‘The Pain Never Fades'

Time isn’t a friend for those with missing loved ones, but Peggy will never give up

Peggy Kotevski hasn’t seen her missing daughter, Gordana, in 26 years. Imagine the many achievements, milestones, and memories she’s never been able to share with her daughter. But that’s the heartbreaking reality for Peggy on the anniversary of Gordana’s disappearance on November 24, 1994.

“That morning I told her I loved her before she went off to school,” Peggy, 64, remembers. “Later, I went to the shops and bought Gordana a top that I thought would look lovely on her. I put it on her bed before I went off to work so it’d be a nice surprise when she got home.”

Sadly, Gordana, then 16, never got to wear that top. That Thursday after school, Gordana – who her family describes as their shining light, and a bubbly teen full of love and laughter –went late-night shopping with friends and was walking back from Charlestown Square shopping center, near Newcastle, NSW, to her aunt Sonya’s house, when around 8.45 pm she was seen being forced into a vehicle on Powell Street (where her aunt lives).

Gordana never made it home. Her abduction led to extensive police searches and investigations, but all were in vain – it was as though she’d disappeared into thin air.