Byron Bay has been rocked by another missing persons mystery, in a case eerily similar to the disappearance of Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez in 2019.
Theo’s disappearance sparked headlines (and conspiracy theories) around the world after the 18-year-old left the Cheeky Monkey bar and disappeared.
Now, another baffling case has caught the attention of the coastal town and its surrounding areas and, in a chilling twist, it has occurred exactly five years after Theo disappeared without a trace.
Gage Wilson, 31, was seen leaving Hakea Court in Mullumbimby, in the Byron Shire, in a white ute about 5am on May 18.
The 31-year-old man’s vehicle was later found crashed into a tree on Koonyum Range Road in Wilsons Creek.
Gage Wilson, 31, was seen leaving Hakea Court in Mullumbimby, in Byron Shire, in a white van at around 5am on May 18.
His sister Niki Manidakis says he was seen in a cafe in Mullumbimby around 8am.
The 31-year-old man’s vehicle was later found crashed into a tree on Koonyum Range Road in Wilsons Creek, just a 20-minute drive from Byron Bay, with the driver nowhere to be found.
Wilson did not have his phone with him at the time and it is unclear if anyone else had been in the van with him.
A massive search party has been launched for Mr Wilson, and his family fear he may have wandered out of the ute and into the woods in a daze.
Heat-seeking drones and Northern Rivers Dingo Rescue, which uses dingoes with extraordinary tracking capabilities, have been searching for Mr Wilson for the past 12 days.
A 24/7 search base was set up at Teales Lookout on Thursday as disinterested locals refuse to give up on Mr Wilson, who is autistic and between 170 and 180 cm tall, has short brown hair and tattoos on his legs and arms.
Residents in the area have been urged to search their properties for any sign of the man.
Manidakis calls his brother “a unique individual with a wonderful, generous heart and a quirky sense of humor.”
‘He is incredibly talented, intelligent and artistic. He is honest and authentic, and we greatly miss his presence,” he said in a GoFundMe Page created to raise money for the search.
Theo Hayez’s family has asked locals to help search for Mr Wilson.
Theo Hayez’s family has asked locals to help search for Mr Wilson.
“It’s hard to believe that five years have passed without hearing from Théo,” read a post from Theo’s family on social media.
‘Her laugh, her voice and her beautiful smile are still fresh in our memories.
“It has been a tough journey, to say the least, but the hope of knowing what happened to him has never left us.
“For those who want to honor Théo tomorrow, five years later, we encourage you to join the ground-based search for Gage Wilson.”
Mr. Wilson did not have his phone with him.
“Our hearts go out to his family and friends as they desperately search the Koonyum Range near Byron Bay.”
Theo, 18, went missing after being kicked out of Cheeky Monkeys bar in Byron Bay and was last seen by friends at around 11pm on May 31, 2019.
In her 2022 inquest, State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan said there were two main theories about the disappearance of Theo, who discovered he had died on or around June 1, 2019 in or around Byron Bay, but he could not rule out either of them being definitively the case.
She said the teenager had “suffered a terrible accident while just trying to climb towards the (Byron Bay) lighthouse”.
Or he had met “with one or more persons” between the Byron cricket net area and Cozy Corner beach “and those persons caused his death and disposed of his body.”
But he was unable to determine between any of the theories the actual cause of Theo’s death and urged anyone with information to come forward.
However, the coroner completely ruled out that Theo had taken his own life.
The coroner said those who suspected foul play theorized that Theo “had met one or more people at the cricket nets and had walked through Arakawal National Park to Tallow Beach”.
Police seen searching Byron Bay cliffs for Theo Hayez in 2019
She said he “stopped for seven minutes at the cricket nets, he may have met someone with local knowledge who helped him navigate the streets to the start of the track.”
“There was a long camp in the bush, where he swerved off the road, where they found his hat.”
Coroner O’Sullivan also said it was “unusual” that Theo “walked closer to the soft sand of the dune” before climbing through “steep bushland for eight minutes”.
However, he said no attacks had been reported in the area, “and ‘no one saw anyone in the cricket nets’ and a ‘random murder of a backpacker in Byron Bay’ would be extraordinary.”
Theo’s online activity between midnight and 1 a.m., watching a comedy show on YouTube and texting his sister and a friend, was “inconsistent with his sense of fear or danger.”
The coroner said the misadventure theory led to Theo falling off the cliffs at Byron and his body being washed out to sea.
But the climb to the Cozy Corner promontory is very dangerous, especially at night, he said.
The officer in charge of investigating Theo’s disappearance, Detective Chief Constable Philip Parker, had “found the walk frightening and intimidating when he attempted it alone at night” and that it “was unmarked, extremely dark and difficult to find, even during the day.”
“The last stretch through the bush would have been very hard,” the coroner said.
‘Theo may have been lost and confused, or potentially affected by alcohol or drugs.
‘(But) there was no evidence that he was on drugs or drunk. I’m not criticizing the staff at Cheeky Monkeys… but the staff have accepted as evidence that there were no clear signs of actual poisoning.’
Mr O’Sullivan said Theo’s phone, which has never been found, was last detected on Byron Headland between 00:05 and 01:02 on the night he disappeared and continued transmitting until it was disconnected to 1:47 p.m.
‘The fact that the phone continued transmitting… for 13 hours could suggest that he became separated from the phone and went into the water without it.
‘The biggest difficulty with the accident theory is Theo’s character. He was responsible and cautious and it would be out of line to try something so reckless.
‘Importantly, none of the other young backpackers noticed he was drunk. It’s hard to accept that he ended up in Cozy Corner by mistake.
‘I was a regular and competent user of Google Maps. He searched, he searched for his shelter…he would have easily realized that he was going in the wrong direction.
‘I cannot conclude that Theo died by misfortune. There is insufficient evidence to support or exclude Wither’s theory.
Coroner O’Sullivan hopes a police reward will encourage anyone with information to come forward, and also recommended police improve their technological skills by using Google and Facebook to track down missing people.
Call police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 with any information.
