4 days ago
Siblings who discovered the body of Rosemary Brown 25 years ago speak publicly for the first time
It was a crisp winter's day on July 2, 2000, when Sarah and James Fidock went fishing with their father on Garden Island in Adelaide's north-west.
Sarah was 10 years old, while James was eight. They quickly grew bored of waiting for a fish to bite, so they started to explore the shoreline in search of rock crabs.
The tide was out as the pair walked through the dense mangroves with their buckets in hand.
What the siblings were about to find would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
The body of 33-year-old Rosemary Brown was lying face down submerged in thick mud.
She and her 15-year-old daughter Melissa Trussell had been missing for seven weeks.
James found the body first and was shocked by what he had stumbled across.
"She was lying there, fairly decomposed at that point. I think some of the sea creatures must have gotten to her at that point too," he said.
His older sister Sarah was terrified. She still remembers the moment vividly.
"I was really scared, my mind went to automatically, you know, the [alleged] killer could still be out here, we've got to get out of here ... That's where my mind went as a 10-year-old," she said.
The pair ran back to find their father, who was still fishing on the jetty.
He took them straight to the Port Adelaide Police Station to report what they had found.
Sarah said police officers asked the children if they could have mistaken the body for a doll or mannequin.
"I could describe what she was wearing, she was wearing black tracksuit pants," she said.
"They had the elastic bands at her ankles, she was wearing sneakers and she was wearing a flannelette top, and she had long hair, and she was face down."
The sun had set and the tide had come in by the time the Fidock family returned to the island with detectives.
It took police about half an hour to locate Rosemary's body in the dark as Sarah led the way.
"She was probably 150 metres from the shore and so I've had to walk — put the big police gumboots on to walk — through water and sludge and everything else," she said.
It's now 25 later and Rosemary's daughter, Melissa, has still not been found.
Police believe the teenager and her mother were murdered but detectives have no motive and no one has ever been charged in relation to their disappearance.
Police launched a new appeal this month to help solve the 25-year-old cold case, and police divers spent Friday searching the waters and coast of Garden Island in an area not previously explored.
SA Police suspended the search on Friday afternoon and said a vehicle had been located in the area, with further inquiries to be undertaken to determine whether it is connected to the case.
They are also forensically re-testing evidence with new technology that was unavailable 25 years ago.
Until now, the Fidock siblings have never spoken publicly about their discovery.
Sarah has not been able to return to Garden Island, she doesn't go to the beach, and has never gone fishing again.
She said she always hoped Melissa was still alive and has decided to finally speak to shed light on the case.
"But for her to still be lost out there, and there's a family that don't know where she is and who need her home, if I can do just a little something, then it's about time that I do it."
James, now 33, feels the same, and said Rosemary and Melissa's family deserve to know what happened.
"Coming up yearly and seeing that the family hasn't had closure still does affect me and my sister to this day," he said.
"I hope it's done as soon as possible, they deserve closure, everyone deserves closure for it."
Both Sarah and James, who now have young children of their own, have praised SA Police for how their family were supported after finding Rosemary's body.
Police have offered a reward of up to $1,000,000 for information and assistance that leads to the conviction of those responsible for the suspected murder of Melissa, while a reward of up to $200,000 has been on offer for the same in Rosemary's case.
The Fidock siblings have joined renewed calls from police and family members for any information on the case.
"I'm sorry that, you know, we found her — that also makes me feel guilty," Sarah said.
"We didn't do anything, but knowing that we were a part of them [the family] having their hearts broken, that also hurts us.
