Cold case hunt

By CASEY NEILL
POLICE are appealing for new information into Cuckoo Restaurant co-owner Willi Koeppen’s disappearance 36 years ago.
They re-opened his missing persons case last week to coincide with National Missing Persons Week and the launch of a new Missing Persons Unit within the Homicide Squad.
Mr Koeppen was last seen alive in Olinda on 29 February 1976.
The Ferntree Gully Criminal Investigation Branch handled the case initially and believed he had faked his own disappearance.
But police last week told the Mail that a review of the file indicated it was more than likely that the case was a homicide and it would be re-investigated.
Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles will lead the new unit, which will feature three crews.
It will re-open about 70 suspicious missing person reports dating back to the mid-1970s, including Mr Koeppen’s, and monitor all new reports of missing persons.
“The main thing I want the public to remember is that any piece of information they have about a missing person could potentially be the missing piece of the jigsaw we are looking for to return that person to their family,” Det Sen Sgt Iddles said.
Earlier this year the Koeppen family made calls for the case to be re-opened, but a spokeswoman for the Cuckoo last week told the Mail that Mr Koeppen’s wife Karin and other family members did not want to comment on the matter.
The Cuckoo, a book published to mark the restaurant’s 50th anniversary, said Mr Koeppen was a successful businessman known for his good looks, charm, and charisma who often had a few drinks with friends after work – and the early hours of 29 February 1976 were no exception.
Mr Koeppen, then 46 and a father of three, closed the restaurant about midnight, visited a friend who lived nearby, and left them in the early hours.
Later that morning Cuckoo staff found his Volkswagen Kombi van parked at the restaurant in its usual spot with the keys in the ignition and the doors wide open.
An extensive investigation lasting several months followed but police found no trace of Mr Koeppen.
There were rumours that he had met with foul play, or had faked his disappearance and started a new life for himself, but the truth still remains a mystery.
Mr Koeppen learnt his trade in Berlin and in 1955 boarded a ship bound for Australia in search of a better life.
He began working in Melbourne’s hotels and his career blossomed.
He was soon hosting a popular German show on radio station 3XY and became Melbourne’s first television celebrity chef on Channel Seven show The Chef Presents.
Mr Koeppen and Karin married in 1957 after meeting at an Olympics party the previous year.
They bought the run-down Quamby café in 1958 following a day trip to the Dandenongs and lived in its basement as they turned it into the Bavarian-themed buffet.
Today thousands of diners from across Australia and beyond flock to the restaurant.
Anyone with information about Mr Koeppen’s disappearance is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.