The mysterious disappearance of an 18-year-old who vanished more than two decades ago is being explored once again in a new podcast.
Niamh Maye, from Armidale in northern New South Wales, Australia, had been fruit picking during her gap year at various orchards around Batlow in March 2002.
The teen had told her mother she was heading to her sister’s home in Sydney and planned to travel home to Armidale with her sister Fionnuala and brother Kieron to spend Easter weekend with her family.
However, she never made it to Sydney. She was last seen leaving a campground at Jingellic with fellow fruit picker Jason ‘Jack’ Nicklason, who offered to give her a lift in his black HT Holden Hearse to the regional town of Tumut.
However Jack said he dropped her off on the side of Gocup Road, saying she apparently wanted to hitchhike to save money on a bus fair. He was the last known person to see her alive and the main suspect in the investigation – but fell to his death after escaping prison.
Now, 22 years since Niamh’s disappearance, a new 12-part series Casefile podcast Missing Niamh has delved into the details of her case.
She was booked to catch a bus north from Batlow to Cootamundra and then a train to Sydney, where her friend Joel was waiting for her at Batlow bus stop, so he could say goodbye – but she never arrived and her ticket was never used.
Niamh was carrying a backpack with her clothing, camera, camping gear and cookware. None of the items have ever been found.
Niamh’s brother Kieron travelled to Batlow to search for his sister and managed to get in contact with Jack over the phone.
He said: ‘I told him Niamh was missing, it’s been seven days now, he was as cool and calm as a cucumber, if you had just been told that one of your friends, who you had last seen a week ago was now missing, you would be shocked, concerned, surprised, there was none of that. He was just super calm.
‘That’s what was weird about it, there was no emotion, no concern, nothing, he simply said I dropped her in Tumut on Saturday between 1-2pm, she was going to hitchhike to Cootamundra or Gundagai to save money on a Countrylink ticket.’
However what Jack told Kieron didn’t make any sense because Niamh had already purchased her ticket.
Kieron continued: ‘That doesn’t make any sense, she had a ticket for Batlow, it was already paid for and Batlow is closer then Tumut, why would she try to hitchhike because she is going to miss her connection anyway.’
Even though Jack was questioned by police he was let go without charge and they told the media that he was not a person of interest.
Detective Steve Rose said: ‘It was the early stages so we were able to discredit what he said, you have to play your cards fairly tight. We didn’t want him going underground because we wanted to keep tabs on him.’
When police started questioning witnesses, many said they saw him return to the campground at 4pm after dropping off Niamh, and Jack also confirmed this time to the police when questioned.
However Jack and Niamh left the campsite at 10am for what should be a three hour round trip, which leave two or three hours which are unaccounted for.
Jack claimed he drove Niamh to Tumut and came straight back to the campsite with no stops or detours. He was never asked by police what he did in the unaccounted for hours.
Within hours of returning to the Jingellic campsite Jack sold his beloved black hearse to a friend.
However Jack’s story gained traction when a number of locals said they saw a woman matching Niamh’s description hiking on Gocup Road over Easter.
An extensive land and air search of the 20km area found no indication that Niamh had ever been there.
Jack went back to fruit picking but friends started to notice a change in his behaviour.
One friend said: ‘He didn’t appear as lively as he usually was and he actually seemed a bit depressed and withdrawn, Jack never seemed to pick up and seemed quieter and depressed.’
Another friend said: ‘I noticed a huge change in his behaviour, Jack was moody and his physical appearance changed with his drug abuse.’
Eventually Jack hitchhiked to Brisbane where he had planned to get on a plane to Darwin the following night, however he told friends he was flying to Melbourne.
While waiting for his flight he crossed paths with 19-year-old Janice and he propositioned her, she said no and continued her walk home.
Jack reportedly said: ‘You have a nice a**, just thought I’d tell you that.’ When Janice told him to go away, he is said to have replied: ‘You also have nice t**s.’
Janice told police that he grabbed her breasts and she pushed him off and walked away, but Jack said: ‘I will follow you then.’
Janice said: ‘I looked behind me a couple of times but I didn’t see him. I turned right and walked home. I live on top floor apartments. I opened the front door, my flatmate wasn’t home. I left the front door open, the back door was also open.’
The teenager described how she was grabbed from behind in her home and a hand was placed over her mouth.
She said he punched her in the face and tried to choke her with a towel. She said he raped her, despite her attempts to fight back.
A neighbour walked in on the violent attack and Jack fled the house on foot. By pure luck, a police car was driving past and the neighbour pulled them over.
The police chased and ended up catching Jack hiding in a store room. He was handcuffed and taken to a local police station.
Jack was arrested for the violent rape in October 2002. While being escorted to a Brisbane jail cell unhandcuffed, he escaped custody and fell to his death.
Despite extensive investigations over the years, including another publicised push in 2015, no trace of Niamh has ever been found.
Police said inquiries were hindered with the suicide of Jack, a person of interest in her disappearance. There have been no other named suspects in her disappearance.
A 2012 coronial inquest determined Niamh died at or near Tumut on 30 or 31 March.
On what would have been Niamh’s 40th birthday in June 2023, NSW Police announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of Niamh’s remains, or for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
However, the mystery of what happened to Niamh has never been solved, even more than two decades after she went missing.
