Warren Meyer coronial findings to be reviewed
IT’S one of Australia’s most controversial missing persons’ cases. Now the family of an experienced hiker who vanished bushwalking near Healesville has been granted a vital breakthrough.
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THE family of an experienced hiker who mysteriously disappeared while bushwalking in 2008 has successfully applied to have his coronial findings reviewed because of new and compelling evidence.
Victoria Police told the family of Warren Meyer they were reviewing the case, which encompasses suspicious factors of illegal drug activity in the area, witness reports of continuous shooting from an automatic weapon, and an escaped psychiatric patient with homicidal tendencies confirmed as being in the area at the time.
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Mr Meyer disappeared on Easter Sunday — March 23 — 2008, while on a Sunday morning bushwalk at the Dom Dom Saddle near Healesville.
It has become one of Australia’s most curious and controversial missing persons’ cases. But in December last year the case was closed by Coroner John Olle who found that Mr Meyer died of “unknown causes” with “no further investigation” or inquest required.
“There is no cogent evidence available to indicate third party involvement in Warren’s disappearance,” Mr Olle wrote.
The case has since been investigated by a senior retired police detective working pro-bono for the past six months.
The family is now confident his findings will warrant some of the coronial findings being set aside as inaccurate.
“We’re not disputing that he’s deceased, but we’re disputing aspects of the case,” his wife Zee Meyer, 68, said.
“We believe that it should have been an inquest.”
Mrs Meyer and her two adult children believe there is a link between unexplained shooting heard in the area, illegal drug-growing and Mr Meyer’s disappearance.
They strongly reject the possibility the 57-year-old father organised his own disappearance and said he was actively making plans for the future, including booking a costly overseas holiday.
Coroner Olle also confirmed Mr Meyer was mentally and financially sound at the time he went missing.
In the week after he disappeared, police found 32 mature marijuana plants during searches. Remnants of a commercial size crop and growing equipment were also found hidden in rugged bush nearby by the Meyer family the following year.
The suspicion that foul play may have been involved in Mr Meyer’s demise is fuelled by reports of “out-of-control shooting” heard on the weekend he disappeared.
A witness report from a man whose property flanked the area where Mr Meyer was walking, said he heard shots from a semiautomatic weapon and his attention was drawn by the rapid nature of the shooting.
According to his statement, the shooting began midafternoon on Saturday, March 22, and continued on and off for two hours.
It then began again around 8.30am on the Sunday and continued for 40 minutes. The landowner, a firearms expert, estimated 400 shots were fired.
“The landowners have nailed the time exactly when Warren would have reached that point where the shooting started,” Mrs Meyer said.
But the police investigation and the Coroner’s findings both stated they could not establish any connection between the shots and Mr Meyer’s disappearance.
On Easter Sunday, he set off for his planned bushwalk at about 7.45am.
He carried a map, handheld GPS, fully charged phone and some snacks and told his wife and friends he would be back for lunch at 1pm.
Those who knew him said the well-marked track would have easily been within his physical capability.
When Mr Meyer did not return by 4pm, an extensive five-day search was launched by land and air.
Tracker dogs were used and his mobile phone was electronically tracked. But there was no sign of him or any of his belongings, apart from his parked car, which was locked and undisturbed in the Dom Dom Saddle car park.
When the official search was called off, the Meyer family organised group searches every weekend for the first year after the disappearance, as well as doorknocking across the area.
The case has since been investigated by local police, the Missing Persons Unit and the Homicide Squad.
Perhaps the most sensational lead emerged early in the investigation when it was confirmed an involuntary psychiatric escapee with homicidal tendencies had been in the area at the time.
However, police ruled this theory out after a search of the patient’s premises upon his recapture produced no evidence he had harmed Mr Meyer.
His shoes and clothing were tested for blood with no result, and he has since died.
The Meyer family’s hope is now pinned on the collaborative efforts of the coroner’s court, police review and the generous work of a retired detective to further the case.
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