Inquest into Jeremiah ‘Jayo’ Rivers’ disappearance explores theory he was killed after discovering drugs

A horrifying theory has emerged in the disappearance of a man who vanished from a remote campsite in outback Queensland during a supposed pig hunting trip.

Basil Althouse, the brother of missing man Jeremiah Rivers, outside Brisbane Magistrates Court. Picture: Glenn Campbell

An inquest examining a man’s disappearance over two years ago in South West Queensland has explored whether he was ganged up on and killed after discovering there were drugs being smuggled across interstate lines in one of the group’s vehicles, a court heard.

The suggestion made during Tuesday’s evidence was that the missing man was shot dead because gunshots were reported in the area on the morning he was last seen, but a brain fade by one group member the day before may have disproved that theory.

A five-day inquest started on Monday in the Coroners Court in Brisbane looking into the disappearance of 27-year-old Jeremiah “Jayo” Rivers, who was last seen at a campsite at the remote Wippo Creek, near Noccundra, on October 18, 2021.

Jeremiah “Jayo” Rivers vanished from a campsite at the remote Wippo Creek.

The key witness on Tuesday was Victorian man Travis Clare – who was at the centre of allegations made at the inquest on Monday by Mr Rivers’ kinship brother Joe Joe Kantilla-Gaden.

He testified Mr Clare was secretly carrying three pounds of cannabis in his car and planned to sell the drugs in the communities around Darwin, for a total of around $72,000.

Jeremiah Rivers’ kinship brother Joe Joe Kantilla-Gaden. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Mr Clare denied all of those allegations during his testimony on Tuesday.

Lawyer Stewart Levitt, representing Mr Rivers’ family, put a “personal theory” to Mr Clare after lengthy questioning, which included claims Mr Rivers called a friend hours before he disappeared asking that friend to pick him up from Wippo Creek because he had fought with

Jeremiah Rivers during the ill-fated pig hunting trip.

Mr Kantilla-Gaden, and the other members of the group were ganging up on him.

“When he got to Wippo Creek the reason why he (Mr Rivers) had an argument (with Mr Kantilla-Gaden) was because he learned for the first time from (Mr Kantilla-Gaden) that you were actually transporting drugs up there,” Mr Levitt put to Mr Clare.

“And you weren’t paying the bills so they (Mr Rivers and Mr Kantilla-Gaden) could show you (Indigenous) bush culture, but rather to introduce their community (in the Northern Territory) to you, so you could flog your drugs off to them?”

The family of missing man Jeremiah Rivers outside Brisbane Magistrates Court. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Mr Clare responded: “No, that’s not true.”

“And Jayo (Mr Rivers), who had contacted a mate around this time saying ‘help get me out of here’, put on his Nike running shoes for the first time in days and walked off in the direction of the dam. And I suggest to you that his intention was to escape from your company and the company of your mates. What do you think?” Mr Levitt said to Mr Clare.

Police searching Wippo Creek after Jeremiah Rivers’ disappearance.

Mr Clare replied: “Maybe he wanted to, I don’t know.”

“The reason why (Mr Rivers’) tracks stopped where he was walking (by the creek) was because he was grabbed, driven away and shot,” Mr Levitt added.

Mr Clare responded: “That’s an out there theory … it didn’t happen.”

Mr Levitt said there were reports of gunshots on the morning of October 18 near another creek close to the group’s campsite. Mr Clare again denied the allegations.

Later on in the day, another group member – Joel McMaster – told the inquest that the rifles the group had with them on the trip were actually useless because he left their firing bolts in NSW.

“When we stopped just outside of White Cliffs (the day before Mr Rivers disappeared) for a rest, a few of us changed vehicles,” Mr McMaster told the inquest.

“With me being the only one with a firearms licence, I made sure the firearms and bolts and ammunition were always in the car I was travelling in. In the process of unpacking stuff to swap the firearms over, I set the bolts down on the ground and drove off without them.”

Coroner Donald MacKenzie replied: “So the inference logically out of that is that those two rifles could not have been used?”

Mr McMaster responded: “Correct.”

The inquest heard the rifle bolts were found by a member of the public in White Cliffs the day before Mr Rivers disappeared.

Mr McMaster and another of Tuesday’s witnesses – Kane Toohey, who was also on the road trip – denied knowing about, or seeing, any cannabis in one of the vehicles. They also denied any involvement in Mr Rivers’ disappearance.

Mr Rivers and Mr Kantilla-Gaden arranged the interstate trip in October 2021 as a way to head home to the Northern Territory from Balranald in NSW, where they had been living.

Footage of the campsite from which Jeremiah Rivers vanished.

The inquest has heard their friend Matthew Moore joined them on the interstate pig hunting trip, as did Mr Moore’s friends from Victoria – Travis Clare, Dylan Thomas, Joel McMaster and Kane Toohey.

The inquest heard the group set off from Balranald and drove more than 1000km across the Queensland-NSW border to Wippo Creek in South West Queensland.

Covid-19 border closures were in place and the interstate border crossing gate was locked. The men cut the chain and allegedly illegally entered, the inquest was told.

When the group arrived at the Wippo Creek campsite on the morning of October 18, Mr Rivers went off to swim in either the nearby dam or creek to cool down.

He did not return and was never seen again. The other six men have said they searched for Mr Rivers all day and all night, but found nothing.

They did not report him missing until 3pm the next day. The group claims the delay was because they were in Queensland illegally and facing a $66,000 fine.

An official eight-day search was conducted involving police officers, divers, SES volunteers, locals, aircraft, thermal imaging, ATVs, and trail bikes. Nothing was found.