The Lighthouse podcast: Messages claim Theo Hayez kidnapped, demands for Bitcoin ransom

EXCLUSIVE: Relatives and friends of Theo Hayez were sent ransom demands | LISTEN

Missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez Picture: Facebook/Theo Hayez

Relatives and friends of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez were sent anonymous messages claiming he’d been kidnapped and demanding more than $300,000 in Bitcoin for his release.

The ransom demands added to the distress of Theo’s family as they tried to find out what happened to the 18-year-old.

The demands have been investigated by NSW police.

There was no evidence to support kidnapping and the claims were dismissed as false. The messages are detailed in a new episode of The Australian’s investigative podcast series The Lighthouse, to be released on Friday.

App users tap here

“The first time I received that it was a shock,” said Theo’s godfather Jean-Philippe Pector, or JP.

“You start wondering ‘Is it true, is it not true?’ My first reaction was to immediately contact the police. Their response was ‘Don’t contact them, we will investigate that’.”

One message was sent to JP via Messenger on Monday, June 24, just over three weeks after the young Belgian vanished while ­visiting Byron Bay.

It came from someone calling himself Mike Larry.

“I am aware how scary this message is going to be. We have Theo,” part of the message reads.

“Please inform his father that he is OK. He is not in Byron. We had to move him and lay low due to all the looking around.

“He is OK for now if his father follows what we want to the letter.

“This is not a hoax your son is kidnapped.”

READ MORE: Timeline: Theo Hayez’s last known whereabouts | The people involved

The message referred to Theo’s former long-term girlfriend in ­Belgium and gave JP 24 hours to pay 20 Bitcoin into a nominated address. Other members of Theo’s family, including his cousin Lisa Hayez, received the same or a similar messages.

“They said he was at the Gold Coast and if we sent money, they would tell us how to get him back,” she told the podcast.

“So we call the police straightaway and we sent the message. And they checked and the ­message was coming from South Africa. This guy was coming from nowhere. His Facebook page was completely empty. There was nothing. We have to check it, of course. But I don’t believe it.”

JP said he “never had a real ­answer” about what came of police investigations.

“I heard some other members of the family, I think that was (Theo’s parents) Laurent and Vinciane, were told at some point that it originated from South Africa somewhere,” he said.

“That was a bit vague for us. You can use VPN, virtual private network, that makes you look like you are in another country. So I hope they know what they are doing when they say it originated from there.”

JP couldn’t help but worry about the anonymous messages.

“At some point they even told me that Theo hurt his leg trying to escape. Each time it’s a bit worrying and you say ‘What if, what if, what if’,” he said.

“I contact the police, I say ‘Look, that’s a crime … even if it’s not true, if they don’t have Theo, I want them to be prosecuted for that crime’.”

It came as news.com.au revealed a Byron Bay resident had found a “bludgeon stick” with blood-coloured stains in sand dunes at Clarkes Beach three weeks after Theo vanished on the night of Friday May 31.

The 1.5m-long wooden club had “THE JUDGE” written on it in black letters.

Theo’s parents and other family members and Byron locals have said they believe he wasn’t alone the night he went missing.

NSW police declined to comment, saying the investigation into Theo’s disappearance had been referred to the coroner.