Murder charge over missing NSW man

A man has been charged with the murder of Ronald Penn, who disappeared almost 20 years ago from NSW's Central Coast.

Graham Thomas Sales, 51, was in court on Friday facing charges over the 1995 attempted murder of a woman, when police slapped him with the extra charge.

Police have been investigating Mr Penn's disappearance since 1995.

The 61-year-old was last seen at a Bateau Bay house on October 24, 1995.

Three days after Mr Penn disappeared his white Mazda van was found burnt out in bushland at Berkeley Vale.

Mr Penn had a few clothes and personal belongings with him when he vanished, and his bank accounts have not been accessed since he disappeared.

Last year police searched sand hills in the Tuggerah Lakes area after detectives received information that he may be buried there.

In May 2014, Sales was arrested at a Wyoming home on the Central Coast over the alleged shooting of a woman in 1995.

Police have alleged Mr Penn's disappearance and the shooting were linked.

Sales was charged last May with the attempted murder, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and detain for advantage without causing injury, over the alleged 1995 shooting of the woman.

He has been in custody since.

Sales is next to due to appear in court on May 22.