Grave fears for Adelaide bikie associate missing in Melbourne after Hells Angels dispute
Homicide detectives are investigating the disappearance of an Adelaide bikie associate who has been missing following a dispute at a Hells Angels clubhouse in suburban Melbourne.
Police & Courts
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The disappearance of an Adelaide bikie associate is linked to “internal conflict” within the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, detectives believe.
Kerry Giakoumis, 29, travelled to Melbourne on June 5 with two other associates of the Hells Angels.
Investigators say the Adelaide concreter disappeared after attending the gang’s clubhouse on Lipton Drive, Thomastown, in Melbourne’s north, during the early hours of June 10.
Victoria Police Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Jason Poulton said: “We have grave concerns that this is a suspicious disappearance and we are of the opinion it will likely be a murder investigation.”
Sen Sgt Poulton said Giakoumis had a “long- term association” with the SA chapter of the Hells Angels, but was not a fully-fledged member.
Police believed there were a “number of possibilities” of what happened to Giakoumis.
“It is likely we are dealing with an internal conflict or some other conflict that we are unaware of at this stage, and that’s why we want to hear from people who can provide answers to Kerry’s family,” Sen Sgt Poulton said.
Investigators said “some kind of dispute” was likely to have taken place at the Thomastown clubhouse that led to Giakoumis’s disappearance. Police would examine relationships between the Victorian and South Australian chapters of the Hells Angels as part of the inquiry.
Police released an image of Giakoumis at a Pooraka service station the day he left SA.
Giakoumis told family he was going to Melbourne for concrete work.
He had daily contact with his mother for his entire adult life – but records show there had been no activity on his phone or bank account since June 10.
He was due to board a flight back to Adelaide on the day he disappeared.
“Kerry’s disappearance is very much out of character,” Sen Sgt Poulton said
Police have so far raided properties in Richmond and Melbourne, as well as the Thomastown clubhouse.
SA Police Major Crime officers searched two properties linked to the Hells Angels, at Ingle Farm and Netley, on Thursday.
Giakoumis’s distraught family released a portrait image of him.
Sen Sgt Poulton said: “His family are extremely traumatised, they’re looking for answers and there will be people within that Hells Angels community who can provide those answers. All the family has at the moment is silence.”
The family was too distraught to speak publicly on Thursday.
Victorian detectives were forensically searching the Thomastown clubhouse, as well as a Richmond apartment that Giakoumis visited.
Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000
Originally published as Grave fears for Adelaide bikie associate missing in Melbourne after Hells Angels dispute