Juanita Nielsen

Juanita Joan Nielsen was a wealthy journalist and environmentalist based in Sydney, Australia. She disappeared in 1975 in mysterious circumstances, and is suspected to have been murdered for her attempts to expose police corruption and support for the Green Bans.

Life

Early Life

Born to Neil Donovan Smith, an English-born heir to the Mark Foy's retail fortune via his parents and Vilma Grace Smith. Her parents separated soon after her birth and she was raised by her maternal grandmother at Killara, Sydney. She went to Ravenswood School for Girls, Gordon, Sydney and worked at Mark Foy's from 1953 until she traveled abroad in 1959. In 1962, she married a Danish merchant seaman Jorgen Fritz Nielsen at Kobe, Japan although the marriage only lasted for around three years. Nielsen returned to Sydney in 1965 and returned to work at Mark Foy's for about five years.

Journalism

In the early 1970s, she set up the newspaper NOW based around the Sydney suburb of Kings Cross that pushed left-wing viewpoints and strongly supported the Green Bans. Dozens of people were to be evicted from her street to make way for a new apartment complex built by a construction company linked to the Mafia. The community got the BLF to enact a Green Ban and Juanita used her newspaper to publicise the issue.

After the Green Ban was broken in 1974 as the BLF's conservative federal leadership dismissed the radical leaders of the New South Wales branch. Juanita managed to organised the Water Board Union to impose their own Green Ban, and she began to be harassed and stalked by thugs employed by local organised crime groups connected to the construction industry.

Disappearance

On the 4th of July, 1975, Juanita entered the Carousel Nightclub in Kings Cross to discuss an advertising deal after being invited by Eddie Trigg, a worker at the club. It was owned by Abe Saffron, who owned several bars, nightclubs and strip clubs across Sydney and the manager, James Anderson, owed a lot of money to Frank Theeman, the owner of the construction company that wanted to build in Kings Cross. She had previously been invited, but did not show up. She instructed her friends to stay updated on her wearabouts. Upon entering the club, she was never seen again. The only clue being her handbag found abandoned near a freeway in Sydney's western suburbs.

Theory #1: Organised Crime

Evidence pointing to organised crime groups being involved in the disappearance include:

• Marilyn King, the former girlfriend of Eddie, told a journalist Eddie returned home that day with blood on his clothes, and a bloody receipt signed by Juanita.
• James Anderson, the manager of the nightclub, was unable to verify his alibi. He claimed he was on holiday in Queensland but it was claimed he was seen in Sydney.

Theory #2: Corrupt Police

Evidence pointing to corrupt police being involved in the disappearance include:

• The receptionist, Loretta Crawford, claimed she saw Fred Krahe, a local corrupt cop standing over Juanita's body holding a pistol over he head which had a bullet-sized hole. However, Loretta has repeatedly changed her story. In her defence, she has claimed that it was to prevent harassment from her former boss, James Anderson. After his death in 2013, she has kept a consistent story.
• Juanita's ex-boyfriend claimed she had a list of corrupt dealings by the police which went missing after her disappearance. He also claimed she had received threatening telephone threats.

Keep in mind it's entirely possible for corrupt police and organised crime to have worked together. Which is what Loretta Crawford alleges.

References

All taken from the Wikipedia article of Juanita Nielsen.