Kylie Spelde is aware that people may be sick of hearing about the search for her sister, Janine Vaughan, who disappeared almost 21 years ago.
But for Ms Spelde and her brother Adam Vaughan, Janine’s disappearance is part of their everyday lives.
The “bright, bubbly and vivacious” 31-year-old was last seen getting into a red car after a night out at a pub in the NSW central-west town of Bathurst.
What happened next has been a mystery for more than two decades, and the subject of a podcast, dozens of media stories and soon a documentary.
Ms. Spelde is sometimes recognized by strangers who have seen some of the coverage, who mistake her for Janine.
She said that sometimes people saw her sister as a concept, not a real person.
“A lot of the missing people out there, they’re just labeled as a missing person, and I think people need to start realizing that they’re somebody’s loved one, somebody’s daughter, mother and sister of someone,” Ms. Spelde said.
Kylie Spelde and Adam Vaughan hope their sister is found alive. (Provided by: Kylie Spelde)
She said people were often uncomfortable and unsure of how to ask about research.
“It was ‘oh, have you found your sister yet?’ like he’s this lost dog,” Ms. Spelde said.
“When it’s a missing person, it’s a constant discomfort that people don’t want to ask.”
He said people would say “oh, how’s it going?” instead of “how are you doing?”.
Vaughan said she remembered Janine as her “big, big, big sister” because of the 12-year age difference between them.
“Since she’s gone, we don’t know how to react, because we talk about her every day,” Vaughan said.
“It’s like I’m still here, it’s like yesterday I was at the door.”
He said that meeting new people always forced him to consider as Janine explained.
He said it was hard to know what to say.
“Do I say my sister died? And then it would be ‘oh, poor you,'” she said.
“Or, I have a missing sister, and then all the conversation for the rest of the night is about my missing sister.”
Janine Vaughan’s siblings remember her as “bright, bubbly and vivacious”. (Provided by: Kylie Spelde)
Although the brothers are hopeful that Janine will be found alive, this is not always the case for the others.
“On the one hand, you have people talking to you like you’ve just died, and that’s it, so they’ve gotten over it and are more concerned about you,” Vaughan said.
“Then there are other people who forget that she’s not dead, that we don’t know that she’s dead and if she’s still missing, and they don’t know how to talk about it, so they forget about her and it’s all about what we’re doing” .
A coronial inquest in 2009 found that Janine was suspected to have been murdered by an unknown individual.
His family commissioned a billboard in 2020 that sits on the freeway through downtown Bathurst.
A billboard shows Janine Vaughan and the other two missing people. (Supplied)
It also includes the images and information about two other people last seen in the city: 15-year-old Jessica Small, who was abducted in 1997, and Andrew Russell, last seen in 2010.
As National Missing Persons Week ended in 2022 and attention turned away from the more than 2,500 people who had not been seen for at least three months, Ms. Spelde said it was the hope of finding out what happened to her sister that kept her going. .
“My hope is to find Janine before she dies, before something happens to me,” he said.
“That’s my drive, that’s where I’m at, I’m like, ‘I’ve got to do this.'”
NSW Police have offered a $1 million reward for information to help solve Janine’s disappearance and suspected murder.
“I would love to take that money from the government and make sure somebody has it, and it would also give hope to the families of other missing people, if ours is solved, it will give hope to other families,” Vaughan said.
Anyone with information relating to missing persons cases can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.