Theo Hayez, a missing Belgian backpacker, has been formally ruled dead by a coroner, although it is unclear if he was the victim of foul play and had his corpse destroyed or whether he plunged over the cliffs in Byron Bay when he went missing three years ago.
State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan did note, however, that Hayez’s phone showed he had spent seven minutes at a nearby location known as the cricket nets and that he had’veered sharply’ off a trail close to a bush camp when she delivered her findings on Friday.
Theo, 18, vanished on May 31, 2019, about 11 p.m., after being expelled from the Cheeky Monkeys pub in Byron Bay, northern New South Wales.
Theo went missing when she discovered that he had passed away on or around June 1, 2019, at or near Byron Bay. According to the coroner, there are two primary ideas regarding what happened to Theo, but she was unable to definitively rule out either one.
The adolescent “met with a horrific mishap as he tried to climb towards the (Byron Bay) lighthouse alone,” the woman said.
The cricket nets area in Byron and Cosy Corner Beach, or he had met “with one or more individuals,” “and those persons caused his death and disposed of his corpse.”
She begged anybody with knowledge to come forward since she was unable to distinguish between either idea as the true reason of Theo’s death.
However, Theo’s suicide was absolutely ruled out by the coroner.
Theo allegedly “met one or more individuals at the cricket nets and went through Arakawal national Park to Tallow Beach,” according to the coroner, who added those who suspected foul play.
He may have met someone with local expertise who helped him traverse the streets till the start of the track after stopping for seven minutes at the cricket nets, according to what she stated.
“His hat was recovered in a long-term camp in the wilderness when he veered drastically off the trail.”
Theo “walked towards soft sand in the dune,” according to Coroner O’Sullivan, and then “climbed through difficult vegetation for eight minutes,” which was “unusual.”
She said that no assaults had been recorded in the vicinity and that nobody had seen anybody at the cricket nets, adding that a random backpacker murder in Byron Bay would be unusual.
Theo’s online behavior between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. included viewing a comedy show on YouTube, messaging his sister, and talking to a friend.
The misadventure idea, according to the coroner, had Theo falling over the Byron cliffs and having his corpse swept out to sea.
But she said that it was particularly risky at night to climb to the Cosy Corner headland.
Detective Senior Constable Philip Parker, the officer in charge of looking into Theo’s disappearance, discovered that the route was “frightening and daunting when he tried it alone at night” and that it was “unmarked, exceedingly dark, and difficult to spot, even in daylight.”
The Coroner said, “The last section through the jungle would have been extremely difficult walking.”
Theo may have been disoriented and lost, or even under the influence of drink or narcotics.
However, there was no proof that he was intoxicated or using narcotics. I don’t want to be judgmental of the Cheeky Monkeys crew, but they have acknowledged that there were no obvious indications of true drunkenness.
On the night of his disappearance, between 12.05 and 1.02 am, Theo’s phone, which has never been located, was last detected on the Byron headland and continued to transmit until it disconnected at 1.47 pm, according to Ms. O’Sullivan.
The fact that the phone kept transmitting for 13 hours could indicate that the user got separated from the phone and submerged himself in the water without it.
Theo’s personality is the biggest obstacle to the accident argument. It would be inconsistent with his cautious nature for him to undertake anything so rash.
It’s crucial to note that none of the other young travellers noticed him to be intoxicated. It’s difficult to believe he arrived in Cosy Corner by accident.
He was a consistent and skilled Google Maps user. He looked everywhere for his accommodation, even though it was obvious to him that he was travelling in the wrong way.
“I cannot say that Theo died accidentally. Insufficient data exist to support or refute the wither idea.
Coroner O’Sullivan advised police to advance their technology abilities by utilizing Google and Facebook to find missing people in the hopes that a police reward would incentivize anybody with information to come forward.
Theo’s distraught mother, Vinciane, spoke out about the impact of his abduction on her and their family on 60 Minutes last Sunday. She said: “I guess that we will never know but I hope our position, our tale, is useful to others.”
There comes a moment when you must cease living if you wish to keep doing so. Even towards the end of our lives, there will always be grief, but it is good to give up.
“Theo gets upset when I’m down,” I said. Additionally, I sense that Theo is empowering me.
She expressed the belief that there was still a “small window” available that would provide some insight into Theo’s fate that evening.
But when reporter Tara Brown questioned Vinciane about if she still had optimism that her son would return home, Vinciane sobbed, “I don’t believe so.”