She was five when her mum was murdered - 28 years later, Jayde Hallett is begging for the truth

Melissa Hunt with her daughter Jayde Hallett as a baby. Picture supplied

JAYDE Hallett was five years old when her mother was violently murdered and dumped in a Hunter dam in the early 1990s.

Now Ms Hallett wants the inquest into Melissa Hunt's brutal death to resume after a Coronial inquiry in 1997 was suspended and handed back to investigators. Despite Coroner Col Elliot employing a provision of law that allowed proceedings to be put on hold if he believed there was enough evidence to prosecute someone, no-one has been brought to justice.

In the absence of charges for almost three decades, Ms Hallett is calling for the inquest to recommence.

"If [investigators] are coming up with no new information and no new leads, then what they have needs to be presented to the Coroner so we can put the matter to rest, whatever that finding may be," she told the Newcastle Herald in her first comments to be made public about her mum's death.

"If they're not going to lay charges, I think they should at least clear the names of some people.

"I think the accusation of something like this can really destroy a person's life and if they are not guilty then I feel perhaps they need to be vindicated for that."

Ms Hunt's badly beaten body was found floating next to the weir wall in Burrenjim Dam at the abandoned Stockrington colliery site on Anzac Day in 1994.

She had suffered catastrophic head injuries - a post mortem found 11 skull fractures - before she was thrown into the water with sandstone rocks in her clothes to weigh her down.

The 22-year-old had gone missing and police believe she could have been dead for days before passers-by discovered her body.

A Coronial inquiry in 1997 named two persons of interest. The inquest was suspended indefinitely so the matter could be referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions under Section 78 of the Coroners Act.

Section 78 allows for an inquest to be put on hold if the Coroner believes there is enough evidence to press charges against an individual.

Melissa Hunt was murdered in 1994. Her badly beaten body was discovered in a Hunter dam. File picture

But the case ultimately found its way onto the desks of Unsolved Homicide Unit detectives.

Ms Hallett said she believed investigators "put all their eggs in one basket in the 90s", but in recent years "obviously had a completely different mindset".

Ms Hunt's unconventional lifestyle has been well documented - she was a sex worker who struggled with drug abuse and whose young children were living with her adoptive parents.

Focus on her circumstances in early publicity about the case gave Ms Hallett the impression that people thought "maybe she deserved it, almost".

"I'm well aware that it was a very different society in the 90s to what it is now," she said.

"People with tattoos - Mum was covered in them - would be considered to be unsavoury.

"I guess there were just a number of things about my mum as a person at the time that made me think that police just didn't care."

Ms Hallett said she feared the amount of time that had passed meant her mother's murderer would never be brought to justice.

"A lot of evidence and witnesses are probably long gone by now and if that is the case they need to just admit ... 'we're not going to be able to solve it' and apologise," she said.

But police say the search for Ms Hunt's killer is continuing.

Investigators in the past few years have re-examined evidence, conducted fresh interviews and searched places of interest - including sending divers into the dam and forensically searching a Waratah property thought to possibly be one of the last places Ms Hunt was seen alive.

The state's Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said on Wednesday a $1 million reward remained in place for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for Ms Hunt's murder.

He said a formal review of the original investigation had been conducted and the case was being re-investigated by the Unsolved Homicide Unit's Strike Force Circulo.

"Strike force investigators returned to the Hunter region in April 2021 to continue pursuing a number of lines of inquiry," Detective Superintendent Doherty said.

"As investigations continue, anyone who may have information which could help provide much-needed answers to Melissa's family is urged to contact police."

• Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.