Families of missing persons say police failing them

“If I’m a suspect, just tell me I’m a suspect,” Mr Cunningham said.

“But it’s been over 50 years and all I want in answers.”

He’s not alone in finding Queensland Police a frustrating barrier when it comes to old missing persons cases.

Recently, Mr Cunningham began working with retired Queensland Police detective sergeant Michael Gurn in an effort to dig up evidence without the police’s help.

They were successful in finding second-hand witnesses and good leads, but when Mr Gurn handed his interviews and evidence over to police – nothing was done.

“Their reaction has me stumped,” Mr Gurn said.

“We need a Commission Inquiry to get to the truth of it all – into the police mishandling.”

Despite Anita disappearing 51 years ago, her case is still classed as “open and active” by Queensland Police and there is a $250,000 reward for any information which leads to a conviction.

A Queensland Police spokesman said all missing person reports remain open until the missing person is located and that all information and lines of inquiry in missing persons cases continued to be pursued.

“Cold case homicide and long-term suspicious missing persons investigations are complex,” the spokesman said.

“All information and lines of inquiry continue to be pursued by detectives from the Cold Case Investigation Team (CCIT).”

The CCIT are based in Brisbane City – a long way from the Flinders Hwy.

Mr Cunningham said he’s watched Mr Gurn’s new evidence be “denied out of hand” by police and fully supports the former detective sergeant’s calls for a Commission of Inquiry.

Execution style shooting

In 1972, Anita Cunningham disappeared from Pentland while hitchhiking to Townsville.

The body of Anita’s travelling companion Robin Jeanne Hoinville-Bartram was later found under the Sensible Creek railway bridge with two .22 bullet wounds in the back of her skull.

Despite searches, 18-year-old Anita was never found.

Her family has tirelessly searched for answers over the last five decades, but they keep hitting a brick wall when it comes to Queensland Police.

Anita Cunningham grew up in Melbourne and Victoria Police were partially involved in her missing case.

Mr Cunningham said whenever he works with Victoria Police they are open and help him with FOI requests, giving him entire files.

But when he tries to get information out of Queensland Police, they are “totally difficult” and act “guarded”.

“I felt treated like the enemy,” he said.

“And I’m still not allowed information because the case is ‘under investigation’. I think they are biding their time. Mick is 90, I’m 71. Anyone who can say anything will be dead soon and the police will avoid embarrassment.”

“They followed up on a lot of false sightings instead of listening to me” mother says

The mother of a man who disappeared outside Charters Towers in 2017 shares a nearly identical experience with Mr Cunningham.

Newcastle 22-year-old Jayden Penno-Tompsett disappeared on New Year’s Eve outside the Charters Towers Puma Service Station, while on a road trip to Cairns with another Newcastle man.

His mother Racheal Penno said it was no secret her son was using drugs, but he was also travelling with other drug user and dealers, and she believes police trusted these people far too much.

“The person he was travelling with had threatened to have Jayden ended by bikies in the past. When I told the detective that he scoffed and had a chuckle,” Ms Penno said.

“They followed up on a lot of false sightings instead of listening to me.”

Ms Penno said at one point she put information about her missing son on Facebook, which led to Queensland Police “having a go at me”.

“After that we never spoke again. There were times were I was meant to be having meetings with the detectives and I was left in the waiting area. I found out later they were there the whole time, they just didn’t want to see me,” she said.

“Is that how you treat the mother of a missing person? I’d been searching along the riverbed for three weeks looking for my son’s dead body – and they laughed at me.”

Three weeks after Jayden was reported missing, police ruled the 22-year-old dead by ‘misadventure and dehydration’ – a common cause of death given to those who disappear in the bush.

No trace of Jayden Penno-Tompsett has ever been found.

Coronial inquest “a giant waste of money”

Years after her son was declared dead, Ms Penno appealed to have the investigation scrutinised before a coronial inquest in her quest for answers.

“The whole thing was a giant waste of money and the years I spent preparing,” she said.

“They already had their minds made up”.

The distraught mother said she was made to feel like the police were colluding to support their initial ruling, to avoid “embarrassment”.

At the coronial inquest, Ms Penno said her barrister was barred from representing her in the ninth hour because he was doing it pro-bono.

“The court vetoed him and I got appointed a solicitor in Townsville. This new guy had no time to go through the evidence,” she said.

“We gave information to the council, but they didn’t give it to the judge. Everyone I called to give evidence on the stand was vetoed. We didn’t get one person we requested.”

It wasn’t until this coronial inquiry – four years after her son went missing – that Ms Penno was made aware of crucial aspects like security camera footage being recorded in UTC time (not local time, so the footage of her son appears to be at 6pm rather than 3am) and that police had a 170-page investigation log she’d never seen before.

“The police investigation was a joke and we can’t open half the files,” Ms Penno said.

“What files we did get, someone had printed it in such a tiny font size you can’t read it.”

Queensland Police are required to hand over information under the Right to Information Act 2006.

In the Act’s preamble, it states: “openness in government enhances the accountability of government”.

Northern Coroner Nerida Wilson determined that Jayden’s cause of death was exposure to the elements.

Family investigations create false leads

During the 2021 coronial inquest into Jayden’s disappearance, police officers said the use of social media by the family to gather evidence sparked false leads which wasted police time.

At one point, a number of people completely unrelated to the case became involved, including clairvoyants, a fake private detective and a false GoFundMe page.

Ms Penno said these people preyed on her, and would message her for information or money when she was most desperate to find her child.

Right when the police and family needed to work together most, they instead clashed.

“Jayden was a boy who was only interested in his motorbikes. This was his first big holiday away from home,” Ms Penno said.

“At first police told me he’d linked up with another missing person, Dallas Pyke. But then Dallas was found dead next to his car with three slashed tyres and I lost hope.”

Dallas Pyke: “He would’ve driven that car out on the rims if he had to”

A close family member of Dallas Pyke was willing to speak with the Townsville Bulletin, provided their name was not printed.

Dallas lived in Mount Isa and worked on a Cloncurry mine.

He disappeared while driving from Cairns to Mount Isa on New Year’s Eve, 2017, the same day Jayden was last seen.

Dallas’ last contact was by two-way radio to his employer while driving through Cloncurry, confirming he’d be starting work in a few days.

He was never heard from again, despite search efforts.

Two months later, Dallas’ 100-series LandCruiser was located by a mustering helicopter only two kilometres off the Flinders Hwy on Glencoe Station.

The LandCruiser had three punctured tyres which police attributed to travelling over rocky terrain.

His body was found nearby and his cause of death was ruled ‘misadventure and dehydration’.

“He was found 500m away with a water bottle lying next to him,” the family member said.

“All of his mates and close family don’t believe it was misadventure. We just don’t know what happened.”

The family member said Dallas’ death didn’t make sense – he was a bushman, knew the area and was able to see the nearby Telstra Hill landmark.

“He would’ve driven that car out on the rims if he had to,” they said.

“He had three little girls who were his heart and soul.”

He also had water and fuel in the car – and a two-way radio.

The family’s suspicions began straight away when they learned his 100 series was found locked.

“Dallas never locked his car. Not even in town,” they said.

“And if he was going bush, he would’ve taken his tray back (LandCruiser ute), not the 100 series.”

They described the whole affair as “weird” and said Mr Pyke’s friends put more effort into solving his case than the police did.

They are forgotten, but not by their family

In 2022, Tea Wright-Finger went missing outside Richmond after attending a party.

The 19-year-old vanished into thin air, and after failing to find her, Queensland Police told the public the car she was driving was technically stolen and they believed she was hiding from them.

This line of inquiry could’ve held for years but for a mustering helicopter locating Tea’s car – and her body close by – only a few kilometres outside Richmond.

Another recent case is that of 15-year-old Linden Malayta.

Linden vanished in 2019 while visiting Townsville, but it was only last month Queensland Police began to investigate his suspected murder after officially accepting him as missing in early 2023.

Dallas Pyke’s family don’t accept he died by accident.

“To be quite frank, there has been a lot of people going missing in this area (Flinders Hwy) in the last five years, and in the last 50 years there has been a lot more,” they said.

“The scary part is a lot of people who go missing, it’s just assumed they moved on to the NT or somewhere. They are forgotten, but not by their family.”

Queensland Police conducted an investigation into Dallas’ death but no suspicious circumstances were identified.

There are currently 67 long-term missing persons in Queensland – see the list here.