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

[Beagle]

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...theo-hayez-still-missing-20190614-p51xts.html

Police expect to hold a press conference in the next few days, depending on the results of their search over the weekend.

His cousins who live in Brisbane and godfather joined the search last week, while a crowdfunding campaign was launched to help fund his immediate family's flights to Byron Bay. It has raised nearly $60,000.

Most of this article has the same information as the one above but a different source.

 

[Winterchild87]

would the water be deep enough that if you fell in you could drown?

A small amount of water can cause drowning in the "right" (wrong) circumstances eg: inability to swim/incapacity due to unconsciousness (bump to head during fall or knock to head prior to fall) or intoxication...

I wonder as well if the distance to fall there is catastrophic (I guess falling on the wrong angle from any height can be)...

Is the creek/waterway tidal and are sharks ever spotted that far up the Creek (I know in Qld bullsharks are frequently seen some way up creeks).

 

[Winterchild87]

A small amount of water can cause drowning in the "right" (wrong) circumstances eg: inability to swim/incapacity due to unconsciousness (bump to head during fall or knock to head prior to fall) or intoxication...

I wonder as well if the distance to fall there is catastrophic (I guess falling on the wrong angle from any height can be)...

Is the creek/waterway tidal and are sharks ever spotted that far up the Creek (I know in Qld bullsharks are frequently seen some way up creeks).

Looking at Google maps, I've since realised that the location where the phone later pinged from was 31 and 47ish minute walk back from the accommodation (back past the bar/restaurants area he was at earlier)... And the time would suggest it was far too early for sunrise...

Did he have camera equipment? Did he perhaps return to the hostel to collect something and then walk back to the location his phone pinged at, hoping to get some night photos (star trails etc?)...

I can't imagine many other reasons to go so far BACK in the direction eI'd come from so late at night when going to the effort of walking 'home' to accommodation. It makes me wonder:
a) did he walk back to accommodation intending to go back out
b) did he make it back in the first place
c) did his phone get to the last pinged location on him or another way
d) if he was at the location, was it by choice (and was he alone if there)
e) if he was at the location did he walk there or did he have transport of some description

I'm curious about that last message - exact time and content... And whether it was definitely sent by him...

Unfortunately more questions than answers at this stage. The longer it goes, the worse the feeling in the pit of my stomach gets.

 

[they'll get you]

Homicide detectives join Byron hunt for missing backpacker
Homicide detectives from Sydney have flown to Byron Bay to assist in the investigation into the disappearance of a Belgian backpacker
Live: NSW Now: Homicide police join backpacker search, Mascot Towers to temporarily reopen

 

[Beagle]

Homicide detectives join Byron hunt for missing backpacker
Homicide detectives from Sydney have flown to Byron Bay to assist in the investigation into the disappearance of a Belgian backpacker.

This is very worrying.

 

[they'll get you]

Homicide detectives join Byron hunt for missing backpacker
Homicide detectives from Sydney have flown to Byron Bay to assist in the investigation into the disappearance of a Belgian backpacker.

This is very worrying.

It is Beagle
I wonder if Theo had lost his keys, he might have had to sleep rough for the night so where would he go?
Did he backtrack to the bar to find them?

 

[gregjrichards]

Homicide detectives join Byron hunt for missing backpacker
Homicide detectives from Sydney have flown to Byron Bay to assist in the investigation into the disappearance of a Belgian backpacker.

This is very worrying.

Homicide cops are called in to find missing backpacker Theo Hayez - as his cousin slams WhatsApp for keeping his last message secret

Homicide cops probe Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez's disappearance | Daily Mail Online

Theo’s phone not being used and no financial transactions has me fearing the worst too. I just hope he is found.

 

[Via Marple]

Homicide cops are called in to find missing backpacker Theo Hayez - as his cousin slams WhatsApp for keeping his last message secret

Homicide cops probe Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez's disappearance | Daily Mail Online

Theo’s phone not being used and no financial transactions has me fearing the worst too. I just hope he is found.

I am confused. Wasn't it said that he messaged a friend in Belgium? Shouldn't that friend have the message on his/her phone still? Don't tell me that friend is refusing to disclose the content to the family now.

 

[Via Marple]

It is Beagle
I wonder if Theo had lost his keys, he might have had to sleep rough for the night so where would he go?
Did he backtrack to the bar to find them?

The mother and cousin seem to say that he is not the impulsive type. That's why they are guessing he ran into someone on his way home, instead of going off to the beach, or turn around to walk the trail to see sunrise etc.

But yours is another plausible explanation. Depending on whether anyone from the hostel was contactable if he didn't have his key.

Thing is, he would likely backtrack the Google Map route and seen by the same cctv again. But he wasn't.

 

[Via Marple]

Another clue:


It was moonless before 4am on 1 June.

Even when the moon rose, it was a very skinny moon.

So around midnight, it was dark, still, and cold. Ughh

 

[Via Marple]

I am confused. Wasn't it said that he messaged a friend in Belgium? Shouldn't that friend have the message on his/her phone still? Don't tell me that friend is refusing to disclose the content to the family now.

Ok went to FB and discovered Daily Mail misses the point... The cousin is asking for any messages after the last one to Belgium. He could have contacted somebody else after that. Edit: Or before.

 

[Rocket333]

To anyone who knows this area, is it possible that instead of turning right he mistakenly carried on walking straight, and then turned right into the creek? Would it be obvious that you were turning into the creek, or would it be too dark for him to realise? Also would the water be deep enough that if you fell in you could drown?

There was an implication that he went into Dryden Street, that he was captured veering that way from a camera near the Aloha apartments. Google maps would steer him right and many believe that’s what he was looking at on his phone. The streets from there back to hostel look dark and unpopulated at night, in spite of all of the houses and hotels. The latest info concerns him potentially chatting with, or meeting someone on WhatsApp. Wonder how that new focus came about....

 

[gregjrichards]

The devastated father of a Belgian teenager who has been missing in Australia for 17 days promised his youngest son he would bring the 18-year-old home.

Laurent Hayez travelled to Byron Bay to help search for his son Theo, who went missing in the seaside suburb on May 31.

Fathers desperate appeal information son's disappearance Theo Hayez Belgian backpacker Byron Bay | Daily Mail Online

It is absolutely heartbreaking watching Theo’s Father so upset at the press conference.

 

[SouthAussie]

The devastated father of a Belgian teenager who has been missing in Australia for 17 days promised his youngest son he would bring the 18-year-old home.

Laurent Hayez travelled to Byron Bay to help search for his son Theo, who went missing in the seaside suburb on May 31.

Fathers desperate appeal information son's disappearance Theo Hayez Belgian backpacker Byron Bay | Daily Mail Online

It is absolutely heartbreaking watching Theo’s Father so upset at the press conference.

Yes, absolutely heartbreaking. Was so hoping that Theo would have turned up by now.

It is hard to imagine where Theo got lost. I am also thinking the Caltex on the corner would have CCTV, wouldn't it? And is the holiday home where CCTV of Theo was captured perhaps the Byron Cove Beach House?

It seems to me that Theo could have been almost home, and had perhaps already made the only turn that really needed navigating.


Google Maps

 

[SouthAussie]

I wonder what the issue with WhatsApp is? Is it that they can't get to Theo's last message? Their privacy policy says that they do not store users messages once they have been delivered.
Can Theo's messages only be accessed through his phone or the receiving party's phone, once the message has been delivered?


"Your messages are yours, and we can’t read them. We’ve built privacy, end-to-end encryption, and other security features into WhatsApp. We don’t store your messages once they’ve been delivered. When they are end-to-end encrypted, we and third parties can’t read them."
WhatsApp Legal Info

 

[SouthAussie]

Just answering my own question ^^^^^

"The problem is, Facebook says it can't access the encrypted conversations."
Father of missing backpacker pleads for help from public

So who was this last message sent to, and why hasn't that person come forward?? It has been all over the news for a couple of weeks now, in the morning and in the evening.

 

[Via Marple]

Yes, absolutely heartbreaking. Was so hoping that Theo would have turned up by now.

It is hard to imagine where Theo got lost. I am also thinking the Caltex on the corner would have CCTV, wouldn't it? And is the holiday home where CCTV of Theo was captured perhaps the Byron Cove Beach House?

It seems to me that Theo could have been almost home, and had perhaps already made the only turn that really needed navigating.


Google Maps

Somewhere among the many news links posted, I think I had read that he was captured on Aloha's CCTV, and that he turned right into Dryden.

And, on Google maps if you choose the walking man not the car, you'll get that route.

 

[Via Marple]

I wonder what the issue with WhatsApp is? Is it that they can't get to Theo's last message? Their privacy policy says that they do not store users messages once they have been delivered.
Can Theo's messages only be accessed through his phone or the receiving party's phone, once the message has been delivered?


"Your messages are yours, and we can’t read them. We’ve built privacy, end-to-end encryption, and other security features into WhatsApp. We don’t store your messages once they’ve been delivered. When they are end-to-end encrypted, we and third parties can’t read them."
WhatsApp Legal Info

And this link:
WhatsApp Security

You can download their technical white paper to get more details.

For the sake of Theo, I will read it grrrr

 

[Rocket333]

In case you just watched Theo’s Dad in the police press conference, go and watch the cop speaking before him. They aren’t using the Caltex or Aloha cctv footage, just the Cheeky Monkey & bottle shop ones. They seem to have no clues but say they’ve released the bottle shop footage to clearly show his clothing to the public. The police officer also said that the last time Theo’s phone pinged was after 1pm on the 1st June. Reporters asked him if he meant 1am and he said no, 1pm. I hadn’t heard that before and like the reporters thought his last phone ping was in the wee hours just after midnight. The officer said they think the phone was also in sleep mode for the last ping. He also said the last known message sent by Theo was it a relative on Messenger, and he was talking about helping his Dad with a band when he got back to Belgium (the father is a muso or works with musicians). It was checked out and ticked off as nothing revealing. That was about 12.20am.

How do they know his phone was in sleep mode and how do they know he was using Whatsapp?

 

[Rocket333]

When Theo left Cheeky Monkeys he went down Kingsley Street, which is the side street which heads south and away from his hostel.

His direct route to the hostel would’ve seen him head out onto Jonson Street.

I’m wondering if he planned to meet someone but couldn’t get them so headed home, only to connect with them again whilst walking.