The Lighthouse podcast: Google maps clues to Theo Hayez’s vanishing

As family and police scrambled to find information, Google knew ­exactly where he went and what he did all along.

Missing Belgium backpacker Theo Hayez was last seen in Byron Bay on May 31, 2019.

Tech giant Google was precisely tracking the movements and ­activities of young Belgian tourist Theo Hayez on the night he went missing in Byron Bay, providing incredible insights into his last known hours.

As the 18-year-old’s family and police scrambled to find information about what happened to Theo after a night out in Byron at the end of May, Google knew ­exactly where he went and what he did all along.

The Australian’s new investigative podcast series, The Lighthouse, has revealed that Theo’s family was able to break into his Google account more than two weeks after he vanished.

The account revealed Theo’s route after he left a local bar, Cheeky Monkey’s, about 11pm on Friday, May 31.

Theo’s cousin Michael Dorkhom, a Brisbane IT worker, says the family knew from the beginning of the search that the online account could be the key to his whereabouts.

“We knew that we’ll get the most information out of his ­Google account, for sure,” Mr Dorkhom said.

“Maybe the first thing we actually did raise to the police was ‘Can we get access to his social media account, can you guys do that?’

“I thought it’d be something quite easy to do for them — we were expecting it to take a few days maximum, if not hours, to get that kind of information.

“If there was something I would have done differently, now that I know what I know, it’s not ­assuming things like that.”

NSW police were at the time ramping up a major investigation involving homicide detectives, obtaining data from phone company Telstra that showed Theo’s phone was last detected in the Cape Byron area on the afternoon of June 1.

The Google account was far more detailed, filling in the picture of what happened in the crucial period immediately after he left Cheeky Monkey’s.

It showed that from the bar, Theo walked along suburban streets towards Byron’s Youth ­Activities Centre, or YAC.

He stopped for a while at sports fields just short of bushland surrounding the YAC, then changed direction and headed east towards the Cape Byron Lighthouse area.

Theo’s family could see on Google Timeline a line — representing Theo, or his phone — going through more suburban streets to a small road called Milne Street.

It leads directly into Arakwal National Park. Theo, described by his family as sociable but cautious and responsible, followed a sandy track and then veered off into dense bushland.

Shortly before midnight, he emerged out of the bush on to Tallow Beach, a popular but more ­secluded surf spot, and went north to a dead-end called Cosy Corner.

The last thing that can be said for certain about Theo’s location from Google is that he was at Cosy Corner at 12.05am. Further use of his phone after this time supports the theory it was Theo, not someone else with his phone.

At 12.20am, his phone sent a reply to a friend on Facebook Messenger in French. It was a continuation of an earlier conversation about an upcoming tour of Australia by the band U2.

“Ugh, in September or something?” Theo’s message read.

At 12.55am, his phone also sent a WhatsApp message to his stepsister Emma in Belgium.

It, too, was a reply to an earlier message and had a kiss emoji with one word in French — “Merci”.

Checking “My Activity” in Theo’s Google account, the family saw he watched part of a YouTube video at 12.23am, an episode of a French comedy TV show called Burger Quiz.

Google’s My Activity also ­reveals Theo repeatedly used ­Google Maps after leaving Cheeky Monkey’s.

Each time he was searching for directions to his hostel, Wake Up! at Byron’s Belongil Beach, but he was going the opposite way.

Google Timeline had another element. The first part of the line to the sports fields was blue and had a walk symbol next to it.

The second part from the sports fields to Cosy Corner was red, and showed Theo running.

Theo’s family was at first able to get into his Hotmail email account by trying a password he used for a home computer.

Mr Dorkhom then used the Hotmail account to reset Theo’s Google account password.

He got into the Google account on the night of Sunday, June 16, and immediately advised homicide detectives. It was the day before Theo’s ­father, Laurent Hayez, made an emotional public appeal for help to locate his son.

MORE: Key people | Timeline: Theo Hayez in Australia

Prior to getting into Theo’s Google account, the family had ­focused their search efforts around his hostel, thinking he would have tried to head back there.

“Now, looking at what Google tells us, it’s basically that he did go the opposite way and he never went back,” Mr Dorkhom said.

“He actually never went back towards the backpackers that night. It was a bit of a shocker to know that we had just spent a week looking in an area where there was nothing to be found.”

Byron resident Nicoletta Revis has been helping Theo’s family since his cousins, Mr Dorkhom and Lisa Hayez, arrived in the town to search for him. “I have gone over it a billion times in my head, and there is no way anyone would walk into that bushland on their own, having been only (a couple of nights) in Byron,” Ms Revis said.

“There is no way he would even know to go in there. He had to be with someone. He absolutely had to have someone that knew ­exactly that entry. I mean, I’ve lived here nearly 20 years and I’ve never known that that existed.”

Google declined to answers questions about the case. It would not say when police approached for information about Theo, or what information was provided. “Our thoughts are with the Hayez family during this incredibly difficult time,” a spokeswoman said. “Google co-operates with law enforcement globally on lawful data access requests and has a process to disclose data in emergency situations where life is at risk.”

Police also declined to discuss the case. “As you’d be aware, the matter of Theo Hayez has been referred to the NSW Coroner. As such, this matter is now under coronial jurisdiction and it would be inappropriate for NSW police to comment further.”

Ms Revis, who helped line up free accommodation and food for the family, said before the family was able to access Theo’s Google account, she had been trying to find a hacker.

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Do you know more about Theo’s disappearance? You can confidentially send information to David Murray at [e-mail]