some point you'll go, oh, fuck.

Maybe these guys are telling the truth.

Did you kill Belinda Pearson?

No.

Did you have anything to do with her?

No.

The coroner said Luke's, quote, performance in the witness box did nothing to remove the suspicion that he had some involvement in the disappearance and or death of Belinda.

I reached out to Luke for comment, but he declined to be a part of this podcast.

After 15 days of evidence, the inquest into Belinda's disappearance and suspected death ended in October 2013.

A coroner has found that a young woman who disappeared from the Blue Mountains 15 years ago was probably the victim of homicide.

Belinda Peasley hasn't been seen since leaving the hospital at Katoomba in September 1998.

It's thought the 19-year-old mother of two who had a drug addiction may have returned to her home and been taken against her will.

There were suspicions that a number of people knew what happened or were involved, but nothing conclusive.

Ms.

Peasley's family hasn't given up hope that the truth will be revealed.

The coroner found that it was more than probable that Belinda died on or around around the 26th of September 1998, the last day she was seen alive.

And he said it was more likely than not that her death was the consequence of someone else's actions.

The coroner found that the evidence at the inquest had raised considerable suspicion as to the possibility that three people had knowledge and or involvement in Belinda's disappearance or death.

Those three people were Heidi, Jeremy and the man we're calling Luke.

And in the five years that have passed since the inquest, no one has been charged with anything related to Belinda's case.

There were wheels within wheels in this case.

And I don't know who was playing who off against who.

Phil Strickland, the counsel assisting the coroner, says he believes some witnesses weren't telling the inquest everything they knew.

We had witnesses,

friends of Belinda Peasley, who we were sure knew more than they did

but didn't

tell us everything they knew

either because they thought that would implicate them or because they feared the consequences

for them of revealing what their boyfriends or what men in their life had done to her.

I did get the impression when Heidi Wales was giving evidence that she wanted to say more things than she did

and I got the impression that there were moments when she was going to reveal some important piece of evidence

that had previously been unrevealed and although she did give tidbits of information that were new

she never

did get to that stage where she revealed the smoking gun.

Now that could be either because there was no no smoking gun

or it could be because she knew about the smoking gun and she didn't want to reveal it.

I did get the feeling she was

scared or intimidated to reveal everything she knew.

Maybe there's a question around how we try to get answers out of people who are scared or intimidated like Heidi in the setting of a courtroom.

Maybe there's something wrong in the way we approach these cases when we're relying on people to speak out against others who've been violent towards them.

Heidi made a comment specifically about this outside of court during Belinda's inquest, saying she was uneasy about giving evidence.

Yeah, I think I would have felt a lot more comfortable if Jeremy wasn't in the room and

maybe if

it was just the people that had to ask me the questions and the judge I think I would have would have felt a lot more comfortable and been able to maybe

talk a bit more freer and stuff like that.

I met up with Phil Strickland at the end of 2018 and asked him whether he thought there were instances where people like Heidi, people who've experienced domestic violence, should be offered or given anonymity in the format of an inquest.

Phil says there's a tension that exists between the principle of open justice and protecting vulnerable witnesses.

There's a tension between witnesses, and in this case, women who suffered from domestic violence, who would have been fearful of saying the truth.

There's a tension between that and the principle of open justice and in particular the principle that people who were the perpetrators or may have been the perpetrators of that domestic violence having a right to be in court to hear the allegations against them.

And that tension exists in many criminal trials, for example.

And in criminal trials the law has changed to give much more protection.

so they can give evidence out of court, CCTV.

My recollection is that Heidi Wales gave an indication to the officer in charge that she wanted to disclose more information than she did.

Ultimately, she decided not to.

Undoubtedly, one of the reasons she may have made that choice was out of fear.

Well, that's what I mean, that the freedom to make that choice, you know, in that forum with those people there, someone like Jeremy, her ex-partner, you know, how much of that is her free choice?

That's the question.

Sure.

Question for the inquest, though, is what additional protections could could have been afforded to her.

There were discussions about those protections and the details of which I don't recall.

When I began looking at Belinda's case, I knew Belinda had been frightened, scared, felt unsafe in her own home in the months before she disappeared.

So I spoke with people and services who would have come across her then.

I spoke with people who were around at the time.

and listened to the testimony of the women who appeared at her inquest.

Almost every woman I spoke to, either directly related to Belinda's story or who was in Katoomba at the time, almost every one of all different ages and circumstance had a story about their experience of domestic and sexual violence or knew someone close who had.

There are people still alive who were under some suspicion of being involved in or knowing about Belinda's disappearance or death.

There are instances this year where people agreed to do interviews relating to this story, but they pulled out very last minute.

There is a culture of fear around this case and the people involved that still exists in this community.

Belinda's dad, Mark Wern, worries the truth might have slipped out of reach because of the lack of police action in the early stages of the investigation.

You know, in those days, I believed the attitude was that she was one less druggy to worry about.

which is a sad indictment on society of that time.

I like to think that Belinda was on the verge of turning her life around.

Belinda's case may have had a lasting legacy.

In the findings of Belinda's inquest, the coroner recommended that the homicide squad should be notified immediately if there's a high risk a missing person has died in suspicious circumstances.

If that had happened in Belinda's case, the family might have got some answers long ago.

There's no neat ending to Belinda's story.

There were no answers from the inquest, and there's no closure for Belinda's family.

Belinda would have been 40 years old this year.

We can only speculate as to what kind of mum and daughter she would have been, what kind of life she might have had if she made it out of Katoomba like she so desperately wanted to.

Belinda's mum, Leslie Peasley, said she held on to hoping Belinda was alive.

She only accepted Belinda had truly gone after she heard the coroner's findings.

Yeah, for a long time after she went missing, I thought, oh, she'll come back or or they'll find her.

But then, once I got the report from the coroner saying a homicide and giving the date of her death, I had to accept she was gone.

Losing a child is so unexplainable,

how you feel about it,

and the unknowing

is terrible.

And of course, you don't have any closure.

I'd never found a way of coping myself.

I just felt the void.

Basically, it's a continual loss.

20 years after Belinda's disappearance, and almost five years after the inquest wrapped up, there was a moment of hope.

As you heard in episode one, New South Wales Police announced they were doing a forensic dig under Belinda's house searching for her remains.

On the first day of the search, they found something.

It's 10 o'clock.

Good morning, David Marchese with ABC News.

Homicide squad police have revealed they've found women's underwear during a dig at the former home of a Blue Mountains mother who disappeared more than 20 years ago.

Investigators say the clothing is consistent with the size size worn by 19-year-old Belinda Peasley, who was last seen in September 1998.

Three bags of evidence are now being forensically examined to see whether there's a DNA link.

New South Wales Police said along with women's underwear they also found a dress but they didn't release much more detail than that.

And in the weeks after they were discovered, police said they were forensically testing the items, including for DNA.

No more information has been released to the public.

I've been contacting the New South Wales Police Homicide Squad trying to get an update.

And just days ago, they sent me three photos.

Photos of what was found buried underneath Belinda's house in Katoomba.

For the first time, we can now see exactly what they found.

The photos show three pieces of clothing laid flat, but they're wrinkled as if they'd been scrunched up, and some have dark marks on them.

There's a beige coloured slip dress or nightie, a lingerie bodysuit that looks like a light pink colour with a thick black lace edge, and a black skirt.

Police think the clothes were made in the mid-90s and Belinda went missing in 1998.

The clothes were found hidden deep in the soil under the house.

Exactly why, how or when they were buried there remains unclear.

Detective Superintendent Scott Cook from the New South Wales Police Homicide Squad said the clothes had been subjected to numerous forensic examinations, which have provided investigators with some further lines of inquiry.

But now detectives are appealing to you, to the community, for more information that might assist them.

They're hoping someone might recognise these clothes and recall Belinda wearing them or seeing them in her possession.

You can find the photos of the clothes the police shared with me on our site by searching for Unravel True Crime.

The police say that any information you might have would be treated in the strictest confidence.

Thanks to everyone who's been emailing and calling with tips and leads on Belinda's story, we'll continue working on this case.

For now, this is where our look into Belinda's story ends.

But for Belinda's family, it will never end until there's some kind of resolution.

Belinda's dad, Mark, says the family are still hoping they might find justice.

We all deserve to know.

And I hope myself, Sharon, Leslie, Belinda's mother, Cody and Billy, her two sons, the family, are entitled to at least know what happened to Belinda.

And if possible, the persons who caused it deserve to get their just reward.

Be that what it may.

If this episode has raised any issues for you, please contact your family and domestic violence support services.

In Australia, for confidential counselling and support, you can contact the National Helpline for Domestic and Family Violence, 1-800-RESPECT.

1-800-737-732.

If you know anything about this case, get in touch by emailing unraveltruecrime at abc.net.au.

This season of Unravel is hosted and reported by me, Jeannie McEwen.

Co-executive producer for this season is Helen Barrow, who originated the story.

The interviews were conducted by Helen and me, and the inquest recordings were made by Helen for the TV documentary Who Killed Belinda Peasley.

In Australia, you can see it now on ABC iView.

Thanks to the Evershine production team, including Fran Tinley and sound recordist Dan Maui.

Unravel's supervising producer is Tim Roxburgh.

Our audio producer and researcher is Emma Lancaster.

Fact-checking by Ellen Lee Beder.

Sound design by Tim Jenkins and Martin Peralta.

And music composed by Martin Peralta.

Angela McCormack is our digital producer, and Unravel's executive producer is Ian Walker.

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