He got into a white Jeep in 2003 and his family heard a man screaming on his phone that night. Police now offer $1 million

NSW Police and the state government have put $1 million on the table to solve one of Western Sydney’s oldest suspected organised crime killings: the disappearance of Mahmoud Sleiman, a young father who walked out of his Greystanes home more than 23 years ago and did not come back.

The reward, announced on Wednesday, is for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for his disappearance or death. His partner, Jody Swift, and his son, Billy Sleiman, were due to stand alongside detectives for a renewed public appeal.

What happened on 2 February 2003?

Police said Mr Sleiman, then 24, was seen on the morning of Sunday 2 February 2003 outside his home in Greystanes, in Sydney’s west, talking to a man in a white Jeep Grand Cherokee. He then got into the car and was driven away.

He did not come home, and his family reported him missing later that day.

That night, police said, his family called his mobile phone. They heard what they believed was a man screaming before the call ended. It is the detail that has hung over the case ever since.

Why do police think organised crime was involved?

Investigators say they have information that Mr Sleiman had been involved in disputes with criminal rivals before he disappeared, and police suspect he was murdered by organised crime figures. Detectives believe he was killed shortly after he was last seen.

Police have not named or described any person of interest, and no one has been charged over his disappearance.

What has already been tried?

In February 2004, a year after he vanished, investigators searched bushland at Moxham Reserve in Northmead and sections of the Parramatta River. Nothing was found.

In June 2007 a coronial inquest found that Mr Sleiman had died, most likely on the day he disappeared. The NSW Deputy State Coroner found the death suspicious but could not determine a cause.

The case now sits with the State Crime Command’s Unsolved Homicide Unit, under Strike Force Motoren.

Why offer $1 million now?

A reward of this size is aimed at people who know something and have stayed silent. In a suspected organised crime killing, that can mean people who were close to those involved at the time, whose loyalties or circumstances may have changed over more than two decades.

Time also changes what a single piece of information can unlock. Forensic science has moved a long way since 2003, so a location, a name or a vehicle detail that once led nowhere may now be tested in ways that were not possible when the Jeep drove away from Greystanes.

What does it mean for the family?

His family has lived for more than 23 years with a coroner’s finding that he is dead, but without his body and without anyone held to account. Wednesday’s appeal puts his partner and son back in front of the public to ask for the one thing the reward is meant to buy: an answer.

How can people help?

Anyone with information about Mahmoud Sleiman’s disappearance, the white Jeep Grand Cherokee or the people he was in dispute with is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Information can be given anonymously.