Before you continue
This case involves crimes against children. Casepin presents the record in neutral, non-graphic language. Choose whether to continue.
Unsolved case · 1980
Acland Street in St KildaCredit: Bidgee·CC BY-SA 3.0·Source
The short answer
Louise Faulkner and her two-year-old daughter Charmian vanished from St Kilda, Victoria, in April 1980 after being seen getting into a white ute with an older man. A 2008 coronial inquest ruled they were victims of foul play, but no one has been charged and their bodies have never been found.
The coverage index
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for this caseThe case file
Louise Yvonne Faulkner was born on 7 April 1937 in Colac, Victoria, the youngest of three children. Her daughter, Charmian Christabel Alexis Faulkner, was born on 30 October 1977. By 1980 the pair were living at Acland Street, St Kilda, Victoria, where Louise had become friends with a neighbour, Corrine Wylde, who lived in the same block of flats.
On 25 April 1980 — Anzac Day — Louise and Charmian attended a first birthday party for Wylde's son. Louise told Wylde she intended to visit her boyfriend in Gippsland. The following day, Wylde saw Louise and Charmian get into a white utility vehicle with an older man. This was the last confirmed sighting of either mother or daughter. At the time of their disappearance, Louise was 43 and Charmian was two years old. Louise had named her lover, 60-year-old George Sutherland, as Charmian's father, and he was identified as the only suspect in the case.
Police began preliminary investigations into the disappearances on 9 June 1980, and inquiries with friends and associates of Louise continued over the following twelve months. Despite these efforts, the case remained unresolved for decades.
In August 2006, a coronial inquest was held into the disappearance and presumed death of Louise and Charmian Faulkner. The inquest found that the pair had probably been murdered. The inquest was re-convened in 2008, at which point the coroner formally ruled that the deaths were the result of foul play, but stated there was insufficient evidence to link any individual to the killings.
As of 2025, no one has been charged in connection with the disappearance of Louise and Charmian Faulkner, and neither of their bodies has been found. The case remains unsolved, with authorities continuing to treat it as a matter of ongoing public interest, including subsequent media appeals and reward offers reported by outlets such as The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
7 dated entries · 1937–2008
Louise Yvonne Faulkner born in Colac, Victoria.
Charmian Christabel Alexis Faulkner born.
Louise and Charmian Faulkner attend a first birthday party in St Kilda; Louise tells a neighbour she plans to visit her boyfriend in Gippsland.
Last confirmed sighting: a neighbour sees Louise and Charmian get into a white ute with an older man.
Preliminary police investigations into the disappearances begin.
A coronial inquest finds the pair were probably murdered.
The reconvened inquest rules the deaths were the result of foul play but finds insufficient evidence to link anyone to the killings.
2 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Two-year-old daughter of Louise Faulkner who disappeared with her mother in April 1980; a 2008 coronial inquest ruled her death was the result of foul play.[3]
Mother who disappeared with her daughter from St Kilda in April 1980; a 2008 coronial inquest ruled her death was the result of foul play.[3]
3 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
PressThe AgeAccessed Jul 7, 2026
PressThe Sydney Morning HeraldAccessed Jul 7, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 7, 2026
Trust
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
Near this case
SOLVEDListenSouth Yarra, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia · 2010s
Melbourne interior designer Stuart Rattle was murdered by his partner of 16 years, Michael Anthony O'Neill, at their South Yarra home in December 2013 after an argument; O'Neill later set fire to the house and pleaded guilty to murder and arson.
UNSOLVEDListenWalsh Street, South Yarra, Melbourne · 1980s
Two young Victoria Police constables, Steven Tynan and Damian Eyre, were ambushed and killed while investigating an abandoned car on Walsh Street, South Yarra, in the early hours of 12 October 1988. Four men charged with their murders were later acquitted; the case remains formally unresolved.
UNSOLVEDListenNear Brighton (Landcox Park / Hurlingham Park area), Victoria, Australia · 1830s
An estimated 60–77 Bunurong people, mostly of the Yowengerre clan, were reportedly killed by Kurnai (Borro Borro willun) attackers near present-day Brighton, Victoria, in the early 1830s, according to later accounts recorded by colonial officials William Thomas and George Augustus Robinson.
Credit: Naitsabes101·CC BY-SA 4.0·SourceUNSOLVEDListenPrince George, British Columbia, Canada · 1989
In August 1989, an Indigenous family of four — Ronald and Doreen Jack and their sons Russell and Ryan — vanished from Prince George, British Columbia, after accepting a purported logging-camp job offer from an unidentified man who drove them away in his pickup truck. None have been seen since.
OVERTURNEDListenBush near Thames, Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand · 1989
Swedish tourists Urban Höglin and Heidi Paakkonen disappeared while tramping on New Zealand's Coromandel Peninsula in April 1989. David Wayne Tamihere was convicted of their murder in 1990, largely on testimony from prison informants, one of whom was later convicted of perjury. His conviction was upheld on appeal in 2024 despite findings of a miscarriage of justice, but was quashed by the Supreme Court of New Zealand in March 2026; the Crown had until 30 September 2026 to decide whether to seek a retrial.
Credit: Dadnarg·CC BY-SA 4.0·SourceUNSOLVEDListenSutton High Street, Sutton, London · 1988
Lee Boxell, a 15-year-old schoolboy from Cheam, London, disappeared on 10 September 1988 after being seen on Sutton High Street. He has never been found, and investigators later theorised he may have died intervening in sexual abuse at an unofficial youth club linked to a convicted abuser.
