The Lost Ones podcast: How Ian Nichols went missing at the Red Rooster in Tasmania

Vietnam vet Ian Nichols went to Tasmania to build a retreat for war veterans. But while others returned home, he was never seen again. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST.

The Red Rooster is an isolated lakeside retreat for Vietnam War veterans that sits in dense bushland in the middle of Tasmania.

But the peaceful shack hides a secret dating all the way back to 1989 – and perhaps the remains of one of the men who helped construct it.

Troubled veteran Ian Nichols, who had post traumatic stress disorder and had been drinking heavily, had volunteered to electrically wire the Dago Point hut.

But after he was seen wandering around in the freezing conditions and rambling incoherently, the other men left him on-site and returned to Hobart.

A few days later, one of the men returned to the Red Rooster – finding the shack in disarray, objects strewn around the room, graffiti on a wall and a nearby caravan ransacked.

Mr Nichols was nowhere to be seen.

A Tasmania Police co-ordinated land and water search was called off on advice from someone outside the force, who told authorities the matter was in hand.

But that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

For the past 30 years, Mr Nichols’ daughter Christine Behrens has been seeking answers for what became of her father.

Missing person Ian Nichols, who vanished in Tasmania. Picture: Supplied

LISTEN TO EPISODE THREE OF THE PODCAST HERE:

“I honestly think there might have been foul play, or an accident might have occurred, and they’ve covered it up,” she said in the third episode of News Corp’s The Lost Ones podcast.

She and her husband Allan suspect the culprit may have been in a man in the area at the time, with a violent history who had bragged about killing before, and who had been armed with a .45 Colt.

They don’t believe claims Mr Nichols simply wandered off into the bush – he did not have his cigarettes, glasses, medicines or clothes.

Instead, they are certain he’s buried somewhere on-site at the Red Rooster.

“Maybe he was the first one to have a drink. Maybe he pissed someone off. Here we are today still looking for him,” Mr Behrens said.

Missing person Ian Nichols holding his daughter Christine when she was a baby. Picture: Facebook

Christine Behren’s father Ian Nichols went missing in 1989. Picture: Chris Kidd

“I’m pretty sure when someone reads the file for the first time, it reads like a book, reads like a thriller. You really think geez, that’s solvable.”

The pair said they’d struggled to get any help from police at the time, and couldn’t even find a lawyer in Tasmania who’d be willing to take on the various veteran organisations, involved with the shack, and the RSL.

Mr Behrens said his wife wouldn’t give up trying to find out what happened to her dad – who she last saw as a 15-year-old schoolgirl — and that their concerns could no longer be dismissed.

“What they did just served to make her stronger. What they weren’t doing was putting fire out – they were stoking it up,” he said.

“Somewhere along the line, we’re going to find out what’s happened.”

Sergeant John Delpero, head of Tasmania Police’s Missing Persons Unit, said it couldn’t be ruled out that Mr Nichols had met with foul play at the Red Rooster.

He also said there was “new evidence” in the case that was currently being investigated by detectives.

Mrs Behrens claims there are five people who were with her father in the days before his disappearance who are yet to be interviewed by police.

To listen to episode three of The Lost Ones podcast, go to www.lostonespodcast.com.au

Originally published as The Lost Ones podcast: How Ian Nichols went missing at the Red Rooster in Tasmania