Quanne Diec was a girl who vanished in 1998. She was declared legally dead in 2021.
Background[]
Quanne was born on 12 May 1986 to parents Ann Muoi Ngo and Sam Nguyen Diec. She had an older brother, Sunny, and sister, Tina. The family were very close, and Quanne had many good friends. She was described as a good but quiet student.
When Quanne began attending Strathfield Girls High School, Ann would travel to school with her. However, once Quanne was comfortable using public transport, Ann began driving her daughter to Clyde Train Station and letting her ride the rest of the way to school alone. In April 1998, Quanne's parents purchased a store. As a result of the store's early opening time, Quanne began traveling to school completely alone at some point around 1 May 1998.
Case[]
Disappearance[]
Quanne was last seen in Granville, New South Wales, on Monday, 27 July 1998. That morning, she got ready for school as usual and left her home on Seventh Street at approximately 7:35 A.M. She never arrived, and Quanne's parents weren't informed of her absence as the school assumed she was home sick. It only became apparent that something was amiss when Quanne, who typically returned home by 4:00 P.M., was still nowhere to be seen at 4:15 P.M. Ann contacted family but found Quanne wasn't staying with any of them and searched nearby Factory Street herself. At approximately 7:00 P.M., Sunny reported his sister missing. By this point, Quanne hadn't been seen for around ten hours.
Investigation[]
A task force called Strike Force Lydney was formed to investigate Quanne's disappearance. They quickly discovered that while several witnesses saw Quanne walking down Factory Street, she wasn't seen by her friends, whom she would typically pass on her way to school. She also did not purchase a child weekly ticket at the Clyde Station, which she did every Monday, and none of the employees spotted her that day. CCTV footage revealed that Quanne hadn't been to the Clyde, Granville or Lidcombe train stations that morning.
Police questioned one woman who claimed to have seen a girl matching Quanne's description on Factory Street at 7:30 A.M. on the morning she vanished. The girl was approximately 80-90 feet away from the witness and was talking to an individual, believed to be a male, in a white van. The witness noticed blue lettering and stripes on the side of the van and that the number plate contained the letters "PAQ". While the woman could not identify photographs of Quanne, the events she described were caught on CCTV footage. The girl in the footage is believed to be Quanne, but it was of very poor quality, which made this impossible to confirm. It was also impossible to gather further details about the van or its occupant.
Sam noticed a white van driving slowly down their road on his way to work that morning. The driver, a man with high cheekbones and sunken eyes, reportedly stared at him strangely.
Vinzent Tarantino[]
The next major development in the case came on 5 October 1998 when a woman filed a domestic violence report against her boyfriend, Vinzent Tarantino. While she was there, she also told police that Tarantino had confessed to Quanne's murder. Tarantino allegedly told the woman that he had strangled Quanne and disposed of the mattress he killed her on. The woman returned to the police station on multiple occasions to confirm her story and claimed that Tarantino had murdered Quanne and disposed of her body at an unknown location.
At the time of Quanne's disappearance, Tarantino lived around 100 meters from where she was seen speaking to the man in a white van. Tarantino's brother, who was living with him, claims Tarantino hired a van shortly before Quanne vanished and threw out a mattress shortly afterwards. His friend, Geoff Maurer, also claims his cousin lent him a van, which was not returned on time. Then Tarantino told Maurer that he had murdered a young Asian girl because she "wouldn't shut up" and used the van to dispose of her remains around August 1998. On 21 July 1999, Tarantino called police to tell them he wanted to "get something off his chest" but denied murdering Quanne when questioned. Over the years, he repeatedly contacted police but always backed out without providing further details.
Investigators reviewed all evidence gathered by Strike Force Lydney through 2014 and 2015. In doing so, Tarantino was determined to be the sole person of interest in Quanne's case.
On 20 November 2016, Tarantino called the police and explained he wanted to confess. He subsequently arrived at Surry Hills Police Station at 3:40 P.M. He told police he'd abducted Quanne from near her home, hoping he could receive a ransom demand for her safe return; however, when she wouldn't stop screaming. He ended up murdering her at his family home. He insisted that he had never planned to kill Quanne and that he wanted to help find her remains so they could be returned to her family. He claimed to have buried Quanne somewhere off Princess Highway, but despite extensive searches, she has never been found. Tarantino was charged with the murder of Quanne Diec.
Tarantino's trial began on 9 September 2019. He pleaded not guilty. He claimed that his confession was false and that he'd only made it because he was concerned for his well-being and believed that "bikies" were after him. The jury took nearly six days to reach a verdict of not guilty, which reportedly caused considerable distress to Quanne's family.
Inquest[]
An inquest into Quanne's disappearance was opened and closed in 2021. The inquest concluded that all evidence suggested that she was deceased. Some of the reasons for the conclusion were that she had made no contact with her family, that she had made no contact with government agencies, that she had no means to financially support herself and that there was no evidence to indicate she had run away. The manner of Quanne's death was determined to be a homicide, but without a body, her cause of death could not be determined. It was concluded she died the same day she vanished.
Characteristics[]
- Black hair.
- Brown eyes.
- Vietnamese descent.
Clothing and accessories[]
- White blouse with a frilly collar.
- Navy jumper.
- Gray tartan skirt with fine blue and white lines.
- Black shoes.
- Navy schoolbag containing books and personal items.
Gallery[]
