"Devoted mother" Roxlyn Bowie had plans to hold a party for her son's second birthday but disappeared before the little boy's milestone, a coroner has heard at Dubbo.
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After more than 30 years of grave concerns and fears her family hopes to find some answers.
The suspected death of the 31-year-old wife and mother at Walgett in 1982 is the subject of an inquest at Dubbo.
On its opening day yesterday Ms Bowie's two children and other family members gathered.
Also present at the inquest was John Bowie, her husband, who the inquest heard was at the time described as a "womaniser" and was later convicted of forging his wife's signature on a document during the sale of a parcel of land.
Counsel assisting the coroner Sergeant Paul Bush said Ms Bowie was a "devoted mother" and because they had no phone connected, a constant letter writer to her parents who lived in Sydney.
The first of four people sworn into the witness box yesterday was Detective Inspector Russell Oxford.
A number items including letters purportedly written by Ms Bowie announcing her intention to leave her husband and children were tendered to the inquest.
One letter beginning "Dear John" was found at the Bowies' Euroka Street home on the night of Ms Bowie's disappearance while another letter addressed to her parents bore a postmark from Coonamble from the Monday after her disappearance on Saturday June 5, 1982.
"At the heart of the investigation is the authenticity of the letters," Detective Inspector Oxford said.
"A woman devoted to her children (to have left that note) - her family couldn't get over that and they still can't.
"And I share their concerns."
Detective Inspector Oxford said he believed the letters - which had been analysed - were in Ms Bowie's handwriting, which presented three avenues of inquiry.
He said they had either been written under duress, written by Ms Bowie before someone else took advantage of them or written before the 32-year-old had genuinely left her family.
He said the lack of Ms Bowie's DNA on the stamp and envelope containing the letter to her parents was "one of the most puzzling" aspects of the case and went to "the heart of the matter".
At the opening of the inquest Coroner Mary Jerram set out the inquest's purpose.
"(It) may not be able to find the cause, manner or that Roxlyn is dead, although I hope that is not the case," she said.
"I'm really sorry we meet in these circumstances. . .
"I hope if we're not able to give you all the answers that you know that people still care."
Margot Rule described cousin Ms Bowie as someone who "loved her children dearly" and was in constant contact with her parents.
Christine Maddocks, the sister of Mr Bowie, said Ms Bowie "doted on" her daughter and son and would not have walked out on them.
Ms Bowie's daughter Brenda Boyd told the inquest there was a reason why she remembered being tucked in on the night of June 5, 1982, when she was aged 6.
"That was the last time I saw my mother," she said.
The inquest continues.