The mother of a Darling Downs teenager who was killed more than 30 years ago hopes new DNA evidence will help provide answers after hearings into the cold case were reopened.
The inquest into Annette Mason's murder will continue in the Coroners Court in Brisbane on Tuesday, examining when, where and how she died.
Annette was 15 when she was bludgeoned to death in a house she shared with friends in Toowoomba in November 1989.
No one has been charged with her murder.
Coroner Terry Ryan will also try to determine if anyone should be charged with Annette's murder or manslaughter.
Her mother Judith Andersen was among family members who attended the inquest's opening day on Monday wearing yellow, Annette's favourite colour.
The 70-year-old hoped new DNA information set to be presented at the inquest would help bring some closure.
The first inquest in 1991 was closed and subject to "reopening at any stage should further evidence become available".
It was reopened in 2018, but adjourned weeks later and further delayed by COVID-19 and DNA tests in New Zealand.
"I have no idea about the results of any of it but I am hoping it will shed a lot of light onto what happened," Mrs Andersen said of the DNA evidence to be presented.
The reopened inquest is being conducted under changes to state legislation that gives coroners more powers to compel witnesses to give potentially self-incriminating evidence.
Asked if she believed someone knew what had happened to her sister, Linda Mason said: "Absolutely. There has to be.
"People know but either they are too scared or they don't want to come forward.
"Those who may not have said something in the past may be compelled to say something now - we will wait and see."
Laine Clark
