Family fears woman missing for weeks will become 'another statistic'

A northern New South Wales family fear their daughter may join a long list of women who are missing in the region, as a three-week search for her fails to uncover any clues to her disappearance. 

Stephanie Cordery left her Ballina home about 5am on August 5,  with CCTV tracking her movements through Lismore to Nimbin, where her car was found abandoned in a friend's driveway at Mt Nardi.

Despite a 13-day search by emergency services, Stephanie has not been found.

Joyce Cordery said the pain of not knowing what happened to her daughter was "indescribable".

“Just to have her disappear and have no answers," she said.

"Particularly when we're hearing a lot of noise about people disappearing and things that have happened out there … that's horrible."

A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry is currently looking into historic unsolved murders and missing persons cases, with the aim of improving investigations into cases like Stephanie's.

The inquiry papers revealed at least 22 women were missing between the Hunter and the Queensland border, and the deaths of another 32 remain unexplained.

'Lack of resources' questioned 

In a statement, NSW Police said the multi-agency search for Stephanie Cordery in heavily vegetated terrain was "significant and sustained".  

While the exact number of searchers was not divulged, a police statement said officers were assisted by search dogs, Marine Area Command, the SES, Rural Fire Service, and Queensland Remote Area Tracking personnel.

A police spokesperson said a geo-targeted text message was sent to more than 68,000 mobile phones in the Nimbin area.

"Specialist capabilities have been used throughout the operation, including drones and other specialist search resources to assist in difficult-to-access areas," the police spokesperson said.

This week, dams and waterways were searched in the vicinity of where Stephanie's vehicle was located, but she was not found.

Mrs Cordery praised crews who worked in "unforgiving territory". 

But she questioned whether more resources were needed in regional areas.

"I just didn't realise there were so few people out actually looking," Mrs Cordery said.

"When you're told the SES are out there, you think, 'Oh, that's a lot of people', but in actual fact, sometimes there's only six people out there.

"My great fear is the lack of resources in that search. It's almost like the North Coast of New South Wales is a forgotten area when it comes to that sort of thing."

Deputy Captain of the Nimbin Rural Fire Service Charlie Cohen said emergency services and the local community searched the area near where Stephanie's car was found.

"It's very steep terrain with cliffs and dense canopy. It's not good for helicopter or drone searches," he said.

"We thoroughly searched both sides of the valley. We mapped where we'd been and searched again when we found any gaps or voids."

He said police with dogs searched the area four to five times.

"We searched, and we searched again," he said.

'One of those statistics'

Monique Cordery said her sister lived with schizophrenia, but she was not suicidal. 

She said imagining what had happened to Stephanie was heartbreaking.

"We've discussed every scenario, foul play, everything, and we're just lost on how we can be in this position with absolutely no trace," she said.

As days pass without sign of Stephanie, the family fears the search will come to an end and she will become another statistic.

"Where do we go?" Mrs Cordery said. 

"Do we just leave it here and she just becomes one of those statistics — another woman that disappeared on the Far North Coast [that] hasn't been located."

The chair of the missing persons parliamentary inquiry, MLC Jeremy Buckingham, said the true number of missing people on the North Coast was unclear, but the known number was staggering.

"In northern New South Wales there are hundreds of missing person and unsolved murder cases across three to four decades," Mr Buckingham said.

The inquiry lists more than 50 women who disappeared or were murdered between Newcastle and the New South Wales-Queensland border, and their cases remain unsolved.

Mr Buckingham said he hoped the inquiry would lead to the implementation of a state-wide search authority that would oversee and resource searches for missing people in New South Wales.

"I raised this with the Premier in Budget Estimates … we need a co-ordinated agency that get called when someone goes missing," he said.

It would take pressure off police, he said, and provide a consistent approach to investigating a missing person case in the crucial early hours when someone went missing.

But Stephanie's dad, Barry Cordery, said the family was refusing to give up hope. 

"We just can't give up. We've got to keep on trying. It's just something that we've got to do," he said.

"There's always hope, I suppose, but it's fading."

Police urged anyone with information about Stephanie's whereabouts to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.