Family of missing Australian woman seeks $1m reward in her case
The family of Monique Clubb, a 24-year-old Indigenous Australian woman who disappeared while travelling from Hervey Bay to Brisbane in June 2013, has called on Queensland Police to offer a $1 million reward for new information in the case. This was reported by ABC News Australia.
Clubb was travelling to Brisbane with three acquaintances. She was last reliably seen on 22 June 2013: according to testimony by security guard Red Apolo at a 2021 coronial inquest, she left a shopping centre in Beenleigh and walked through a park. She has not been found since.
Problems in the investigation
A senior detective told the State Coroner's Court that police had concluded Monique probably died shortly after she was last confirmed to have been seen. At the same time, the coronial inquest identified problems in the work of law enforcement officers at the early stage of the case.
In particular, the senior detective acknowledged that CCTV footage from Beenleigh railway station had been lost. Martin Hodgson, co-founder of The Disappeared Project, said the footage could have contained information about Clubb's route, possible use of a public telephone, or people who were near her.
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The investigation also found that police did not interview employees of a shoe store in the shopping centre and were unable to obtain the full version of Clubb's phone records. After a car accident that left her with serious injuries, she had an opioid addiction, so police considered the possibility that she died from an overdose. However, search-and-rescue experts said during the hearing that such a scenario would have been extremely unlikely.
Campaign for a reward
Clubb's family and The Disappeared Project have launched a campaign calling for a reward for information that could help solve the case. Monique's younger brother and sister say they have lived for more than a decade without answers about her disappearance.
A Queensland Police representative declined to comment on the possibility of a reward in a specific case. The department said rewards are an important part of investigations, but only one of the strategies for solving crimes, and that any new information is considered and checked.
