Joanne Butterfield inquest to probe 1998 disappearance of mother who planned to hitchhike to Sydney
On the banks of a reed railway near a remote lookout in northern Queensland, locals stumbled upon a bag of flowers and broken glass.
It was June 1998 and this discovery set off alarm bells.
The bag was the same one that 37-year-old mother Joanne Butterfield takes with her everywhere.
Inside were his birth certificate, passport, typed CV, toothbrush and toothpaste.
For almost three decades, the family has been questioning their mother’s suspicious disappearance.
The inquest before Coroner Stephanie Williams will now investigate the circumstances surrounding Butterfield’s suspicious death and the adequacy of the police investigation into her disappearance.
Butterfield was last seen alive at around 8pm on 25 June 1998, leaving a house near the Captain Cook Highway in Mowbray. She was wearing a black dress and carrying a flowered bag.
Lawyer Peter Ah Gee, assisting the coroner, told the Coroner’s Court on Tuesday that mother-of-four Butterfield worked at a local IGA store in Mossman.
But in late June that year he told his daughter Sky that he planned to return to Camden in Sydney.
“This plan started to set in motion the motivation to go back to Camden,” Ah Gee said.
He said Sky went to his mother’s house to collect some personal belongings and they fought over his plan to return to Sydney.
Sky’s last memory of her mother was seeing her in tears at the door of the house.
Ah Gee told the court Joanne Butterfield had been with men who had a reputation for violence and she feared for her safety.
He told his loved ones that he planned to hitchhike to Sydney.
Days later locals discovered the items dumped at the Henderson Drive lookout in South Johnstone.
“The combination of elements in that scene was so obviously alarming that they immediately drew concern from some of the public who live in that area and pass through it frequently,” Ah Gee said.
He added that the three children saw the presence of broken glass as an unusual situation.
The items were hand-delivered to Innisfail police station and South Johnstone police station was also informed of the discovery.
Ah Gee said police were checking the surveillance area for any reports of property crimes.
“The police took action,” he told the court.
“They called Ms. Butterfield’s home several times over the following days and hand-delivered this important piece of evidence and observed it themselves. And that’s all they did.
“This is the extent of proactive policing shown by the summary of evidence in relation to Ms Butterfield’s weeks-long disappearance.”
Ah Gee said one of Butterfield’s children eventually asked where their mother was; this was “a question that should have already been asked by others”.
Police took several photographs of the scene during the investigation, he said, adding that even in 2024, police are “not even sure” what was found on Henderson Drive and what items were found elsewhere.
The court heard police never approached Butterfield’s best friend, who lived just around the corner, for information. Ah Gee said his friend is dead now.
In 2014, Coroner Jane Bentley made her findings about Butterfield’s suspicious death, saying it was likely something bad had happened.
Police continued their investigation after new information from Crimestoppers suggested two men may have been involved in her death.
Police later concluded that Butterfield committed suicide.
The case was reopened in 2021 after detectives issued a public appeal to anyone who saw a woman hitchhiking between Port Douglas and the South Johnstone area between June 25 and June 28, 1998.
Detectives said at the time that he likely met his death at the hands of others.
Butterfield’s children attended Tuesday’s hearing via video link and Coroner Williams told them he had no doubt that the passage of time had not eased their pain.
He said he expected the inquiry to hear that, given the years that had passed, the information available today would have a significant impact.
“I have no doubt that your distress is compounded by the uncertainty and conflict between the earlier coroner’s findings and the later police findings as to what may or may not have happened to Joanne,” Williams said.
The investigation is planned to be held in August.
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Cloe Read is the Brisbane Times’ crime and courts reporter.Connect with: X or email.
