25 Facts About Juanita Nielsen

Juanita Joan Nielsen was an Australian newspaper founder and owner, publisher, journalist, model, urban conservationist, and heiress.

Juanita Nielsen disappeared after attending a meeting at the Carousel nightclub in Kings Cross on 4 July 1975.

Juanita Nielsen's parents separated soon after her birth and she was raised by her maternal grandmother at Killara, Sydney.

Juanita Nielsen's father, Neil, was an English-born heir to the Mark Foy's retail fortune via his parents, John Joseph Smith, who was chairman and managing director of Mark Foy's Ltd, and his wife, Kathleen Sophie Foy.

Juanita Nielsen was educated at various schools including Ravenswood School for Girls, Gordon.

Juanita Nielsen returned to Sydney in 1965 after living abroad and ran a fashion boutique at Mark Foy's for about five years.

Juanita Nielsen published NOW fortnightly from her home with the assistance of her business partner, David Farrell.

In 1974, Juanita Nielsen stepped up her opposition to the development in her newspaper.

In February 1975, Theeman met with Juanita Nielsen and try unsuccessfully to change her mind about the development.

Juanita Nielsen was a member of the Woolloomooloo Residents Action Group, which was receiving threats in 1975.

Juanita Nielsen did not attend the event, and Anderson was reported to have been furious.

Juanita Nielsen mentioned her fears to Farrell about two weeks before her disappearance and she arranged to keep him regularly informed of her whereabouts.

On Friday, 4 July 1975, Juanita Nielsen went to the Carousel Club in Kings Cross for a meeting with Trigg about advertising as had been arranged the previous night.

In 2000, Loretta Crawford, receptionist at the Carousel, made a new claim: that she made a phone call to Jim Anderson at his home in Vaucluse, told him that Juanita Nielsen had arrived and that he was "quite pleased" by the news.

In original statements given to police, Trigg and Crawford claimed that, after the meeting, Juanita Nielsen left the club alone, although in 1976 Crawford changed her story to say that Juanita Nielsen and Trigg left together.

When Trigg was questioned by police he confirmed the meeting and produced a receipt Juanita Nielsen had given him for an advance payment on the advertising.

Juanita Nielsen said she had left for a lunch appointment.

Theeman denied that Juanita Nielsen was a threat to his development plans.

Counsel for the Juanita Nielsen estate said that Trigg and Martin-Simmonds had to be involved in the disappearance, arguing that having two groups plotting against Juanita Nielsen at the same time would be a "very, very, unbelievable coincidence".

The jury determined that Juanita Nielsen had died "on or shortly after 4 July 1975", although there was not enough evidence to show how she died or who killed her.

In 2004 ABC-TV's The 7:30 Report broadcast a new interview with Crawford in which she claimed her previous testimony regarding Juanita Nielsen was false and had been concocted to protect her former boss, James Anderson, but that Anderson's recent death meant she was now free to reveal the truth.

The obvious motive for Juanita Nielsen's murder was her opposition to the Victoria Street development.

An article in The Bulletin in 2005 ran claims by journalist Barry Ward that Juanita Nielsen had been given dossiers on "prominent Sydney identities" by private detective Allan Honeysett, and speculated that these documents would reputedly have exposed the principals involved in Sydney's illegal gaming industry.

In 2021, the reward for information about the disappearance of Juanita Nielsen was doubled to $1 million.

Juanita Nielsen's disappearance was fictionalised in Donald Crombie's The Killing of Angel Street in 1981.