The Lighthouse podcast: side of the road sighting ignored in Theo Hayez case

A woman reported seeing a man wearing similar clothes to Theo Hayez, but police didn’t call her back | FINAL EPISODE

Leesa Horne on the highway south of Coffs Harbour where she believes she saw missing tourist Theo Hayez. Picture: Frank Redward

A woman says she reported seeing a man lying on the side of a highway wearing similar clothes to missing tourist Theo Hayez, but police didn’t call her back.

Queensland beauty therapist Leesa Horn says she was driving south on the Pacific Highway just past Coffs Harbour when a man tried to wave her down, standing next to another man who was flat on the ground and “looked dead”.

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It was the early hours of June 2 and later that morning, Ms Horn recorded and uploaded to Facebook a video of herself describing the distressing encounter.

That was four days before Theo’s family realised he had gone missing in Byron Bay, 240km north of Coffs Harbour.

She says after later seeing 18-year-old Theo on CCTV footage in news reports, she phoned Crime Stoppers.

She said, like Theo, the man lying on the road was wearing light-coloured pants and black shoes: “I told Crime Stoppers that I’m sure the guy I saw in the video was the guy lying on the road.”

The incident is one of the events to be discussed in a new episode of The Australian’s investigative podcast, The Lighthouse, to be released on Friday.

Private investigator Ken Gamble, investigating Theo’s dis­appearance on behalf of his family, said if correct, it could indicate police had taken a narrow ­approach to the investigation.

“If that’s the case, then there’s been a major bungle. If it’s a genuine report, then why would they not follow up on this?” he said.

“It may have nothing to do with it. I mean, these things happen all the time when you’re on the streets at night. There’s so many different scenarios that it could be.

“But it’s something that has to be pursued thoroughly in case it’s a lead.”

Theo, who was on a backpacking holiday, vanished after leaving a Byron bar, Cheeky Monkey’s, on the night of Friday May 31 this year.

NSW police said in a statement that Theo’s disappearance had been referred to the coroner and declined to comment further.

Byron Bay detectives have told Theo’s family they suspect he had an accident and fell at the Cape Byron cliffs.

The family, after tracking Theo’s movements via his smartphone and Google account, have doubts about the police theory and believe he may not have been alone.

Ms Horn this week returned to the spot on the highway and went searching for Theo in the scrub next to it, but found no sign of him.

“On the side of the road, on the shoulder, there was a guy, he would have been about 30, and he was waving me down,” Ms Horn said in her video. “And behind him on the road is a guy like sprawled out — like he was dead.”

In the video she told of seeing the men at 4.30am and said it was pitch black with nobody else on the road.

She had pulled over and started reversing but thought better of it.

“Something in my stomach said this is not right. I thought ‘No Leesa, just go’,” she says in the video.

“I started crying when I’m driving off because I thought what if somebody’s really hurt and they need my help. I didn’t know what to do. So I decided to ring 000.”

She said police from Coffs Harbour went out but couldn’t find anyone at the scene.

Mr Gamble wrote to the Byron Bay detective in charge of the Theo Hayez investigation last week seeking a meeting to discuss unfolding inquiries. He was in Byron Bay investi­gating Theo’s disappearance. His standard practice is to talk to police before ­approaching potential witnesses and persons of interest.

The detective, Phil Parker, replied that the matter had been referred to the coroner.

“We will not be making any comment or taking any meetings. Thank you,” he said.