A missing gun, missing keys and a missing man: Charles Morton

This month marks 10 years since Hughenden grazier Charles Morton disappeared. See what evidence police managed to upturn, and why his family are still appealing for information.

Charles Morton on Strathtay Station

This month marks 10 years since Hughenden grazier Charles Morton disappeared on August 14, 2014.

Remembered as a shy bushie who hardly left his beloved 40,000ha Strathtay cattle property, Mr Morton’s body has never been found.

In a coroner’s report Charters Towers police said they believed the 46-year-old died due to suicide – another grim rural statistic.

According to newspaper reporting at the time, a police search of the empty house revealed a missing bolt-action .22 calibre rifle.

Mr Morton’s brother, Jamie Morton, said this missing gun was actually a .222.

Charles Morton at a family reunion in Townsville last year.

“The people who came out to help us search in those first few days did a remarkably good job,” Jamie told the Townsville Bulletin.

“Some of the guys, they told me that people on rural properties who walk off to commit suicide, they don’t go more than a couple of kilometres before they turn around and come home because the endorphins kick in from walking outside and they rethink it.”

Mr Morton said if Charles did walk off to commit suicide like police believed, he “had to of gone considerably further” than a couple of kilometres.

Mr Morton’s body and the rifle have never been found.

Police are preparing a report for the coroner after Charlie Morton was reported missing on August 15 last year.

At the time of his disappearance Mr Morton had no drought stress or financial stress, according to his brother.

His country had grass and his cattle were in good condition.

Mr Morton was married to his German backpacker wife Kathleen, who’d tied the knot with him in 2010. The couple had no children.

Mrs Morton was overseas when Mr Morton disappeared, the pair spoke daily, and she was the one to report him missing on August 14, 2014 when he failed to answer a phone call.

According to those who were first to arrive on the property, the working dogs were tied up, the chooks were let out, the sprinkler was on and there was no suicide note.

A family favourite photograph – Charles Morton on Strathtay Station several years ago.

The strangest observation made was that all vehicles were accounted for – but several keys were missing from some motorbikes, work utes, the bobcat and a loader.

Jamie confirmed no vehicles were missing.

“I’m not sure if Kathleen ever found those keys in the end. You will have to ask her,” he said.

Attempts to contact Strathtay Station for the story did not result in an interview.

The Townsville Bulletin also reached out to the Townsville Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) but were denied an interview.

Like many missing person’s cases ruled to be caused by suicide or the more ambiguous ‘misadventure’, family members have struggled to find peace.

Searchers are desperately trying to find grazier Charles Morton, who vanished on his 40,000ha property, Strathtay Station. The vast terrain is heavily wooded, and has sharp basalt landscape features, rocky outcrops, dry creek beds and long stretches of grazing country.

For the last 10 years the Morton family have disputed that the expert bushman took his own life, instead requesting other scenarios be investigated further, including that their son simply ‘walked away’ from his $5 million station to start a new life.

Jamie said he “burnt bridges badly” among detectives at Townsville’s CIB when he continued to push for more and more investigations.

“Our family still thinks about him a lot and we want answers, if anyone knows or saw anything please, please, please come forward,” Jamie said.

“As a relative of a missing person, you have this sense of frustration – not about the amount of public resources used in the initial search, which were huge, or the response from the blue uniformed police officers doing the footwork, but you end up with very much a negative feeling towards authority.”

Jamie said as the years go by, people’s minds naturally gravitate towards wild suspicions, such as police cover ups or mafia connections.

Police are searching for Charles Morton who has been missing since Friday

“Loved ones want to know only two things: what happened, and where are they,” he said.

“It is the family’s hope he is still alive and he is basically out there living another life.”

If you have any information about a missing person, you can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Originally published as A missing gun, missing keys and a missing man: Charles Morton