Jessica Small murder: Police offer $1 million reward for information on 1997 Bathurst cold case

Police are offering a $1 million reward for information that will help crack a cold case that has eluded detectives for 21 years.

In the early hours of Sunday October 26, 1997, 15-year-old Bathurst teenager Jessica Small was last seen entering a white-coloured sedan driven by an unknown man.

Jessica, along with a female friend, had spent the night at the “Amuse Me” amusement centre on Russell Street before attempting to hitchhike home.

After flagging down the sedan, Jessica’s friend told police the man stopped the car on Hereford Street and assaulted both girls.

Jessica’s friend escaped the car as the unknown man drove off with Jessica still inside.

A subsequent Coronial Inquest in 2014 into Jessica’s disappearance declared that Jessica had been murdered.

A year later in 2015 the NSW Government announced it was offering a $100,000 reward for information that lead to the arrest and conviction of persons responsible for Jessica’s murder.

Today, on the 21^st anniversary of Jessica’s disappearance, that reward will be multiplied by ten as Detectives from the Homicide Squad’s Unsolved Homicide Unit continue to re-investigate the circumstances surrounding Jessica’s abduction and suspected murder.