A frantic mother has made a moving plea for her missing teenage daughter – six years after she lost her father and another child in a horrific head-on crash.
Kristen Matagia Nauer, from Griffith in NSW’s Riverina region, has launched a public appeal for information on the whereabouts of her daughter Janet, 16, who has not been seen or heard from loved ones for more than a week.
Next month will mark six years since Ms Matagia Nauer’s daughter Anelina, 2, and father Antonio, 59, were killed when the minibus they were traveling in with relatives crashed into oncoming traffic near Kemps Creek in Sydney’s west.
Ms Matagia Nauer took to Facebook on Wednesday to plead for Janet’s safe return.
“Hello families, friends and neighbors in Griffith, our daughter Janet is missing here, it’s been over a week. If any of you are helping to house her or don’t even know she is ours, please do the right thing and bring her back to us,” she wrote.
Kristen Matagia Nauer has launched an appeal to find her missing daughter Janet (photo)
Janet (photo) has not been seen by her family for more than a week
‘Janet, if you read this message, make sure you come home, don’t do anything stupid, but be afraid to face the consequences.
“If any of you have heard or seen anything, or have any information as to her whereabouts, please let us know. Think of this as your daughter, niece or sister going missing.”
‘We are concerned for her safety. We will report her missing, but have not reported her missing yet because I have a feeling the people she is staying with don’t know we are looking for her. Her name is Janet and she’s only 16…
Mrs Matagia Nauer confirmed on Thursday that her daughter was still missing.
“If anyone knows where she is please contact us and if she is reading this please come home,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
“She’s been missing for a week, but she hasn’t been reported missing yet because people have seen her.”
The mother’s desperate plea was echoed by other family members.
Among them was Ms Matagia Nauer’s sister, who was later jailed over the November 2017 crash that killed her niece and father.
“Keep an eye out,” wrote Penina Nauer.
Kristen Matagia Nauer is desperate for answers about Janet’s whereabouts (pictured)
Anelina, the little sister of missing teenager Janet (photo), died in a horror accident in 2017
The family had made the 560km drive from Griffith to Sydney airport to fly to Samoa when Antonio asked his daughter to drive the final leg.
Nauer, then 20, fell asleep at the wheel and veered off Mamre Road, crashing into another vehicle.
Two-year-old Anelina died on the spot.
Antonio, 59, spent two weeks in a coma before succumbing to his injuries.
Nauer was supported in court by a large group of family members when she was convicted and jailed in 2019.
Six other family members were also injured in the crash, including Ms Matagia Nauer, who suffered two broken legs.
Her little girl Anelina, described at the time as a beautiful soul, would now be eight if she were still alive.
“It always weighs heavy on my heart, every year every passing birthday I think about what you would have looked like,” she posted on her daughter’s birthday in April.
‘Thank God for the short time we had you brought so much happiness but you brought me and your father and nannas and dadas uncles and aunts also so much pain and heartbreak when you left so soon we miss you so many days go I always cry and get angry, but it is my hope in Christ that gets me going.”
Mrs Matagia Nauer suffered two broken legs in the horror crash at Kemps Creek (scene pictured), which claimed the lives of her toddler Anelina and father Antonio