A heartbroken family has launched a campaign to have the cold case murder of a young nurse re-investigated.
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Nina Nicholson's brutal murder 28 years ago rocked the Clunes community and shattered her family. Though many rumours have circulated about what happened that night and who may be responsible, nobody has ever been charged.
Nina is remembered as a friendly and family-oriented young woman but in the minds of all who knew her, she will always be 22.
For parents Spike and Ann Jones, who still live in the Clunes community, the pain of having their daughter ripped from their world has been exacerbated by nobody being held to account.
But now, Alice Mitchell, a second cousin of Nina's, has taken the reins with a fresh campaign for justice for Nina.
A letter signed by many members of the community has been written to the commissioner, calling for further investigation and pushing for a new inquest into the case, in the hope that justice will be served.
Ms Mitchell, a former private investigator, has dedicated the past couple of months to delving into the case, reading through old newspaper clippings and speaking to people in the town in an effort to determine what happened and who is responsible.
"My sleuthing and striving for answers has never wavered. The fact the victim is also a woman in my family only enhances my desire to see justice prevail," she said.
She created the #justicefornina campaign and will record a podcast to raise public awareness of the case in the hopes somebody will come forward with answers not just for her family, but for the whole community.
Several generations of her family have been impacted by the crime but it is the fact the case is unsolved that has been most agonising.
There are now three generations of my family without answers and we are running out of time to get peace for those impacted the most, being her parents and brother.
- Alice Mitchell
She wants the person responsible to stand up and be accountable.
"No one should be able to take someone else's life without taking accountability. They have lived their good years freely but it's now time to tell the truth so Nina's soul can be set free," she said.
"Time is not on the side of Nina's parents but it is on mine. I will door knock, annoy and continue to dig around until I get results and the authorities see handing down justice to my family as a priority."
Nina and her husband Robert - known as Nick - shared a humble home on Suburban Street, Clunes.
Nick was a truck driver, which meant he was often away from home, so when Nina started to feel like somebody was watching her the nights he was away, the normally bubbly young woman was filled with fear.
Nina did not want to worry her loved ones with the information so kept it to herself, until one night when she was physically shaken, waking her parents in the middle of the night with a frantic phone call.
From then on, when Nick was away, Nina stayed with her parents and younger brother Andrew.
September 10, 1991 was a cold and stormy night and Nina was rostered to work the night shift at the children's ward at Ballarat's St John of God Hospital.
She ate dinner at her parents' house, leaving about 8pm. She was to stop by her own home, a short two minute drive away, to get changed into her uniform before driving to Ballarat to start her shift at 9.30pm.
Her parents were worried about her driving in the stormy weather but Nina insisted she would be fine.
When a worried friend called the family home not long after her shift had started, expressing concern that the normally diligent Nina had not shown up to work, her parents Spike and Ann feared she had become involved in a car accident.
Her brother Andrew, then 17, and father immediately jumped in the car to look for Nina. Driving past her home, they spotted her white Nissan still parked in the driveway.
They then saw Nina, face down on the porch, dressed in her nurse's uniform, with keys in hand.
Spike felt for a pulse, instructing Andrew to phone for the police and an ambulance, while he sped home to pick up Ann.
Arriving back at Nina's house, Ann pulled her daughter into her lap, where she took her last breath.
Clunes policeman Rod Covey and a neighbour, Paul Keay, attempted CPR but Nina could not be saved.
Read more: Family still looking for justice
With podcasts about cold cases gaining so much traction of late, Ms Mitchell is currently writing the script for a podcast about Nina's case to put pressure on the perpetrator and other community members with information to come forward.
If you have any information regarding the case contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Follow @clunescluedo on Instagram for campaign updates.
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