what happened to Gillian Jamieson and Deborah Balkan

Gillian Jamieson and Deborah Balkan have been missing since 12 July 1980, last sighted in Parramatta, Sydney. They later called their friend from Wollongong, told her they were at a party, said they were planning on hitchhiking home in a few days and were never seen or heard from again.

 

Background:

 

Gillian Janine Jameison and Deborah Susan Balkan were 19-year-old friends. They had gone to high school together, and in 1980 they were living together in a house in Dundas, also shared with two others. They were both nurses aides, Gillian at Ryde District Hospital, and Deborah at Oats Nursing Home.

They drank, partied, and we're sexually active, like most young people, and were characterized as responsible and fun-loving. One of their favorite pubs was the Tollgate Hotel in Parramatta.

 

Disappearance:

 

On Tuesday, July 8, 1980, Gillian told her friend Virginia that she was planning to go to a party in Wollongong (south of Sydney) on the weekend. Debbie had told workmates she was thinking of hitchhiking north to Newcastle for a party with a man named Steve.

 

On Saturday, July 12, their housemate Sue left for work at 6 am, assuming Debbie and Gillian were asleep in their beds. When she got home around 7.15 pm, the house was locked and empty. At 9:15 she got a phone call from Debbie, who told her that she and Gillian were in Wollongong. When Sue asked who they were with, Debbie told her, “People that Gill used to work with ... that gardener fella."

 

Debbie then asked Sue if she could call in sick on behalf of them both, and that she'd see her on Friday. Sue rang the Ryde Hospital and Oats Home and lied about her friends being sick, on the days Debbie had asked her to.

At the end of the week, Sue ran into a regular at the Tollgate Hotel named Mick, who told Sue he hadn't seen Gillian or Debbie since the previous Saturday night when they'd been at the same pub talking about going to a party.

 

This would later be the last known sighting of the two girls, and Mick would later tell police he thought they had been waiting for someone to come and pick them up.

 

 

When the inquiry began, more witnesses came forward and told police what they'd seen that evening. Others who were drinking at the pub on Saturday 12 said that there were two other women there that night, as well as "some" men.

Carol Wall, who was working at the pub that night, was watching and listening to the group, and also overheard the girls talk about a party in Wollongong. Then, Carol said, one of the men told them he could drive them there because it wouldn't take him too long. The three left the pub together.

 

It's about an hour and a half drive between Parramatta and Wollongong these days, I'm not sure how much longer it would have been 30 years ago, if at all. The phone call Deborah made to Sue was around 90 minutes after they were seen at the hotel, so it looks like it hasn't changed much. It also indicates that they did indeed make it to Wollongong.

 

Carol described the man as being 25 - 30 years old, nearly six feet tall, of medium build, with olive skin, and long black hair. She also described him as “very dirty” and had a “terrible smell”. He was also wearing a black, wide-brimmed felt hat.

 

About three months later, three men came into the same pub while Carol was working and, after she asked them what they'd like, one said to the others, "She doesn't know".

 

Carol soon realized that the tallest man in the group was the same man she'd seen wearing the black hat, but he'd cut and died his hair.

 

He leaned over the counter and told, “She does know ... It was a horrible thing that occurred. You know they’re dead. The police won’t find them. It’ll occur to your two sons and then you. I know where you live and I’m handy with a knife.” He then told Carol he'd cut her throat and slit her kids “from arsehole to breakfast” before he left. Carol quit her job the following day.

 

Police followed various leads but we're never able to locate any sign of Gillian and Deborah. They were declared deceased by an NSW State Coroner in May 2006.

A sister's search:

 

In the months after her sister's disappearance, Cheryl Fallick tirelessly journeyed between Sydney and Wollongong by train, sleeping wherever she could, and stopping strangers on the street to show them photographs of Gillian and Deborah. For years, Cheryl never stopped searching, traveling up and down the highway, putting up posters, knocking on doors, talking to local newspapers, ringing radio stations.

 

 

Theories:

 

 

Ivan Milat

 

One theory that holds some weight is that the girls met their fate through the famous monster Ivan Milat.

It's valuable to note that we often look to Milat as the simplest yet most horrible explanation in missing person cases of that era. Perhaps that's because it's preferable to the probability there was an entirely different serial killer operating in NSW at the time. He is an obvious contender in so many cases, and no doubt killed more people than we officially know.

 

He was quizzed by police about the girls and denied ever having seen them or been to the Tollgate Hotel. However, Ivan Milat didn't even admit to those he was found guilty of murdering, so his word bears no weight.

 

2. The man in the black hat

 

Someone harmed these girls, and it could have been a total stranger in a black hat. There has never been any information about who he may have been, other than the suspicion it was Milat.

 

But who was he? Who was with him when he returned to the Tollgate to harass Carol? If there were three people involved in Gillian and Deborah's disappearance, that must be a very airtight relationship they have with each other.

 

Conclusion:

 

I believe these girls were murdered, but when, where, and by whom remains to be seen. I lean towards Milat, perhaps for the reasons mentioned above.

 

I'll end by paying my respects to Deborah and Gillian, and I hope they are at peace. I'd also like to acknowledge their families, for whom I hope there comes some closure.

Source

News Article Coroner's Findings

Gillian's Australian Missing Person profile

Deborah's Australian Missing Person Profile