Lois Roberts

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Lois Martha Roberts born c 1960 - died c January 1999 was the daughter of Pastor Frank Roberts, an Aboriginal activist, and Muriel Roberts She was the twin sister of the arts administrator and broadcaster Rhoda Roberts, and the sister of Philip and Mark.

Brought up and educated in the Lismore region in northern New South Wales she trained as a hairdresser until, at age 20, she was seriously injured in a car accident sustaining permanent brain damage. She was rehabilitated sufficiently to care for herself and live on her own near Lismore. Subsequently she had two children who were raised by her mother and twin sister.

In January 1999 she was abducted whilst hitch-hiking between Nimbin and Lismore and tortured and abused before being killed. Her badly mutilated body was found about eight days after her disappearance deep in thick bush some way off a fire trail. The perpetrator or perpetrators of the crime have never been identified. It has been alleged that the investigation of Robert's disappearance and her subsequent murder was tardy and poorly handled by the New South Wales Police Force at the time because of the institutional racism of the force and that this has contributed to the failure to bring anyone to justice for the crime.