TWENTY-FIVE years ago today, NSW Central West teenager Jessica Small arranged to meet her friend in town, telling her mum she "wouldn't be home late".
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Since then, her family have lived an unimaginable nightmare after Jess, just 15, was abducted after she and a friend accepted a lift from a man they did not know.
Jess had been at an amusement parlour on Russell Street, Bathurst, with her best friend Vanessa Conlan before they accepted a lift to Kelso from the man, who was driving a white Commodore.
The car pulled over in Hereford Street, where a scuffle broke out. Vanessa managed to flee and raise the alarm, but it was too late.
Jess could be heard screaming and the car, with her in it, got away.
She hasn't been seen since.
Despite the passage of time, her mum Ricki Small said she will never lose hope of one day bringing Jess home, where she can be buried with the dignity she deserves.
"Twenty-five years is heart-wrenching, and I am still hoping that one day we will bring her home," she said.
Ms Small, who has never given up fighting for justice for her daughter, said that, sadly, life has kept moving on despite the grief she and the family face daily.
"I'm going to be a great-grandmother early next year; life is moving on so fast now. I can only pray that something will give some day for my beautiful Jessica Beth."
She said her grief is still as raw as the day Jess disappeared and nothing will ever ease the pain of losing her daughter.
"It just breaks me every minute of every day, even after all of these years," she said.
Aggravating the family's pain is the knowledge that the initial police investigation into the abduction was found at inquest to be deficient.
An inquest in 2017 has since established that, in the hours, days and months following Jess' abduction, detectives involved in the case did nothing; key leads were not followed, and witnesses were ignored.
In 2014, when the matter went before Coroner Sharon Freund, she said the inadequacies of the initial investigation were "quite simply, an indictment on those initial investigating detectives".
For Jess's family, the knowledge that police at the time did nothing just makes it all the more difficult.
Ms Small said she "still can't believe what went down".
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Still, she hopes one day someone will come forward with that critical piece of information police need to find her daughter and bring her home.
A $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Jessica Small's killer or killers announced back in October 2018 still stands.
At the time it was announced, homicide squad commander Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said police know "there are people who haven't told us things".
"And we know that the people who weren't involved, but know about it, still haven't come forward," he said.
Anyone with information on the abduction of Jessica Small is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
