![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e2d548ab528d0c8eececfdb0fb599f68.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA deputy state coroner has found that evidence shows escort agency bosses knew what happened to Revelle Balmain, who vanished in Sydney in 1994.<\/p>\n
The cold case mystery of her disappearance, spanning almost 32 years, remains unsolved despite Judge Joan Baptie identifying a former boss as a new person of interest.<\/p>\n
Before delivering her findings, she paused to acknowledge the family’s pain.<\/p>\n
“I would like to express sincere condolences to Ms Balmain’s family,” Judge Baptie said.<\/p>\n
“Her parents are deceased and they never knew what happened to their dearly beloved daughter.<\/p>\n
“Her sister spoke of her anger, her heartache and uncertainty that has caused long-lasting unresolved questions.”<\/p>\n
Over two years, Judge Baptie has presided over the inquest into Ms Balmain’s disappearance and presumed death.<\/p>\n
The 22-year-old vanished in Sydney on November 5, 1994.<\/p>\n
The next day, she was supposed to catch the 9:30am train to Newcastle to meet her mother, Jan.<\/p>\n
It was a catch-up trip, as she had upcoming plans to travel to Japan for a dance contract.<\/p>\n
When Ms Balmain did not arrive, her mother went to Nelson Bay Police Station to report her missing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Revelle Balmain’s case has never been solved. (Supplied: AFP)<\/p>\n
Lies and alleged mafia<\/p>\n
At the time, Ms Balmain was working part-time for an escort company known as Select Companions, which was run by owners Jane King and her husband, Zoran Stanojevic.<\/p>\n
The inquest heard evidence from Ms King that Mr Stanojevic had alleged links to the “Yugoslavian mafia”.<\/p>\n
Judge Baptie criticised both of their evidence relating to what they knew and when.<\/p>\n
“I am of the view he deliberately lied to police investigators as well as during first inquest about his whereabouts,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Similarly, Ms King has given implausible evidence \u2026 her evidence has been contrived and calculated.”<\/p>\n
Jane King told police she and her husband dined at a pizza restaurant on the afternoon of Ms Balmain’s disappearance.<\/p>\n
Judge Baptie questioned that account.<\/p>\n
“The evidence concludes that they either knew who was responsible for Ms Balmain’s disappearance or they themselves were somehow involved,” she said.A no-show with clients<\/p>\n
The evidence showed on the night Ms Balmain vanished, she stood up clients and friends of Zoran Stanojevic with links to “Yugoslavian organised crime”.<\/p>\n
Judge Baptie referred to the evidence of Mr Stanojevic’s wife, Jane King.<\/p>\n
“Ms King said when Ms Balmain was not available \u2026 Zoran was furious she was uncontactable and did not attend because he had talked up Ms Balmain.”<\/p>\n
The deputy state coroner said Ms King concluded her husband “would have taken it as personally that she had not turned up”.<\/p>\n
In relation to Mr Stanojevic, Judge Baptie said “his movements are not able to be conclusively established and he therefore cannot be discounted as a person of interest”.<\/p>\n
![\"the](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0707822f5fbf3c3938bb0ee76d00c18f.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
The findings were handed down in the NSW State Coroners Court. (AAP: Dean Lewins)<\/p>\n
That afternoon<\/p>\n
The inquest was told that on the afternoon prior to her disappearance, Ms Balmain had an appointment with Gavin Samers.<\/p>\n
He then dropped her at the Red Tomato Inn at Kingsford at 7pm.<\/p>\n
The next day her bag , shoes, make-up, diary, credit cards and the keys to her flat were found scattered around several Kingsford streets.<\/p>\n
Judge Baptie said it was a “failure” by police to believe Mr Samer was the only person of interest.<\/p>\n
“Mr Gavin Samer became a major person of interest in the police investigation and the first inquest [and] remained person of interest this inquest,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Mr Samer certainly had the opportunity to kill Ms Balmain but there is no possible motive proved.”Investigation ‘marred’<\/p>\n
The deputy state coroner said while Mr Samer was an “obvious suspect” who had scratches to his neck and chest and a possible bite mark, other people were overlooked in investigations.<\/p>\n
“Problems that marred this investigation through the years remained anchored to the conclusion that Mr Samer was the only suspect,” she found.<\/p>\n
Judge Baptie said while there were persons of interest, there was not enough evidence to refer the matter to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).<\/p>\n
She did, however, refer it to the Unsolved Homicide Unit for further investigation.<\/p>\n
A $1 million reward remains in place for information about the disappearance and presumed death of Ms Balmain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A deputy state coroner has found that evidence shows escort agency bosses knew what happened to Revelle Balmain,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1300,43,45318,44,2950,41,39,42,40,51518],"class_list":["post-835112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-death","tag-headlines","tag-missing","tag-news","tag-person","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-vanish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}