Kathleen O'Shea

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Queensland Police Service Tablelands Criminal Investigation (BRANCH)

Missing From:

Atherton, Queensland

Summary:

Kathleen "Katie" Mary O'Shea, 44, was last seen on December 29, 2005, at the Atherton Hotel in Far North Queensland. Katie was a quirky, happy and beloved single mum of five from Melbourne. A 2014 inquest found Ms O'Shea had most likely been murdered, with the coroner finding it most likely she was killed soon after she left the hotel and her body disposed of.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On December 17, Katie and her 11-year-old daughter Brigid O'Shea flew to Cairns to visit her son, Alan and his partner Bryer, who were expecting their first child. On the morning of December 29, Ms O'Shea told a friend she was going to walk into the Ravenshoe town centre, and her son Alan would pick her up. Alan picked her up and drove her to Atherton around midday, she told him she was going to the Atherton Hotel to play pool and visit a friend in Mareeba. An investigation into Ms O'Shea's movements revealed she attended the bottle shop at the Atherton Hotel and left in the company of two men. She hadn't arrived and hadn't been there since 23 December 2005 when her friend Debra Gifford was contacted about her. The inquest was told that Mr O'Shea reported his mother missing two days later on January 13, 2006.

Additional Details:

Bryer Drago gave birth to a baby girl on 9 January 2006. The coroner described Ms O'Shea as likeable, eccentric and devoted to her five children and ruled out the possibility of suicide or natural causes. An anonymous witness known as Mr A testified at the inquest that while living with Mr O'Shea in 2008, Mr O'Shea had confessed to killing his mother. Queensland police said Ms O'Shea's son, Alan O'Shea, and convicted murderer Francis Wark were persons of interest in the mother-of-five's disappearance. Queensland police travelled to Perth to interview Francis John Wark, who was convicted of murdering West Australian teenager Hayley Dodd, as they believed he may be able to shed light on what happened to Ms O'Shea after she left a bottle shop in the company of two men. In March 2024, the Queensland Government announced a $500,000 reward in the hopes of attracting new information to assist police investigations.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 24, 2026