Her brother woke up cold in the night, noticed his blanket had slipped, and reached over to his sister's bed for comfort, the way they always did. She wasn't there. The front door was open. Renee Aitken was five years old, and she was gone.
A Stormy Night in a Small Town
On the night of February 16, 1984, a wild storm moved through Narooma, a small fishing town on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Renee Aitken, five, lived there with her mother, Morna, her mother's partner, Neil Mumme, and her eight-year-old brother, Brad. The family had spent that day on the beach eating fish and chips before returning home as usual. Renee, by every account, was a confident, well-loved child.
Renee and Brad shared a bedroom. She was last seen by her mother in bed at 11:15 p.m. Sometime in the early hours of February 17, Brad woke up cold, noticed his blanket had been pulled down past his knees, and reached over to his sister's bed the way the two of them often did when one woke during the night. She wasn't there. He searched the house and found the front door standing open.
A Search That Consumed an Entire Region
What followed became, by local accounts, the largest search the area had ever seen. Heavy rain delayed the initial effort for three days. Once it cleared, roughly 90 police officers, search and rescue personnel, and local volunteers combed the surrounding bushland and rocky coastline in coordinated lines, while a helicopter scanned the shoreline and boats checked the inlet. Further searches followed in the weeks and years after, including a renewed effort in April 1984 after a reported unusual smell drew searchers to bushland south of town, and another search of nearby swampland two months later. None of it turned up any trace of Renee.
Police eventually told Morna they had received information suggesting Renee had been murdered shortly after being taken and her body left somewhere in the bushland near Narooma, though they never publicly disclosed the source of that information.
A Suspect, Investigated for Years
In 1987, police interviewed Brian James "Spider" Fitzpatrick, a convicted sex offender who had been in Narooma around the time Renee vanished — he had visited the family's home days before her disappearance, accompanying Renee's aunt, Bonnie, on a fishing trip to the area. By his own account to police, he had driven past the family's home multiple times the night Renee disappeared. Investigators found his account of his movements that night difficult to corroborate; family members were also skeptical of his story given that, by several accounts, Fitzpatrick had a known fear of sharks despite claiming he'd gone for a swim that night.
Fitzpatrick was never charged. In 2003, just weeks before he was due to testify at a long-delayed coronial inquest into Renee's disappearance, he died — accounts of the circumstances differ, with some reporting a car accident and others describing it as a suicide. Renee's aunt Bonnie later told the inquest, through tears, that she felt responsible for having brought Fitzpatrick into the family's orbit in the first place.
The 2003 inquest concluded that police were convinced Fitzpatrick had abducted Renee, though it stopped short of definitive proof given his death prevented any further investigation or testimony from him directly.
A Second Name That's Never Been Confirmed
Over the years, suspicion has also periodically fallen on Michael Guider, convicted of murdering nine-year-old Samantha Knight, who disappeared from Sydney in 1986 — two years after Renee. The connection drew real attention after it emerged that while in prison, Guider had drawn sketches of a young girl bearing a notable resemblance to Renee and had kept scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings about her disappearance. Police interviewed Guider directly about Renee's case; he denied any involvement, and investigators have stated they believed his denial, continuing to view Fitzpatrick as the person responsible. Guider was released from prison in 2019, having served his sentence for Samantha Knight's murder; he has never revealed what he did with her remains, which similarly have never been found.
False Hope, and a Search That's Never Fully Stopped
In the early 2000s, an American woman who had been adopted as a child came across a photograph of Renee while researching her own biological family and believed the resemblance might mean she was Renee herself. A DNA comparison with Morna Aitken ultimately ruled this out.
The family has continued holding onto hope that modern forensic advances might eventually provide an answer. Renee's aunt, Robyn Aitken, has spoken publicly about the role DNA technology has played in resolving other long-cold cases, expressing hope that similar techniques might one day help bring real answers to Renee's case as well.
A Family That's Never Been Able to Grieve
Renee's mother, Morna, eventually moved to Melbourne with Brad and remarried, later having a second son. Brad himself went on to have a daughter of his own in 2008, whom he named Renee, after the sister he never stopped thinking about.
In a 2014 interview, Morna spoke plainly about the particular, unresolved nature of the grief her family has carried for decades: "There has been so much pain and grief. It's eaten me away. I am just a damaged shell now. I can't do my grieving because she is nowhere."
A memorial plaque for Renee now sits on the Narooma headland, a quiet, permanent marker in the town her disappearance changed forever. If she were alive today, Renee would be in her mid-forties.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Renee Aitken, you're encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Sources
The Disappearance of Renee Aitken: She mysteriously vanished from her bed — True Crime Avenue
https://www.truecrimeavenue.com/2025/01/the-disappearance-of-renee-aitken.html
What Happened to Five-Year-Old Renee Aitken? — True Crime Diva
https://truecrimediva.com/renee-aitken/
32 years on and Renee Aitkin still missing — Narooma News
https://www.naroomanewsonline.com.au/story/4074489/32-years-on-and-renee-aitkin-still-missing/
What Happened to Renee Aitken? — Cody L Writes
https://codylwrites.com/2021/05/15/what-happened-to-renee-aitken/