Cold case: Breakthrough in Gulgong’s Michelle Bright murder, jury finds Craig Rumsby guilty

The family of murdered teen Michelle Bright now have closure after more than two decades with a jury finding her killer guilty.

On Friday in the NSW Supreme Court at Dubbo, jurors found Craig Henry Rumsby guilty of Michelle’s murder in February 1999 and choking an 18-year-old woman with intent to rape her in January 1998.

Both crimes were committed in the central west NSW town of Gulgong.

Ms Bright was killed after leaving a friend’s 15th birthday party and her body was found hidden in long grass by the side of Barneys Reef Road.

The 17-year-old’s blouse had been pushed up, the clasps of her bra ripped off, and her jeans and underwear were around her ankles.

An autopsy of her body, which had grazes on the abdomen, thighs and knuckles, could not confirm the cause of death with a report saying Ms Bright was killed by ‘homicidal violence of an undetermined aetiology’.

Rumsby choked the other female victim with the intent of sexually assaulting her after she left a New Year’s Eve party.

He denied both charges despite making a confession to undercover police to both crimes before his arrest.

While there was no physical evidence connecting Rumsby to the murder of Ms Bright, his wallet was found at the scene of the attempted rape.

The jury heard the latter victim did not press charges and retracted a statement made at the time as she feared going to court and having her character discredited.

She told the jury of how her assailant emerged from the shadows, hit her and grabbed her throat, then pushed her onto the ground and got on top of her, threatening her to shut up or he’d kill her.

The man fled after her boyfriend emerged and threatened to hit him with a concrete manhole cover found nearby.

The crown prosecutor detailed similarities between the ambush and that of Ms Bright, who was grabbed by the throat late at night a few hundred metres away, in a sexually motivated assault, while alone.

Craig Rumsby was found guilty by a NSW Supreme Court jury 

Rumsby’s legal team argued that was tricked into making his confession.

However, the jury which had retired on June 15 didn’t accept that.

NSW police had interviewed Rumsby regarding the murder and attempted rape since 1999 but only made their arrest after the unsolved homicide team reopened the cold case in 2019.

In August 2020, police publicly announced a $1 million reward for anyone who had information about the murder.

Rumsby commented on a post about the announcement on the NSW Police Force’s Facebook page.

‘It’s so sad they haven’t caught her killer yet. Michelle was like a sister to me. I feel sorry for her,’ he wrote.

He will be sentenced at a later date.