Digging into Queensland’s 35-year mystery

It’s a crime that has haunted south-east Queensland for 3½ decades.

Now there are hopes a coronial inquest beginning on Monday could finally answer the question: what happened to Sharron Phillips?

Her disappearance became one of Australia’s highest-profile police cases.

Before phoning her boyfriend to come and help her, Ms Phillips walked into a nearby army barracks and asked officers if she could use a phone. She was told there were none to use.

She left her yellow Datsun Bluebird, walked along Ipswich Road towards Ipswich and came across the phone box near Wacol Station.

By the time her boyfriend arrived to collect her, she was nowhere to be seen.

What happened between that phone call and his arrival has been the subject of 35 years’…