Teenager Seemed Confused Before Death Fall
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday March 11, 1991
A teenager who had been acting strangely before seeing the film Exorcist III at a Parramatta cinema complex on Saturday night was found dead only hours later in a car park behind the complex.
The youth was found at the Westfield Shopping Centre car park at 7.30am yesterday after apparently falling about 12 metres onto a ramp.
Parramatta detectives investigating the death said that while the boy appeared to have sustained extensive head injuries from the fall, they had not ruled out the possibility he may have been murdered.
A police spokesman identified the victim as Jamie White, 17, of Melbourne. He was believed to have been visiting Sydney.
He had a blonde flat-top haircut and was wearing faded black jeans, a white Ramones T-shirt and a black-and-white check flannelette shirt.
Although White was barefoot when found, police last night were baffled by claims from Village Cinema complex staff that he had been wearing black, high-top runners when he was last seen at the cinema about 11.30pm on Saturday.
The duty manager, Mr Pat Farrugia, said staff had noticed the boy because he had been walking around the cinema on his own looking very confused.
Mr Farrugia said White had asked a candy bar assistant if they had any Tally Ho papers - generally used for roll-your-own cigarettes or marijuana joints.
One of the centre's ushers had approached the boy and asked him if he was all right.
"He just said, 'No, but you could have helped me yesterday'," Mr Farrugia said.
"He was very vague ... he didn't seem drunk or on dope or anything ... but his eyes looked a bit glassy. He looked like a street kid."
Detective Sergeant Keith Claxton appealed to anyone who may have seen the boy on Saturday night or Sunday morning to contact Parramatta police.
© 1991 Sydney Morning Herald