Disappearance of Julie Garciacelay

Julia Anna Garciacelay, known as Julie, was born in 1955 and raised in Stockton, California. She was the second of three daughters born to Ruth and Fermin Garciacelay. In October 1974 she was granted an Australian entry visa and subsequently permanent residency, entering Australia on 4 November 1974. She lived with her sister Gayle in an apartment on Canning Street, North Melbourne, and worked as a library reference clerk at Southdown Press on Latrobe Street, Melbourne, after holding several short-term hospitality jobs.

On 1 July 1975, Julie told Gayle that a man named Rhys "Tom" Collins had visited her workplace and asked to come to the apartment that evening. According to a Southdown Press staff account, Collins and another man had earlier come to the library with Southdown Press employee John Grant, discussing plans to open a soul food restaurant. The group arranged to meet at the sisters' apartment that evening. Gayle left the apartment around 8:00pm to visit a friend, leaving Julie alone to await Collins's arrival.

When Gayle returned home on 2 July 1975 around 1:00pm, Julie was not there and the apartment was untidy. After lunch out with friends, Gayle returned again in the afternoon and Julie was still missing; a call to Southdown Press confirmed Julie had not attended work. Gayle then found a blood-soaked towel and other items, including Julie's underwear, scattered in the flat. Julie's glasses, contact lenses, house keys, and medication were all left behind. Police later found blood on the landing and additional personal items, including keys and a wallet, along with a handwritten note bearing a phone number. A kitchen knife and a black cape were reported missing from the apartment.

Victoria Police investigated the disappearance and came to suspect that Garciacelay was deceased, treating the case as a homicide, though extensive proof-of-life checks — including telephone, bank, Medicare, and Centrelink inquiries — did not locate her. Three men who had been at the apartment that night — Collins, Grant, and John Power — gave statements to police. Collins, in an unsigned statement given on 11 July 1975, said the three men had spent the evening drinking and talking with Julie, and that she left around 10:30pm to make a phone call for her sister and did not return. Grant's unsigned, undated statement corroborated this account; he was later interviewed by the Homicide Squad on 30 October 2003 but gave a "no comment" interview and declined to provide a blood sample. Power was interviewed at Port Phillip Prison on 31 October 2003, confirmed the same general account, and agreed to provide a blood sample.

A coronial inquest was held on 11 April 2018 at the Coroners Court of Victoria, presided over by Judge Sara Hinchey. The inquest found that despite no body having been located, Julie Ann Garciacelay is deceased. No person has been charged with any indictable offence in connection with her death.