Lisa Mott cold case: Cold case detectives open mobile police facility in Collie in fresh bid for clues

Cold case detectives have travelled to the South West town of Collie in a fresh bid for clues in their quest to crack the disappearance and suspected murder of schoolgirl Lisa Mott more than 40 years ago.

Senior detectives from the cold case investigation section will be stationed at a mobile police facility on Forrest Street on Wednesday and urge locals with information about the 12-year-old’s disappearance to speak with them.

A $1 million reward still stands for information that solves the schoolgirl’s suspected murder, and now, police are hoping new leads will give her grieving family closure more than four decades on.

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Dowding said losing a child without any explanation was “every parent’s worst nightmare”.

“We want to find that explanation and we believe that’s possible with the help of the community,” he said.

“Any small piece of information may be all we need to progress this investigation and find the answers for Lisa’s family.”

Police say that on the night of October 30, 1980, Lisa had journeyed to the local Collie basketball courts, on Throssel Street, to play with a friend but never made it back home.

She attended the courts before making her way to a nearby pizza shop and was last seen on her walk home crossing a railway line towards Forrest Street about 9pm.

At the time of her disappearance, Lisa was seen wearing a light-blue shirt and dark blue towelling shorts with a white trim around the legs. She is believed to have been wearing a pair of brown and fawn-striped sneakers with white socks.

When police travelled to Collie in 2020, Lisa’s mother said the first 10 years after Lisa’s vanishing were an “absolute despair”.

“There was nothing else but black,” she told The West.

“(But) I had other kids which needed a mother.

“I wasn’t any good at that for a while.

“Even now, it is a rough time for me. It’s been pretty hard.

“I was just sitting here thinking about what a lovely kid Lisa was. She was just gorgeous.”

The renewed call for information comes after the launch of the second season of WA Police’s Cold Case Western Australia podcast, which features Lisa’s case.

Anybody with information is urged to approach the mobile police facility or call crime stoppers on 1800 333 000.