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HE loved heavy metal, was into Pearl Jam and silverchair, was a fan of Port Adelaide Football Club and an enthusiastic fisherman. Daniel Sheppard, 19, also loved partying and had celebrated hard until 3.30am on New Year's Day, 1995. A non-driver, Daniel, his twin Michael, and other mates had used public transport to do the pub and club rounds, starting at Lennies Tavern, Glenelg. They visited the Liberty Night Club in Hindley St at 2.45am and their last stop was the nearby Jules Bar. Daniel walked from Hindley St to Adelaide Railway Station and boarded the 4.13am train to Port Adelaide. His destination was his home at Lord Hobart Way, West Lakes, where he lived with his mother. Detectives later determined he was on the train with 30 other commuters, including three females he knew from school. The atmosphere was boisterous but non-threatening. On the train Daniel told two of the girls: "I'm partied out ... I'm going home to crash." The girls left the train at Alberton and he waved to them. At 4.35am Daniel left the train and was seen on the southern pedestrian ramp walking towards Baynes Place. The walk home should have taken 10 minutes. So how reliable was the sighting of a person answering to Daniel's description hitch-hiking 2km from the railway station on Grand Junction Rd? Twin brother Michael is certain Daniel was going home. "I knew he was going home and nowhere else after he left the station," Michael said. Hard-working and reliable was how Duncan Ollier described his young employee at a Wingfield powder- coating factory. "It's like he's been plucked out of the sky and disappeared," Mr Ollier said. "He was loyal, reliable and trustworthy." Daniel's workmates said he was "a good laugh, a funny bloke to be with'. There was no hint of depression or anxiety. Two weeks later, with no leads. Major Crime used his non-identical twin to "walk through" Daniel's last hours. Wearing a blond wig and identical clothing, Michael re-created the trip from Platform 5 at Adelaide Station to where Daniel left the train and walked towards Baynes Place. Models of Daniel were put up around West Lakes and Port Adelaide shopping precincts. Divers searched the Port River and in April, 1995, police raided !he city homes of known sex offenders after information Daniel had been seen with them. "It seems he walked into oblivion,"retired detective Alan Arthur, who spear- headed the Investigation, said. Police now believe it likely Daniel was snatched and murdered. Sunday Mail (28-12-2003) Anna Merola/ Peter Haran |
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ON New Year's Eve, as revellers party their way through to 2005, the family of Daniel Sheppard will be remembering the day 10 years ago the teenager disappeared. The 19-year-old boarded a city train early on January 1, 1995, after celebrating with friends - but he never made it home. His mother Pat has all but given up hope of her son being found. "It's been nearly 10 years - it seems like it's hopeless," she said. "Too much time has passed." However, with the case remaining an open file as part of the SA Police Missing Persons Investigation Branch, there still is a possibility someone knows about the circumstances surrounding Daniel's mysterious disappearance. Mrs Sheppard acknowledges the chances are slim, even with the $100,000 on offer as a reward. "How could anybody have that on their mind and not say anything," she said. "If they had any sort of conscience, they would come forward. They don't even have to give their names." The reward was posted in April, 1997, more than two years after Daniel was reported missing. However, Mrs Sheppard said it took a long time for the money to be approved. "I wrote a letter to the premier at the time- it was (Dean) Brown I think- and (current Police Minister and Deputy Premier) Kevin Foley helped me, as I was one of his constituents - and I still am," she said. "It's a very substantial amount." Mrs Sheppard says lack of closure has been hardest for her and her family - including Daniel's twin brother - to deal with. "He's gotten on with his life, but there's not a day that goes by when we don't think about Daniel and what might have been," Mrs Sheppard said. What police and Mrs Sheppard do know about Daniel's disappearance is that he caught a train from the city on January 1, 1995, getting off at Port Adelaide Railway station just after 4.30am. He had been seen earljer that morning with friends at nightclubs in Hindley St and earlier in the evening of New Year's Eve at Glenelg. He was seen walking along the platform and the last confirmed sighting was outside the Rosewater Bowling Club on Grand Junction Rd at 5am, Police believed he may have been hitchhiking at the time, heading east, down Grand Junction. Rd. There was another unconfirmed sighting of him on Grand Junction Rd, Rosewater, between 6.30am and 7am. The West Lakes home where he lived with his mother was only a 10-minute walk from the Port Adelaide station. Just over a week later, Daniel's disappearance was declared a major crime. Sunday Mail (24-10-2004) Anna Merola |
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