Pregnant with her seventh child, Elizabeth Henry was beaten and partially burned before her body was discovered outside Brisbane in 1998.
More than 25 years later, Queensland police have offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to the murder of the 30-year-old man.
His heartbroken family issued an emotional plea for help on Tuesday.
A $500,000 reward has been announced for information as police try to solve the cold case of a 30-year-old mother (pictured) who disappeared 26 years ago.
“We are very hopeful that there will be justice for Liz,” her sister Jennifer Schefe told reporters.
‘I believe there are people who have crucial information that can help solve the case.
“It’s not something that should be taken to anyone’s grave.”
Ms Henry was a sex worker last seen in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley before midnight on February 11, 1998.
Hours later, his body was discovered by a jogger in a roadside gravel reservoir in Samford, 25 kilometers away.
Mrs. Henry was four months pregnant.
Police said she had been violently attacked with a heavy, blunt object and was found with serious head injuries.
The clothes Mrs Henry was wearing and the handbag she had at the time have never been recovered.
Investigations indicated Ms Henry was murdered elsewhere and taken to the gravel area before an attempt was made to burn her body.
His parents had died without answers, said Detective Acting Sergeant Anthony Johns.
Mrs. Henry’s six children grew up without their mother, and she would be a grandmother of six if she were still alive.
Elizabeth Henry, also known as Liz, was found dead near Brisbane in 1998.
“His parents lost their daughter, his brothers lost their sister and his children never had the chance to meet her,” Henry’s daughter Grace said Tuesday.
“We, as children, had to learn to be fathers and mothers ourselves, we didn’t have a mother to call when life was difficult… I live her loss every day.”
Police said a weapon and the initial location where Ms. Henry was killed have never been identified.
But Detective Sergeant Johns was confident the murder would be solved and said the Queensland Homicide Cold Case Team reviewed the case and uncovered more information, without revealing any details.
“We believe that with public assistance, regardless of the passage of time, this crime can be solved, the offenders can be brought to justice and we can provide some answers to those family members and friends,” he said.
