Sharron Phillips, 20, vanished on May 8, 1986, while waiting for her boyfriend after running out of petrol in Wacol, in southwest Brisbane.
State Coroner Terry Ryan reopened the inquest into her disappearance after taxi driver Raymond Peter Mulvihill was identified as the number one suspect by police.
Ryan today handed down findings that Phillips was dead with the cause and precise circumstances unknown and the person or persons responsible being unable to be identified.
Ryan said Seeley was an unreliable witness and his evidence was not enough to support his allegations against Mulvihill.
“Given the inconsistencies and lack of credibility that can be afforded to Seeley and the absence of further reliable evidence … I am not able to conclude that Mulvihill played a role in Sharron’s disappearance to the necessary standard,” Ryan said.
Mulvihill died of cancer in 2002 and Queensland Police advised the Coroners Court in 2017 that he would have been arrested for the murder of Phillips based on available evidence had he still been alive.
Ryan said Seeley claimed at the hearings that Mulvihill threatened him with a knife after he realised his father had placed a captive person in the boot of his car.
“It is significant as to the reliability of this fresh allegation that Seeley only suggested that an assault had taken place after he admitted that he knew someone was in the boot but continued to drive,” Ryan said.
The coroner said there was evidence to support Seeley and Mulvihill being in the Wacol area when Phillips disappeared.
However, Ryan found Seeley had a commercial motive to lie in order to benefit his podcast about the case and had made unsupported claims, such as his father having murdered at least 10 other women and hidden the bodies in a drain alongside Phillips.
“It is possible that both Mulvihill and Seeley had some involvement in Sharron’s disappearance,” Ryan said.
Ryan recommended the Queensland police commissioner ensures Phillips’s death remains with the cold case investigation team for review and monitoring of any new information.
“I acknowledge Sharron’s family, who have lived with continual and unresolved grief for over 38 years,” Ryan said.
