They are like 10 other families on the Border and North East whose loved ones have been murdered and who desperately wait for the crime to be solved.

There are 13 unsolved murders in the area, the oldest being the 1973 slaying of their daughter, Bronwynne Richardson, aged 17.

Some of the bodies have been found, at least giving their anguished families someone to bury.

Others are still missing, although their case files are listed with police as murders.

Noel Richardson said despite the length of time since her daughter’s body was found in the Murray River near Albury, there had been no finalisation to the case.

“We are disappointed with the inaction, there has never been a conviction, there was a police bungle and a person was let go due to this,” she said.

“It hasn’t been easy and it doesn’t get any easier.

“We are very cynical as nothing has been done, the last we heard the case was still open as a cold case.

“We would dearly love some action.”

The passage of time has not healed the wounds of Scott Osmand’s family, who share the pain of others in a smiliar situation.

Scott was just 16 when he was bashed, struck over the head with a hammer and an attempt made to burn his body.

His case has parallels to the Richardson murder in that a man was charged with his murder but found not guilty and released.

The case was subsequently closed but the establishment of a cold case unit in June, 2004, saw it reopened.

The names of the 13 victims are familiar to many who live in the Border and North East, their photos have appeared in papers and on TV screens around the area.

They include Tallandoon farmer David Beer, who was found slumped at the wheel of his tractor in 1994 and Corowa grandmother Yvonne Strachan, whose body was found in the Murray River on December 7, 2001.

The community of Deniliquin remembers all too well the day the bodies of mother Barbara Brooks and her son Stacey Willoughby were found in the Millewa State Forest outside the town.

Mrs Brooks’s husband, Steven, was found in bushland 500m away days later.

ACT police continue to investigate the murder of Thurgoona woman Kathryn Grosvenor, 23, who was slain nine months after moving to Canberra.

Her case file appears on the ACT police website appealing for information.

Sen-Sgt Jeff Maher, from the Homicide Squad in Melbourne, said detectives will be visiting the Border in the next few weeks to follow several lines of inquiry into the suspicious death of baby Charlotte Keen.

Since her death on December 17, 2004, police have arrested her mother Renee Jones and her de facto Brett Penrose, who were formally interviewed.

They were later released without charge.

“Detectives will be returning in the next few weeks to look into some further information in relation to the Charlotte Keen case,” he said.

The body of Armidale teenager Niamh Maye, who is believed to have gone missing around Tumut, has never been found, despite intensive police searches.

Missing Wangaratta mother and disability worker Kath Bergamin has also never been found.

Her case has been listed with the Homicide Squad and her disappearance in August, 2002, is being treated as murder.

Det-Sen-Constable Shane Brundell, from the Homicide Squad, said there had been no further progress on the case.

“It is still an active and open investigation and we follow up any leads or new information that comes to hand,” he said.

“Our intention is to find the truth about what happened to Kath and charge those people and bring them to justice.”

Mystery continues to surround the disappearance of Myrtleford toddler Daniel Thomas, whose body has never been found.

His mother, Donna Thomas, clings to the memory of the spritely two-year-old who went missing from his Standish St home in 2003.

Air, land and water searches of the area have failed to find any evidence of the toddler.

He would have been starting school this year.

The parents of Eskdale woman Lorraine Carter share in the grief of the other families.

Allen and June Yardley have not seen their daughter since 2002.

A coronial inquest found her husband, Murray Carter, had killed the 44-year-old and then killed himself 12 months later.

The elderly couple will not have closure until her body is found.

The Border and North East continues to be plagued by these unsolved crimes.

Families grow older and time passes but relatives and friends continue to wait for that tiny piece of information or breakthrough that might give them some answers.

For many these answers may never come.

But still they continue to wait in hope.

Anyone with information about any of these cases that may assist in the investigations should phone Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.