Family of missing man, Alex Beddows, to meet US detectives

THE parents of an Australian man missing in the United States for over a week retraced their son's steps yesterday.

THE parents of an Australian man missing in the United States for over a week retraced their son's steps yesterday, and were last night preparing to meet with local detectives to discuss his case.

Alex Beddows, a 32-year-old public servant from Canberra, disappeared after a night of drinking in New Orleans.

In the early hours of last Sunday morning, Mr Beddows, who was travelling with his father Chris Beddows, failed to return to a relative's house where the pair were staying.

The Beddows were on the fifth day of a five-week trip; they were in New Orleans to attend the city's famous jazz festival, and were due to fly to Honduras the following day.

Alex Beddows' sister, Anna Beddows, said her brother had been drinking with two men and two women he had met at the festival at Louie's Corner Bar near the centre of the city. She said she understood the group had left Alex at the bar alone.

A short time later, a bartender at the nearby Old Point Bar reportedly saw man matching Alex Beddows' description lying on the pavement outside and an ambulance was subsequently called. But by the time the ambulance arrived the man had gone.

Ms Beddows said police had contacted the group and they were not considered suspects.

She said her brother was very outgoing and that his facebook updates and other communications showed he had been "having the time of his life" in New Orleans until he disappeared.

Alex Beddows works in the Department of Climate Change's IT section. His father is understood to be a former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officer with experience finding missing Australians overseas.

She said her father was recently joined in New Orleans by Alex's mother Jan Beddows, and the pair had retraced their son's steps of the previous Saturday night.

"We are going to find him - he's just on a bender," she said. "He could be in any bar, but I think after seven days you would probably come out."

It is understood her brother's bank accounts have not been accessed.