THE FAMILY of a young nurse whose life was brutally cut short almost three decades ago continue to hope her killer will be brought to justice.
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It has been 28 years of prolonged heartache for Ann and Spike Jones, whose daughter Nina Nicholson, 22, was murdered on the back verandah of her Clunes home in 1991.
Despite the murder occurring in a small town where everybody knows each other and theories have continued to circulate over the years, nobody has ever been charged with the crime.
While leafing through a scrapbook filled with neatly pasted newspaper clippings, correspondence with journalists and detectives, it is clear the Jones' have always clung on to hope that one day their daughter's killer will be brought to justice.
Nina's second cousin Alice Mitchell recently released the first episode in her podcast series to attract renewed attention to the case, in the hope that whoever holds the key piece of information detectives need to solve it will come forward.
Ms Mitchell has thrown herself into investigating the mysterious case to promote justice for Nina, with the podcast a way to ensure Nina is not forgotten.
The first episode recounts the night of Nina's murder according to her parents and media coverage from the time and includes an interview with one of her friends, who speaks about how the crime has impacted her.
"The ultimate goal of the recordings is that someone of relevance hears the details, is triggered and remembers something about that night or the days after," Ms Mitchell said.
Nina was well known in the Clunes community, having grown up there. She attended Clunes Primary School and then went to high school in Maryborough.
A quiet person with a happy disposition, Nina loved helping people. In 1988, the same year she married her first boyfriend Robert "Nick" Nicholson, Nina graduated from nursing school.
"She was so excited when she passed," Mrs Jones said.
Nina worked at Clunes Hospital for a short time before obtaining full time work at St John of God Hospital in Ballarat. She loved her job as a nurse, especially working with children and one day hoped to have children of her own.
With her husband often out of town due to his job as a truck driver, Nina was frequently alone in the Suburban Street home they shared. In the months preceding her death, the normally bubbly young woman had become fearful, believing somebody had been lurking in her garden while she was home alone.
She kept her fears to herself, until one night she called the family home in a fit of hysteria. Her father drove the short distance to her house to pick her up and from that night on, when her husband was away, Nina stayed with her parents.
September 10, 1991 was a cold and rainy night. Mrs Jones recalls sharing a meal of curried sausages around the television with son Andrew, then 17, and her daughter, before Nina departed around 8pm. Mrs Jones walked Nina to the front door and warned her to drive carefully.
Nina planned to stop by her own house to change into her nurse's uniform before travelling to Ballarat to pick up tickets to a dinner show, prior to clocking on for her nursing shift in the paediatric unit at 9.30pm.
Just after Nina's shift had begun, the Jones' phone rang. Mrs Jones remembers telling her son she thought it would be Nina asking them to tape the television program Chances for her.
But it wasn't - it was one of Nina's concerned colleagues calling as the normally conscientious Nina had not arrived for her shift.
Worried she may have had an accident due to the bad weather, Mrs Jones woke up her husband and he and Andrew set out to find her.
Passing by Nina's home, they were surprised to see her white Nissan parked in the driveway. As they pulled up, the headlights shone on the shape of Nina, dressed in her blue nurse's uniform, face down on the verandah.
Unable to find a pulse on Nina's battered body, Mr Jones instructed his son to unlock the house and phone for the police and an ambulance. Jumping back in the car, he raced back to the family home. Honking the horn as he pulled up to alert his wife, he told her of what they had found as they travelled back to where Nina's lifeless body lay.
Arriving at the house, Mrs Jones knelt down beside her daughter. She also unsuccessfully felt for a pulse and pulled her daughter's head into her lap.
She remembers looking up and spotting a tall figure of a man hovering at the front of the house. She could not see his face clearly as his profile was blanketed by the darkness of the night. Still cradling her daughter's head, Nina let out her final breath.
Who was this man and why did he not help?
Shortly afterwards local policeman Rod Covey arrived, and the figure had disappeared. Covey and neighbour Paul Keay attempted CPR, but Nina could not be revived.
The murder shocked the small town of about 1000 residents. Before the murder, residents would leave doors and windows unlocked but this all changed afterwards, with many of the belief the murderer was living among them.
In the days afterwards police door knocked every house in an effort to ascertain who was in town on the night, asking for any information about suspicious behaviour.
Though the town has continued to change, with many people moving away and others in, the Jones' still live in the same weatherboard home they did all those years ago.
Andrew, who had been very close with his sister, enrolled in the police academy not long afterwards.
Though the community had been supportive after Nina died, Spike and Ann purchased a caravan and travelled regularly to escape for short periods, but no matter how far they travelled, they could not forget what happened.
They participated in countless media interviews in the first 10 years but as the years have passed, it became too overwhelming.
As time ticks on, the original investigators have retired from the police force while others have passed away, but the Jones' continue to hope they will see somebody held to account in their lifetime.
Their hopes were raised 13 years ago when they were told a suspect would be charged, but these hopes came crashing down the very next day.
While the perpetrator has been free to live their life, the Jones family live with the loss of their daughter every single day.
It is something that continues to anger Mrs Jones and so she and her husband are pleased with the renewed coverage.
To have it solved and for the person responsible to get the proper justice would be a godsend because they took a part of our life away.
- Ann Jones
"Sitting down to make funeral arrangements for your child is not something you expect to happen in your life. It was very hard."
As the 30 year anniversary approaches and the case remains unsolved, getting on with daily life has been "a battle at times".
Going out can be challenging, so Mrs Jones prefers to stay at home where she knits, reads, gardens and crafts, while Mr Jones potters around the house and likes to fix things.
A $1 million reward remains in place for anybody who can provide information about the murder. Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 with any information.
You can listen to the first episode of Clunes Cluedo on Spotify.
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