Reward doubled: Family’s last-ditch effort to find missing bushwalker Warren Meyer after nine years

A MELBOURNE family is doubling its reward money as a last-ditch effort to find a husband and father who disappeared almost 10 years ago in the Yarra Ranges.

Brooke Meyer, Cooper Meyer, 3, Julien Meyer, Renee Meyer and Zee Meyer. Picture: Tony Gough

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A MELBOURNE family is doubling its reward money as a last-ditch effort to find their husband and father who disappeared almost 10 years ago while hiking near Healesville.

“It’s now or never. This reward is our last-ditch effort to find Warren. We just want my husband’s remains returned to us — it’s about bringing Warren home,” said wife Zee Meyer who is doubling a $100,000 reward to $200,000 for any clues that could find her husband.

It is now nine-and-a-half years since Meyer went missing while walking in the Yarra Ranges near Dom Dom Saddle.

An experienced bushwalker and a fit and healthy 57-year-old, Meyer was well prepared for his 10km walk on Easter Sunday in 2008.

He parked his white Subaru Forester at Dom Dom Saddle car park just before 8am on March 23 and began his walk along the Monda Track carrying a bright yellow GPS, a fully charged mobile phone, water and food.

Alan Spencer (Zee Meyer's brother), Julien Meyer and Warren Meyer. Picture: Supplied

Neither Meyer nor any of his possessions have ever been found.

His family, including his children, Renee, now 36, and Julian, 33, combed walking tracks around Dom Dom Saddle car park every weekend for two years searching for clues.

Today, they are still searching for answers.

They hope the $200,000 reward will encourage someone to come forward with information.

The reward is on offer from now until Easter Sunday, 2018 — the 10th anniversary of Meyer’s disappearance — when it will be withdrawn permanently.

“We hope the reward may help someone who knows something to talk to us. Someone has answers. I miss my Dad so much and not having answers makes everything more difficult and traumatising. We have no closure and we need that,” Renee said.

Since Meyer’s disappearance, Renee and brother Julian, have both had children — grandchildren their father will sadly never meet.

“I wish he’d been able to see my daughter — he would have been such a good grandad,” said Renee.

Bushwalkers during the search and rescue effort to trace Warren Meyer.

The family has been proactive in the hunt for what happened to him. They maintain and monitor a web page where people have left ‘clues’ as to what may have caused the disappearance of the man she met in Kathmandu in 1976 and whom she married the same year.

There were reports of out of control shooting from rapid fire weapons over a 40-minute period that morning. This was heard along Monda Track around the time Meyer would have been walking in that area. When police searched the bush, they discovered an illegal marijuana plantation and the Meyer family later discovered the remains of another abandoned marijuana operation in the area.

This has led them to believe Meyer stumbled across criminal activity that morning and was killed. There were also reports of a psychiatric patient absconding from a mental health facility and wandering the area that morning. But Zee and her children believe it is more likely that Warren came across illegal activity, probably drug-related.

Warren and Zanetta Meyer in Palm Cove.

“I think we are talking about a criminal element operating in that area — that would explain the out of control rapid gun fire that morning. You don’t take semiautomatic guns into the bush if you’re a law-abiding citizen. We think Warren stumbled across something as he walked along the track and that he was accidentally shot,” says Zee, 66.

“With the passing of time perhaps allegiances change and people may now feel able to come forward and let us know where Warren’s remains are. I still have no death certificate to acknowledge that Warren has passed away.”

The Meyer family have been frustrated by the lack of answers and the slow-moving nature of the legal system — they are still waiting on a coronial finding which has also been a source of frustration.

They now hope the increased reward will prove the turning point in helping them lay their much-loved husband and father to rest.

“This has been a terrible journey through life for us. Warren’s parents died heartbroken over the past year with nothing resolved and I have similar thoughts about what lies in store for us — passing away and not knowing,” says Zee Meyer.

“I don’t think anyone set out to kill Warren and this isn’t about justice anymore. All that matters now is having Warren returned to us.”

— Anyone with information can contact [e-mail] or call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.