It has been 26 years since Susan Kay and her friend were brutally murdered at a Newcastle home.
Ms Kay's sister Desiree on Monday said she was hopeful that a renewed police appeal could unearth some answers and end decades without justice.
"Nothing brings Susan back or makes up for the years that we've lost her but it would be good to have a resolution to this aspect of our grief," Desiree said.
"It just never goes away," she said.
The bodies of 32-year-old Ms Kay and 37-year-old Joanne Teterin were found in a Carrington home on May 17, 2000.
Police forced their way into 87 Doran Street shortly before midday that day where they found the women had allegedly been bludgeoned to death.
The women were last known to be alive on Thursday, May 11 2000, before they were discovered a week later.
On May 25, 2026 NSW Police announced an increased reward of $1 million for information about any person or persons responsible for the deaths of the Newcastle women.
Desiree said her family had missed Ms Kay in their lives for a long time, whether at big family events or just in day-to-day interactions.
"She's left a big hole in our lives," she said.
"She was fiercely protective of the people she loved, very loyal and very funny... and not perfect by any stretch but none of us are, and she was very much loved."
Ms Kay said she hoped the new reward would persuade anyone with information to come forward.
Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Joe Doueihi said both women died a "brutal and violent death" as a result of blunt force trauma and injury.
He said under Strike Force Raphoe II which started last year, investigators from the unsolved homicide team had been working in Newcastle and the surrounding suburbs speaking with witnesses and following up any new details.
"I can indicate that there has been a forensic review of this case and that has yielded significant results for us with information that was not privy to investigators in 2000," Superintendent Doueihi said.
He said developments in DNA technology had allowed police to retest 150 exhibits related to the case.
Detectives were also particularly interested in a telephone call made to the Carrington home at 7.55am on May 11, he said.
"We believe that the person who made the call from a payphone within 200 metres of that residence can assist us with our inquiries," he said.
Police knew that Ms Teterin was involved in street-level drug supply and had a system in place where anyone looking to buy drugs was required to contact her on the landline or mobile phone before coming to the house.
"We have drawn the inference from evidence that we have that a male person attended the location to purchase drugs, and there was some altercation that occurred which resulted in the death of both women," Superintendent Doueihi said.
"We are almost there, we just need that little bit of information that puts this whole jigsaw puzzle together," he said.
The coroner heard evidence in 2003 that police believed the killings were drug-related.
At the time, homicide and serious crime agencies helped Newcastle police with the investigation but no arrests were made and no one was charged.
After the 2003 coronial inquest, the incident was referred to the Homicide Squad's Unsolved Homicide Unit for review and assessment.
Police also announced a $100,000 reward for information at the time.
