The NSW Government and police are offering a $1 million reward to help solve the murder of 17-year-old Billy Hegedus who was shot dead in Inverell, NSW in a botched robbery almost three decades ago.
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00:00 Today the NSW Government, with the NSW Police Force, have announced a $1 million reward
00:06 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any person or persons responsible
00:11 for the murder of Billy Hegedus nearly three decades ago.
00:17 About 9pm Wednesday 23 October 1996, exactly 27 years ago to the day, emergency services
00:28 were called to the service station roadhouse on Warrealda Road at Inverrell in relation
00:36 to a young teenage boy that had been shot.
00:40 Upon arrival they found Michael Billy Hegedus, and we'll call him Billy from now on, was
00:49 found shot, had been shot twice and unfortunately was taken to hospital unable to be saved.
00:55 Postmortem confirmed that Billy had been shot in the chest and the stomach area.
01:01 In relation to what we believe has happened, a large amount of money had been taken from
01:09 the service station during a robbery, believed to be around $36,000, and the investigation
01:17 uncovered this was probably a robbery gone wrong.
01:20 In May 1997, the NSW Government announced a $100,000 reward for information leading
01:27 to the conviction of Billy's death and a year later a man was actually arrested but never
01:32 convicted.
01:34 The matter remains unresolved.
01:37 Someone out there may have some information that may be very beneficial to assisting solve
01:42 this crime, a longstanding crime 27 years ago but had a massive impact on the community,
01:48 clearly a massive impact on his family members who are standing with us today.
01:53 For us to get some closure, to get some information in relation to where this investigation, to
01:58 lead this investigation to hopefully a successful conclusion, we would be very appreciative
02:05 of any community member who will make contact with Inverell Police, Armidale Police or Crime
02:10 Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
02:12 He had the most beautiful smile, lovely blue eyes, he was everybody's friend, he was everybody's
02:21 friend.
02:22 He was cheeky and he loved his sport and he loved his family.
02:29 When the staff called us home and said Billy was on our bedroom floor and unresponsive,
02:35 we didn't know what had happened, we had no idea.
02:38 When we came straight home, only one night out, and we saw him on the floor and we rang
02:47 an ambulance and then Phil thought the safe was wide open and then he rang the police
02:52 and said this more than just whatever and then they came and it just all happened so
03:00 fast and then they said he's been shot and they rolled him over and said he's been shot
03:06 twice.
03:09 Didn't know he was going to die, I just thought it was something, I don't know what I thought.
03:14 Anyway he didn't survive.
03:17 He said goodnight at 7.30 and he was in his pyjamas and he was sitting on the end of our
03:23 bed when he was killed, in our bedroom.
03:28 We're hoping this will bring it closer to an end.
03:32 People out there are going, it's an attractive figure of money and we just hope it will attract
03:38 someone and someone might mention to the police something that they know.
03:45 People's situation has changed now.
03:49 A million dollars is a lot.
03:51 They've moved 27 years, they've changed their life, we haven't, we stayed the same for 27.
03:58 They've got on, they've got new lives, they don't owe people anything, they can come out
04:03 and talk now.
04:08 We hope it brings justice.
04:11 It'll never bring Billy back, it won't, but we want justice for Billy.
04:16 He was only 17, we buried him before he turned 18, the day before and he didn't deserve it,
04:23 he's only 17, he hadn't lived.
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