Renee Aitken (Missing Person)

Five year old Renee Aitken was abducted from her bed on the night of 16/17 February 1984. Her older brother Bradley was asleep in the same bedroom just feet away. The coastal village of Narooma, NSW  and the surrounding bushland was searched dozens of  times, but no trace of Renee was found. Two years later Renee’s mother Morna said publicly that she knew who had taken her daughter. Over a decade later the case was finally reopened leading to some dramatic and extraordinary findings.

Sources: For a full list of sources please see the Facebook page 

Websites

The Age Newspaper 20/02/1984

https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Renee_Aitken

https://codylwrites.com/2021/05/15/what-happened-to-renee-aitken/ 

https://truecrimediva.com/renee-aitken/

http://www.australianmissingpersonsregister.com/Aitken.htm

https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1987953/informer-links-killer-to-missing-renee-aitken/

https://amp.smh.com.au/national/nsw/renee-aitkens-family-tells-of-the-agony-of-not-knowing-her-fate-20140208-328ka.html

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases-int/252dfnsw.html

https://www.pressreader.com/australia/womans-day-australia/20220801/282024741014539

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97943590/renee-joy-aitken

http://www.qaafqalam.com/pages/Read.php?news=1523

https://www.thatslife.com.au/my-little-sister-stolen-in-the-night

https://www.batemansbaypost.com.au/story/1021416/police-still-hold-hopes-of-finding-renee-aitken/

https://carnivalofhorror.tumblr.com/post/167468642214/the-disappearance-of-renee-aitkens-on-february/amp

https://www.naroomanewsonline.com.au/story/4074489/32-years-on-and-renee-aitkin-still-missing/

Promos

Transcript

Renee Aitken

This episode deals with a crime committed against a child. Please exercise self-care when choosing to listen.

As eight year old Bradley Aitken pulled the bed covers over himself he felt warm and cosy. It was Thursday 16th February 1984 and the height of the Australian school summer holidays. Bradley, or Brad as he was often called, had spent a fantastic day at the local beach; swimming in the sea and making sandcastles. The family trip had finished with fish and chips enjoyed outside in the fresh sea air. The family left for home just as the weather started to break and the first drops of rain began to fall. After a much needed bath Bradley was ready for a good night's sleep.

Over the course of the evening the rain had increased and now a fierce storm was battering the family’s ground floor apartment in Sheaffe Street, Narooma, a small fishing village in New South Wales, 350km south of Sydney. The rain and wind were not letting up as Bradley closed his eyes; he felt sheltered and secure. He wasn't alone in the dark as his five year old sister Renee was in a small bed across the room. The two siblings were close and when either felt scared during the night they were comforted by the knowledge that the other was nearby. 

Bradley awoke suddenly somewhere between 3am and 4am. He was cold and shivering. He could tell the worst of the storm had passed but he could still hear the pitter patter of raindrops falling outside. He thought he must be feeling chilly because he had only put on short length pyjamas. As the small boy came out of the grogginess of sleep he realised the true reason why he was so cold. His bed covers had been pulled down and neatly folded at his knees. He wondered how that had happened. When he had dropped off he had been tightly snuggled up to his neck in the comfy bed clothes. He rolled out of bed and went across the room to wake Renee so he could cuddle up next to her and get warm. He stretched out his arm to tap his sister's shoulder. He felt nothing. It was pitch dark and he could see very little, so he ran his hand along the length of the bed. Renee was not there.

Confused, Bradley got up and made his way to the bathroom. Perhaps his sister had woken and needed the toilet. He switched on the bathroom light but Renee wasn’t in there. It was then he realised his sister had gone somewhere. He didn't want to wake his mother, Morna, and her fiance, Neil, so endeavoured to find the missing 5 year old himself. He wandered around the house investigating each room, but with no luck. He went into the kitchen and even looked inside the fridge. As he stood there, still sleepy and pondering what on earth could have happened he noticed a draft of cold air. Bradley turned and saw the back door was wide open. Panic seized the boy and he yelled out “Renee’s gone!”

Just a quick note about the pronunciation of the name Renee in English. There are two ways you can say it, Renee or Renee. I’ve gone with Renee mostly because that’s how I grew up saying the name and coincidentally I was born the same year as Renee Aitken. It might well be that her name should be pronounced Renee. A small detail but one I think is important to mention.

Renee Joy Aitken was born on May 4th 1978. Her family hailed from Melbourne, Victoria, and moved to Narooma, 60km south of Batemans Bay in New South Wales, in April 1983. The household consisted of Renee, her older brother Bradley, their mother Morna and her fiance Neil Mumme.  Renee is described as a confident and empathetic five year old. A 2014 article by Stacy Hicks, published in That's Life! and titled “My little sister stolen in the night”, contains the thoughts of a then 38 year old Bradley Aitken. He tells of Renee’s first day of school. Many of the other children were anxious and scared of the new challenge but Renee was excited. As they waited to go into  the classroom Renee noticed a little boy crying and she put her arm around him to comfort him. Renee gave him a big smile and reassured him everything was going to be ok.

Bradley loved playing with his little sister. One of his most endearing memories is her favourite habit of filling a cup with crushed ice and gradually crunching her way through it. Renee was an utter delight and what occurred on that stormy February night was every parent's nightmare. 

Morna last saw her daughter at around 11.15pm on Thursday 16th February 1984. She said goodnight to Renee as she lay in her child-sized bed, surrounded by her soft toys. Bradley was in a single bed on the other side of the room. When Morna was awakened at around 4.45am by her worried son, at first she didn’t comprehend what he was telling her. She told him to go back to sleep and that Renee would be in her bed. When Bradley continued his pleas Morna understood that something was wrong and went to check her children’s bedroom. Finding Renee’s bed neatly made but no sign of her daughter, fear gripped Morna. She wasted no time and contacted the police immediately. While Morna waited for officers to arrive her fiance Neil took the car and drove around the streets looking for Renee.

The police responded straight away and were very worried about Renee's safety. Young children would go missing and get lost from time to time but usually in the daytime and they normally turned up pretty quickly. Renee had disappeared from her bed in the middle of a stormy night. A photograph and description of Renee was released to police and press all across New South Wales and Victoria. The five year old little girl had fair hair and blue eyes. She was slim with a fair complexion, and stood at 91cm, or a little under 3 feet. She went to bed wearing blue and white short length pyjamas. Some reports say they had a floral pattern while others say they were striped. 

Police officers and over sixty volunteers got to work searching bushland and inland waterways such as Little Lake which was only 10 mins away on foot from the family apartment. The shoreline around Wagonga Inlet was searched, as well as the coastline onto the open sea which lay only 600m away. Twenty-four hours after Renee was reported missing, tracker dogs and a helicopter were brought in to aid efforts. The bad weather and high levels of rainfall prevented these resources being utilised any earlier. In all, 200 people were involved in the search over a  fourteen day period. Public bodies such as the State Emergency Service assisted the police, as well as volunteer organisations like the VRA and the Rural fire service. Every home and yard in Narooma was checked. The whole town was gone over three times. The areas immediately surrounding the family residence were searched on many more occasions. Altogether the search extended from Mystery Bay, which is 17km south of Narooma, to Bodalla, which is 20km to the north.

On the 18th February, the day after Renee was reported missing, the regional crime squad based in Mernda, Victoria, came up to assist with the investigation. By the following day Detective Inspector Bob Snape said police believed Renee had been abducted from her bed. The window of time was given as between 11pm and 4am. Police asked local people to come forward with any reports of “peeping toms” or prowlers operating in the area. 

The family apartment was looked over but it gave very few clues. The apartment itself was not in a block or tower. Each apartment stood alone and looked more like a chalet or large static caravan without wheels. There were no signs of a break in and the main door had been left unlocked. Renee’s bed had been left neat, so there was no sign of a struggle. Either Renee had been gently lifted from her bed whilst still asleep or she had got up and gone with the person without too much of a protest. The fact that Bradley’s sheets had been neatly folded at his knees suggested that in the dark the abductor initially mistook Bradley for Renee, before realising their error.

Police believed that whoever took Renee had taken her outside the locality and may be attempting to pass her off as a young relative. An article in The Age newspaper from the 20th February states that one theory was that Renee had been kidnapped and was currently in Melbourne, Victoria. Renee's father, who lived in Melbourne, was talked to by police. He had separated from Morna some years before and it was procedure to investigate any potential custody issues. Police concluded very early on that Renee was not with her father and he was not viewed as a suspect. 

Then a ray of hope came when a witness contacted police to report a sighting from Friday 17th February, the morning Renee had been reported missing. At 10am that day a man was spotted in a Fossey’s supermarket in Bega, 75km south of Narooma. The man was said to be approximately 170cm, or a little under 5 foot 7, and aged 32-35 years old. He had sandy coloured hair and a thin build and prominent nose. He was wearing a fawn shirt with light cloured trousers. In the company of the man was a young blonde girl who bore a resemblance to little Renee. The pair had bought children’s clothes, including a skirt, top and tracksuit. The girl appeared to be picking the clothes herself. 

Another potential sighting was reported on Sunday 19th February from the Gold coast, 1200km north of Narooma in the neighbouring state of Queensland. A person said they saw a girl matching Renee's description with two men in the beachside city of Tugun. As far as I can see no concrete leads were generated from either report.

Feeling desperate, Morna Aitken and her fiance, Neil Mumme, made an appeal in the media for the kidnapper to make contact and let them know that Renee was safe and well. These pleas were ignored by the abductor and the family were left heartbroken without any news of what had happened to Renee. 

All avenues were explored to try and work out what had happened during the night of 16th and 17th February. 8 year old Bradley Aitken was hypnotised over several sessions during March in an attempt by investigators to find some information and develop a lead. Unfortunately this  proved fruitless; nothing valuable was gained from these attempts. It was incredibly difficult for Bradley to cope with what had happened to his sister. Amongst all the tears and pain of the first few months he made a promise to himself that if he ever had children of his own he would call his daughter Renee.

In April 1984, two months after Renee’s disappearance, the police received a tip-off that Renee had been murdered and buried in bushland surrounding Narooma. Details regarding this information have not been divulged. An area of dense vegetation was searched between the small village of Tilba, 30km south of Narooma, and Dignams Creek, which is a further 15 minutes drive west. One particular spot was checked by passersby, who had complained of a foul smelling odour at the location. Nothing of significance was discovered. In response to the tip police issued a £50,000 reward for information about Renee’s disappearance. It was never claimed.

At around this time another sighting came in from Sydney, New South Wales. A woman saw Renee's missing poster at The Royal Easter show and thought she had seen the little girl in the Broadway locality of the city, which lies an hour north of Canberra. Nothing came of this and the police informed Morna that they believed Renee had been murdered shortly after being abducted. By this time Morna, Neil and Bradley had moved away from Narooma. Morna could not cope with living in the apartment from which her daughter had been snatched, the memories were too painful, so they relocated back to Melbourne. What made matters worse was the malicious gossip circulating Narooma that the family had been involved in the abduction. Unfortunately these unfounded accusations would not be fully put to bed until 2003. 

On Monday January 14th 1985 a fifty year old woman was fishing near the south coast of the Wagonga Inlet, around a five to ten minute drive from the flat where Rene and her family had lived. As the woman pulled her catch out of the water she realised to her horror that attached to her line was a bone. To her eyes it appeared it was a small human thigh bone. Overcome with fright and without thinking, she threw the bone back into the water. When the woman made it back to shore she reported her gruesome find to the police. By 4.30pm that day police divers had found the bone and some other remains. It was thought that the remains could possibly belong to a child. Renee Aitken was the obvious name on the lips of investigators. Tests were completed and it was concluded that the remains were animal, most probably from a pig. Over the next twelve months the case went cold. 

Rather suddenly, in September 1986, Morna Aitken, Renee’s mother, started to publicly say that she knew who had taken her daughter. It followed press headlines that a man currently serving a prison sentence for sexual crimes was a suspect in the disappearance of Renee. The suspect was not named in the press or by Morna and the family. At this time Morna and her father Bob began to campaign for the reintroduction of the death penalty. It would be almost two decades later that details about this suspect and why he had been connected to Renee's presumed abduction would be made known.

Very little information came out about the case over the next  decade. One potential development occurred in 1988 when a human jaw bone was found in a cave in the Angophora Reserve on Sydney’s northern peninsular, 400km north of Narooma. It was believed to belong to a child of around 5-6. At first it was thought that the remains were ancient, as the area was an aboriginal burial site. On closer inspection, experts determined that the teeth had been treated with fluoride. The possibility this was a part of Renee's remains was considered but the teeth were eventually dismissed. They were not linked to the case. I'm unsure if the remains were ever positively identified. 

In 1998 Renee’s case was officially reopened by South Coast crime manager inspector Rick Maudsley. This was following the arrival to Batemans Bay police of Detective Sergeant Edward, or Ted, Freeman. He had read about the case and thought it would benefit from a fresh pair of eyes. Together with Detective Senior Constable Todd Clayton he poured over the notes from the original 1984 investigation, looking to find anything that may have been missed. 

At this time a woman in her twenties came forward who had known Rene when she was a child.  As a young girl, the woman had been sexually abused by a man who had met Renee a month or so before she vanished. This woman has not been named but it is speculated she was a cousin of Renee. The abuse had taken place just three weeks after Renee went missing. The person who had assaulted her was the same unnamed man that the press and Morna Aitken had pointed the figure at in 1986.

Over the next five years DS Ted Freeman and DSC Todd Clayton would periodically meet to look over the case and actively investigate possible burial sites. In 2001 someone came forward and provided information which police said conflicted with earlier versions they had heard about the night Renee disappeared. Police never expanded on this.

In 2001 police also released an age-adjusted image of Renee in the hope of triggering new leads. Remarkably, a woman from America who was adopted and attempting to find her biological parents stumbled upon the image online and thought she could be Renee. The unidentified woman travelled to Australia and her DNA was compared with Moran Aitken. It was not a match. This must have been a very difficult experience for Morna and the rest of the family to go through. I’m sure even if they thought it was a long shot the disappointment must have been terrible.

The investigative work of DS Ted Freeman, DSC Todd Clayton and other Batemans Bay detectives eventually led to a coronial inquest in August of 2003. This had been something the family had been calling for for years. A coronial inquest determines the facts surrounding a death. Obviously it had not been proven that Renee was deceased, but enough evidence had now been amassed that pointed to this conclusion. Proceedings lasted a week and took place at Albury Court house, New South Wales.

The inquest addressed all aspects of the case including long standing local rumours that Morna Aitken and/or her fiancé at the time, Neil Mumme, may have been involved in the kidnapping. That the abductor had walked straight into the property and there was no sign of a struggle had always suggested that the person responsible was known to Renee. Investigating officers stated it was their belief that neither Morna or Neil was involved in the crime. It was also confirmed that Renee's father had nothing to do with her abduction. 

The police then put forward what they believed had happened to Renee. D S Ted Freeman took the stand and named the person he thought was prime suspect responsible for the abduction and murder of Renee Aitken. This was Brian James Fitzpatrick, also known as Brian Bishop or by his nickname, Spider.

Brian Fitzpatrick was the man who had abused Renee's 12 year old cousin just three weeks after Renee had gone missing. He was sent to prison for that offence and another sexual assault which included the rape of an unnamed woman. He was the person Morna Aitken was referring to in 1986 when she said she believed she knew who had abducted her daughter. Fitzpatrick would have been spoken to by police in the days following Renee going missing. In a 2018 article in the Daily Telegraph veteran detective Michael McGann said that in most instances police speak to the killer within the first 48 hours of an investigation. Did this happen in Renee's case?

In 1987 detectives spoke to Fitzpatrick at Melbourne's Pentridge prison. DS Freeman told the coroner that the detectives had left the interview in no doubt that Fitzpatrick was involved with Renee’s disappearance. Apparently he could not account for a three hour window during the night Renee disappeared. Fitzpatrick was eventually released  from prison after serving five years. In 1998 when Renee's case was reopened, Fitzpatrick refused to speak to investigators about the matter.

Fitzpatrick had been ordered by authorities to attend the inquest and give evidence. A matter of weeks before proceedings started he was killed, when the car he was driving collided with a concrete post in Strathmerton, Victoria. It was suspected that Fitzpatrick had crashed deliberately and died by suicide. His wife, however, has always denied this and said her husband was not suicidal at the time. With Fitzpatrick unable to appear, the inquest heard the circumstantial evidence linking him to Renee’s disappearance. 

Fitzpatrick had ties to the Aitken family and he was in the vicinity of Narooma at the time. On the weekend of 16/17th February 1984 Renee’s aunt Bonnie Aitken was staying near Narooma on a fishing holiday. Bonnie had travelled from Melbourne with her employer Don Schelfhout, Don’s 16 year old son, who was Bonnie’s partner at the time and their friend Brian Fitzpatrick, who was then in his early 20s. A tearful Bonnie Aitken told the inquest she blamed herself for what had happened to Renee. She said that at the time she was struggling with a drug addiction and as a result made bad decisions, including mixing with Fitzpatrick. 

According to detectives, in 1987 Fitzpatrick had admitted to them that he had been in the area at the time of the disappearance and even said he had driven past the Aitken’s apartment three times on the night in question. He went on to say that he had gone to the apartment that night and picked up some blankets for the fishing trip. I’ve read a lot of reports about this claim and I can not determine what time Fitzpatrick said he visited the apartment.  Neil Mumme, who was Morna Aitken’s fiance in 1984,  testified at the inquest and said he could not remember either Fitzpatrick or Bonnie Aitken visiting the property on the evening or night Renee went missing. Evidence from Morna Aitken seems to suggest Fitzpatrick did call by at some point to pick up a blanket.

What is not in dispute is that Fitzpatrick arrived at the apartment between 5am and 6am on the 17th February, just an hour or so after Morna had contacted the police to report her daughter missing. He came by on the pretence he was returning the blanket. Neil Mumme remembers Fitzpatrick being there and that he was sweating despite the relatively cold temperature. He also said that Fitzpatrick looked worse for wear, like he had taken drugs. 

Fitzpatrick told detectives in 1987 that he had picked up the blanket and driven around for a few hours before going to the beach to listen to music and have a swim. At the inquest Bonnie Aitken highly doubted his version of events as she said Fitzpatrick had a well known phobia of sharks and never went in the water above his ankles.

It was also discovered that Fitzpatrick had stayed at the Aitken's apartment for a few nights with Bonnie and her partner only days before Renee went missing. Morna, Neil, Bradley and Renee were not at the apartment at the time as they were away. 

Coroner Carl Milovanovich concluded the inquest by saying that Renee was most likely deceased and murdered on or after the 16th February 1984. He gave an open verdict as there was not enough evidence to definitively point the blame at any individual. In the eyes of the police and the family, Fitzpatrick was the prime suspect. 

As well as all the circumstantial evidence presented at the inquest, a family friend of the Aitken’s had taken it upon themselves to investigate Fitzpatrick in the years after he was released from prison. They claimed he had more or less confessed that he had killed Renee but taunted that no one could ever prove it. When Morna Aitken heard of Fitzpatrick’s death in the car crash she wept. She believed that his death ended all hope of ever getting justice for her daughter. 

Ten years after the inquest, Renee's case once again featured prominently in Australian newspapers and TV reports, when in early 2014 another convicted paedophile was named by the media as a potential suspect. A man known only as “Witness O” came forward to police with information about a man he had shared a prison cell with in the late 1990s. Witness O was currently living in Amsterdam in Holland, but in 1998 he had been serving a five year sentence for smuggling ecstasy  in Lithgow Correctional facility, 150km west of Sydney. Behind bars he came face to face with many sex offenders, including Michael Guider, who was serving a sentence for sex offences against chldren. 

Michael Guider was born in 1950 and had a very unstable childhood. Guider, together with his brother, were terrorised by their violent alcoholic step father and spent a lot of their formative years in children’s homes. Guider claims that he was sexually abused at home and whilst in the care system. He also admits that he abused other children himself. In his twenties Guider committed an act of arson when he tried to burn the house of a former girlfriend. In 1995 his abuse against children was uncovered when the mother of one the survivors of his assaults went to the police. In 1996 he was sentenced to ten years for 68 offences against 14 children. 

Guider’s method was to befriend vulnerable women and then offer to babysit their children. He would take this opportunity to drug the children with the sleeping medication, Normasin. He would slip the sleeping pills into cola before giving it to the unsuspecting children to drink. Guider would often take photographs of the children while they were drugged. He would collate these in scrapbooks. After he went to prison in 1996, police began to scour the scrapbooks to see if theory could uncover more crimes that Guider had committed. One photograph in particular caught their attention. Police were confident that one of the photos was of 9 year old schoolgirl Samantha Knight, who had been missing since 1986.

On the 19th of August that year Samantha, who lived in Bondi, New South Wales, left her home to buy a toothbrush from the local pharmacy. She never returned and has never been seen since. While investigating Guider the police discovered that he had been babysitting at homes where Samantha had been staying. Police were sure Guider had murdered Samantha and engaged the help of his cell mate “Witness O” in order to elicit a confession. The pair often played chess together, which provided the perfect setting for Guider to talk. Witness O was able to provide information to help police build a case agaisnt Guider for Samantha’s abduction and murder. 

In 2001 police arrested Guider for Samantha’s murder; four months later he confessed to the killing. He was sentenced the following year. He said that he had never meant to kill Samantha and that he had accidentally given her too much of the sleeping drug. He has never revealed where Samantha’s body is buried. It has been speculated he hid it on a landfill site which has since been developed and built on. The chances are that her body will never be found. 

A December 2013 article about Renee Aitken in the Sydney Morning Herald had prompted Witness O to come forward to police. A photograph of Renee was included in the newspaper report, which Witness O said looked very similar to a sketch of a young child that Guider had often drawn while he was in prison. Guider had referred to the child in the sketch as Renee. He told Witness O that he drew the picture because of the innocence in the child's eyes and that the image always came into his head. Witness O had always presumed that “Renee” was a boy and it was only when he came upon the newspaper article in 2013 that he made the connection. 

This was widely reported in the press at the time and Guider was touted as a new suspect in the case. However it wasn’t the first time Michael Guider had been connected to Renee Aitken‘s disappearance. A 2006 Sydney Morning Herald article refers to the sketch of the young girl  drawn by Guider and states that he had named the child as Renee. 

For years a Sydney teacher, Denise Hoffman, had believed Guider could be reasonable for Renee’s disappearance. Denise had been a friend of Guider after they had met in 1993. They both shared an interest in aboriginal art. After Guider was sent to prison for sexually abusing children in 1996 he continued to send poems and letters to Denise Hoffman. He corresponded  with her on at least 58 occasions and sent her clippings from his scrapbooks. Denise was horrified at the crimes her former friend had committed and was convinced he had further victims. Some of the information she was able to provide police was influential in seeing Guider convicted for the murder of Samantha Knight.

Denise Hoffman beleived Guider may well have other murder victims, including Renee Aiktin. Amongst the scrapbooks were newspaper clippings about Renee from the time the five year old vanished. They were from newspapers local to Narooma which suggested he had been in the area at the time. In November 2006 The Sydney Sun Herald said that a key witness in the Renee Aitken case had privately picked out Guider’s prison mugshot, identifying him as a person seen in the area at the time. When Renee disappeared it is believed Guider was working in Canberra, just 2 hours away. 

In 2006 Denise Hoffman wrote a letter to the New South Wales Ombudsman detailing her evidence against Guider in the Renee Aitken case. Police said that they took the suspicions of Denise Hoffman in 2006 and the information given by Witness O in 2014 very seriously. 

Detective Chief Inspector John Lehman of the New South Wales Police unsolved homicide team confirmed that Guider was questioned about Renee's disappearance in 2014. In a January 2015 article in the Sydney Morning Herald DCI Lehman said Guider was calm and  cooperative with officers but denied having anything to do with the crime. DCI Lehman added that he was content that Brian Fitzpatrick was the likely culprit and police and not found evidence against anyone else. 

A member of the Aitken  family anonymously told the Sydney Morning Herald that they were not quite as content as police that Michael Guider didn’t have something to do with Renee’s abduction and presumed murder. They even postulated that he may have worked with Brian Fitzpatrick. It’s worth saying the police have not found any evidence for this theory. 

Guider’s modus operandi was very different . He would drug girls he had gained access to through their vulnerable mothers. Snatching a child from a house would have been quite a departure. On the flip side, the abduction of Samantha Knight from the street showed his willingness to change how he operated. Police also dismissed the clippings about Renee's case in Guider's scrap books. They pointed to the fact that a large number of missing person cases that he had nothing to do with were also in the books.

When he was questioned about Rennes case in 2014 he was also quizzed again about the location of Samantha Knight's body. He refused to talk about that telling detectives that as far as he was concerned the matter was finished. It may come as a shock to hear that Michael Guider was released under parole in 2019. His whereabouts are unknown. 

Ever since that night in February 1984 the family have had to soldier on as best they can. Morna Aitken’s relationship with Neil Mumme didn’t last and the pair separated. Morna went on to meet a new partner and they married in 1990. The couple went on to have a son together. 

For Morna Aitken, living without any form of closure has been both mental and physical torture. Despite the police’s assertion that Renee had been murdered, without proof there has always existed the possibility that she is still alive somewhere. In 2014 a now frail Morna said the only time she doesn’t think about Renee is when she is asleep. Morna has continued to do all she can for her daughter's cause and to help other missing persons cases. In April 2021 she was part of a key drive by New South Wales missing person registry, to encourage people to upload their DNA to online databases to help identify Jane and John Does. 

Bradley Aitken went on to marry and fulfilled the promise he'd made to himself in 1984 by naming his daughter Renee. Bradley has always made sure that his daughter has been allowed to be her own person. The naming was a way to honour his sister while also embracing the future and the wonderful possibilities it held for his daughter. 

If you have any information about the disappearance of Renee Aitken you can contact crime stoppers New South Wales on 1800 333 000 or visit nsw.crimestoppers.com.au