Two people have been publicly named as persons of interest in one of Australia’s most notorious cold cases.
Revelle Balmain, a 22-year-old model and sex worker, disappeared on her last shift as an escort in Sydney on November 5, 1994.
She never arrived to meet her mother at the train station the following morning.
More than 31 years after Balmain vanished, deputy state coroner Joan Baptie has ruled the former model is dead.
In her findings handed down at the NSW Coroners Court on Friday, the coroner identified Balmain’s bosses.
The two people who ran and operated the escort agency, Jane King and Zoran Stenojevic, were involved, Baptie found.
Both have denied any involvement in Balmain’s disappearance.
She said King and Stenojevic’s evidence was “littered” with inconsistencies and untruths.
“They either knew who was responsible for Balmain’s disappearance or were somehow involved,” she said.
But there was not enough evidence to refer the couple for criminal prosecutions, the coroner said.
The pair were formerly married and have not been charged.
‘[The pair] either knew who was responsible for Balmain’s disappearance or were somehow involved.’Coroner Joan Baptie
Baptie instead referred the matter back to NSW Police’s unsolved homicide detectives, who will continue to investigate what happened when Balmain disappeared on that Saturday evening.
What is known is she attended a booking with client Gavin Samers in Kingsford and he dropped her at a hotel nearby about 7pm.
It was meant to be one of her last jobs as an escort before flying to Japan to work as a dancer.
Friends of Balmain planned to farewell her that evening, but it fell through when the aspiring dancer failed to turn up, a companion said during the inquest.
She cannot be named for legal reasons.
The two had worked together at escort agency Select Companions.
The friend said she disliked Stenojevic, who she believed was infatuated with Balmain.
Reports from the evening also claim a dark-coloured Holden Commodore was seen in the Kingsford area of Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
A loud skid and the sound of a woman’s scream was heard before the car with several occupants sped off.
Balmain’s personal belongings were found strewn around Kingsford streets in the days following.
The items found included her diary, bank card, keys and high-heeled clogs decorated with shells.
A previous inquest in 1999 found Balmain had died at the hands of a person or persons unknown and the matter was referred to the Unsolved Homicide Unit.
A fresh investigation between 2007 and 2009, followed by a formal review in 2020, failed to produce any compelling evidence in the case.
With questions unanswered, authorities offered a $1 million reward for information on her disappearance in 2021.
AAP
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