Lauren Hill speaks on disappearance of Gympie man Joe Johnson

The partner of Gympie man Joe Johnson, who was last seen four months ago, says he was trying to turn his life around but was definitely afraid and trying to protect her from something the day he went missing.

Lauren Hill, the partner of missing man Joe Johnson who was last seen at a Pie Creek property weeks before Christmas, 2023, has spoken on a disturbing series of events before he vanished with almost no trace.

The girlfriend of Joe Johnson, who vanished from his Gympie home before Christmas, has revealed the still missing 28-year-old was “scared for his life” in the lead-up to his disappearance.

Lauren Hill, who met Mr Johnson in March 2022, opened up on the heartbreaking last day she saw Joe, and the disturbing things that happened before he vanished.

Mr Johnson was last seen on December 12, 2023, at a Rocks Rd, Pie Creek property about 10km southwest of Gympie.

The only sign of his whereabouts in the 121 days since he went missing was a white Mitsubishi ute police believe to have been stolen on December 27, found abandoned in bushland at the end of Deans Rd, near Widgee Crossing South.

Police said they were able to link Mr Johnson to the ute.

Police and SES crews scoured bushland at The Palms after Joe Johnson was able to be linked to an allegedly stolen ute abandoned in the area, but no further trace of the 28-year-old has been found.

Subsequent searches of the nearby bushland involving police, divers, SES and volunteers in January found nothing.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ms Hill said a series of events had Mr Johnson “scared for his life” in the days before he disappeared.

These included him telling her he had been “run off the road” by another vehicle.

When Ms Hill arrived to help him she found him “very spooked out”.

He told her someone had previously “cut his transmission, put shaving cream all through his car and left a hot shot (a drug concoction) under his seat”.

“He was scared for his life,” Ms Hill said.

The ute was allegedly taken from a Noosa Rd address before 8am on or about December 12, 2023. It was found abandoned at The Palms on December 27, 15 days after Joe Johnson was last seen.

“I did think he was going a bit crazy but now that he’s disappeared I think he was telling the truth.”

Police said on Thursday, April 11, “all possibilities” were being explored as to the circumstances surrounding Mr Johnson’s disappearance and investigations were continuing.

Ms Hill said she and Mr Johnson had become “inseparable” before he disappeared, and he had been trying to turn his life around after an eight-month stint in jail for car theft and evading police.

“He was doing so well, he had been out of jail since March (2023),” she said.

Lauren Hill said Joe Johnson had been trying to turn his life around after an eight-month stint in jail. She said he was released in March 2023, and had been working on his resume the week before he vanished.

“The week before this happened we were doing his first ever resume.

“Then all of a sudden he has to go and meet up with these people … he just was shattered and said ‘I have to go get this car’.”

“It was like he had no choice.”

She said he did not disclose why he needed to get the car.

When he returned the next day he was initially in a better mood, she said, but soon decided he needed to go for a drive.

He rebuffed Ms Hill’s offer to join him.

He returned in a “stressed out mood” and worried he was “being followed and that his phone was being hacked”, she said and out of nowhere he told Ms Hill she “had to leave now” and he could not be with her any more.

Lauren Hill believes Joe Johnson was scared for his life before he vanished, saying he thought he had been intentionally run off the road in the weeks leading up to his disappearance.

“You’ll understand one day but I’m making you leave right now because I love you,” Ms Hill said.

“The face that he pulled as I drove away I could tell he didn’t want me to actually leave.”

That was 8pm on December 12, the day he was last seen.

“Joe was a beautiful guy that loved life and really wanted to turn his life around,” Ms Hill said.

“Unfortunately his past kept catching up with him.
“He was always there to help someone.”

She was desperate for him to be found and at least have a conclusion or closure, whatever the outcome.

Ms Hill herself had moved from the region, saying she had received threats.

“In my mind I think someone has forced him … and then something bad has happened,” Ms Hill said.

“Joe was my life and we had plans for the future.

“He didn’t want to live that life anymore.”

Originally published as Lauren Hill speaks on disappearance of Gympie man Joe Johnson