Inquest examines why Joanne Butterfield disappeared without a trace - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

An inquest is examining what happened to Mossman mother Joanne Butterfield. (Supplied)

When Joanne Butterfield suddenly disappeared without a trace in June 1998, some locals in her Far North Queensland town were quick to form suspicions.

As Colleen Brischetto, a long-time Mossman taxi operator, put it at a coronial inquest this week: "In a small town, everyone talks."

To some, Ms Butterfield appeared troubled in the lead-up to her disappearance, telling friends and acquaintances her children would be better off if she left town.

But some things appeared to be going well for her too.

Joanne Butterfield had told people her children would be better off if she left Mossman. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)

She had taken a job at a local supermarket earlier that same month and, at the start of that year, mental health services believed her condition had improved enough to recommend the closure of her file.

Coroner Stephanie Williams is examining whether Ms Butterfield has died and the adequacy of the police investigation into her disappearance.

Colleen Brischetto knew Joanne Butterfield in 1998, routinely driving her in the taxi, often to a local pub.

Ms Brischetto also knew Concetto Tati, a lifelong local who lived down her street.

Mr Tati, who spoke to police during the investigation, has told the inquest he only recalled meeting Ms Butterfield once. 

The 67-year-old also told the inquest he had no knowledge of or involvement in her disappearance.

However, Ms Brischetto's evidence suggested that in the two months before she disappeared, Ms Butterfield and Mr Tati argued "three or four times" at a taxi rank.

One of those occasions came after Mr Tati went looking for Ms Butterfield, asking Ms Brischetto to drive him to Mossman Gorge.

"He was anxious to find her … and when someone said she wasn't up there, I said, 'Why don't you just leave her alone?' And he got really angry," Ms Brischetto told the inquest.

Colleen Brischetto has told the inquest Joanne Butterfield had "problems" with Concetto Tati. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)

David Arduino, now 55, told the inquest he frequently collected Ms Butterfield and Mr Tati from the Mossman Hotel together in his cab.

"Sometimes, he was quite rude and a bit aggressive," Mr Arduino recalled of Mr Tati.

Mr Arduino told the inquest that Ms Butterfield and Mr Tati argued in his taxi "several times".

But the taxi ride Mr Arduino best remembered occurred on a night Mr Tati was alone and asked Mr Arduino to drive along a rural road where Michael O'Donoghue lived.

Joanne Butterfield's clothing, bag and personal documents were found near South Johnstone. (Supplied: Queensland Police Service)

"[Mr Tati] looked pretty nervous and just looked like he was on edge," Mr Arduino said.

The taxi driver said Mr Tati had a duffel bag with him and, at one point, asked Mr Arduino to pull over before briefly wandering into the scrub, the inquest heard.

In 2021, Mr Arduino gave a statement to police about the taxi ride with Mr Tati.

However, he could not recall whether it happened before or after Ms Butterfield's disappearance.

Ms Brischetto recalled having to leave a party early that night because Mr Tati's behaviour had frightened Mr Arduino to the point he no longer wanted to drive the taxi.

Ms Brischetto said that about a week after Ms Butterfield disappeared, Mossman locals were discussing her possible whereabouts.

Joanne Butterfield's bag and belongings were found discarded about 160km from where she was last seen. (Supplied: Queesnland Police Service)

"A friend of mine said she saw scratches down [Mr Tati's] face and he was calm as a cucumber," Ms Brischetto told the inquest.

"He never worried about where she was."

Ms Butterfield had mentioned "she was having trouble with Con", she said.

Natalie Cavanagh, then a 19-year-old Mossman Hotel bartender, recalled Ms Butterfield as a regular patron who was often at the pub with Mr Tati and Mr O'Donoghue.

"Con was a person that I would always remember, only from the way he used to treat us barmaids," she told the inquest.

Concetto Tati (right) gave evidence under privilege from self-incrimination. (ABC News: Christopher Testa)

She said Mr Tati and Mr O'Donoghue stopped coming to the pub after Ms Butterfield went missing.

Mr O'Donoghue, now an agoraphobic recluse, has also given evidence denying involvement in, or knowledge about, Ms Butterfield's disappearance.

Mr Tati's lawyer, Sacha Smith, asked Mr Arduino and Ms Brischetto whether they had mistaken Ms Butterfield for another woman named Leanne Downey.

The inquest heard Michael O'Donoghue (pictured) and Concetto Tati stopped going to the Mossman Hotel after Joanne Butterfield's disappearance. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)

The inquest has also heard evidence about a man named Victor Varga, who died in recent years.

His friend, Anthony van den Broek, 60, gave evidence about an afternoon they picked up a hitchhiking Ms Butterfield on their way back to Cairns from Mossman.

Ms Butterfield stayed that night at Mr Varga's home, the inquest heard, and Mr van den Broek said he recalled her leaving in the morning.

"I think Vic was trying to maybe ask her to stay or something like that, and she said, 'No, I gotta go, I gotta go,' or something like that," he said.

Mr van den Broek recalled Mr Varga as "a bit of a womaniser" and a "party type", who believed in conspiracy theories.

Mr van den Broek said he remembered seeing something on the news about Ms Butterfield's disappearance shortly after but that Mr Varga gave little reaction.

"Vic never used to like the news and that sort of stuff," he said.

"I made mention to him and, yeah, nothing was mentioned since."

Mystery surrounds how Ms Butterfield's personal belongings came to be discarded beside a lookout and cane railway line, about two hours' drive from where she was last seen.

They included clothing, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a handbag containing personal identification documents such as her passport, and a resume that had been freshly updated.

Some of Ms Butterfield's other personal items, including her Medicare card and bank card, were posted to her daughter at school.

Jim Whitehead, a retired Queensland police search-and-rescue coordinator who completed a doctorate on the disposal of homicide victims, told the inquest it did not fit the pattern of someone who had taken their own life.

"I can't imagine she just left her kids in the lurch like that with really nothing for finality," Dr Whitehead said.

"I still think that, while suicide is a possibility, it's not the one that I would put my money on."

Dr Whitehead told the inquest it was "a different world back in 98" with fewer resources available to police, such as number plate recognition and traffic cameras.

"We still solved crimes, but I think in this case, all the eggs have been put in the wrong basket," he said.