Family pins hopes on $500,000 reward to find Linden Malayta’s suspected killer
The heartbroken family of a suspected teenage homicide victim — who vanished without a trace four years ago — don’t know anyone who would want to harm him, according to police.
Townsville
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The heartbroken family of a suspected teenage homicide victim — who vanished without a trace four years ago — don’t know anyone who would want to harm him, according to police.
A $500,000 reward is now being offered for information leading to the identification and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Linden’s suspected murder.
Police are hopeful the “significant amount” will be enough to entice people in the community who have information to come forward, according to Townsville’s Child Protection and Investigation Unit officer in charge David Miles.
There were unconfirmed sightings of Linden in Townsville around the time he disappeared, and police believe there are members of the community out there who know more about his movements.
“There was no animosity or anything like that around his departure from Ayr,” Detective Senior Sergeant Miles said.
“He comes from a large family in the Burdekin region, and there are elements of that family here in Townsville. He certainly has friends from his schooling and community up this way.”
He said the details around how the teen may have travelled to Townsville remained “hazy.”
“We would assume that if he has come to Townsville, he’s come up with a friend,” he said.
Senior Sergeant Miles said police began to suspect foul play after they were unable to find a single “footprint” from Linden of any financial expenditure, telecommunications, social media or anything since April 2019.
He said police looked into reports Linden had been using social media but ruled out it was him after they discovered “some crossover” with friends using the account.
He said police don’t have suspects or persons of interest at this stage of the investigation.
“We have spoken to a broad section of the community in the Burdekin … some individuals have given us the names of people because of certain circumstances,” he said.
“We’ve run all those inquiries out. We don’t have any particular individual we’re focusing on at this point and time; hence the reward’s issuing.”
Senior Sergeant Miles said there was also no one the family had flagged as a possible suspect.
“From a family perspective, there’s probably no one they suspect would harm Linden in any way,” he said.
“Certainly, with any 15-year-old, there are conflicts with individuals, but to be a conflict to the point at which it would result in his untimely death, there’s no information that supports that at all.”
He said they are hoping the $500,000 reward will result in giving the family some answers.
“Certainly, for them, it’s quite a traumatic situation,” he said.
Originally published as Family pins hopes on $500,000 reward to find Linden Malayta’s suspected killer
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