NT Police to offer $500K for information about Richard Roe’s disappearance near Lake Bennett in 2016
A coronial inquest was unable to solve the mystery surrounding Richard Roe’s disappearance, now NT Police have doubled their reward for a case that has plagued the “Underbelly of Darwin” for the past nine years.
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WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are warned the following article contains names and images of the deceased.
A record-setting half a million dollar reward could finally offer a Top End family closure and solve a missing persons mystery that has plagued the “Underbelly of Darwin” for the past nine years.
For almost a decade, the family of Richard Ken Roe have been waiting for any answers about why the 40-year-old Darwin father vanished from the side of the highway in 2016, with a coronial inquest last year unable to provide any answers.
The Top End footy-mad dad was last seen trying to flag down motorists for fuel on November 2, after his 2004 Holden Commodore station wagon broke down on the side of the Stuart Highway near Lake Bennett.
It took almost a month for a missing persons report to be filed, and no signs of Mr Roe were ever uncovered.
The inquest heard Mr Roe’s life had spiralled out of control in 2011 after the suicide of a close friend and he became trapped in the ‘underbelly of Darwin’.
The inquest heard Mr Roe owed “significant amounts of money to people” and was acting as a debt collector for drug dealers, with rumours he fell afoul of two men in a dispute over a $8000 camper trailer.
Following three days of evidence from 11 witnesses in May last year, Mr Geary concluded there were two theories to explain Mr Roe’s disappearance.
Either the “erratic, forgetful, disorganised and paranoid” man became disoriented in the bush and died of “misadventure”, or Mr Roe was killed at the hands of his “drug industry” associates.
However Mr Geary said there was insufficient evidence to draw any conclusions as to the involvement, but said if it was “foul play” the only hope for answers was to substantially increase the current $250,000 offer for information.
“This sum of money, offered since 2019, in my view, is too low and should be substantially increased,” Mr Geary said.
Following the inquest, Mr Roe’s cousin Theresa Roe said her family would never find closure until they were able to locate his body.
On Tuesday, Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby confirmed that on April 9 NT Police had agreed to double the reward for information about the death of Mr Roe .
“The Northern Territory Police Force accept the recommendation and the current cash sum of $250,000 has been increased to $500,000,” she said.
This is the largest ever missing person’s reward from NT Police — more than for Peter Falconio, Paddy Moriarty or Angie Fuller.
NT Police were asked if they would consider increasing the reward for any other missing persons cases.
A spokesman said police could increase the reward on application, but “at this stage we are unable to provide further information”.
“Any confirmed monetary changes to reward amounts will be disseminated to the public via an updated media release,” a spokesman said.
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Originally published as NT Police to offer $500K for information about Richard Roe’s disappearance near Lake Bennett in 2016
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