National Missing Persons Week 2019 will be held from the August 4-10 around Australia.
The annual event raises community awareness of the issues and impacts surrounding missing persons.
We are going to post a different missing person each day on both this site and our Facebook group. Check back daily for updates.
Monday – Martyn Tann (24) has been missing from Mullaloo Beach in Western Australia since April 2, 2013. Witnesses reported seeing him just north of the surf lifesaving tower between 1pm-3pm that day. He was swimming in waist-deep water. He has never been seen since, despite an exhaustive land and sea search at the time. His backpack full of personal belongings was found on the beach near where he was last spotted. There were no reported shark sightings on the day he went missing. Martyn was also said to be a strong swimmer. His family still hope that he may be alive, perhaps living off the grid.
Tuesday – Atilla Bogar has been missing from Avondale Heights, VIC since October 9, 2014. He called his mother at midnight and asked her to pick him up. When she arrived and took him back to her place, he was in a distressed and paranoid state. He asked her to take him home after just 30 minutes. The family later found out Attila had driven to Sydney that night, phoning the next day to let them know he was on his way home. And they never heard from him again. His vehicle was found abandoned 8 hours away in bushland in NSW on October 17, 2014. His ipad, laptop and mobile phone were in his vehicle. Extensive searches of the area gave up no sign of Atilla.
Australian Missing Persons Register page for Atilla
Wednesday – Jordan Morris (22) has been missing from Penrith, NSW since April 24, 2015.
On the day he went missing, Jordan had been involved in a police chase with a stolen vehicle. He was with a group of people that had been trying to transport drugs from Mudgee to Sydney. They rammed a police car with their vehicle in Mudgee and they then travelled the 200kms to Sydney in an attempt to escape. When their vehicle, stopped Jordan and another man ran into dense bushland. Police helicopters, vehicles and a sniffer dog were involved in an extensive search, and PolAir vision shown at the inquest showed that officers found it difficult to locate the alleged offenders amidst dense scrub.
The other man was captured but there has been no sign of Jordan since that day. A coronial inquest found that it may be likely that Jordan drowned in the Nepean River while trying to evade police.
The inquest was told it was a particularly wet April, and the Penrith catchment recorded its seventh-highest volume of rainfall since 1925.
“Swimming and staying afloat would be difficult because of the turbulence and flow of the water,” counsel for the coroner, Mark Cahill said.
Mr Cahill said expert evidence would show it was possible Mr Morris made it through the water to the junction with the Nepean River, where he may have been “overcome and drowned”.
But he said in the absence of a body: “The theory that he died by drowning is just that, a theory.”
The court heard Mr Morris last spoke to his parents and brother in March 2015, he was a “Facebook addict” and there was no accounting for “Jordan’s sudden and inexplicable loss of contact with his family”.
Mr Morris was unemployed at the time of his disappearance and did not submit his regular application for a Centrelink payment in May.
His father reported him missing on May 26 and a critical incident investigation was established under Strike Force Kalima.
The inquest was told there were then three major police searches of the area involving police divers, cadaver dogs and the clearing of 200 metres of scrub.
But there was still no sign of Mr Morris.
Deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame addressed his family, who declined to comment.
“I give my personal condolences for what must be the most difficult time, all these months, not knowing,” she said.
“The circumstances of the whole thing must be incredibly painful and I’d like to acknowledge and recognise that … I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through.”
Thursday – Simon Gurrier-Jones (25) disappeared from Cocklebiddy on the Nullabor Plain in Western Australia on June 20, 2003.
He is possession of a white 1991 Ford Falcon station wagon registered number 8OL948.
Despite extensive inquiries by police and family her/his whereabouts are not known. Concern is held for her/his safety and welfare.
Interestingly, there is a record for a business registration for a Simon Gurrier-Jones which was active from 2010 – 2015. Could this be the same Simon and he just doesn’t want to be found?
