Twenty five years after Luke Davison's mother Shari disappeared, police are offering a $1m reward for anyone with information that could help solve the cold case.
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'It's horrible': Son spends every day wondering where his mother went
By Simone Fox Koob
June 30, 2020 — 11.45pm
The last photo Shari Davison's parents have of their daughter, kissing her son Luke in the months before she disappeared.
Police on Wednesday increased the reward for information about her disappearance from $20,000 to $1 million. Her parents released a statement describing Ms Davison as a "beautiful, vibrant" young mother.
Ms Davison's son Luke, who was only two when she disappeared, said while he had no memories of his mother he constantly wonders what happened to her.
"Every day [I'm] wondering, I've read everything online, all the news articles," he said.
"There are different situations I've put together in my mind and I just don't know whether I'm right, wrong ... assuming things that have happened that might not have happened. It's horrible."
He said it was painful not knowing where his mother was and urged those who know anything about the suspected murder to do the right thing and contact police.
"I'm sure they are very well aware, what it would be like to take a mother from a child. I ask them to clear their conscience ... come forward and give us information."
Ms Davison was working as a stripper at the time of her disappearance and left a Dandenong strip club with a colleague about 10.50pm on February 18, 1995.
The pair headed to a sporting club in Croydon and then to the Mentone Hotel, where they remained with Ms Davison's boyfriend until about 1am. Ms Davison and her boyfriend then went to a home in Hampton for an hour before catching a taxi to Crown Casino until about 2am.
At 7am, her boyfriend left the casino. It's believed she left about 40 minutes later and travelled by taxi to her home in Footscray. Detectives have been able to establish that between 12pm and 2pm, Ms Davison went to a public phone box on Ballarat Road in Footscray where she made two calls.
One was to her employer confirming she would be attending work that night; the other was to her boyfriend, who she arranged to meet so she could pick up some belongings including her phone charger.
She never arrived at work that night and has not been heard from or seen since.
A key line of inquiry for police is a car that was seen driving into the service station before someone in the vehicle spoke to Ms Davison.
Police believe Ms Davison was murdered and have increased the reward for information from $50,000 to $1 million.
Ms Davison worked for the same agency as jailed former stripper Robyn Lindholm, who has been found guilty of murdering two of her former lovers – gym owner
Wayne Amey in 2013, and George Templeton, also known as George Teazis, who went missing in May 2005 and whose body has never been found.
Ms Davison knew Lindholm, and lived at the time in Footscray with an associate of Mr Templeton. Mr Templeton, a former senior member of a Richmond-based gang, was named at the 2001 inquest into the disappearance of Ms Davison as having at one time put a gun to a woman's head during a discussion about drugs.
Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper from the missing persons squad said despite the passage of time, the investigation into Ms Davison's disappearance was still very active.
"It was a murky bunch of people she was involved in and we don't want to try and hide from the fact she had her challenges in her life and was doing what she had to do to try and support herself and support her son," he said.
"Sadly it's a pretty sordid situation with a number of people of questionable repute involved but as I say we focus on Shari as a mother, a daughter.
"My firm belief would be that people associated with that group would know what happened to her... A lot has been written in the media about this particular group, but we need someone who is going to come forward and fill in the gaps 25 years down the track."
A number of people have been spoken to by police over the years over the suspected murder and there are several persons of interest in the case.
Detective Inspector Stamper said the No. 1 priority was to get information for her family, who have been grappling with their "ambiguous grief" for more than two decades.
Ms Davison's elderly parents said their daughter deserved to be remembered "with love".
"Never a day goes by without us thinking about Shari – without us missing her, without us wondering what happened to her," Sandra and Tom Davison said in a statement.
Anyone with information about the murder of Shari Davison is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
