Potential breakthrough in Theo Hayez case
Investigators are a step closer to solving the mystery of missing backpacker Theo Hayez, after honing in on WhatsApp messages he exchanged the night he vanished, to gain an insight into what happened.
The Belgian teenager disappeared in 2019 from NSW hotspot Byron Bay, with an inquest on Wednesday hearing there had been a 'potential breakthrough' in the case.
The development came just hours after Theo's parents suggested 'another person' was involved in their son's disappearance and police offered a $500,000 reward for information.
'I don't want to overstate it, your honour, but we know Theo was engaged in some WhatsApp activity just before 1 am on the 31st of May,' counsel assisting the coroner, Kirsten Edwards said.
This activity was prior to a five-hour window when Hayez' mobile phone ceased communicating with the nearest tower.
In a bombshell revelation, Ms Edwards said the investigating team had also found a mystery person 'who was communicating with Theo on the 31st of May' but it is not yet known when the two exchanged messages.
But WhatsApp messages, very commonly used as the primary messaging app in Europe, are encrypted, making it virtually impossible to find out what the texts said without one of the senders' phones.
Earlier on Wednesday, it was revealed the police officer who led the initial search for Mr Hayez was inexperienced, missed vital training and would have conducted the operation 'very differently' with the benefit of hindsight.
Speaking at the inquest the same day police announced a $500,000 reward for information on his case. Senior Constable Louis Papworth admitted he had only previously conducted two minor searches before the 18-year-old went missing.
Due to the urgency of the search and his inexperience, Papworth told the inquest he had made 'some mistakes.'
If he'd had access to location data sourced from Theo's phone on the first two days of the search, it would have looked very different, Papworth said. With the benefit of hindsight, he would also have tried to find out more about Theo's interests and behaviours, to help tailor the search.
The data showed Theo had spent seven minutes near cricket nets at a local sporting field, before charting a route through the Arakwal National Park to Cosy Corner Beach.
'If you'd had that access to that information, you would have approached the search in a very different way, and with a lot more intensity?' Ms Edwards asked at the inquest.
More volunteers would have been sent to those areas and he would have sent detectives to interview 'vagrants' who were staying near the sporting field.
The inquest continues, and is due to hear more new 'significant' evidence in the coming days.
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