A $500,000 reward has been announced to help a family find answers to why their son disappeared without a trace 24 years ago.
Marc Christian Mietus was last seen at a property in Booyal, near Bundaberg, central Queensland, early on Australia Day 2000.
Almost three weeks earlier, on January 6, the 21-year-old moved from Melbourne and picked up a hitchhiker in his white ute at a truck stop in Gilgandra, western New South Wales, on his way to Queensland.
Mr Mietus drove the hitchhiker to his 44 hectare property in the Wide Bay region.
The two men arrived at the property the next day and Mr Mietus moved into a caravan on the property, where at the time there were other people staying there in vans and makeshift houses.
Mietus spent the next 19 days traveling between Booyal and Brisbane before disappearing and was never seen again.
Marc Christian Mietus (pictured) disappeared on Australia Day in 2000 and was last seen by friends at a property in Booyal, southeast Queensland.
The property in Booyal where Marc was last seen on Australia Day 2000.
His heartbroken family launched a desperate public appeal for answers. an emotional police press conference in Brisbane on Friday,
Kris Mietus urged anyone with information about her missing son to come forward.
“Twenty-four years of not knowing anything is a really emotional stretch for the family,” he said.
“There must be someone out there who knows something about this case, someone knows what happened to my son.”
“We would like the people who respond to be brought to justice, we know we will never get him back, but we hope this provides new information and brings closure to our family.”
Police have offered a $500,000 reward for information related to the alleged murder of Mr. Mietus.
The reward offered by police is double the amount first offered in 2015.
Queensland Police cold case officers believe there are people who have information about Mr Mietus’ disappearance.
“We are appealing to anyone who observed or knew someone in the Booyal Childers area in 2000 owning or driving a Ford Brown XD sedan with a dull alloy crash bar and standard wheels to come forward,” he said. Detective Senior Sergeant Tara Kentwell.
Mietus was headed to the Sunshine State to get his life back on track.
At an emotional press conference in Brisbane on Friday, Kris Mietus (pictured left) urged anyone with information about his missing son to come forward.
Mietus moved from Melbourne to Queensland in a white 1985 Ford Falcon ute (pictured), picking up a hitchhiker along the way in western New South Wales.
A few years earlier, the promising young Australian rules football star struggled to come to terms with the fact that he had been kicked out of an AFL feeder club and began going down the wrong path that involved drugs and mixing with the wrong crowd.
On the morning of January 18, 2000, he stopped at a service station on the Bruce Highway, near Gympie, for petrol.
Unable to pay, he said he told staff he would go to Hervey Bay and return and make the payment.
He left his mobile phone, Victorian driving license and his father’s contact details as collateral.
Sgt Kentwell said a witness at the time recalled a person who was sitting in the passenger seat of the ute and did not leave the vehicle.
The witness described the person as being in his 30s with long, shoulder-length dark hair.
Police have doubled the reward to $500,000 for information in connection with the alleged murder of Marc Mietus
Mr. Mietus (left) headed to the Sunshine State during his student days to get his life back on track.
Later that day Mr Mietus swapped his ute for a 1987 red and white Honda XL 250 motorcycle with Queensland registration ST 333.
Eight days later, on January 26, Mietus went to a friend’s house in Brisbane, where he packed the belongings he had left for Booyal onto his motorcycle.
On his way to the property, he was stopped by police south of Gympie at 2.45am, before arriving at Boyal’s property at 6.30am.
The landlord asked Mr. Mietus to pay the rent, to which Mr. Mietus responded that he had to ask his friend for the money.
They described him as distant and that his speech was disjointed
Mietus drove his motorcycle to a nearby bar, where he made three phone calls to a person in Brisbane, before returning to Booyal’s property.
He told others on the property that his friend would pick him up and returned to his caravan. This was the last confirmed sighting of Mr. Mietus.
Mietus swapped his ute for a red and white 1987 Honda XL 250 motorcycle eight days before he disappeared.
Sergeant Kentwell said another witness told police he saw a tan XD Ford Sedan leaving Booyal’s property.
The witness said Mietus could have been inside the vehicle.
The sedan had a full alloy bar and standard wheels and traveled to Booyal Roadhouse around 26 January 2000.
Police have not found the vehicle and the sedan’s passengers have never been identified.
More than 200 police investigations have been carried out into Mr Mietus’ disappearance and 104 statements have been taken.
Officers will search Booyal’s property at the weekend.
A tan XD Ford Sedan was seen leaving Booyal’s property the day Marc disappeared.