Queensland Coroner hands down findings in Jeremiah Jayo Rivers’ disappearance

The coroner has handed down his findings almost three years to the day since Jeremiah ‘Jayo’ Rivers vanished in the Queensland outback.

A man who disappeared in outback Queensland while travelling with six others was “likely the victim of foul play”, a mammoth coronial investigation has found.

Coroner Donald MacKenzie also cleared the Police Service of any wrongdoing in the subsequent search and criminal investigation, saying that “the delays, lies, and inconsistencies” given to police by the other members of the travelling group “was the greatest hindrance” to finding the Indigenous man.

Jeremiah ‘Jayo’ Rivers was last seen at a campsite at the remote Wippo Creek in outback Queensland on October 18, 2021.

A five-day inquest was held in the Coroners Court in Brisbane on November 27-December 1 last year, examining the disappearance of 27-year-old Jeremiah “Jayo” Rivers, last seen at a campsite at the remote Wippo Creek, near Noccundra in South West Queensland, on October 18, 2021.

Mr Rivers and his kinship brother Joe Joe Kantilla-Gaden arranged the trip from Balranald in NSW to the Northern Territory, which they called home.

Their friend Matthew Moore joined them on the pig hunting trip, as did his Victorian friends – Travis Clare, Dylan Thomas, Joel McMaster and Kane Toohey.

The inquest heard that the group drove more than 1000km and illegally crossed the closed Queensland-NSW border to Wippo Creek. When they arrived around 7am or 8am on October 18, the group claims Mr Rivers went off to swim to cool down.

The family of missing man Jeremiah Rivers during the inquest in Brisbane earlier this year. Picture: Tertius Pickard

He did not return and was never seen again. He was not reported missing until 3pm the next day. A subsequent extensive eight-day search found nothing.

The Coroner said he ultimately could not refer the case to the Director of Public Prosecutions office for potential criminal charges.

“The lies and suspicious post-offence behaviour by October 22, 2021 where at least seven different versions were provided by those members, are lies that cannot be used in a criminal case strictly as post offence behaviour,” Mr MacKenzie said in Brisbane Coroner’s Court on Thursday.

“The reason is there is another explanation (for their repeated lies to police across multiple states) - they were trafficking cannabis, possibly other drugs, to the Northern Territory, or they were in breach of Covid- 19 restrictions at the time.

“My other concern in terms of making a referral to the DPP is that Jayo could still have died from natural causes … such as heat exposure or sunstroke.”

Jeremiah Rivers went missing near Noccundra in 2021.

No charges have been laid over Mr Rivers’ disappearance, the alleged Covid-19 border breach when the group crossed into Queensland, or the alleged drug trafficking plot into the Northern Territory.

In handing down his findings on Thursday in Brisbane, Mr MacKenzie referenced evidence heard last year that the group was allegedly trafficking drugs to the Northern Territory in their vehicles, and their entry into Queensland breached COVID-19 border rules in place at the time.

The court also heard that Queensland police have conducted a further investigation and search since the five-day inquest last year, but no further details were given on Thursday.

More to come.

Originally published as Queensland Coroner hands down findings in Jeremiah Jayo Rivers’ disappearance