Disappearance of Krystal Fraser

On 20 June 2009, 23-year-old Krystal Lee Fraser disappeared from Pyramid Hill, a town in north central Victoria, Australia, days before she was due to give birth to her son. Fraser had an intellectual disability, with a mental age of approximately 14, and had discharged herself from Bendigo Base Hospital against medical advice to attend a purported birthday party in Cohuna that police were unable to verify. She travelled by V/Line train from Bendigo to Pyramid Hill, disembarking at around 20:40, and was last seen leaving an Albert Street address at about 21:30 after visiting an acquaintance.

At 23:59 that night, Fraser received a 40-second call traced to a public phone box outside the post office in Leitchville, a town without direct rail access from Pyramid Hill. She had received 15 calls from that phone box in the two months prior to her disappearance. In the early hours of 21 June, her phone connected to mobile towers in Patho and then Leitchville, unusual locations given her phone's historical pattern along the Bendigo–Swan Hill line. Because Fraser could not drive and there was no rail access to Leitchville, investigators concluded she must have been transported there by another person. After 21 June, all activity on her phone and bank accounts ceased, and her phone has never been located.

Police initially considered that Fraser may have gone into hiding voluntarily, but by October 2009 investigators stated they believed she had been murdered. That month, a body found in a barrel in Broadmeadows was investigated as a possible match but Fraser was ruled out. Several local men connected to Fraser died by suicide in the years following her disappearance, but police determined these were unrelated. Rewards for information were raised over time, reaching $1 million in 2019.

A coronial inquest held in July 2022 examined Fraser's relationships, including with three men identified as possible fathers of her unborn child: Gareth David, Tony Gatt, and Peter "PJ" Jenkinson. Coroner Katherine Lorenz found that Fraser likely died "very shortly" after the phone call from the Leitchville phone box, that her death was caused by another person, and that available circumstantial evidence supported the conclusion that Jenkinson was involved in her disappearance in some way. The inquest heard that Jenkinson and Fraser had exchanged over 2,000 calls and texts, that Jenkinson stopped using his personal phone and began contacting her from the Leitchville phone box about a month before she disappeared, and that he could not account for his whereabouts on the night she vanished. Jenkinson denied any involvement and objected to giving evidence, and was excused on grounds his testimony could incriminate him. The inquest also heard testimony that Fraser had expressed fear in the days before her disappearance over debts related to drug supply, and a witness account of her getting into a red station wagon that was later found burnt out.

The inquest could not determine a precise cause of death or locate the remains of Fraser or her unborn child. No one has been charged in connection with her death.