The two adult children of a missing woman who vanished as babies have made an emotional plea for information about her whereabouts, as police announce a significant new cash reward.
Jyles and Rainey Lebler were just three and one year old, respectively, when their mother, Tammy Lisa Dyson, 23, disappeared from the Currumbin, Queensland, area of the Gold Coast in 1995.
The brothers’ mother, who legally changed her name to Tamela Lisa Menzies in the months before her disappearance, had been picked up at a drug rehabilitation center by a woman claiming to be her sister and has not been seen since.
The announcement of the $500,000 reward, which includes immunity from prosecution for any accomplice who sheds light on Mrs. Dyson’s disappearance, is good news for her children.
Fighting back tears at a news conference Wednesday, Jyles Lebler, 31, explained how hard life had been without her.
Last family photo of Santa: Tammy Dyson (pictured with her young children Jyles and Rainey Lebler) disappeared in July 1995, months after this photo was taken.
Rainey (left) and Jyles Lebler (right) were one and three years old, respectively, when their mother disappeared. The children became emotional Wednesday asking for any information as part of a renewed push to find out what happened to their mother.
“Growing up without mom and not knowing what happened to her has been very hard,” she said.
‘She won’t be at our weddings and will never be able to meet her grandchildren. Obviously someone knows something.
From Victoria, the mother moved to Brisbane in 1988 when she was 17 and began working in the adult entertainment industry, under the alias ‘Pebbles’.
Police say when he started working in Fortitude Valley’s seedy strip clubs, he began mixing with criminals and using drugs.
In early 1995, Mrs Dyson arranged for her two young children to stay with their grandmother in Victoria. Her mother, Loretta, told police that this was a temporary arrangement and that her daughter would return to pick up her children.
Months later, however, her sister Olivia received a call from the mother of two in a state of distress.
Olivia drove to Inala, southwest of Brisbane, to pick up her sister. She described her mother as if she had been assaulted.
Olivia and her partner later took Dyson to the drug rehab center in Currumbin on the Gold Coast.
However, on July 20, 1995, Mrs Dyson was picked up by a woman claiming to be her sister Olivia and has not been seen since.
Tammy Lisa Dyson was just 23 when she disappeared after being picked up by a person posing as her sister at a drug rehabilitation center in Currumbin on the Gold Coast.
Olivia confirmed to police in 1995 that she had not picked up her sister from the clinic.
His children believe that this incident “is already screaming.”
“Whoever picked her up, I’m not saying they did anything, but they should know something bad happened,” Jyles said.
The day after an unknown person picked up the mother from the clinic, Ms Dyson completed a legal declaration which was witnessed and signed by a justice of the peace in Tweed Heads, the coastal border town between New South Wales and Queensland.
The legal document granted custody of Dyson’s children and all of his possessions to his mother, Loretta.
Ms Dyson also made a final call to her sister and mentioned underworld figures and “didn’t seem like herself”.
Police say that although sightings of the mother have been reported since her disappearance, none have proven to be Ms Dyson.
She was renamed Tamela Lisa Menzies by her mother before she disappeared, and used the name ‘Pebbles’ as her stripper alias, after moving to Queensland when she was 17 from Victoria.
In 2012, the Queensland coroner was unable to conclude the date, time and cause of Dyson’s death, but said they believed the mother-of-two was dead and indicated she may have been a victim of violence.
Detective Senior Sergeant Tara Kentwell said Tammy may have committed a crime.
‘Tammy consorted with criminals known to police and disappeared without a trace after giving custody of her children and possessions to her mother; “We believe the circumstances of her disappearance are suspicious,” she said.
Although her children want to know what happened to their mother, Rainey Lebler, who was only a year old when her mother was last seen alive, believes it is more urgent for her grandmother.
“We hope to find out what happened to Mom to give Grandma some closure before it’s too late,” Rainey Lebler said.
‘It hurts every damn day.
‘She wouldn’t just disappear and leave us behind.
‘Even if you think your information doesn’t matter, it could be the piece of the puzzle that helps us find out what really happened. Please come forward and help our family.”