The Western Region Unsolved Homicide team, based in Tamworth, on Monday examined a Datsun which they believe could be connected to the 1991 murder.

The Datsun, which police say was originally blue, is believed to be the same car seen in the small western town of Coolah in the days after Penny’s death.

Initially described as a blue Holden Commodore earlier in the investigation, police exhausted all leads on the car until a tip-off led them to believe the “Commodore” could well have been a Datsun.

Officer-in-charge of the cold case investigation, Detective Sergeant Jason Darcy, said investigators recently tracked down the car to a Sydney address.

“It was located in a suburb of Sydney and obviously had had a number of owners since 1991. The car we examined had been spray-painted. We were actually looking for a blue Stanza and we examined the interior of the car,” he said.

“Someone’s come up with fresh information about the car and it’s created new leads for us. There are new lines of inquiry and we’ve identified new persons of interest out of the car.

“We believed the car seen at the Black Stump Motel in the early hours of July 8, 1991, was reported as a dark-blue Commodore and would well have been the Datsun Stanza.”

Detective Sergeant Darcy said the cold case was on top of the priority list for his team, which had been travelling around the country collecting about 160 DNA samples from men who stayed in and around the Coolah area before and after Penny’s death.

Police initially hoped to collect 300 samples, but Detective Sergeant Darcy said resources had prevented police from doing so.

Penny was 20 when she was found unconscious with severe head and facial injuries near Coolah on July 8, 1991.

She was taken to John Hunter Hospital at Newcastle but never regained consciousness. She died about two weeks later.

In 2008, the Western Region Unsolved Homicide Team started further investigations into Penny’s murder, and a second inquest last year returned an open finding.

Detective Sergeant Darcy said information should still be reported to be police, 22 years on.

“Investigators wish to speak with any person in Coolah who may have seen a dark-blue Datsun Stanza in Coolah on the weekend Penny was assaulted,” he said.

“We believe a number of persons may not have come forward, because a different vehicle was originally reported.”

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.