Exclusive: Lisa’s been in hiding for almost three decades from the father of her child, Jodie Martin Stephen Van Der Vegt, after he made a chilling confession to her about the disappearance of schoolgirl Rebecca Richardson.
The 15-year-old’s body has never been found and no one has been convicted of her murder.
Now, Lisa is coming out of hiding.
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Lisa’s been in hiding for almost three decades from the father of her child. (A Current Affair)
“I’m so sorry that he did that. There’s so much hurt and pain that he’s caused,” Lisa told A Current Affair tearfully.
“It’s horrible to think that I fell in love with him. It’s really horrible.”
Lisa’s a hard woman to find.
She admits even the police struggled to track her down.
That’s because she still lives in fear of her ex, known as Stephen, almost 28 years after she says she and her son escaped him.
It’s Stephen’s shocking secrets Lisa later spilled to police that saw him put behind bars over the 1998 disappearance of Rebecca.
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When Jessica was 14 and Rebecca 15, the sister’s had their last conversation. (A Current Affair)
“He said he was going to go and burn her and bury her,” Lisa revealed.
“He made her disappear. Like, you don’t get to make someone disappear, and she’s a child.”
Rebecca vanished from Santa Fair, a Christmas celebration in the small Queensland town of Gin Gin, west of Bundaberg.
“This is the last place I saw my sister,” Jessica Richardson told A Current Affair, standing at the exact spot at the Gin Gin Showgrounds.
“She deserves more than what she got, she deserves answers.”
It wasn’t until Lisa saw Rebecca’s sister Jessica plead for answers in her first TV interview on A Current Affair that she came out of hiding.
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Jodie Martin Stephen Van Der Vegt. (A Current Affair)
“Seeing Jessica, and knowing that she needs me, I went ‘let’s go’,” Lisa said.
When Jessica was 14 and Rebecca 15, the sisters had their last conversation.
“We were just going on the rides and having a laugh and then she came over and said she was off,” Jessica recounted.
“She told me she was going with Steve up to our house to grab some belongings.”
The teenagers and their father had been living with Stephen’s family while they were waiting for their new home to be built.
“His father and brother in law were helping my dad to build our family home,” Jessica explained.
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It wasn’t until Lisa saw Rebecca’s sister Jessica plead for answers in her first TV interview on A Current Affair that she came out of hiding. (A Current Affair)
But a month before Rebeca disappeared, their dad suddenly died, leaving the girls on their own.
“This is the house where we were staying with the Van Der Vegts,” Jessica told A Current Affair, returning to the property.
“And where was Stephen staying?” A Current Affair asked.
“In a caravan on the same property,” Jessica replied.
Lisa remembers living with Stephen in the caravan when they were both in their early 20s.
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Whilst behind bars, Van Der Vegt begged Lisa and their now adult son to talk to him. (A Current Affair)
She’d only recently given birth and was looking after their six-week-old baby boy when Rebecca went missing.
She’ll never forget when Stephen came home that night.
“He walked into the house completely freaking out just taking his clothes off to put them into the fireplace,” Lisa explained.
“So he put his clothes in the fire to burn them?” A Current Affair asked.
“Yes, and his shoes, everything he was wearing, the whole lot,” Lisa responded.
Stephen has always claimed another mystery man in the mafia murdered Rebecca but admits he witnessed it.
“He’s already told me that he’d been in this Melbourne mafia when we first met,” Lisa said.
Lisa had only recently given birth and was looking after their six-week-old baby boy when Rebecca went missing. (A Current Affair)
“Steve told me that the Melbourne mafia guy picked up Rebecca and taken her and they went out into the bush, and then that guy got the tire iron and was holding Rebecca in a headlock and hit her with it.”
“So he tried to make you think that he was this, some sort of underworld figure?” A Current Affair asked.
“Yeah, and I’m trying to understand whether we were in danger of that, whether I was in danger of him,” Lisa recounted.
“He said the guy hit him on the head and he had a big bump on his head, like huge, like about that big, and he said, ‘feel it’. And I felt the big bump on his head.
“He said he was going to go the next day and burn her and bury her. And I was like, how do you know that she’s not alive? And he said, no, she’s dead.”
That night, Stephen also made Lisa’s brother clean out his car.
“I knew the next day that something was wrong. Two of her friends questioned him where she was and he took them in his car driving around looking for her,” Jessica told A Current Affair.
“I remember her friends coming over. He went with them to go find her,” Lisa recalled.
Rebecca Richardson. (A Current Affair)
“And he already knew where she was,” A Current Affair stated.
Stephen returned and took Lisa to the shops.
“He went and bought clothes to replace the clothes that he burned, tarpaulin, um, I think some rope,” Lisa revealed.
“That’s just the part that I feel bad about. I should have gone out there. I should have made him tell me where she was.”
Later, he made this confession at a dump 20 minutes from Gin Gin.
“We were at South Kolan rubbish tip, and he pointed to a certain place, and he said that she was there,” Lisa said.
“He’d tell me so many things, little things all the time randomly. He would say to me that he could smell it. He could smell burning flesh.”
“I’ve got chills,” A Current Affair replied.
“I never thought that he did it. Never. Not even once. I wished I was braver. A totally naive person. I went to the refuge about five times trying to leave him,” Lisa tearfully explained.
“Do you think you were in an emotionally abusive relationship with him?” A Current Affair asked.
“Oh, absolutely. Coercive control. Just, he broke my brain,” Lisa replied.
Lisa admits even the police struggled to track her down. (A Current Affair)
Lisa fled with her son and they’ve been in hiding ever since.
It wasn’t until two years after Rebecca’s murder that police knocked on her door and she told them everything.
“The police said to me, ‘Lisa, he did it’. It just destroyed me. I just went what the f—,” Lisa explained.
Stephen was originally charged with murder but police accepted his offer to plead guilty to being an accessory after the fact and he was sentenced to eight years in jail.
All those years behind bars, he begged Lisa and their now adult son to talk to him.
But they want nothing to do with him.
“And there’s letters from Steve when he was in prison,” Lisa showed A Current Affair looking at the letters.
“Did you ever respond to one?” A Current Affair asked.
“Nope,” she replied.
“Stephen’s even sent you a photo of him in prison. You’ve cut out every single news article. In case your son one day asked about his father?” A Current Affair asked.
“Yes,” Lisa said.
The teenagers and their father had been living with Stephen’s family while they were waiting for their new home to be built. (A Current Affair)
“Has your son ever asked about Stephen?” A Current Affair questioned.
“No. No,” Lisa answered.
Stephen’s been living at a dilapidated property near Rockhampton.
“He’s locked up now for drugs charges. Does that surprise you?” A Current Affair asked.
“Not at all, he’s a career criminal,” Lisa replied.
Rebecca’s body has never been found and no one has been convicted of her murder.
Now, after years of fighting, Jessica has won her battle for a coronial inquest into her sister’s cold case.
Lisa hopes by coming forward she can help Rebecca’s family finally put her to rest.
“He was questioned at the Coronial Inquest and he’s still going with the story about the mafia. Do you believe that?” A Current Affair asked Lisa.
“No, no,” she responded.
“As soon as Stephen left the stand, the coroner looked directly at Jessica and said, ‘just so you know, I don’t believe a word he says’,” A Current Affair told Lisa.
“He thinks he’s untouchable,” Lisa said.
“The inquest was adjourned because there’s still lines of inquiry for the police 28 years later,” A Current Affair explained.
“I think the police can do more to find her. Definitely,” Lisa urged.