Coroner to probe death of Jeremiah Rivers

In the two years since Jeremiah Rivers disappeared in a remote and barren corner of Queensland, his family has been subject to scammers, false reports and a drawn-out investigation. Now an inquest hopes to put the matter to rest.

For more than two years, Jeremiah Rivers’ family has mourned his loss, unable to find closure as his disappearance remains a mystery.

An extensive police search of the remote and barren scrub of South West Queensland failed to turn up any clues as to what happened after he disappeared from a camp on October 18, 2021.

Now a coronial inquest set down for later this month hopes to change that.

It will hear from about 15 witnesses, including the police who led the search and each of the men who were on that fateful pig hunting trip with Mr Rivers.

One of the last photos taken of Jeremiah Rivers. This was released by police probing his disappearance.

At a pre-inquest conference, counsel assisting the coroner Sarah Lio-Willie, said Mr Rivers was returning to his Northern Territory home after a stint playing AFL in Balranald, NSW, when he met up with the hunting party.

That party consisted of Mr Rivers’ kinship brother Joe Joe Kantilla-Gaden, who he knew from the Territory, Matthew Moore from Balranald, and four men who he had not met before – Travis Clare, Dylan Thomas, Joel McMaster and Kane Toohey.

“When Mr Moore heard Mr Clare was driving from Victoria to the Northern Territory he asked if Mr Rivers and Mr Kantilla-Gaden could get a ride to Darwin. Mr Clare’s group were excited to be joined by the two men because they said they were going to teach the group about their customs and traditional hunting methods,” Ms Lio-Willie said.

Jeremiah River can been seen on the black basketball jersey in this photo that was taken at the Wippo Creek campsite.

Queensland was subject to tight Covid border restrictions at the time but the party was able to cross into the state somewhere between Tibooburra, NSW and Wippo Creek, 20km south of Noccundra.

Throughout the drive from Balranald, Mr Rivers was drinking VB beer and smoking methylamphetamine, Ms Lio-Willie said.

“Mr Kantilla-Gaden described Jayo as being loud, drunk and hallucinating by this time.”

Sometime after arriving at Wippo Creek, Mr Rivers walked off from the camp telling Mr Toohey that he wanted to go swimming.

This was the last time anyone saw Mr Rivers.

The family of missing man Jeremiah Rivers searched for him from him until it was deemed that it would have been impossible for him to still be alive.

Ms Lio-Willie told the pre-inquest conference that the party went looking for Mr Rivers but could not find him.

Importantly, they held off reporting the matter to the police until the next day as they were concerned about potentially being subject to a $66,000 fine for breaching the Covid border restriction.

Police launched a search and rescue operation that included police divers, SES volunteers, local volunteers, aircraft, thermal imaging, ATVs, and trail bikes.

Police divers searched water courses near where Jeremiah Rivers disappeared.

It was suspended on October 24 and Mr Rivers’ family held a smoking ceremony at Thargomindah.

“That afternoon, police took the family to the search area to allow them time to explore the area and get a feel for the country,” Ms Lio-Willie said.

“The family identified a spiritual calling towards Wilson River in Noccundra and believed he was in this area.

“The police reactivated the search on 29 October and continued the search efforts for a further three days, using a gyrocopter, helicopter, ATVs, trail bikes and 14 personnel.”

It also included dogs trained to sniff out cadavers.

Queensland police continue to investigate the suspicious disappearance of 27-year-old Jeremiah Rivers.

The search failed to uncover any sign of what happened to Mr Rivers, so the matter moved to an investigation phase that called in expert officers from the Homicide Squad.

Ms Lio-Willie said they also drew on leads from a psychic medium.

There had been reports of sightings in Logan, Charleville, Tweed Heads, Cairns and Ravenshoe.

They were investigated and deemed to be mistaken, untrue or incapable of being verified.

“The Rivers’ family has unfortunately also been subject to scammers claiming they kidnapped Mr Rivers and were holding him for ransom,” Ms Lio-Willie said.

“The police investigation into this identified the sender of the messages was from overseas and was an attempt to exploit the family for money.

“To this day Mr Rivers’ family do not know what happened to him.”

The inquest opens on November 27 and will look at whether Mr Rivers is dead, how he died, whether anyone is responsible and the adequacy of the police investigation.