Man accused of scary hoax call to missing Australian teenager’s mum

Hayley Dodd vanished in July 1999. Photo / Police Handout

A young man has been charged after allegedly calling the family of missing teenager Hayley Dodd, claiming he murdered the girl, then also threatening to kill her mother.

The anonymous hoax phone call to Margaret Dodd happened last month.

He allegedly claimed he murdered and buried Hayley in July 1999, then threatened to do the same to her mother, according to The West Australian.

Police have not confirmed the specifics, except to say an 18-year-old man from East Victoria Park has been charged with one count of making a threat to unlawfully do an act.

“It will be alleged the accused made verbal threats to a female victim during a phone call on October 19,” police said in a brief statement.

Hayley Dodd vanished in July 1999. Photo / Police Handout

The man, who reportedly suffers from mental health issues, is due to face Perth Magistrates Court on November 21.

It comes as the Dodd family awaits the outcome of a second appeal of the man twice convicted of killing Hayley.

Francis John Wark, 66, was first found guilty of murdering Hayley after a judge-alone trial in 2018, but his conviction was quashed in 2020.

Following a retrial last year, Wark was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to a record 18 years in prison for the crime.

Hayley, 17, had been walking alone to a friend’s farm near Badgingarra, northeast of Perth, when she vanished. Her body has never been found.

Wark has always maintained he was in Moora, about 50km away, at the time of her disappearance.

Francis John Wark has always maintained his innocence. Photo / 9 News

A key piece of evidence in the case was an earring in a car seat cover seized by police in 1999 but only forensically examined during a cold case review about 14 years later.

There was also some hair found in the vehicle, which Wark’s lawyers described as “suspect”.

Wark was previously convicted of abducting and raping a hitchhiker in Queensland in 2007.