Disappearance of Niamh Maye

Niamh Maye, originally from Armidale, New South Wales, was 18 years old and on a gap year before starting university when she disappeared in 2002. On February 16, 2002, roughly six weeks before she vanished, Maye and two friends traveled to Batlow, New South Wales, for a fruit-picking working holiday.

On March 29, 2002, Maye went camping near Jingellic. She was accompanied by another fruit picker, Jason Nicklason, who traveled in a distinctive black hearse. The pair left Jingellic together on March 30, 2002. Maye had been planning to catch a bus from Batlow to the train station at Cootamundra, but she never made that trip. She was not seen again after March 30, 2002, and Nicklason is identified as the last person to have seen her alive.

Six months after Maye's disappearance, in September 2002, Nicklason was arrested in Brisbane in connection with the rape of a 19-year-old woman. While he was in police custody outside Brisbane police headquarters, Nicklason jumped from a third-storey car park and died as a result. Because Nicklason died before facing any legal process related to Maye's disappearance, he was never charged in connection with her case, and no named individual has been charged, convicted, or otherwise adjudicated in relation to her disappearance.

The case remained unresolved for more than two decades. On June 21, 2023, the Riverina Police District announced an AU$250,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in relation to Maye's disappearance, an effort aimed at generating new leads. In 2024, a podcast covering her disappearance was released in the hope of prompting further public information.

As of the most recent available reporting, Niamh Maye's whereabouts remain unknown, and her disappearance is classified as unsolved. The circumstances of her final movements after leaving Jingellic with Nicklason on March 30, 2002, have not been publicly established, and no further named individuals have been identified as charged or convicted in connection with the case.