Daryl Floyd believes brother Terry Floyd's body was hidden in mine shaft

DARYL Floyd has devoted decades of his life to trying to find his older brother Terry's body.

Terry Floyd

YOU would want a brother like Daryl Floyd if you ever went missing.

He has devoted decades of his life to trying to find his older brother Terry's body.

Mr Floyd has also done his own detective work to try to establish who abducted and murdered the then 12-year-old Terry Floyd in 1975.

He believes Terry's body is at the bottom of an old gold mine and that convicted paedophile Raymond Jones put it there.

Information gathered during the past 18 months has convinced Mr Floyd that a friend of Jones knows Jones did it and helped Jones cover up the crime.

He has passed that evidence to the homicide squad and detectives are actively pursuing it.

Mr Floyd had discovered both Jones and his friend are very familiar with the Morning Star mine at Bung Bong Hill, near Avoca, which is where he thinks Terry's body is.

That, and other evidence, convinced Mr Floyd to start excavating the mine, which was filled in several years ago.

He has spent more than $50,000 of his own money on the excavation since the Herald Sun first revealed in September 2010 that the dig was about to start, following the discovery of new evidence suggesting Terry's body had been thrown down the mine.

Victoria Police chipped in a further $50,000 and a group of supporters have raised about another $6000 through raffles and other events.

With the $50,000 from Victoria Police spent and his savings exhausted, Mr Floyd had to stop the search in March last year.

Mr Floyd, who was 10 when his older brother disappeared, continued lobbying for help and his personal approach to Police Minister Peter Ryan hit a nerve, as well as paydirt.

Mr Ryan donated $25,000 in December last year, enabling excavation work to start again in late January.

Police consider paedophile Jones to be the prime suspect in the disappearance of Terry, but they don't have enough evidence to charge him.

Legal constraints prevent the Herald Sun from being able to reveal details of some of the evidence against Jones.

Jones was out on bail when Terry disappeared on June 28, 1975. He was later convicted of indecently assaulting a boy in a Ballarat toilet block and jailed for two years.

Jones drove a fawn Holden panel van at the time and has admitted to police that he was on the Pyrenees Highway, travelling from Avoca to Maryborough, at the time Terry was seen waiting for a lift on the highway.

Three witnesses have told police they saw a vehicle similar to Jones's panel van near the boy.

The mine being excavated is very near where a witness saw a parked van matching the description of Jones's vehicle.

Jones, 60, has told the Herald Sun he wasn't involved in Terry's disappearance and has nothing to fear from the search for Terry's body and renewed police interest in him as a suspect.

''I've just about had a bellyfull of it all. I'm not going to just elaborate on anything,'' Jones said.

''I've bloody got nothing to hide, it's just that I'm bloody that sick of it all. I had nothing to do with it.''

Mr Floyd believes Jones saw Terry by the side of the Pyrenees Highway and stopped to offer him a lift.

''Jones, by his own admission in his statement to police, was on the road where Terry was standing at the time Terry was waiting for a lift home,'' he said.

''Jones says he didn't see a young boy standing on the side of the road, yet you can't miss a young boy in that situation - especially when you are a known paedophile like Jones.''

While Victoria Police agrees with Mr Floyd that Jones is the prime suspect, it doesn't consider the information gathered by Mr Floyd about the possible burial site is strong enough for it to organise and entirely fund the excavation of the mine.

''I can understand the point they are coming from,'' Mr Floyd said.

''But at the same time there is enough circumstantial evidence that suggests that my brother is down this particular shaft.

''So I think, on that information alone that yeah, maybe there should be a little bit more being done, but you have to go with the hand you are dealt with.

''We will continue as far as we can with the amount of funds that we do have available. We will get the job done and then if Terry is not down there a chapter in our life is closed.

''We can move on, we know that he's not there and we don't have to keep thinking any more what it was like to be down there.''

While Mr Floyd thinks Victoria Police should contribute more to the excavation, he has nothing but praise for veteran homicide squad detective Ron Iddles.

Det-Sen-Sgt Iddles has been working closely with Mr Floyd and assisted Mr Floyd to get permission to carry out the search.

''I never can speak highly enough of Ron,'' Mr Floyd said.

''Ron Iddles has been probably my strength and everything for me to keep going to do this.

''The guy himself is just an inspiration in what he does personally. I hope he never, ever retires or finishes from the homicide squad.''

Apart from keeping the Floyd investigation open and active, including currently following up new information, Det-Sen-Sgt Iddles, in his own time, travelled up to Albury to be the guest speaker at a fundraiser for the excavation, raising several thousand dollars.

If the search finds Terry's body, or any other evidence, then Sen-Sgt Iddles will arrange forensic tests through Victoria Police and will follow up the leads.

''A conviction would be absolutely brilliant, that would be the pinnacle for us,'' Mr Floyd said.

''But the bottom line for me is to find my brother's body and give him a proper burial. He would be buried with his parents out at the Maryborough cemetery''.

The Floyd brother's mother Dorothy died 12 years to the day after Terry disappeared.

She had a brain tumour and was in a coma, but survived several days longer than her specialist predicted and died on the anniversary of Terry's disappearance.

''I like to personally think in my heart that Mum passed away on that day because she was being reunited and that she's back with Terry,'' Mr Floyd said.

Victoria Police offered a $100,000 reward in 2010 in the hope of catching Terry's killer - and it is still available.

Anyone with information should ring Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.