Final day of inquest into the disappearance of Jeremiah ‘Jayo’ Rivers
A detective’s conclusion that there was “no evidence of foul play” in the disappearance of Jeremiah Rivers has been questioned by a coroner as the police investigation into the Queensland outback mystery comes under the microscope.
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The family of a man missing in outback Queensland “know he did not voluntarily walk away” from his campsite as his travelling companions suggest, and while a coroner agreed there is some evidence of foul play, it is mostly circumstantial, a court has heard.
A five-day inquest in the Coroners Court in Brisbane concluded on Friday, after examining the disappearance of 27-year-old Jeremiah “Jayo” Rivers, last seen at a campsite at the remote Wippo Creek, near Noccundra in South West Queensland, on October 18, 2021.
Mr Rivers and his kinship brother Joe Joe Kantilla-Gaden arranged the trip from Balranald in NSW to the Northern Territory, which they called home.
Their friend Matthew Moore joined them on the pig hunting trip, as did his Victorian friends – Travis Clare, Dylan Thomas, Joel McMaster and Kane Toohey.
The group drove more than 1000km and illegally crossed the closed Queensland-NSW border to Wippo Creek. When they arrived around 7am or 8am on October 18, Mr Rivers went off to swim to cool down.
He did not return and was never seen again. He was not reported missing until 3pm the next day. A subsequent extensive eight-day search found nothing.
The police investigation was again in the spotlight on the inquest’s final day, with Detective Sergeant Kane Hildebrand defending his report into Mr Rivers’ disappearance.
Lawyer Stewart Levitt, representing Mr Rivers’ family, highlighted Detective Sergeant Hildebrand’s summary that there is “no signs of life” but also “no evidence of foul play”.
Coroner Donald MacKenzie found this “questionable”.
“There is something to suggest (foul play), there is the telephone call to the Northern Territory for a start,” the Coroner told the inquest.
“I’m not saying there aren’t pieces of circumstantial evidence … but there is a relevant admissible body of evidence coming directly from the mouth of the deceased potentially hours before he disappears which suggests foul play.”
The phone call referred to is believed to have been made by Mr Rivers during the early hours of October 18, 2021 – no more than eight hours before he disappeared.
He called his kinship cousin, Matthew Perris, through Facebook Messenger and asked him to come “help him get out of the situation he was in” and that he was “outnumbered”.
Mr Perris told the inquest Mr Rivers told him he had been in a fight with Mr Kantilla-Gaden, who had then got the other members of the group on his side against Mr Rivers.
Mr Kantilla-Gaden denied these claims when he testified on Monday.
Mr Levitt, representing Mr Rivers’ family, took further aim at Detective Sergeant Hildebrand’s report during Friday’s inquest hearing.
“What I suggest is that you cherrypicked what you wanted to include in your report to produce an induced conclusion which was that Jayo was a serious drug user and he was involved in a scheme to export drugs to the Northern Territory,” Mr Levitt said.
“On the balance of probabilities, my report indicates I believe there was drug use from all travelling companions, a balance of probabilities is not a criminal trial,” Detective Sergeant Hildebrand replied.
Mr Levitt also questioned whether Detective Sergeant Hildebrand was trying to have the whole investigation put to bed and not examined any further.
“That is just ludicrous. On the balance of probabilities we reasonably suspect every person on that trip was involved in drugs – regardless of their race or culture,” he replied.
“We’re still following up leads, as recent as two weeks ago. We still have active inquiries, we’re trying to get closure for the family and find out what happened to Jayo.”
The inquest concluded with Mr Rivers’ family reading a heartfelt statement, speaking of their “grief, loss and hardship”.
Brenda Garstone, Mr Rivers’ aunty, said the family left their jobs and lives behind in the Northern Territory for four months to conduct their own private search for Mr Rivers, which they estimate cost around $100,000.
Ms Garstone said the family had also been the victim of online scammers, who claimed to be holding Mr Rivers hostage and he would only be released once they received $250,000. The family paid them and then discovered it was a scam.
“We do not have faith in the justice system … we were left reeling and clutching at hope,” Ms Garstone said.
“We know that Jayo did not voluntarily walk away from his camping companions.
“Where is Jayo, what happened to him out there?
“We will never settle until we find him and bring him home to his country and family.”
Originally published as Final day of inquest into the disappearance of Jeremiah ‘Jayo’ Rivers
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