Australia Australia - Theo Hayez, 18, Belgian backpacker, Byron Bay, June 2019 #3

[Beagle]

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...-to-his-byron-bay-hostel-20190608-p51vrb.html

Serious concerns are held for the whereabouts of a Belgian backpacker who has been missing for more than a week, after he failed to return to his hostel in Byron Bay.

Theo Hayez, 18, was reported missing on Thursday by staff at the Byron Bay WakeUp! Backpacker hostel, when they noticed he had not checked out of his room.

Thread #1 - Australia - Australia - Theo Hayez, 18, Belgian backpacker, Byron Bay, June 2019
Thread #2

 

[gregjrichards]

‘Theo Hayez DIDN'T drown: Belgian backpacker's family rubbish police theory the 19-year-old stumbled to the Byron Bay lighthouse and plunged off a cliff into the ocean’

Theo Hayez DIDN'T drown: Backpacker's family rubbish theory he fell off a cliff into the ocean | Daily Mail Online

 

[Ann764]

Wow I thought I heard him say the cops were sharing info with him too. Listening again just now from 40:55 he says he’s communicating with them about what he’s doing.

Yeah perhaps he just sharing his finds and is acting as a liaison between family and police so the family have requested that he received all the information they are privileged to hence him saying the police released the file. I think if the family state this is their wish I think then they would be required to. I’m not sure how much has been appropriatly investigated by the authorities just based on Lisa’s limited knowledge and a lot has been from their own work and the help of others. I found it incredible the police said all Theo’s items were accounted for. Yet the family has stated they are unsatisfied with the police findings.
It would be most frustrating being so far away hence they engaged the PI.
As someone stated earlier though how long is this next phase going to take, the police appear to be over it. Event the way they are communicating with the public. I’m sure yes they would have been inundated with calls and leads but now the case is officially closed ( search etc) they are not focusing any more resources on it.
Very sad I really hope something or someone cracks the case open further so that bit picks up momentum again and gets things back rolling .

 

[Ann764]

‘Theo Hayez DIDN'T drown: Belgian backpacker's family rubbish police theory the 19-year-old stumbled to the Byron Bay lighthouse and plunged off a cliff into the ocean’

Theo Hayez DIDN'T drown: Backpacker's family rubbish theory he fell off a cliff into the ocean | Daily Mail Online

And as many have stated including myself it seems impossible that he was alone . And something would have washed up .

 

[Harpboon]

I wonder if the police have a better idea of where Theo's phone last pinged than we realise (from Telstra records).

When I place the Telstra towers onto the '60 degree' map, it seems that the 60 degrees was calculated from the further Telstra tower in town.
Yet there is a Telstra tower right at the lighthouse.

So, unless the lighthouse tower was full or out of action that night and the following day, some triangulation - and some specificity - should have been possible on Theo's last phone ping. imo

60 degree map with T's marking the position of the Telstra towers:
View attachment 218316


The raw data which I compiled the above map from:
View attachment 218317 View attachment 218318
RFNSA

That’s what confuses me too, why doesn’t the phone ping the Telstra tower closest to the lighthouse?
Could it be that he did make his way off the beach by the Milne track?

 

[mussopossum]

‘Theo Hayez DIDN'T drown: Belgian backpacker's family rubbish police theory the 19-year-old stumbled to the Byron Bay lighthouse and plunged off a cliff into the ocean’

Theo Hayez DIDN'T drown: Backpacker's family rubbish theory he fell off a cliff into the ocean | Daily Mail Online

IMO I have to agree with Theos family.

Not in my mind, he fell off the cliff either.

 

[Rocket333]

And as many have stated including myself it seems impossible that he was alone . And something would have washed up .

It would have, right? Or the likelihood of something washing up would be probable, right? Someone here said that corner of the ocean could just wash out to sea, and it’s known for big sharks, but still there’s a chance. Nothing seems to have appeared though.

 

[Rocket333]

That’s what confuses me too, why doesn’t the phone ping the Telstra tower closest to the lighthouse?
Could it be that he did make his way off the beach by the Milne track?

As posted before, Milne is within the 60 degrees and the cap may have fallen upon his/their return up the beach track. Makes you wonder if the phone was thrown in someone’s yard, bin or street drain.

 

[Rocket333]

How’s this brainwave sound?

What if Theo’s “companion” lives in the streets between the oval and the Milne track.

What if they took his phone home.

Within the 60 degrees phone ping area:
Milne Street, Paterson Street, Patterson Lane, Short Street, Massinger Street and Marvell Street.

 

[Chiatos]

I am not sure where your map came from, or what the marked points are?

But when I look at the RFNSA map, it looks to me that there are four towers servicing that area. One Optus/Telstra tower by the lighthouse, and three other towers dotted around town.

View attachment 218299

View attachment 218300

Here is the official info:
RFNSA

This is great info. Great link to the rfnsa.
So perhaps it has been possible to triangulate Theo's phone. Using data from towers 1002, 1003 and 1005. Their position is also more or less in a 60deg angle.
Police told the family that the phone pinged from Clarkes Beach. The exact ping location should be rather easy to find, shouldn't it?

 

[SouthAussie]

This is great info. Great link to the rfnsa.
So perhaps it has been possible to triangulate Theo's phone. Using data from towers 1002, 1003 and 1005. Their position is also more or less in a 60deg angle.
Police told the family that the phone pinged from Clarkes Beach. The exact ping location should be rather easy to find, shouldn't it?

It seems that Clarkes Beach may hold significance. Do we know which ping(s) happened at Clarkes Beach - what time of the night?

The 'Judge' (wooden club) was found in a dunes camp at Clarkes Beach - 3 weeks after Theo disappeared.
The vigil for Theo was held at Clarkes Beach - 3½ months after Theo disappeared.

Yes, I cannot see why Theo's phone pings would not be triangulated - as long as his pings were picked up by the multiple towers.


If you have fewer than three cell towers available, pinpointing a mobile device can become a lot less precise.
In the countryside, there are relatively fewer cell towers and a phone’s signal may be picked up only by a single one at much greater distance.
In rural areas, coverage of the cell tower can vary from about a quarter of a mile to several miles, depending upon how many obstacles could be blocking the tower’s signal.
Cell Phone Triangulation Accuracy Is All Over The Map - Search Engine Land

 

[Harpboon]

The only reasoning I can produce is because the alternatives were no- go, or unsafe.

His movements beyond CC are a complete mystery, even with the estimated location range of that final ping. He could’ve got on a boat for all we know.

Or he goes back exactly the way he came because he was with someone local and that’s how they always track through the bush? The local might possibly live close to the Milne track like you suggested. Definitely a possibility

 

[Rocket333]

The podcast says that they found the hat when they were retracing his exact steps to CC. It was found a few metres behind Tommy's campsite where Theo doubled back and then headed to the beach. So was definitely on the way to CC, not the way out. I initially had thought this too until I found out they had exactly retraced his steps to CC when they found the ap.

Certus would you please evidence your claim by providing the time in the podcast that it says the cap was found “a few metres behind Tommy’s camp”.

I thought it was found on the direct leg to the beach.

Dropping it on the way to the beach isn’t definite. Theo (or whomever) could’ve returned that way and dropped it then.

 

[Jenz]

Key points:

• The Hayez family said the scenario presented to them was that Theo wandered up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse and fell into the ocean.
• They reject that scenario because they believe Theo would not have roamed off alone
• The family are appealing for fresh information about what happened after Theo left the Cheeky Monkeys bar on May 31.

Theo Hayez's family reject police theory that backpacker fell into ocean

Hi imstilla.grandma

Welcome to Theo's thread here.
It's a bit to get your head around.

So little is known about what happened to Theo, the little that is known about his movements makes no sense. No-one has come forward in seeing him after he left CM that night...though most of us are of the opinion someone must have been with him due to the track he took through the scrub to the beach being unfamiliar to Theo. It was dark and would not be a friendly course to someone unfamilar to the track/s. He had only been in Byron for 2 days!

There is a podcast called The Lighthouse which has provided much of the information allowed to be released to the public....if you have time down the track to catch up.

 

[sparks030405]

Or he goes back exactly the way he came because he was with someone local and that’s how they always track through the bush? The local might possibly live close to the Milne track like you suggested. Definitely a possibility

Yea it makes no sense to go from CC up to the lighthouse area. Google Maps route from CC to WakeUp is back the way he came. I agree it’s another consideration he met a local that lived near that side of town and Theo may even have returned to a house after going to CC, before planning his return to WU. We need to know from mobile phone data, who was on Tennyson St AND around Milne Track area. Can’t be that hard for telcos and Google to figure out. In this scenario, now speculating drug overdose and dealer/supplier somehow dealing with accidental death. Wonder if Theo’s family consider that, or still think beer was spiked at CM. Personally I think at that stage he had just mixed wine and then beer to get wobbly enough to get kicked out and almost walk into a street pole.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Dr Sarah Wayland, from the faculty of Health Sciences from the University of Sydney, is one of Australia's leading researchers into missing persons families and will be overseeing MPAN's counselling pilot program next year.

She produced a new guide for the Australian Federal Police in March, called Acknowledging the Empty Space, which is a resource for the police, counsellors, families and health services about dealing with those left behind.

"People look absolutely haunted," she says of talking to families. "It's almost as if they've been holding their breath for significant moments in time.

"The families I've interviewed say that it can be five 10, or 15 years after the fact where they start to come out of the fog, because they have to learn to come to terms with the fact that they just might not find out what happened to somebody, and that's really complicated."

She says it's important at this stage to tread very gently with the families and allow them to acknowledge the space they are in, "without rushing in with ideas of where else you could be searching, or what miraculous missing persons case was resolved in another country."

"[It is about] just really sitting with the fact that this beautiful boy was here, and we don't know where he is at the moment, and we don't know when this nightmare will end."

Around the time news came in September that the police investigation into Theo Hayez would close and the case formally handed to the coroner, supporters held a candlelit vigil at Clarke's Beach in Byron Bay with the Hayez family.

Jean-Philippe Pector remembers a line that Ms O'Keeffe said in a speech at the event, that: "Everything will be all right in the end. If it is not all right, it is not the end."

"We don't want to give up hope of finding answers," he says.

"We will fight for Theo, for his little brother Lucas, in the name of love."
People have spent six months searching for Theo, all they've found is 'sadness and emptiness'

 

[mussopossum]

Or he goes back exactly the way he came because he was with someone local and that’s how they always track through the bush? The local might possibly live close to the Milne track like you suggested. Definitely a possibility

A few of us here initially wondered if he had met up with a girl and gone back to her accommodation at one of the nearby holiday rentals and stayed the night.

Or even a local as you say.

 

[Rocket333]

Yea it makes no sense to go from CC up to the lighthouse area. Google Maps route from CC to WakeUp is back the way he came. I agree it’s another consideration he met a local that lived near that side of town and Theo may even have returned to a house after going to CC, before planning his return to WU. We need to know from mobile phone data, who was on Tennyson St AND around Milne Track area. Can’t be that hard for telcos and Google to figure out.

Or he goes back exactly the way he came because he was with someone local and that’s how they always track through the bush? The local might possibly live close to the Milne track like you suggested. Definitely a possibility

Maybe no drugs were involved at all.

I think everyone staying at WU, or who was at WU when Theo was there, need to be contacted and asked to provide (further) information and photos from 29 to 31 May.

I think they need to do a call out globally for information and photos from CMs on 31 May.

I think they need to do a door knock and letter box drop at the homes along the route from Tennyson to Milne. To prompt memory and information about that night and any other observations.

I think they need to track down beach camper man, even just to “turn over that stone“.

I think they need to persevere with the Tennyson YAK Bush camp community and create some safe & encouraging avenue for sharing info without repercussion.

I think they need to talk more to the surfers, the Tallow beach regulars.

It’s astounding how much information sits in silence until people are personally approached. They then say they didn’t think it was important enough to tell, or didn’t know who or how to share it. Rather than wait for people to come, maybe go to them directly.

I think they need to offer and globally promote a reward considerable enough to encourage people to remember and report (anonymously or otherwise).

The Judge club needs testing and it needs commentary. If not for Theo, then for the reassurance of the community. If that was found in my “backyard” so to speak, I’d be chasing a response.

I’m thinking Theo left the beach by the beach track again, with someone very familiar with the place. I think this was decided upon reaching CC and seeing no exit. Phone off and accompanied back out again discreetly through the beach track to a home where the phone eventually pings and dies.

Just my thoughts.

 

[mussopossum]

Certus would you please evidence your claim by providing the time in the podcast that it says the cap was found “a few metres behind Tommy’s camp”.

I thought it was found on the direct leg to the beach.

Dropping it on the way to the beach isn’t definite. Theo (or whomever) could’ve returned that way and dropped it then.

@rocket Yes this information has never been released.

@certus1
By stating the above location of the cap if it cannot be backed up with a MSM link or clarification by the family / LE it is pure speculation.

Please also remember, comments such as these may also create undue suspicion to Tommy who is not a POI.

Even though some here may be directly involved in Theos investigation or some know others who were / are involved, we cannot post second-hand information here or what Theos family or volunteers have told them/us off the record.

Information is withheld for a reason and some comments can be damaging to a person or the case if there is no truth to them or they are withheld for a reason.

Please have a read of the WS rules as we do not want to see the thread shut down again due to breach of the WS T/O service.

Rules - Etiquette & Information

 

[SouthAussie]

Maybe no drugs were involved at all.

I think everyone staying at WU, or who was at WU when Theo was there, need to be contacted and asked to provide (further) information and photos from 29 to 31 May.

I think they need to do a call out globally for information and photos from CMs on 31 May.

I think they need to do a door knock and letter box drop at the homes along the route from Tennyson to Milne. To prompt memory and information about that night and any other observations.

I think they need to track down beach camper man, even just to “turn over that stone“.

I think they need to persevere with the Tennyson YAK Bush camp community and create some safe & encouraging avenue for sharing info without repercussion.

I think they need to talk more to the surfers, the Tallow beach regulars.

It’s astounding how much information sits in silence until people are personally approached. They then say they didn’t think it was important enough to tell, or didn’t know who or how to share it. Rather than wait for people to come, maybe go to them directly.

I think they need to offer and globally promote a reward considerable enough to encourage people to remember and report (anonymously or otherwise).

The Judge club needs testing and it needs commentary. If not for Theo, then for the reassurance of the community. If that was found in my “backyard” so to speak, I’d be chasing a response.

I’m thinking Theo left the beach by the beach track again, with someone very familiar with the place. I think this was decided upon reaching CC and seeing no exit. Phone off and accompanied back out again discreetly through the beach track to a home where the phone eventually pings and dies.

Just my thoughts.

I am very surprised that a reward has not been offered in this case.

Seems to me that it may be a good way to encourage a person(s) with little money but some knowledge to come forward and tell what they know. As you say, it might be the smallest detail ... but it might be the detail that leads to a resolution.