Pictured: Sharron Phillips, 20, went missing in 1986, and is believed to have been murdered by a taxi driver
The son of a now-dead taxi driver believed to have murdered Sharron Phillips has claimed police officers searching for the the 20-year-old were merely metres from her body lying in the boot of his father’s taxi.
After a three-decade investigation, police say they have enough evidence to pin the murder of Ipswich woman Sharron Phillips on taxi driver Raymond Peter Mulvihill.
He died in 2002 however his son says he confessed to killing Phillips on his deathbed, 9 News reported.
The son said a police officer had pulled him over for a broken tail light that night back in 1986 as he went to pick up his father, who had been out returning his taxi in Wacol, Queensland.
The man, who asked not to be identified, was only 19 years old at the time and says his father told him to give over the car before Mulvihill got in and drove it around the back of a building, telling his son to wait at the front.
With both the taxi and the vehicle now at the back of the building, the son says he remembers hearing the sound of both boots closing, while the cop had returned to follow up on the light issue.
Pictured: Raymond Peter Mullvihill, who would have been arrested for Sharron Phillips’ murder if he were still alive
He believes his father moving Sharron Phillips from one boot to the other at the back of the building.
‘When the boots closed it was quite a loud bang of the two boots closing,’ the son said.
‘Even the police officer who was standing there said ‘what was that?”
He said not only did he believe his father had killed Ms Phillips, but after her body had been carried in the boot of his car, it had been dumped in a drain at Carole Park.
Last year, the son of a taxi driver told Nine News he believed his father was behind the woman’s disappearance and he had unknowingly carried her body in his car
Pictured: Mr Mulvihill’s Ascot Taxi, which police believe was parked behind the convenience store where Ms Phillips was last seen
Ms Phillips’ remains were not found in the police search of the drain, and police are still investigating their whereabouts.
Det Insp. Hansen said while Mr Mulvihill could not be brought to justice for the murder, it was not certain that nobody would face charges.
‘We will investigate if anyone has assisted Mulvihill during the offence or after the offence,’ he told reporters.
Police are now looking to speak to Mr Mulvihill’s former neighbours on Russell Drive, Redbank.
A man, believed to be the son of Mr Mulvihill, told police he believed the woman’s body had been dumped in a drain at Carole Park
Police say they are still looking for anyone who may have assisted with the murder, or after the fact
Ms Phillips’ alleged killer, Raymond Peter Mulvihill, has since died and cannot face charges for the murder
A search of the Carole Park area returned no evidence of human remains, and Ms Phillips’ remains are still missing
Ms Phillips’ siblings earlier cast doubt on the alibi provided by their father, Bob, who died in 2015.
Police now say there is no evidence Mr Phillips had any connection to the murder of his daughter.
A report is being prepared for the coroner. Following an anonymous tip-off to the Nine Network earlier this year, Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said there were no plans to reopen the coronial investigation into Ms Phillips’ disappearance.