Missing persons North Queensland: Full list of unsolved missing persons cases in Townsville, Charters Towers
The faces behind North Queensland’s missing persons cases are more than just a picture on a poster. Read every tragic case yet to be solved.
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THEY are more than just a picture on a poster.
The faces behind North Queensland’s missing persons cases are a part of someone’s family, missed by loved ones and friends desperate to find answers about what really happened.
The North is a place many people were seen for the last time, but this National Missing Persons Week the spotlight is shone once again on these faces in the hope of bringing closure.
This year, there are six long-term missing persons who remain on the Australian Federal Police register.
Townsville District Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Lawson said these investigations were each different, but all complex.
“Each missing person is treated as an individual and circumstances around their going missing dictates the strategies used,” Superintendent Lawson said.
“It is not possible to stipulate a timeline for how long a missing person investigation goes for because the investigation doesn’t stop until the missing person is found.”
In 2021, more than 53,000 missing person reports were made to police in Australia.
More than 98 per cent of people reported missing are located, and almost all of those are found alive and well.
But Superintendent Lawson said there were some occasions were the result was not positive.
“Whilst most missing people are found relatively quickly, there are a number of instances where investigations continue for a number of years in an effort to locate them.
“In instances where the information police have received has not lead to locating the missing person, background work continues to be completed in an effort to locate the missing person.”
Superintendent Lawson said police take every search for a missing person very seriously, including the recent case of Magnetic Island man, Ben Chisholm.
Ben was last seen on the island on July 13 and reported missing by family.
Superintendent Lawson said a lot was going into finding Ben.
“Local State Emergency Service (SES) crews assisted police with ground searches and further resources were sent from the mainland. Both general duties police and intelligence officers were assigned to assist under direction of the search and rescue officers.
“Police also distributed multiple releases to media outlets and via social media networks to engage the public in the search.
“The search continued at that intensity until July 26, when it was scaled back to focus on investigative outcomes.”
Superintendent Lawson said it was never too late to report information on a missing person.
“Occasions such as Missing Persons Week highlight some of these longer term investigations in an effort to trigger some memories or allow someone who may know some information to provide that back to police which can then drive further investigative strategies.
“It is never too late to provide information on a missing person. Missing Persons Week highlights that some people have been reported missing for well over a decade and the families and friends of these people are continuing to hold out hope that they safe and well.
Here is a list of current missing persons cases on the National Missing Persons Register who went missing in North Queensland.
If you have any information, call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Jayden Joseph Penno-Tompsett
Newcastle man, Jayden Penno-Tompsett, went missing on December 21, 2017 while travelling to Cairns with a friend for New Year celebrations.
Last year, his disappearance was the subject of a coronial inquiry, where coroner Nerida Wilson ruled out foul play.
Mr Tattersall told the inquiry Mr Penno-Tompsett consumed some ice on the trip and had not slept in four days.
He reportedly then became erratic after a stopover for fuel at 3am on the day he went missing.
According to Mr Tattersall, Mr Penno-Tompsett then drove around Charters Towers in a frenzy for about five or six hours when he couldn’t find his stash of ice.
He then parked the car on the side of a dirt road at Breddan and walked off towards a fenced paddock, smashing his phone, taking with him some drugs and his wallet.
Mr Tattersall said he searched for him for hours before driving to Cairns.
The group reported him missing on January 3.
In Ms Wilson’s findings, she said Mr Penno-Tompsett most likely died of exposure to the elements.
“Jayden had little or no prospect of surviving the combination of 40 degree temperatures, the isolated and unfamiliar location, his drug affected state, dehydration and the associated physiological changes,” Ms Wilson said.
“Police consider that more likely than not Jayden was deceased before the official search commenced and that the delay in reporting his disappearance significantly prejudiced their investigation and search.”
No charges were ever laid in relation to Mr Penno-Thompsett’s death.
Van Edward Caulton
The Charters Towers pensioner was reported missing in 2008, but a coroner ruled his housemate either caused of concealed his death to obtain his pension.
Coroner Jane Bentley, in her inquest findings, said there were “only two reasonable possibilities” in relation to the disappearance of Van Edward Caulton, 60, whose last confirmed sighting was at Charters Towers Hospital on March 22, 2006.
Ms Bentley said he either died of natural caused and his house, Peter Westlund, failed to report his death and disposed of his body, or that he caused Mr Caulton’s death.
Mr Caulton, who was on a disability pension, suffered from an intellectual impairment, was unable to read or write, could not use bank ATMs and suffered epilepsy and a heart condition.
According to the coroner’s findings Mr Caulton’s sister Larraine Chandler became concerned after her brother was befriended by a group of men she believed were taking advantage of him and his money.
In 2005, Mr Caulton moved in with Peter Westlund who he met while picking watermelons.
A month later, Mr Westlund applied for a carer’s payment, telling Centrelink he was Mr Caulton’s carer, the inquest heard
Mr Caulton was last seen by his family in October 2005.
The inquest heard between that time and 2007, Mr Westlund told Mr Caulton’s family he could not come to the phone for various reasons, including that he was working on a farm or he had gone to Tasmania with his girlfriend.
Ms Bentley said she was satisfied Mr Caulton was no longer alive by July 2006, with Mr Westlund likely aware of Mr Caulton’s death, concealing it to obtain his benefits.
Among the purchases attributed to Mr Westlund, using Mr Caulton’s bank card after his suspected death, were a car, glasses, and other transactions in Tasmania in 2008.
Mr Westlund died in Perth’s Rockingham Hospital in 2014.
Ms Bentley recorded a finding that Mr Caulton died in the Charters Towers area between March 22, 2006 and July 31, 2006.
His cause of death was not determined and his body has never been found. No charges have been laid in relation to Mr Caulton’s death
Anthony Jones
Anthony “Tony” Jones is a name well-known in North Queensland.
He told his mother he would hitchhike west to Mount Isa, where he was expected to meet up with an older brother, Tim Jones, a day or so later.
He was going to travel along the Flinders Highway, a lonely 906-kilometre strip of bitumen that snakes through vast expanses of deserted bush, barren rocky outcrops and gorges, and featureless outback plains.
In 2002, an inquest ruled he had been murdered, but failed to pinpoint any suspects. No charges have ever been laid.
Frustrated from the start by the slow progress in solving the case, the Jones family mounted a long-running campaign to ensure the investigation continued.
Their lobbying led to the establishment of Australia’s Missing Persons Week in 1988.
Many theories have swirled over the years, including that he may have fallen victim to Ivan Milat, been killed in a fight, or succumbed to the harsh heat on NQ.
His body has never been found.
Leslie Ball
Leslie Ralph Ball, a fit 73-year-old man who was in good health, was reported missing by his daughter Le-Chelle Lesley, on May 22, 1993.
Mr Ball had been staying with another daughter and son-in-law, Leanne and David Phillips, before he disappeared.
Counsel assisting the Coroner, Sarah Lane, said a friend of that couple, Brian Murphy, claims David Phillips, who died in 2015, told him that he killed Leslie Ball. No charges have ever been laid.
Mr Murphy and Leanne Phillips will be called to give evidence at a reopened inquest into the disappearance of Mr Ball in Brisbane on August 22.
Ms Lane told the inquest police alleged Leanne Phillips had knowledge of the circumstances of her father’s death and previously had not provided truthful accounts about his disappearance.
An inquest in 1994 and 1995 heard conflicting evidence about Mr Ball’s last movements
Ms Lane said Leanne Phillips told police she last saw her father when he visited her in a Brisbane hospital on April 29, 1993.
However, a train ticket, purchased in Mr Ball’s name on 19 April, 1993, for travel from Townsville to Brisbane on the next day, was described by investigators as a forgery.
Checks determined no one travelled in the seat booked for Mr Ball on the train.
Mr Ball’s Valiant sedan was found in the Townsville railway station carpark and the burnt remains of his car trailer, containing his belongings, were later found in bush, 10 kilometres from the Philips’s home.
The Coroner will seek to determine whether or not Mr Ball is dead, and if so, when, where he died and how his death was caused.
Leanne Phillips, Brian Murphy and the investigating officer will be the only witnesses at the one-day inquest in Brisbane Coroners Court on August 22.
Frederick Bamboo
Fredrick Bamboo was last seen on Palm Island when he attended a funeral there in 1995.
The Mossman man has not been seen or heard from by his family since.
He has not been located despite extensive inquiries.
His age now would be 71, height is 165 cm, thin build, black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. If you have information that may assist police to locate Frederick please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Mick Isles
The disappearance of Ayr police man Mick Isles has gripped the North Queensland community for more than a decade, but little is known about what really happened to him.
The senior sergeant vanished after setting out on a routine work trip to Townsville in September 2009.
His car was found abandoned in remote bushland, but his body has never been found.
Family and many friends suspecting the popular officer met with foul play but state coroner Michael Barnes ruled in 2021 that Sergeant Isles committed suicide, which his family unsuccessfully disputed.
His son, Stephen isles, has been the catalyst for change within Queensland Police Service, successfully campaigning for officers who died from work-related suicide to be considered for the police honour role.
Last year, QPS redrafted the rules of the existing Honour and Commemorative Roll policy – which deemed personnel who have died by suicide as ineligible for inclusion – following a Queensland Ombudsman investigation, spurred by an earlier complaint lodged by Mr Isles.
The ombudsman’s investigation found the now previous QPS policy was “discriminatory” as it failed to recognise “some cases of suicide may be due to work related mental illness.”
Mr Isles is still officially classified as a missing person on the National Missing Persons Register.
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Originally published as Missing persons North Queensland: Full list of unsolved missing persons cases in Townsville, Charters Towers
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