Missing Women of Coober Pedy: Karen Williams & Anna Rosa Liva

For decades now, two families have been grieving the loss of their beloved daughters, sisters and friends.  The police always maintained these two missing persons cases were not connected, until fairly recently when they discovered a link… will it be the key to convicting the person they think is responsible? 

Two women from two completely different worlds; Karen Williams, a local Indigenous Australian teen and Anna Rosa Liva, a 30 year old Italian backpacker.  They were different nationalities and different ages but there was one common denominator.  Both went missing from the outback mining town of Coober Pedy back in the early 1990s.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The missing women of Cooper PD. For decades now there have been two families grieving the loss of their beloved daughters, beloved sisters and friends. The police have always maintained these two missing persons cases were not connected until fairly recently when they discovered a link. Will it be the key to convicting the person they think is responsible? Two women from two completely different worlds Karen, a local Indigenous Australian teen, and Anna Rosa, a 30 year old Italian backpacker. They were different nationalities and different ages, but there was one common denominator Both went missing from the outback mining town of Cooper PD back in the early 1990s. This episode contains content related to abduction, rape and homicide and is not suitable for children. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander listeners should be aware that this episode contains information about a person who may have died, and related social media posts also contain images of this person. Today I'm covering the missing persons cases of Karen Williams, last seen on August 4, 1990, and Anna Rosa Lever, who was last seen on November 28, 1991. They both went missing just 15 months apart from the same town. I'm Carla Morgan and this is BOLU, a podcast covering cold and active missing persons cases with the aim of helping families bring their loved ones home. Just before we start, a little note from me. I did spend time researching and practicing the pronunciation of people's names and places in this episode, so I do apologise if I get it wrong. It's not for lack of trying on my part. Feel free to message me with corrections.

Speaker 1: 2:24

Cooper PD is a town literally in the middle of the desert in the state of South Australia. It's about 850 kilometres north of Adelaide, the capital city. Most European and white Australian settlers were drawn to Cooper PD in the 1960s and 70s as there was an abundance of precious opals discovered there. A number of opal mines were formed. In fact it's known as the opal capital of the world. Together with nearby Andamooka and Mintabi, cooper PD produces 85% of the world's opal supply. In 1990 the population was around 1500. Today it's more like 2000. An interesting fact about Cooberpeedy is it's estimated about half of the town's people live under the ground in excavated homes called dugouts. This is to escape the scorching heat in summer and the cold nights in winter. Cooberpeedy is the traditional land of the Aribana people. The name Cooberpeedy is believed to come from the native term cockataw pankala Cooberpeedy, which means whitefellas hole or whitefellas holes. But in 1975 the local indigenous people adopted the name Umuna, meaning long life, and it's also their name for the mulga tree.

Speaker 1: 3:50

Apart from mining, the reason people come to Cooberpeedy is tourism Desert landscapes, amazing sunsets, the underground dugouts and the whole outback vibe. In 1985, the Stuart Highway became a sealed road, so Cooberpeedy, which this highway runs right through, became much more accessible to travelers. This highway pretty much cuts the country in half and runs from the south to the north, so from Adelaide to Darwin, connecting the two capital cities. It's a 31-hour drive if you're interested in taking it. With more accessibility came more people, some of whom came to make their fortune and leave. Some came and stayed and the dynamic of the town changed. Some of the locals didn't like it. They certainly didn't like the fact that two women had gone missing in the space of 15 months, with locals believing it had to have been an outsider and not someone from their community. I'm going to start with Karen, as she was the first to go missing. At the time she disappeared.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Karen was 16 years old and was living in Cooberpeedy with her family. Karen is of Aboriginal appearance with wavy, long brown hair and big brown eyes. She's described as fun and friendly, and she was hanging out with friends at a disco at the Opal Inn on the night of the 3rd of August in 1990. In the early hours of the following morning, the group of friends left the inn and moved on to a party at Sergio's restaurant. Between 5 and 6 am that morning, which was the morning of the 4th, karen left the restaurant with three friends. They walked down the street a bit before they were offered a ride home by a young local guy. He drove them out to the corner of Medway Drive and Lehman Place where her friends got out. He continued driving a little further down Medway Drive with Karen and claims that he dropped her off there near Daws Street, which is close to her family members home.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Karen has not been seen since Her brother, kim Williams, told the advertiser in 2012 quote I remember her going to a disco and the last thing I said to her was I'm going home, do you want to come? But she said she was enjoying herself. We had a very close relationship with her. We never argued. This was so uncharacteristic of her.

Speaker 1: 6:25

In terms of the police investigation and a search for Karen in the beginning, it's really hard to say what transpired. I couldn't find many reports or news articles that talked about Karen's disappearance until about 2012. There was one article in 1992 published in the Sunday Age that stated that the search for Karen was largely left up to her family and the Aboriginal community. But were the police also looking? Whether they investigated and the media just didn't report on it, or they didn't do a thorough investigation, I just don't know. Neither would surprise me for the time, probably not even for today. As I've said in a previous episode, our First Nations women make up a disproportionate number of Australia's missing persons compared to the rest of the population. There's a national inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children which is due to be released at the end of this year. But we also need to be taking action so that the families of missing Indigenous people are being heard and their cases being investigated with the same level of resources and rigor provided to everyone else.

Speaker 1: 7:40

If you're wondering which episode that was that I spoke more about this, it was episode 3, manique Club. So 12 years on, in the first comprehensive report I could find about Karen's disappearance, police suspected foul play. They knew she never made it home that night and they believed she'd been murdered. Here's a timeline of the investigation Major crime detectives revealed that they had a new lead and that they had a DNA sample from a person who they considered their key suspect. This man was in his 40s and had been spoken to in the initial investigation. He had lived in Cougar Pedy for many years, including during the time Karen went missing, but had since moved to another part of South Australia. He was known to Karen and her family but was not part of the Aboriginal community. Around the same time, detective Brevitt, sergeant Paul Ward, announced a Bolo, which is a B on the lookout for a red or orange Datsun 180B sedan with South Australian registration plates SLG 539 as a vehicle of interest. It was seen in the area at the time of Karen's disappearance. It was also seen several kilometres from Cougar Pedy in the early hours of August 4. The Datsun is believed to have been sold or disposed of in Adelaide in 1990 and may still be in use. There's the possibility that forensic material could still be in the car and police stress the number plates may have changed since 1990.

Speaker 1: 9:23

In July of 2013, so one year later, police began excavating an old mine on the outskirts of town. They were hopeful to make an arrest if they were able to get a sample of DNA from Karen's remains to match to their suspect's DNA on file. Mine rescue workers, ses and local police slowly excavated the first mine shaft using buckets. The shaft was less than a metre wide and 35 feet deep. The search was incredibly difficult with the high temperatures and the cramped space in which they were working. Despite being extremely hopeful they were looking in the right place, karen wasn't found. In fact, there were four mine shafts that were sites of interest that were searched and, side note, none of the mine owners were implicated in any way.

Speaker 1: 10:14

In August 2013, police received information that Karen's body had been left in the boot of a burnt out white Ford or similar car just outside town. It was claimed she'd been placed there for a few days before being put in a mine shaft approximately 20 metres away from the car. This location was near Maliotis Road and Flat Hill Road. In November of 2013, police charged a man named Nikola Novakovich, who was 42, and they arrested him for the alleged murder of Karen Williams. The trial was scheduled for February 2015 and in the meantime, police renewed the search. They appealed to the public for help. As reported in the Cooper PD Regional Times, detective Superintendent Des Bray of Major Crime said that they were appealing to the person who owned the vehicle, the white Ford, or had knowledge of the car's location at the time, or who may have collected the car, to come forward To clarify. This was the car in which they were told Karen's body had been placed. They later announced that two critical witnesses had come forward with information and a person had provided police with photos of the area showing the layout and the buildings at the time. So in September of 2014, just six months shy of the trial getting underway, more locations close to the original search area were excavated. Sadly, nothing was recovered. This type of search, as I've said, was incredibly challenging, not just because of the conditions and the space they needed to search, but there are so many mines in the area. Over time, old mines get filled in and new mines are created, adding to the difficulty.

Speaker 1: 12:44

In August of 2016, the judge alone trial was held. One witness said she saw Karen and Novakovich getting fuel in the early hours of August 4 before driving off, and that he later drove back past without Karen in the car. This, of course, didn't fit with the accused account of dropping Karen near her family's home that morning. There was also a witness who was a nurse and she reported a patient had given a deathbed confession saying he was the one responsible for Karen's death. This was not the accused but someone else entirely.

Speaker 1: 13:23

It came out that Novakovich had allegedly told people different versions of how he had killed Karen. He allegedly told someone he had shot her and another witness that he had strangled her. The defence relied upon the fact that the accused had given varying accounts to varying witnesses as to what he had done to Karen to cast doubt and that it was therefore impossible for the judge to rely on any one account as being factual. Perhaps the most astonishing revelation was that Novakovich's associate at the time, alexander Rado Savlovich, confessed to police that Novakovich had allegedly told him he had killed Karen because she'd seen them committing a robbery at a local mine. He also alleges he had then helped Novakovich dispose of Karen's remains, taking her from the boot of that burnt out car and putting her down a mineshaft. He had actively been helping police with their investigation and had even attempted to get a confession from Novakovich in a recorded conversation for them. The judge's verdict Not guilty.

Speaker 1: 14:36

Supreme Court Judge Justice Tim Stanley announced he was satisfied both men were involved in Karen's death and in the disposal of her body, but said the evidence was insufficient beyond reasonable doubt that he killed her and also how he did it. I'm actually dumbfounded by this. Convictions of murder without a body are possible. If the circumstantial evidence is sufficient, it should result in a conviction. My guess is that the police were always concerned that they didn't have enough evidence before going to trial, which is why they continued relentlessly searching for Karen's remains. Understandably, karen's family were distraught at the acquittal of the charges. They've spent years, decades, without Karen. The torment and stress of mind, search after mind search over the years of investigation after investigation, with one clear suspect then sitting through the trial, hearing all of that evidence to have it thrown out and him walk away a free man. It's very disturbing to me and so for the family. I can't even fathom Police say the case is not closed and they'll continue searching for Karen. The reward of up to $1 million is there for anyone who provides information leading to the recovery of Karen's remains or a conviction. Also important to note is that the law here has changed and double jeopardy offenders can be prosecuted again if fresh and compelling evidence is located.

Speaker 1: 16:22

Now on to the case of Anna Rosa Lever, who was 30 years old when she disappeared. She was from Porta None in northern Italy. She loved travelling and, like most backpackers, was in Australia for the trip of a lifetime. Anna Rosa has black hair and olive complexion and brown eyes. Anna Rosa was travelling by bus along the Stuart Highway from Alice Springs to Adelaide. She had a 24 hour stopover in the mining town of Cuperpedi. She arrived at 10pm on the 27th of November in 1991 and checked into her accommodation at Radica's dugout on Oliver Street. This is just off the main road in town.

Speaker 1: 17:09

The next morning at around 8am she had breakfast at a cafe a few hundred metres from the hostel and she came back at around 9.15am and had a coffee while she chatted with some of the staff there. During this chat she told them she had a plan to go noodling or fosking for opals. Just before midday she went to the Cuperpedi Visitor Centre where she got two maps of the area and was chatting with one of the staff there. She was very excited when she discovered this person was the minister at the local Jehovah Witness Church. She made plans to attend the local meeting at 7pm that night in town and she also booked a mine tour for 2pm that afternoon. She left the council chambers where the visitor centre was, walked out onto the street and hasn't ever been seen again. When the bus came to pick her up from her accommodation for the 2pm mine tour, anna Rosa wasn't there. She also never showed up to the 7pm meeting at the church.

Speaker 1: 18:14

When Anna Rosa's room at her hostel was searched, they found all of her belongings, her ID and passport. There was no further contact with family and her bank accounts have not been touched, nor has her passport ever been used. A wide-scale search of the area and mine shafts ensued, which included the use of helicopters and dogs and Aboriginal trackers. Aboriginal trackers draw on the skills of their traditional bush knowledge handed down over generations. Their skills have often been utilized by police over the years when searching for missing persons and runaway criminals. Despite the search and rescue effort, which included Anna Rosa's brother, constantino, coming over from Italy, anna Rosa wasn't located and she's never been found.

Speaker 1: 19:04

Just like Karen Police suspect, she encountered someone on the street. She was just 300 metres from her accommodation when she left the tourist office and they think that that person convinced her to go with them. Perhaps they used the ruse of being a fellow Jehovah Witness. Perhaps they offered to show her a different part of town. Whatever it was they believed. She went with them willingly and was abducted and murdered. Anna Rosa's brother said she was very devout. She would have easily trusted other Jehovah Witnesses and gone with someone who said they were a fellow worshipper. They also feel that she has gone with someone and met with foul play. However, they still hope, as all families who suffer from the ambiguous loss of having a missing loved one, that they are wrong and that she has gone off and is still alive. But in their heart of hearts they know it's an unlikely or implausible scenario.

Speaker 1: 20:08

In October of 2018, after decades of saying these two cases were not connected in any way from what evidence they had to hand, police announced they had established a direct link between Karen Williams and Anna Rosa Lever. The link was the area where Anna Rosa was last seen, near the visitors centre, was a very short distance from where the main suspect in Karen's disappearance and suspected murder was living. At that time, detective Sergeant Ward reported to the media that, while they hadn't yet determined the significance of the connection, they were keeping an open mind. Coupapedi is literally a minefield. There are thousands of abandoned mine shafts. Karen and Anna Rosa could be anywhere.

Speaker 1: 20:59

The families of Karen and Anna Rosa desperately deserve answers. It's not too late to say something. If you know something, it's not too late to find them and bring them home. The reward of up to $1 million remains on offer in Karen's case and a reward of up to $200,000 is on offer to anyone who provides information that leads to a conviction or the recovery of Anna Rosa's remains. If you or anyone you know know anything at all, please contact Police Link on 131-444 or call Crime Stoppers on 1800-333-000 or submit an anonymous tip at CrimeStopperscomau. Thanks for listening to Bolo. If this episode has brought up feelings for you and you need support, please reach out to Lifeline on 1311-14 or Respect on 1800-RESPECT, or for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Crisis Support, call 13 yarn. You can connect with me on Insta or Tiktok at Bolopod or email me at Bolopod at iCloudcom. Until next week. Stay safe and thanks for listening you.