Australia Australia - Theo Hayez, 18, Belgian backpacker, Byron Bay, June 2019

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I wonder if it was whoever was in his car with him - if someone was in the car with him. Or someone waiting for him to get home. It is the 'we' in his words ...

But he says "I was getting home" not "we"... Maybe it was a neighbour who saw someone running.

"I was getting home close to that time also, so it was unfortunate I didn’t see anything..."
 
I wonder if it was whoever was in his car with him - if someone was in the car with him. Or someone waiting for him to get home. It is the 'we' in his words about living there, although it is 'I' when he speaks of getting home or being able to help.

Shirley Street looks like a fairly well travelled street, judging by the traffic that was there in that video.
Yeah, it's the main rd on the way into Byron. I've been calling that section Ewingsdale rd. Now looking at the map it's a bit clearer. I camped out in my panel van just off Dryden. The police station is on that rd. It never felt dangerous when I walked down there. I used to travel down that rd late at night a few years ago.
 
Yeah, it's the main rd on the way into Byron. I've been calling that section Ewingsdale rd. Now looking at the map it's a bit clearer. I camped out in my panel van just off Dryden. The police station is on that rd. It never felt dangerous when I walked down there. I used to travel down that rd late at night a few years ago.
Dryden is was basically an alleyway from what I can recall. I wouldn't have really thought of it as a normal street, just an access rd for houses, as I remember it. That big space between Border and Kendell st is where a lot of people stay when they don't want to pay for accommodation.
 
It's very odd to me - he leaves the CM at about 11pm, is seen on cctv in various locations, is seen running at about 11.30 pm, never returns to his room but sends a message at 12.20 am. Where was he when he sent that message? Still out and about in the cold? Maybe the alcohol made him feel warm enough to keep walking around?
 
“He was seen running at one point past where we are living, I was getting home close to that time also, so it was unfortunate I didn’t see anything or wasn’t able to help”

I wonder what made the person say that it was unfortunate he wasn't able to help. What made him think that Theo needed help at that point? Something he saw? Something odd, out of place? Was Theo stumbling perhaps?
 
It's very odd to me - he leaves the CM at about 11pm, is seen on cctv in various locations, is seen running at about 11.30 pm, never returns to his room but sends a message at 12.20 am. Where was he when he sent that message? Still out and about in the cold? Maybe the alcohol made him feel warm enough to keep walking around?
It is very odd. Perhaps he came across some campers and was having a conversation for a while (bush campers). They might not be on CCTV because of that space between Border and Kendell.
 
Was the fb message part of a conversation or just Theo sending a message as they don’t always deliver right away depending on signal and or device. My phone can alert and 30 minutes later my tablet will alert for the same message
 
It is very odd. Perhaps he came across some campers and was having a conversation for a while (bush campers). They might not be on CCTV because of that space between Border and Kendell.
When I did stay there, there were deal bags and needle packets in discarded in fairly open locations, so drug use in that particular area was obvious at the time.
 
I wonder if it was whoever was in his car with him - if someone was in the car with him. Or someone waiting for him to get home. It is the 'we' in his words about living there, although it is 'I' when he speaks of getting home or being able to help.

Shirley Street looks like a fairly well travelled street, judging by the traffic that was there in that video.
There was a lot of traffic on Shirley Street, day and night. But hardly anyone was walking along the street at night, that was my experience.

But he says "I was getting home" not "we"... Maybe it was a neighbour who saw someone running.

"I was getting home close to that time also, so it was unfortunate I didn’t see anything..."
I hope this "running Theo" story is real from credible witness(es), and not just hearsay around the neighbourhood that he was repeating! And then channel 7 simply panned over to Shirley Street outside the guy's house, without any solid evidence where exactly running Theo was seen....:confused:

Was the fb message part of a conversation or just Theo sending a message as they don’t always deliver right away depending on signal and or device. My phone can alert and 30 minutes later my tablet will alert for the same message
Great point. When exactly was that Messenger message sent out from Theo's phone? His friend in Belgium might have received it at 12:20(?) am (AEST), but does that mean that was also the message sent time?
 
It’s reported the message at 12.20am was sent via Facebook messenger not whatsapp.
So police either know his Whatsapp was used AFTER 12.20am or was being consistently used around the time he was walking home

I posted a while ago that it has been confirmed thay at 1 am, the last Whatsapp message was send from Théo's phone.

Seems he was OK two hours after leaving the bar, yet no one coming forward claiming to have seen him or spend time with him.
 
I've been following this discussion here and there, and I'm trying to get a big picture sense of what happened. Can someone confirm whether this is correct please:

He was at a pub and left (or was required to leave), he went to a liquor store, he was near the lighthouse, might have been at the nearby beach, and then he vanished?

Has anyone looked at the tides near the time that he vanished?
 
I've been following this discussion here and there, and I'm trying to get a big picture sense of what happened. Can someone confirm whether this is correct please:

He was at a pub and left (or was required to leave), he went to a liquor store, he was near the lighthouse, might have been at the nearby beach, and then he vanished?

Has anyone looked at the tides near the time that he vanished?

- Theo went to a liquor store early in the evening (7:40ish) on Fri 31st May, bought a bottle of wine, with a friend.
- Then he went to a barbeque.
- Then he went to a bar, was ejected after an hour, at 11pm.
- Then he was seen walking and running on the route back to his backpackers hostel (between 11pm and 11:30pm).
- No record of him reaching his backpackers hostel, swipe card was not used. Passport and belongings found in his room.
- Then he sent a couple of messages - one on FB (12:20am) and at least one on WhatsApp (1am).
- Then nothing that we know about ever again.

Theo's phone last pinged (in sleep mode) from the general area of the lighthouse - nowhere near his hostel or where he was last seen - at 1:42pm on the afternoon after (1st June) he went missing.

Tide chart for Wategos Beach - closest tides available near the lighthouse - is here .......
Wategos Beach Tide Times, NSW - WillyWeather

Theo was happy to have booked his travel and flights back to Belgium, would be leaving from Melbourne within the next couple of weeks after his disappearance. Had plans to help his dad with a band back in Belgium. Before starting University in a science and maths stream.
 
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- Theo went to a liquor store early in the evening (7:40ish) on Fri 31st May, bought a bottle of wine, with a friend.
- Then he went to a barbeque.
- Then he went to a bar, was ejected after an hour, at 11pm.
- Then he was seen walking and running on the route back to his backpackers hostel (between 11pm and 11:30pm).
- No record of him reaching his backpackers hostel, swipe card was not used. Passport and belongings found in his room.
- Then he sent a couple of messages - one on FB (12:20am) and at least one on WhatsApp (1am).
- Then nothing that we know about ever again.

Theo's phone last pinged (in sleep mode) from the general area of the lighthouse - nowhere near his hostel or where he was last seen - at 1:42pm on the afternoon after (1st June) he went missing.

Tide chart for Wategos Beach - closest tides available near the lighthouse - is here .......
Wategos Beach Tide Times, NSW - WillyWeather

Theo was happy to have booked his travel and flights back to Belgium, would be leaving from Melbourne within the next couple of weeks after his disappearance. Had plans to help his dad with a band back in Belgium. Before starting University in a science and maths stream.

Thank you! I was hoping that this was more along the lines of an accident, but given the timeline, it sounds worse.
 
he could have met someone that night and driven to the lighthouse. he hadnt been there long so may have been keen to see it, and it would be warm in the car, if they were drinking etc, there could have been an accident or an argument?
 
he could have met someone that night and driven to the lighthouse. he hadnt been there long so may have been keen to see it, and it would be warm in the car, if they were drinking etc, there could have been an accident or an argument?
It could be possible. Someone camping out in their van. Theo and the unsub strike up a conversation. He's ok for a while, messages home. At some point, the lighthouse becomes a destination. Maybe they offered him a substance to which he had a bad reaction, or had an altercation. The ocean is right there. The phone falls out of a pocket and goes unnoticed. The backpacker's hit the road before daylight.

The running/jogging???? Does it have meaning?
 
It could be possible. Someone camping out in their van. Theo and the unsub strike up a conversation. He's ok for a while, messages home. At some point, the lighthouse becomes a destination. Maybe they offered him a substance to which he had a bad reaction, or had an altercation. The ocean is right there. The phone falls out of a pocket and goes unnoticed. The backpacker's hit the road before daylight.

The running/jogging???? Does it have meaning?
I've jogged on the way to a location before for no reason, but I hadn't been drinking and was probably looking forward to staring a day or an evening, not finishing one.
 
Does Wake Up have its own CCTV? I'm wondering if the reason the key card wasn't used was because the door was open (either left by accident, another person he was sharing with-if he was sharing--opened it)..

It seems he was intending to head home, and sent messages long after he'd be expected home (perhaps he got home, sent the messages, possibly slept for a bit... Got up and made the bed and then headed back out for sunrise)... Perhaps with someone who had transport (meaning no Cctv of him walking anywhere) or perhaps along the beach.

Is the beach particularly rocky? To the point that someone could slip and bump their head, then be taken by the tide? Does the high tide cut off access along the beach - which might mean someone already on the beach might try to pass between waves/through water that was initially shallow, and then got knocked over by a wave and dragged out by the current before dawn... Assuming the phone was waterproof as someone suggested earlier, perhaps henwas taken by the currents around the direction of the lighthouse and it took time for the phone to become waterlogged enough to lose power and cease working.

Is anyone familiar with determining then water current on particular days? Or is anyone familiar with that beach?
 
Most backpackers have CCTV. That avenue has been exhausted. I am familiar with Byron and some surrounding area. I stayed there, in various locations in various situations for 8 months or something. Basically, I lived at the arts factory and other camping grounds. I lived with backpackers and lived like a backpacker, well I was one, just in my own country.
I'm not sure if those keycards are computerized and can give information about arrival and departure, but I'm pretty sure he didn't return to the hostel, there would have been evidence.
 
Byron Bay is a major tourist destination. The alcohol and drug use and transience of that town is probably a major concern to most of the businesses and community.
So why is the only footage of Theo outside of cheeky monkeys when it's on the main street and the most logical path to his locate is through the town, past the 1st service station, heading right down Shirly? If that was his path, CCTV would have a number of images. How did he get to where he did without being seen on CCTV? More importantly, why did he take a route that was obviously so isolated?
 
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