Grandmother Kathleen Severino, bashed to death in her Drummond Street bedroom in 1988. Anthony Prebble, beaten so violently nearly every bone in his body was broken before he was dumped in the Creswick State Forest in 1992.

Nina Nicholson, a young nurse leaving her Clunes home for a night shift, brutally attacked and left to die on her rear porch in 1991. 

Belinda Williams, last seen at her Buninyong home by two friends before her body was found in Mount Buninyong bushland in 1999. Tracey Howard, who disappeared after a night out in Ballarat and was found strangled on a country roadside in 1998. 

The grief their families have been through since is impossible to comprehend. 

But it must be compounded by not knowing who committed these despicable acts and why.

However, there is renewed hope with a $1 million reward offered for any information about the murders of Nina, Tracey and Belinda.

Someone, and probably several people, out there knows something about each of these deaths. Police, and no doubt their families, hope fervently a substantial reward will shake out some of that information.

The despair and grief every time Nina’s parents, Spike and Anne Jones, face the media, or Belinda’s mother Shirley Macey speaks publicly, is etched on their faces.

However, they continue to be their children’s advocates, pushing for any information that will allow them to finally lay their loved ones, and their endless questions, to rest.

If anyone has any information about these senseless deaths, it’s time to come forward, not just for the reward but for the families who have been left behind.

• Anyone with information on the cases should call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.