The Lighthouse: Step by step – Timeline of Theo Hayez’s last known whereabouts
It was six days after Theo Hayez vanished before a full search was undertaken.
Here is the timeline of Theo Hayez’s last known whereabouts.
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November 12, 2018 – Theo arrives in Australia. He goes straight to the home of his Belgian godfather, Jean-Philippe Pector (JP). He stays with JP and his wife Julia and their children for several weeks.
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March, 2019 – After living a short while in Melbourne with his cousin Lisa Hayez, Theo heads off to travel to Adelaide, the Top End, and Cairns.
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May 25 – Theo visits his cousins Lisa Hayez and Michael Dorkhom in Brisbane. He has dinner with them and stays overnight.
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May 26 – Theo takes a bus to the Gold Coast.
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Wednesday, May 29 – Theo takes a bus to Byron Bay and checks into the Wake Up! Hostel at 2.30pm.
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Friday, May 31 – In the early evening, Theo and a new friend from his hostel catch the hostel’s shuttle bus into town to buy some alcohol for a barbecue that night. They catch an Uber back to the hostel about 7.45pm.
After the barbeque at the hostel, the backpackers decide to go to Cheeky Monkey’s, a local bar, walking there and arriving at 9.35pm.
The travellers become separated in the bar. Theo is asked to leave about 11pm, with police later saying he was intoxicated.
More than two weeks after this event, on Sunday, June 16, Theo’s cousin Michael Dorkhom was able to access Theo’s Google account which revealed precisely the track the young traveller had taken after leaving Cheeky Monkey’s.
11.07pm – Theo starts walking away from Cheeky Monkey’s. Just over a minute later, he stops on Kingsley Street for a minute and enters the address of his hostel into Google maps. He then contrinues walking for four minutes and 40 seconds at an average speed of just over 7km per hour.
At the end of Tennyson Street, near the edge of the bushland that surrounds the Byron Youth Activities Centre, he stops for a total of almost seven minutes. There are cricket nets here, and a concrete slab, and Google data shows Theo was within three metres of this spot.
11.21pm – Theo leaves the concrete slab behind the cricket nets at the end of Tennyson Street. He crosses to the other side of the sports field, winding his way through suburban streets to Massinger Street. According to the Google data, he walked this section at almost 6km per hour and checked Google Maps a couple of times on the way. The map always had the way back to his hostel.
From Massinger Street, Theo heads through more suburban streets until he reaches Milne Street where suburbia ends and there’s a clearing looking out over Arakwal National Park to the ocean and to the lighthouse.
From here, Theo does not take the Milne Track which leads straight to Tallow Beach, but instead heads onto a separate bush track heading north, going an average speed of more than seven and a half kilometres an hour - pretty much a run - in difficult terrain. Theo was racing through the national park in the pitch black.
He stops and searches again for his hostel on Google Maps. Again he heads in the opposite direction, heading right, further into the bush.
11.48pm – Theo reaches Tallow Beach, exiting the bush via a tiny path. Right near the exit is a camp site. He searches Google Maps again for his hostel.
Theo then walks to Cosy Corner at the northern end of Tallow Beach at an average speed of just under 6km per hour.
Just before midnight, Theo leaves the beach at Cosy Corner and goes up into the bush, climbing a steep hill through thick bushland and lantana. Surrounded by a tangle of vines and shielded from the outside world, Theo stops for five and half minutes.
He then takes less than two minutes to go back down the steep slope to the beach.
Saturday, June 1
12.05am – Google Timeline’s tracking of Theo ends. According to Google, at this time Theo was at Cosy Corner.
12.20am – Theo sends a friend a message about the band U2 via Messenger on his phone.
12.23am – Theo watches part of a French comedy video, Burger Quiz, on YouTube.
12.55am – Theo sends a WhatsApp message to his step-sister Emma in Belgium. It was a reply to an earlier message from Emma, and it had a kiss emoji with one word in French: “Merci”.
12.56am – The last registered time of use of Theo’s WhatsApp account.
1.42pm – A signal from his mobile phone is detected in the Cape Byron vicinity.
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Monday, June 3 – Theo was due to check out of his hostel and take a Greyhound bus to Sydney, but did not do so.
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Thursday, June 6 – Theo’s mum, Vinciane Delforge, sends a message to Lisa Hayez, concerned because Theo has not responded to her messages and has fallen silent online for six days. Lisa can’t reach Theo on his phone and finds out his belongings including his passport had been left at his hostel. Hostel and family report him missing.
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Saturday, June 8 – A local volunteer search effort begins in Byron, organised by Theo’s cousins Lisa and Michael, via Facebook.
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Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9 – Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter conducts a coastal search for Theo.
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Sunday, June 9 – SES begin a ground search, and Belgian police contact JP and Michael for the first time.
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Wednesday, July 3 – The physical search by police is suspended.
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Sunday, July 7 – Volunteers continuing the search for Theo find his grey Puma hat in the bushland near Tallow Beach. The cap has familiar wear and tear on the brim, and the position precisely matches one of his last known GPS locations.
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Thursday, August 22 – Two dogs from Sydney trained to detect human remains scour the rugged terrain around Cape Byron Lighthouse after being brought in by the volunteers.
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Monday, September 16 – Police announce they have referred the disappearance of Theo to the NSW Coroner.
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Statement from Theo’s parents
“We would like to express our gratitude to David Murray and The Australian for their commitment to telling the story of Théo’s disappearance in the upcoming podcast. We welcome this collaboration with hope that answers can be found. We believe that Théo was not alone on the night that he disappeared and that sooner or later somebody must speak out. We are blessed to have the support of the incredible community in Byron Bay and loving friends and family. We have worked closely with David in the development of this podcast and believe that, along with the coroner’s investigation, it is the best way forward for now. We will not give up until we know what happened to Théo.”
~ Laurent Hayez and Vinciane Delforge
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