Monday marks 42 years since the disappearance of Donald MacKay, yet Murrumbidgee Police District remains active in seeking new and old information alike.
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With a $200,000 reward still in place for those with information leading to a break, old stories and family tales are exactly what police want to hear in the hopes of giving the family the closure they have waited so long for.
The unsolved Griffith mystery has held and still holds many in thrall as to what happened that fateful night outside The Griff.
Often it is the case someone may have heard something a long time ago from a friend or family member. This is the sort of thing can be of great assistance in locating the remains and allowing the family to have some closure.
- Chief Inspector John Wadsworth
Ask a local and many have varied, competing and compelling versions of the events of that night on July 15, 1977, or know someone who knows something about those involved.
True or not, that is the kind of information Chief Inspector John Wadsworth from Murrumbidgee Police District hopes for - those stories heard from friends and family that may give investigators the break and a new lead so desperately needed.
"Although it's coming up to the 42nd anniversary, notwithstanding the length of time between Mr McKay's untimely death and today, it remains a very high profile incident," he said.
"Often it is the case someone may have heard something a long time ago from a friend or family member.
"This is the sort of thing can be of great assistance in locating the remains and allowing the family to have some closure."
On a Friday evening after a drink with friends, Donald Mackay stepped into the carpark of The Griff Hotel where he became Australia's first political assassination victim.
Police found Mr Mackay's locked van with the keys laying on the ground close by, alongside three .22 cartridges and a pool of blood. His body has never been found.
Read more on Donald MacKay:
Timeline
1977: Donald Mackay disappears in a suspected mafia assassination. Police find blood and spent cartridges near Mr Mackay's locked van at the Griffith Hotel.
1979: The Woodward Royal Commission finds Mr Mackay was murdered by a Griffith-based cell of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia.
1984: A coronial inquest concludes that Mr Mackay died of willfully inflicted gunshot wounds.
1986: James Frederick Bazley is jailed for conspiring to murder Mr Mackay. He was released in 2001.
2001: Barbara Mackay, Mr Mackay's widow, dies.
2012: A $200,000 reward is offered for information leading to the remains of Mr Mackay.
2013: Police excavate a property near Hay in a bid to find Mr Mackay's body. Nothing is found.
2014: An eyewitness comes forward, but no new evidence is found.
2018: James Bazley, prime suspect in Donald Mackay murder, dies.
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