The family of murdered Corowa teenager Bronwynne Richardson say they are relieved that two men involved in her murder have finally been named after 48 years.
NSW Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes told the Coroner's Court in Albury that she was satisfied Ms Richardson's cousin, Colin Newey, and his associate, Maxwell Martin, were involved in her murder in 1973.
Martin had been released from prison on the morning Ms Richardson was kidnapped.
Both men are now dead.
In 2014, Newey was arrested in connection with Ms Richardson's rape and murder but the charges were dropped weeks before he was scheduled to appear in court.
Ms Richardson, a local beauty queen, was abducted from Albury's Smollett Street on October 12, 1973, after finishing work at a Coles supermarket.
She had planned to go to a dance later in that evening.
She never made it.
The 17-year-old was abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered by a group of men, two of whom were Newey and Martin, according to Monday's formal findings.
Ms Richardson's body was found in West Albury's Horseshoe Lagoon.
Ms Forbes said in her formal findings that Ms Richardson died of a combination of pressure to the neck and drowning.
She also said the balance of evidence did not support a finding that her former boyfriend, Geoffrey Charles Brown, had any involvement in her abduction and murder.
The court heard in submissions made by counsel assisting Michael Dalla-Pozza that suspect Ross Eames could not have been involved in the murder.
He also said there were no conclusive findings ruling Kevin Newman, who is now dead, both in or out of being involved in the abduction, assault and murder.
Monday's findings follow the third coronial inquest, which was held last year, into Ms Richardson's murder.
Further formal findings will be released later this week.
Truth won't be silenced
The victim's family said the findings were what they had expected but they did not provide closure.
"Evil cannot exist with beauty, it has to destroy it," Ms Richardson's sister, Fiona Hume, said.
Ms Hume said it was also hard to rest while violence against women was still rampant in communities.
"Even in the modern day, what happened to her continues to happen," she said.
"I think that people can continue to support women and break this cycle that continues, the violence."
The family paid a visit to Ms Richardson's grave after the initial findings were handed down before returning home.
Uncertainties remain
Mr Dalla-Pozza made further submissions to the court regarding preliminary issues in the case.
He submitted that Ms Richardson had been abducted very shortly after 7.15pm on October, 12, 1973, and that the physical assault had begun by 7.26pm — the time her watch had stopped.
The court also heard in the submissions that it was not possible to determine the vehicle used in Ms Richardson's abduction.
He also submitted that "the evidence suggests strongly" that Newey made an anonymous phone call to police from Murray Bridge in 1989, which was aimed to divert the focus of the investigation away from himself.
