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Police have launched a new public campaign to help find two girls who disappeared in the Illawarra almost 35 years ago. Friends Kay Docherty, 15, and Toni Cavanagh, 16, left a home in Martin Street, Warilla, on Friday, July 27, 1979. The pair, who both attended Lake Illawarra High School, reportedly planned on hitchhiking to Wollongong to attend a disco. They were last seen outside a bus stop on Shellharbour Road. A week later, the girl’s families received separate letters posted from the Kings Cross area, saying they were staying with friends and would be home soon. They have not been seen since and their bodies have never been found. The appeal for fresh information comes just a week before a new Coronial Inquest into the case, which is due to be heard at Wollongong’s Coroner’s Court on August 20. The disappearance of Ms Docherty and Ms Cavanagh is one of the Illawarra’s most prominent, unsolved cases. It has been linked to serial killer Ivan Milat, who was working in Kiama and often travelled along Shellharbour Road at the time the teenagers went missing. In 2009, Strike Force Mundawari was formed to investigate the disappearance of the girls, which was declared a murder case. The NSW Government offered $100,000 to help police solve the mystery. At the time, Detective Chief Inspector Michael McLean said police believed the girls were most likely killed. "Over the years there’s been a number of investigations conducted in relation to their disappearance, but in more recent years, our full analysis of the investigation leads us to believe that perhaps these girls aren’t runaways and we’re now satisfied that more than likely these girls have met foul play," he said. A coronial inquest was held into the disappearance in November 2008, however, it returned an open finding when it found there was enough evidence to suggest Ms Docherty and Ms Cavanagh were still alive. The renewed appealed for information forms part of Missing Persons Week, which finishes tomorrow. Every year, 35,000 people are reported missing in Australia. In NSW last year, 12,409 people were reported missing and 84 of those have still not been found. Kay Docherty’s twin brother Kevin, told the Mercury in 2010 that he held out hope that his sister was still alive, but a part of him believed she had met with misadventure. "Yes because of hope and no because it’s been such a long time,’’ Mr Docherty said. ‘‘Maybe because it’s been such a long time it’s been harder for her to get in contact with us." At the time, Mr Docherty said his sister’s disappearance had left a mark of sorrow on the Warilla family. "Kay’s disappearance has been just like an open book - for everyone. There’s no closure, you are always clutching at hope that she is still alive."

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