Burnside’s Luke Gourlay missing, mum begs for help

A Sunshine Coast mum has described living stuck between hope and grief as the police search for her missing son concludes with no further clues of his whereabouts.

Burnside man Luke Gourlay has been missing from the Sunshine Coast since Boxing Day last year.

A Nambour mum has detailed living in a “surreal” world stuck between hope and grief as a police search for her son concludes after he went missing more than two months ago.

Burnside man Luke Gourlay went missing on Boxing Day last year after visiting the Landsborough pub.

His mum Suzanne Searle said he left the pub about 3.30pm and most likely walked along Cribb St toward Maleny St before crossing the train lines, onto Caloundra St and then the Steve Irwin Way.

She said three passers-by made triple-0 calls about Mr Gourlay once he was on the Steve Irwin Way.

Ms Searle said he was walking without his shoes or hat on at that stage and the final emergency call placed her son near the entrance to the Big Kart Track between 4pm and 4.30pm.

The mum-of-five said the past couple of months were “surreal” as she found herself stuck between hope and grief, with no way of moving through either emotion, and with no idea of the whereabouts of her son.

Burnside man Luke Gourlay has been missing since Boxing Day last year and his mum is now pleading for public help for clues to his whereabouts.

“I can’t comprehend how someone can disappear into thin air,” Ms Searle said.

Mr Gourlay’s family has put up countless missing person posters in Landsborough in efforts to jog the memories of those who passed through the town on Boxing Day.

Sunshine Coast detectives searched for Luke Gourlay who has been missing since December last year.

Ms Searle said her son had left the keys in the ignition of his work van and the window down before he entered the pub, with the reasons for his visit to the venue unknown.

Police have mounted a massive search effort but were hampered by the wet weather and also the lag in time it took for Mr Gourlay to be reported missing.

“We’re always fighting the clock on this one,” Detective Senior Constable Chris Lawson said.

The police officer said the SES, mounted police, officers on motorcycles and military resources had joined the search effort for Mr Gourlay and his missing belongings.

Luke Gourlay was last seen at the Landsborough Pub on December 26.

Police had searched Steve Irwin Way, along Mooloolah Connection Rd and near Palmview.

“Over the past two weeks we’ve completed the searches of the last remaining known locations of the man,” Det Snr Const. Lawson said.

“We failed to locate any evidence to provide any more leads.”

Nambour woman Suzanne Searle is begging for public help to find her son, Luke Gourlay, who has been missing since Boxing Day.

Ms Searle said as each day passed with no new information, she was losing hope.

“When the search was going on I was still hopeful we’d still find a trace of him but now that’s been called off,” she said.

She said marking her son’s 30th birthday on February 3 was “pretty rough” but she needed to stay strong for her four daughters.

“I’m constantly looking out the window waiting for a police car to pull up to tell me bad news,” Ms Searle said.

“If I see a white car my heart drops and then I realise that’s it’s just a white car going down the street.”

The mum, a disability support carer, pleaded with anyone who was in the Landsborough area on the day with any information to come forward.

She begged motorists to check dashcam footage or if anyone had picked him up to contact Policelink.

“The not knowing is the worst, you know, if something bad has happened I just want to know,” Ms Searle said.