Butterfield disappearance unlikely to be suicide, inquest told

A coronial inquest into the 1998 disappearance of Joanne Butterfield has heard that suicide is unlikely to be the explanation for her vanishing without a trace. The inquest was told that Ms Butterfield had been seen arguing with a local man, Concetto Tati, on several occasions before she disappeared.

Background

When Joanne Butterfield suddenly disappeared without a trace in June 1998, some locals in her Far North Queensland town were quick to form suspicions. As Colleen Brischetto, a long-time Mossman taxi operator, put it at the inquest: "In a small town, everyone talks."

To some, Ms Butterfield appeared troubled in the lead-up to her disappearance, telling friends and acquaintances her children would be better off if she left town. But some things appeared to be going well for her too. She had taken a job at a local supermarket earlier that same month and, at the start of that year, mental health services believed her condition had improved enough to recommend the closure of her file.

Witness accounts

Coroner Stephanie Williams is examining whether Ms Butterfield has died and the adequacy of the police investigation into her disappearance. Colleen Brischetto knew Joanne Butterfield in 1998, routinely driving her in the taxi, often to a local pub. Ms Brischetto also knew Concetto Tati, a lifelong local who lived down her street.

Ms Brischetto's evidence suggested that in the two months before she disappeared, Ms Butterfield and Mr Tati argued "three or four times" at a taxi rank. One of those occasions came after Mr Tati went looking for Ms Butterfield, asking Ms Brischetto to drive him to Mossman Gorge.

"He was anxious to find her … and when someone said she wasn't up there, I said, 'Why don't you just leave her alone?' And he got really angry," Ms Brischetto told the inquest.

David Arduino, now 55, told the inquest he frequently collected Ms Butterfield and Mr Tati from the Mossman Hotel together in his cab. "Sometimes, he was quite rude and a bit aggressive," Mr Arduino recalled of Mr Tati. Mr Arduino told the inquest that Ms Butterfield and Mr Tati argued in his taxi "several times".

"[Mr Tati] looked pretty nervous and just looked like he was on edge," Mr Arduino said. The taxi driver said Mr Tati had a duffel bag with him and, at one point, asked Mr Arduino to pull over before briefly wandering into the scrub, the inquest heard.

"He said, 'It would be a good place to die', and that's all I can remember," Mr Arduino said.

Investigation and inquest findings

The inquest has also heard evidence about a man named Victor Varga, who died in recent years. His friend, Anthony van den Broek, 60, gave evidence about an afternoon they picked up a hitchhiking Ms Butterfield on their way back to Cairns from Mossman.

Jim Whitehead, a retired Queensland police search-and-rescue coordinator who completed a doctorate on the disposal of homicide victims, told the inquest it did not fit the pattern of someone who had taken their own life. "I can't imagine she just left her kids in the lurch like that with really nothing for finality," Dr Whitehead said.

"I still think that, while suicide is a possibility, it's not the one that I would put my money on." Dr Whitehead told the inquest it was "a different world back in 98" with fewer resources available to police, such as number plate recognition and traffic cameras.