Overview

• Enhanced forensic testing of taxi and nearby evidence has produced fresh DNA material that does not match previous persons of interest, opening a new investigative path.
• Detectives have issued a public appeal for a passenger identified only as “Sykes,” who called Bundaberg Taxis at 12:31am on September 10, 1987.
• The Queensland Government is offering a A$500,000 reward for information leading to convictions and may grant immunity from prosecution to non-killer accomplices.
• Reforms enacted in 2020 empower coroners to compel witness testimony even if it could incriminate them, strengthening the legal framework for cold-case inquests.
• Bryan Hodgkinson’s son, Steven, expressed hope that the renewed probe will finally deliver answers and closure decades after the father’s brutal 1987 murder.