Wayne William Steinhardt: Coroners Court inquest into suspected death of missing man

A Coroners Court inquest is set to answer what happened to then 59-year-old Wayne William Steinhardt over a decade since he was first reported missing. Here’s what we know so far.

A Coroner’s Court has set the date for an inquest into the suspected death of Wayne William Steinhardt who has been reported missing since November 2011. Picture: QPS Media

A coroner’s court has set the date for an inquest into the suspected death of missing man Wayne William Steinhardt.

The pre-inquest conference held at Southport on Tuesday heard that there is evidence that leads investigators to suspect that Mr Steinhardt has died.

Mr Steinhardt was first reported missing in November 2011 when he was 59 years old but his body has never been found.

The court heard that he had been travelling around Queensland in his campervan for years before his disappearance and although he didn’t keep regular contact with his brother, he would call every few months.

In late 2009, Mr Steinhardt had been staying at a property in the Glass House Mountains area but he would later foreshadow around that time and in 2010 that he was moving to the Samford area with a friend, Darren May and his family.

The court heard that on February 25, 2010, Mr Steinhardt’s brother tried to call him but it went straight to voicemail. His brother received a text from Mr Steinhardt’s phone that said he would call him when he got into better telephone service.

His brother would phone multiple times with all calls going to voicemail until July 25 2010. On that day when his brother called, a female voice answered, indicated she had never heard of Mr Steinhardt and hung up.

A Coroner’s Court has set the date for an inquest into the suspected death of Wayne William Steinhardt who has been reported missing since November 2011. Picture: QPS Media

The conference heard that the coroner’s court would hear from a Flanagan Reserve campground manager at the inquest.

The manager will tell the court that Mr Steinhardt started residing at the campground with Darren May and his family, and that Mr Steinhardt left the site from time to time with Mr May.

The court heard that the manager will recall that around September 2010, Mr May told him that he took Mr Steinhardt to hospital and that he would not be coming back to Flanagan Reserve.

Mr May also allegedly told the campground manager that Mr Steinhardt’s ute and caravan trailer now belonged to him.

The court heard that when the May family left the reserve in December 2010, Mr May told the manager to sell the ute and use the trailer as he had no use for it.

The court heard that Mr Steinhardt’s bank accounts continued to receive centrelink payments in 2011 and various amounts were withdrawn from ATMs until the payments were cancelled in May, 2011.

Mr May died in January 2012.

The inquest is scheduled to take play on May 6 and 7 this year to investigate whether Mr Steinhardt is deceased, the circumstances of his death, and whether the actions of any other person caused or contributed to his death or the disposal of his body.