By Renee Wood
Easter is a time of heartbreak for the Meyer family who still have no answers on what happened to Warren Meyer 14 years on after he went missing while on a bushwalk in the region.
Warren Meyer was staying at the Badger Creek Caravan Park for Easter in 2008 when he went for a hike to Dom Dom Saddle on Saturday 23 March, but he was never seen again.
The 57-year-old’s wife Zee Meyer was with him and friends that life changing weekend, and said she lives with the torment daily.
“14 years is very long time, and even though it’s well over a decade now, for us, it seems like it happened yesterday,” Ms Meyer said.
Warren parked his car at the Dom Dom Saddle car park before he set off on his journey, and it was later found locked and untouched since he left.
Emergency services combed the area for several days but he, nor any real clues where he was, were discovered.
“I think as the years go by, it comes almost more surreal because there are no answers, and you think how could that be possible, that all this time is gone and there’s just nothing there,” Ms Meyer said.
His family walked the high country every weekend looking for answers until the Black Saturday Fires came through, and vigils have been held at the site in previous years.
Most recently, private investigator Valentine Smith from MiPerNet, Missing Persons Network, joined the case and he has explored several different possibilities.
One of those is that there was ‘human interference’ with reports of ‘shooters’ being in the area.
Mr Smith said he has studied all entities of the case including the times of the shootings against Warren’s probable arrival at Dom Dom, his walking rate and the last tower connection of his telephone.
“It is highly likely that Warren’s disappearance was influenced by his being involved in an incident with the Shooters, who were reported as being on the Monda track on both Saturday afternoon of 22 March 2008 and Sunday morning of 23 March 2008,” he said.
“Those shooters are reported to have fired up to two hundred rounds of centre-fire ammunition over an approximate two hour period, on each of the days.”
However, this is not the only probable cause linked to the disappearance and other scenarios are being investigated, including the connection with an escaped psychiatric patient diagnosed as having homicidal thoughts.
The patient Anthony Williams, who died in 2009, was seen in the high country the day before the experienced hiker went missing.
Mr Smith has investigated the timelines of both parties and has found a window where the two could have crossed paths.
“In 2018 I re-examined those timelines and determined that there was a twenty to thirty minute window of opportunity for Anthony to have come into contact with Warren,” he said.
“This along with other information changes the thinking regarding this matter, but again it is not conclusive and no assumptions should be made.”
Although there are several hypotheses on what may have happened to the father of two, there’s still no definitive answer on what ill fortune Warren met on that day.
It’s hoped locals and visitors alike returning to the region for Easter may come forward with anything locked in their memories from the past.
“It was Easter and people were there in great numbers… and there were quite a few people camping and trail bike riding things like that, so I’m sure they are people out there who have witnessed something,” Ms Meyer said.
“Maybe they don’t see the significance of it, but any information, no matter how small might just set key to unlocking what happened.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crimestoppers 1800 333 000.
