Disappearance of Jimmy Taylor

James Patrick Taylor, born 1 November 1961, was a 12-year-old Aboriginal boy who disappeared from Derby, Western Australia, on 29 August 1974. In the late afternoon that day, Taylor walked barefoot but in his school uniform from his home on Knowsley Street to Lwoy's Deli on Loch Street to buy lollies and soft drinks for himself and his siblings. He never returned. His family initially assumed he had stayed the night with a friend and began searching the following day; his father reported him missing to Derby police on 5 September 1974. A witness later claimed to have seen a man driving a four-wheel-drive vehicle with an open tray carrying a 44-gallon drum approach Taylor, and that Taylor got into the vehicle.

The Western Australia Police Force investigated but closed its inquiry in 1979, having presumed Taylor had run away from an unhappy home rather than considering foul play — a presumption his family disputed at the later inquest. In August 2006, the WA Police Special Crime Squad re-examined the case after Taylor's family, upon watching a 2006 ABC television documentary about convicted child killer James Ryan O'Neill, learned O'Neill had been living in Derby at the time of the disappearance. The completed December 2006 review identified three persons of interest, including O'Neill, and recommended 28 investigative opportunities, but rated the case low-to-medium priority since the men posed low ongoing risk. Following public pressure from the family in November 2011, police provided further updates, and in June 2013 the Special Crime Squad completed a report referred to the Office of the State Coroner.

In June 2014, WA Coroner Barry King announced an inquest, held at Derby Court House from 8 to 10 October 2014. O'Neill testified via videolink from a Tasmanian prison, denying any involvement. The inquest heard that police had originally presumed Taylor ran away due to an allegedly violent, alcoholic father — a characterization the family rejected. Taylor's sister Heather Winifred Taylor described the lasting trauma on their mother. Documentary maker Janine Widgery also testified about her research into O'Neill, including a possible link to the Beaumont children case.

Coroner King found beyond reasonable doubt that Taylor had died, but could not determine when, how, or whether he had been kidnapped or murdered, issuing an open finding and stating he could not conclude whether O'Neill was involved. The family said they accepted the findings and remained hopeful. In May 2023, a $1 million reward was announced for information about what happened to Taylor. Taylor's sister Lyn Henderson-Yates and social justice advocate Gerry Georgatos have separately criticized the original police investigation as reflecting racial bias, contrasting the resourcing and media attention given to Taylor's case with cases involving non-Indigenous missing children.