Police confirm Hermannsburg human remains are missing man Owen Ryder

The 24-year mystery surrounding the identity of human remains found in Central Australia has been solved, with hopes growing new technology could give 26 more families closure.

NT Police investigated after the discovery of unidentified human remains in a paddock about 8km from the Larapinta Drive and Wallace Rockhole Road turn off

Police hope new technology that identified long-term missing man Owen Ryder’s remains could be applied to more than 20 other cases in the Territory.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Michael White said there were 26 still-unidentified human remains in police possession.

But he hoped new technology, which had helped identify Mr Ryder 24 years after his disappearance in 1999, would provide more families closure in the near future.

Mr Ryder is the fourth previously unidentified human remains found in the Territory to be identified in the past two years.

“It’s certainly something we continue to work on, but appreciate the efforts of everyone involved,” Deputy Commissioner White said.

“Over the past two years we’ve had four unidentified human remains identified through this process which is a really good outcome for families to provide closure for the loss of their loved ones.

“In the past 12 months there has been about 1227 reports of missing people in the Territory, and of those there’s only about six outstanding over that time.”

In August 1999, Mr Ryder’s wife noticed her husband had not returned to their home at Kwala Outstation, located about 10km east of Hermannsburg.

Community members made several attempts to locate and track Mr Ryder but were unsuccessful before reporting his disappearance to police, who ran a land and air search.

The coroner declared Mr Ryder deceased five years after his disappearance.

But in 2007, the case was reopened after the discovery of unidentified human remains in a paddock about 8km from the Larapinta Dr and Wallace Rockhole Rd turn off.

A partial DNA profile was recovered, with the results compared to Mr Ryder’s family returning a match.

NT Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Michael White said it was important to bring closure to families of missing people.

Deputy Commissioner White said the findings were a testament to the hard work of the forensics teams.

“He went missing in 1999 and was obviously subject to an extensive search,” he said.

“The family has been working very closely with us and allowed us to mention his name.

“This is a testament to the forensic scientists to come up with the technology to extract significant amounts of DNA which allowed for his identification.

“This is part of ongoing work as part of a national missing person’s investigation through all jurisdictions and the AFP to identify missing human remains.”

It comes as the NTPFES Biology Unit continues to increase its capability to establish links between missing people and discovered remains.

“The NTPFES Biology Unit has substantially increased its capability to recover DNA from remains, already resulting in identifications, and continue to expand their capabilities to help establish links between any recovered remains and family members,” NT Police said.

“This new capability in combination with DNA samples provided by the family of missing persons can provide another avenue for the investigation and identification of unidentified human remains.”

Police have urged anyone with missing family members to contact the NT Police Missing Persons Unit on 131 444 to discuss providing DNA.