It was a Thursday night in December, 2001, when a woman named Janine Vaughan attended a nightclub in Bathurst called the Metro Tavern. Janine had lived in the small town, with a population of about 27,000 for the last three years, working as a manager at a local menswear shop. Hers was a face many in the community knew, considered conventionally beautiful with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a big smile. 

In the early hours of that Friday morning, 31-year-old Janine walked out onto George Street, a few paces ahead of her friends. She was distressed, having lost her handbag somewhere in the nightclub. A few moments later, a red sedan pulled up. Her friends were unable to see the driver, but assumed it was someone Janine knew. She climbed into the passenger seat, and the car drove away.

That was the last anyone has seen of Janine Vaughan - a woman known as fun loving and outgoing. Her mother, Jenny Vaughan, told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2012, “It was raining, she had no money, she had no phone, no key to get into her house. If it was just someone she knew from coming into the shop or who she knew from around town she would have got in. It wouldn’t have been someone she met that night.I think it’s someone that she knew and trusted them enough to get into the car.” 

So, who was in the driver’s seat? And what did they do to Janine Vaughan?

CREDITS

Guest: Hedley Thomas

Host: Jessie Stephens

Producer: Lem Zakharia 

LINKS

• The Night Driver Podcast by The Australian… thenightdriver.com.au

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