WEBVTT - Des Disappears: The Man Who Vanished Without a Trace 0:00:05.921 --> 0:00:07.281 Approche production. 0:00:10.881 --> 0:00:14.241 Have you ever lost something, maybe it was your keys, 0:00:14.641 --> 0:00:19.840 your mobile phone, or something more valuable. To find them, 0:00:20.001 --> 0:00:22.921 you retrace your steps, You look in all the places 0:00:22.961 --> 0:00:25.601 they're most likely to be, and sometimes you look in 0:00:25.641 --> 0:00:30.281 places where they're probably not, but just in case. Sometimes 0:00:30.321 --> 0:00:33.441 when things go missing, you blame other people. You ask 0:00:33.481 --> 0:00:36.241 them if they've put them somewhere, if they've seen them. 0:00:36.921 --> 0:00:40.521 You sometimes think the worst, maybe they've been stolen, taken 0:00:40.561 --> 0:00:43.721 from you when you weren't looking. Some of those theories 0:00:43.721 --> 0:00:46.041 that you come up with when something goes missing are 0:00:46.081 --> 0:00:52.160 far fetched. You blame and have unreasonable thoughts. Those themes 0:00:52.281 --> 0:00:56.641 will be explored in this podcast, but not with insignificant 0:00:56.641 --> 0:01:05.481 material things, but with a person. This is a story 0:01:05.641 --> 0:01:09.681 of Desmond Francis Carr, who was last seen at three 0:01:09.721 --> 0:01:15.801 pm on August two, nineteen seventy nine, and then he disappeared. 0:01:17.521 --> 0:01:21.281 Nineteen seventy nine. The Prime Minister of Australia was Malcolm Fraser. 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.800 We must guide Australia safely through the difficulties and the dangers. 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.841 The Sony Walkman was released in Japan. NASA's first orbiting 0:01:29.881 --> 0:01:33.241 space station crashes to Earth after being in orbit for 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:34.200 other six years. 0:01:34.481 --> 0:01:37.881 It's one thing. I'll live us again, see it score 0:01:38.161 --> 0:01:39.241 coming towards us. 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.720 Margaret Thatcher was the UK's first ever female Prime minister. 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.481 Dependent pause will dash about and you have to have 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:46.961 an iron nerve. 0:01:47.121 --> 0:01:50.041 Which across is appropriate from Iron Lady. 0:01:50.121 --> 0:01:52.001 And Prisoner started on TV. 0:01:52.041 --> 0:01:56.241 Honey Side Still shot. 0:02:00.281 --> 0:02:04.401 At thirty eight years old. Desmond Francis Carr or Des 0:02:04.481 --> 0:02:07.681 as he was, was the youngest son of Dolly. 0:02:07.481 --> 0:02:09.041 And Frank Carr from WA. 0:02:10.841 --> 0:02:15.641 Frank DES's dad was a large man, not heavy, but 0:02:15.761 --> 0:02:20.161 tall and lanky. Frank worked for the main roads department 0:02:20.321 --> 0:02:25.361 that Jobby's son, Dez would one day inherit. Dorothy or 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:29.441 Dolly as everyone knew her, was Frank's wife. They had 0:02:29.481 --> 0:02:32.520 a lovely marriage, lived in a quiet town called York, 0:02:32.841 --> 0:02:35.641 and lived a modest life with their three daughters and 0:02:35.761 --> 0:02:40.280 youngest son, Dez. There was one other child, his name 0:02:40.321 --> 0:02:46.561 was Max. Three days after Max was born, he passed away. 0:02:47.881 --> 0:02:52.201 Shirley DES's little sister recounts what life is like back 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:53.201 then in York. 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:55.681 Beautiful little town. I mean I could live there again 0:02:55.761 --> 0:02:59.921 now if I had two Yeah, would definitely days used 0:02:59.921 --> 0:03:02.680 to walk to school with me. Make sure that none 0:03:02.721 --> 0:03:05.481 of the kids picked on me, you know, if they 0:03:05.561 --> 0:03:09.960 did look out. He was very protective of me. Yeah. 0:03:10.161 --> 0:03:12.201 I had lots of little friends at school and that. 0:03:12.321 --> 0:03:15.921 Yet things were pretty simple for a teenager growing up 0:03:16.001 --> 0:03:19.601 in York. You loved afl and hung out with your mates. 0:03:20.641 --> 0:03:24.401 That's exactly how Dez grew into an adult. He loved 0:03:24.441 --> 0:03:28.401 hanging out with mates, watching TV and looking after his 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:29.641 little sister Shirley. 0:03:30.201 --> 0:03:32.441 You know, we really got on well together. You know, 0:03:33.121 --> 0:03:38.281 mainly played football. Theirs wasn't really a very athletic person, 0:03:38.641 --> 0:03:41.881 you know, he used to like his TV. He wasn't 0:03:41.921 --> 0:03:45.641 a smoker or drinker. Then he used to look after 0:03:45.681 --> 0:03:49.041 me at school, at playtime and things like that. Where 0:03:49.161 --> 0:03:52.441 during when we're a bit older and they didn't want 0:03:52.481 --> 0:03:54.801 to be caught with little sister. 0:03:55.201 --> 0:03:56.161 Did he finish school? 0:03:56.481 --> 0:04:01.241 Yeah, I think he left school third grade. Third what 0:04:01.321 --> 0:04:01.841 do you call it? 0:04:01.921 --> 0:04:02.481 That grade? 0:04:02.521 --> 0:04:06.321 That at high school? Yeah, it was pretty good at school. 0:04:06.921 --> 0:04:09.561 Not a gee whiz, but he got through like I did. 0:04:09.601 --> 0:04:12.961 You know, Green and Joy were the same. Nobody was 0:04:13.041 --> 0:04:16.801 extra bright, but we just managed to get through everything. 0:04:16.881 --> 0:04:18.521 Yet and growing up, what it does want to be 0:04:18.961 --> 0:04:19.320 what it was? 0:04:19.321 --> 0:04:19.761 The insident? 0:04:20.801 --> 0:04:24.881 Well, he wanted to be a race car driver. My 0:04:25.041 --> 0:04:28.440 dad put the stock to that, so I think he 0:04:28.561 --> 0:04:29.521 was a bit of Alarican. 0:04:30.201 --> 0:04:34.161 Shirley is almost seventy five now. She was only thirty 0:04:34.161 --> 0:04:38.921 five when des vanished. Her memories are fading, mainly due 0:04:38.961 --> 0:04:42.121 to mild dementia and some stress throughout a life, but 0:04:42.281 --> 0:04:44.640 some of the memories of DEAs are really clear. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.201 We've had a little hardware store, you know, it's only 0:04:48.241 --> 0:04:53.121 a probably because of a normal toilet. And yeah, he 0:04:53.241 --> 0:04:56.681 used to go after school and helped clean up the 0:04:56.761 --> 0:04:59.961 yard and things like that. It never got paid money 0:05:00.001 --> 0:05:03.401 for it, but he got other little things like if 0:05:03.401 --> 0:05:07.281 he wanted a toy from the show, or little things 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.681 like rope and that he used to when people used 0:05:10.681 --> 0:05:12.801 to say, what's he rope for? What was he going 0:05:12.841 --> 0:05:16.481 to do with that? But he was less doing the kangaroos, 0:05:16.561 --> 0:05:18.121 wasn't he, we found out later on? 0:05:19.481 --> 0:05:21.241 And what would you do with the kangaroos? After he lies? 0:05:21.241 --> 0:05:24.561 I don't know, I don't want to know. I'll just 0:05:24.681 --> 0:05:29.841 leave that to everyone else's imagination. Was he a happy kid, yeah, 0:05:30.401 --> 0:05:34.681 very mischievous, cheeky. 0:05:34.841 --> 0:05:35.681 Yeah. 0:05:35.841 --> 0:05:37.681 As an adult and when he started to get a 0:05:37.721 --> 0:05:39.281 bit older, and got out of the hardware. 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.440 What was his job then, Well, mainly he was working 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.640 out north for the main raged department, same as what 0:05:45.841 --> 0:05:50.241 Dad did. Dad. And apparently he got mixed up with 0:05:50.281 --> 0:05:55.081 the wrong crowd. He got into drinking before he left 0:05:55.081 --> 0:05:58.081 to go up north. He didn't drink alcohol, you know 0:05:58.121 --> 0:06:01.081 what I mean, but I think he got addicted to it. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:05.361 And he wasn't a nasty drunk or anything like that, 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:09.401 but he was a big drinker. Yeah, yeah. 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:12.200 And so how old was he when he went up north? 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.280 I think it was seventeen, I think sixteen or seventeen. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:19.400 So pretty young young. Would you say you were close brothers? 0:06:19.681 --> 0:06:22.921 Yeah, very close. Yeah. He was my idol, you know, 0:06:23.041 --> 0:06:26.161 my big brother because there's only one boy in the family, 0:06:26.521 --> 0:06:29.760 and I used to look after me, you know a lot, 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:33.001 but was joined when they were away nursing all the time, 0:06:33.121 --> 0:06:35.681 so they didn't grow up with him sort of like 0:06:35.801 --> 0:06:39.721 I did. And it was, you know, happened to put it. 0:06:40.281 --> 0:06:42.801 The big brother's not here anymore, he's gone up nort 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:43.481 you know what I mean. 0:06:44.121 --> 0:06:46.841 So when we're talking about up north, whereabouts did he go? 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:51.961 Palled Headland just all around that area? Arrousked about I 0:06:52.001 --> 0:06:52.841 think you'd call him. 0:06:53.121 --> 0:06:56.681 Yeah, so he'd work on. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.881 On farms and things like that. 0:06:57.961 --> 0:06:58.281 Yeah. 0:06:58.561 --> 0:07:01.481 Later on in life he went to the main Rage Department, 0:07:02.241 --> 0:07:02.801 working for. 0:07:02.721 --> 0:07:06.761 Them obtaining disser's worklogs from the West Australian main roads. 0:07:07.241 --> 0:07:11.361 He was stationed at a small Aboriginal outpost called Thangu, 0:07:11.881 --> 0:07:15.761 sixteen hundred kilometers north of Perth and only eighty kilometers 0:07:15.801 --> 0:07:23.361 from Broome. Thangu is a coastal homestead first established in 0:07:23.481 --> 0:07:29.001 nineteen fifty by a farmer hoping to raise cattle. Although 0:07:29.041 --> 0:07:32.921 Thangu is coastal, it's still around forty kilometers inland from 0:07:32.921 --> 0:07:37.961 any beach and so is classed as outback. Out Back 0:07:37.961 --> 0:07:41.921 Australia is some of the harshest countryside in the world. 0:07:42.481 --> 0:07:45.801 Most people are afraid of the snakes and spiders that 0:07:45.841 --> 0:07:49.721 they believe inhabit these lands, but in fact more people 0:07:49.761 --> 0:07:53.321 perish in outback Australia because of the sun, the heat 0:07:53.921 --> 0:08:03.561 and the unforgiving landscape. There is red dirt everywhere. Outside 0:08:03.561 --> 0:08:07.521 of the major towns are Aboriginal communities, mostly off the 0:08:07.561 --> 0:08:11.641 beaten track. Des was working on a road that now 0:08:11.641 --> 0:08:15.561 stretches from Perth on Australia's West coast to its northmost 0:08:15.601 --> 0:08:21.041 port Windham. The Great Northern Highway is Australia's longest road 0:08:21.241 --> 0:08:27.121 at over three two hundred kilometers. In nineteen seventy nine, 0:08:27.601 --> 0:08:30.321 Dees was working on the stretch of dirt road that 0:08:30.401 --> 0:08:34.721 would eventually link Port, Headline and Broom. Temperatures in these 0:08:34.721 --> 0:08:38.601 outback areas often reach above thirty five degrees, but on 0:08:38.641 --> 0:08:41.881 the freshly latar it can get into the high forties. 0:08:45.041 --> 0:08:47.721 I think it's important to try and understand the sort 0:08:47.761 --> 0:08:50.801 of person Des was. He was a bit of a loner, 0:08:51.641 --> 0:08:54.721 being the only boy in the family. As a child, 0:08:54.801 --> 0:08:58.321 he would often find his own fun. Sometimes that fun 0:08:58.361 --> 0:09:03.241 would turn into mischief. Des wasn't afraid of being by himself, 0:09:03.801 --> 0:09:06.921 which probably led to him moving up north to work, 0:09:07.801 --> 0:09:10.681 working as part of a main roads team. The hours 0:09:10.721 --> 0:09:14.721 were long, but the money was good. From the records 0:09:14.761 --> 0:09:18.361 we received, it seemed like Des didn't have any mates 0:09:18.561 --> 0:09:22.241 as such up north. He had work colleagues, but none 0:09:22.281 --> 0:09:25.401 of those tight sort of friendships that you establish while 0:09:25.441 --> 0:09:27.921 working in a remote area for months with the same 0:09:27.961 --> 0:09:32.561 group of blokes. He was happy that way. Des didn't 0:09:32.561 --> 0:09:35.521 have a girlfriend or a wife, and from what the 0:09:35.601 --> 0:09:40.801 family remember, little romantic interest. The lifestyle working on these 0:09:40.841 --> 0:09:44.561 remote roads consists of waking up, getting trucked out to 0:09:44.641 --> 0:09:48.001 the area you're assigned to work. Then at the end 0:09:48.001 --> 0:09:49.961 of the day you get picked up and head back 0:09:50.001 --> 0:09:52.361 to camp for some tucker and a beer or two. 0:09:53.601 --> 0:09:58.001 Often you're working on your own with no one else around. 0:10:00.081 --> 0:10:04.481 That was DES's life. Before we dig into what happened 0:10:04.481 --> 0:10:07.641 on August s second, nineteen seventy nine, we have to 0:10:07.681 --> 0:10:10.401 step back over ten years and uncover what could have 0:10:10.481 --> 0:10:16.921 led to DES's disappearance. DES's older sister, Joy remembers. 0:10:17.161 --> 0:10:20.681 Nineteen sixty six, we had the car accident. Des was 0:10:20.721 --> 0:10:23.961 still in per thin and he used to come over 0:10:23.961 --> 0:10:26.161 to the hospital because I hadn't the spine broken. And 0:10:26.201 --> 0:10:27.841 he used to come over to Beat every day and 0:10:27.921 --> 0:10:30.521 see me with one of his mates, Rick older set 0:10:31.641 --> 0:10:36.721 and Rick was called up into the army, so he 0:10:36.761 --> 0:10:39.361 would have been eighteen. I was berthed by then, and 0:10:39.481 --> 0:10:41.961 Dares wanted to go too, but he wasn't called up 0:10:42.041 --> 0:10:44.881 because of medical problems and that he. 0:10:44.841 --> 0:10:49.521 Apparently had more on DES's relationship with his best mate Rick. 0:10:49.721 --> 0:10:54.001 In episode two, not only was Joy, DES's sister involved 0:10:54.041 --> 0:10:57.041 in a car crash in nineteen sixty six, but des 0:10:57.201 --> 0:10:59.841 was also involved in a car crash in the mid seventies. 0:11:00.761 --> 0:11:04.081 It is possible that alcohol played a part in his crash, 0:11:04.521 --> 0:11:07.761 although back in those days there was no random breath testing, 0:11:08.201 --> 0:11:11.041 and so it's possible that des was drink driving when 0:11:11.081 --> 0:11:15.001 he had his car accident. The details of the accident 0:11:15.081 --> 0:11:17.841 are sketchy, but what I do know is no one 0:11:17.841 --> 0:11:22.241 else was injured. Joy, Deser's sister, sheds more light on 0:11:22.321 --> 0:11:26.161 what happened. We're talking that he had a car crash 0:11:26.241 --> 0:11:29.361 and you don't remember where that was. Was he badly injured? 0:11:30.241 --> 0:11:31.561 I think he had concussion. 0:11:33.081 --> 0:11:36.521 This wouldn't be the only concussion he received just before 0:11:36.561 --> 0:11:39.841 he disappeared. There was another incident that could have led 0:11:39.841 --> 0:11:45.001 to his disappearance. We'll explore that in episode two. For now, 0:11:45.241 --> 0:11:49.201 let's mark down concussion as a possible reason for Deser's disappearance. 0:11:50.881 --> 0:11:54.361 There is a theme emerging around DES's relationship with alcohol. 0:11:55.281 --> 0:11:57.641 We heard from both his sisters that Dez had a 0:11:57.721 --> 0:12:02.201 drinking problem of sorts. This problem only really emerged when 0:12:02.201 --> 0:12:06.601 he moved up north to work. Each year in Australia, 0:12:07.001 --> 0:12:10.441 tens of thousands of people go missing loved ones that 0:12:10.481 --> 0:12:14.441 have simply up and vanished with no sight, no record 0:12:14.481 --> 0:12:18.881 of their last movements. Susie is from Leave a Light 0:12:18.921 --> 0:12:22.161 on Ink, a Facebook group that helps connect long term 0:12:22.161 --> 0:12:26.041 missing people's stories and their families. She told me what 0:12:26.201 --> 0:12:28.681 she does to help in the search for a missing person. 0:12:29.881 --> 0:12:34.041 We aim to raise awareness of long term missing persons 0:12:34.401 --> 0:12:37.641 and provide support for families suffering the ambiguous loss of 0:12:37.721 --> 0:12:42.961 their loved ones. We endeavor to try and create media 0:12:43.361 --> 0:12:47.441 publicity for long term missing persons, sus We also work 0:12:47.481 --> 0:12:51.081 alongside the Australian Federal plase ensuring that long term missing 0:12:51.121 --> 0:12:54.521 persons are listed onto their database. We also work with 0:12:54.641 --> 0:13:01.161 families to help to find answers for them for questions 0:13:01.201 --> 0:13:05.961 that they might have that they struggle to find information for. Plus, 0:13:06.001 --> 0:13:10.521 we also liaised with the families sort of as an 0:13:10.881 --> 0:13:14.641 intermediate between them and the jung FED or police and 0:13:15.161 --> 0:13:16.441 missing persons units. 0:13:16.721 --> 0:13:20.601 So there are at the moment thirty eight thousand people 0:13:20.681 --> 0:13:24.521 reported missing each year in Australia. Not of those, a 0:13:24.561 --> 0:13:27.441 small portion of them is what you call long term 0:13:27.481 --> 0:13:30.761 missing persons. What does a long term missing person mean? 0:13:30.961 --> 0:13:34.961 That they've been missing for longer than three months? And 0:13:35.561 --> 0:13:39.281 there's approximately one percent of that thirty eight thousands that 0:13:39.401 --> 0:13:42.281 go missing every year that aren't located that end up 0:13:42.281 --> 0:13:47.161 falling into that long term missing persons category. Currently, there's 0:13:47.361 --> 0:13:51.441 over two thousand, six hundreds long term missing persons in Australia. 0:13:51.641 --> 0:13:54.001 When you think about what changes a person can go 0:13:54.081 --> 0:13:58.201 through in forty years, it's almost impossible to imagine what 0:13:58.321 --> 0:14:01.081 Dees would be like now, What would he look like, 0:14:01.641 --> 0:14:05.801 what interests would he have? Dees is not alone in 0:14:05.881 --> 0:14:06.801 being missing. 0:14:06.481 --> 0:14:07.561 For forty years. 0:14:08.041 --> 0:14:11.241 Susie from Leave a Light On shares her own experience 0:14:11.361 --> 0:14:13.041 with a long term missing person. 0:14:14.161 --> 0:14:16.561 My sister Joanne was eleven years old when she was 0:14:16.641 --> 0:14:20.521 kidnapped from the Adelaide Oval in nineteen seventy three. So 0:14:20.601 --> 0:14:24.241 as a legacy to her and also as a legacy 0:14:24.321 --> 0:14:27.721 to all the other long term missing persons here in Australia, 0:14:28.001 --> 0:14:30.641 we created Leave a Lot On to help raise awareness 0:14:30.681 --> 0:14:34.761 and give supports family. I was actually born fourteen months 0:14:34.761 --> 0:14:37.401 after my sister disappeared, so I never had the opportunity 0:14:37.481 --> 0:14:40.201 to meet her. My family used to go to the 0:14:40.241 --> 0:14:44.721 football nearly every week, and this day they'd gone to 0:14:44.761 --> 0:14:47.561 the football. They always sat in the same sort of area. 0:14:48.161 --> 0:14:51.041 They'd met a lady years before and made quite good 0:14:51.081 --> 0:14:54.081 friends with her. She was there that day with her granddaughter. 0:14:54.641 --> 0:14:56.641 Her granddaughter needed to go to the toilet, so my 0:14:56.761 --> 0:15:00.441 sister offered to take her. After a few minutes, they returned, 0:15:00.521 --> 0:15:03.121 and then later in the game, Cursy, who was four 0:15:03.201 --> 0:15:06.841 years old, to go to the toilet again, so Joanne 0:15:06.881 --> 0:15:09.361 once again took her to the toilet, but unfortunately this 0:15:09.401 --> 0:15:14.641 time they didn't return. My mum, brother and dad had 0:15:14.681 --> 0:15:19.401 a bit an extensive search of the ground and unfortunately 0:15:19.401 --> 0:15:22.761 couldn't locate her. So she was reporting to think along 0:15:22.801 --> 0:15:23.281 with Percy. 0:15:23.761 --> 0:15:27.121 Since then, there's never been a sighting, never been any 0:15:27.161 --> 0:15:28.961 news about both the girls. 0:15:29.081 --> 0:15:32.161 Over the years, There's been a number of suspects that 0:15:32.401 --> 0:15:35.841 the police have investigated. Unfortunately there hasn't been enough evidence 0:15:35.881 --> 0:15:39.441 to charge anyone, and sadly there hasn't been enough evidence 0:15:39.441 --> 0:15:43.601 to locate either or Joanne. The girls were seen leaving 0:15:43.641 --> 0:15:47.761 the oval with a tall, stooped man in his late 0:15:47.801 --> 0:15:51.561 thirties and early forties. Kirsty was being carried by this 0:15:51.641 --> 0:15:55.001 gentleman and Joanne was struggling with him, pulling on his 0:15:55.121 --> 0:15:57.441 arm and quite trying to get him to drop thirsty 0:15:58.321 --> 0:16:00.561 and there were a number of witnesses that come forward 0:16:00.761 --> 0:16:06.721 to verify this information. But unfortunately the suspect for the 0:16:06.721 --> 0:16:09.881 girls have been located over the forty six years. 0:16:10.161 --> 0:16:12.841 It doesn't make it any easier. But I guess you 0:16:12.961 --> 0:16:18.841 have some knowledge around what happened because someone saw something 0:16:19.001 --> 0:16:21.921 and that the girls were taken from the oval. So 0:16:22.761 --> 0:16:25.361 what happens after that moment, it's hard to suppose and 0:16:25.401 --> 0:16:28.401 you don't want to think about, but I guess that's 0:16:28.401 --> 0:16:30.881 a little bit of information. And that's not always the 0:16:30.881 --> 0:16:32.321 case with long term missing people. 0:16:32.561 --> 0:16:32.721 No. 0:16:33.001 --> 0:16:35.121 Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that go missing 0:16:35.121 --> 0:16:39.521 that seems to just vanishing sin here and nothing is seen, 0:16:39.641 --> 0:16:42.481 there's no evidence left behind, there's no information. 0:16:43.361 --> 0:16:48.121 And that's exactly what happened to Dez. He just vanished. 0:16:50.041 --> 0:16:53.281 So did he go walk about, did he want to disappear? 0:16:54.081 --> 0:16:56.921 Or is there something more sinister behind his disappearance. 0:16:57.881 --> 0:17:01.401 So this particular day, they dropped off at the certain 0:17:01.441 --> 0:17:04.241 place did he had to go to. He had his water, 0:17:04.361 --> 0:17:07.081 he had his food, dude, and they came to pick 0:17:07.121 --> 0:17:13.161 these up that afternoon. No nowhere to be found, just 0:17:13.281 --> 0:17:15.241 like someone plucked him up, you. 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:19.400 Know, Dez had three sisters. He grew up in a 0:17:19.441 --> 0:17:22.960 small country town in Wa. He was a normal country 0:17:23.001 --> 0:17:25.441 boy who grew into a young man who liked hanging 0:17:25.481 --> 0:17:27.840 out with his mates, playing a bit of footye, and 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:32.201 getting up to childhood mischief. His middle sister, Joy, has 0:17:32.281 --> 0:17:35.080 her memories of des in those early days living. 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:35.360 In New York. 0:17:36.281 --> 0:17:37.001 Oh, it was great. 0:17:37.441 --> 0:17:40.400 Every year we used to get floods just about We 0:17:40.441 --> 0:17:43.361 lived on the opposite side of the river to the school, 0:17:44.360 --> 0:17:47.761 and we loved having floods because the bridges would be 0:17:47.801 --> 0:17:49.240 covered and we didn't have to go to school. 0:17:49.761 --> 0:17:50.400 That was great. 0:17:51.561 --> 0:17:54.241 Yeah, No, it was good. And we had our grandparents, 0:17:54.281 --> 0:17:57.961 my mum's parents living just out a little way out 0:17:58.001 --> 0:18:01.241 of town and with a really great joy to go out. 0:18:01.281 --> 0:18:01.521 There. 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:06.360 Had a big well back of the house, and there's 0:18:06.521 --> 0:18:08.440 being a little boy used to like to try and 0:18:08.521 --> 0:18:12.521 climb up this windmill thing, and he would always get 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.561 roused at. He still kept doing it, but he didn't 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:17.521 do any harm as it turned out, But they were 0:18:17.521 --> 0:18:19.801 frightened that some of the boards on top of the 0:18:19.801 --> 0:18:24.321 well might have given away. Yeah, it would always make 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.640 something excuse for him to come and play with us. 0:18:27.041 --> 0:18:30.080 He didn't like playing with dogs, like all boys, you know, 0:18:30.321 --> 0:18:35.080 liked playing rough games marbles and that. In fact, I 0:18:35.120 --> 0:18:35.840 can remember. 0:18:36.041 --> 0:18:36.801 I don't know how. 0:18:36.681 --> 0:18:41.160 Old I was. Theirs had the measles, and we used 0:18:41.201 --> 0:18:43.120 to go into the bedroom with in Gwin and I 0:18:43.201 --> 0:18:45.961 and play and throw around. He pushed me one day 0:18:46.001 --> 0:18:48.400 and he put his knee up and he hit me 0:18:48.441 --> 0:18:50.600 in the mouth and knocked on two front ties out. 0:18:52.801 --> 0:18:56.561 So Daz was an explorer and an adventurer. He didn't 0:18:56.561 --> 0:18:59.681 seem like he was afraid to take risks. As Darz 0:18:59.761 --> 0:19:02.680 grew older, he developed a bit of a loner mentality. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.440 He had friends, but that group of friends was small. 0:19:07.561 --> 0:19:11.600 His best friend in the early seventies was Rick. Des 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:13.761 and Rick would hang out together and get into a 0:19:13.801 --> 0:19:17.321 bit of trouble, nothing serious, just what we'd call alarican 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:22.360 these days. As we heard in episode one, DES's best mate, 0:19:22.441 --> 0:19:26.321 Rick was called up to Vietnam. Des wasn't because of 0:19:26.360 --> 0:19:31.241 some unconfirmed medical issues. While Rick was stationed in Vietnam, 0:19:31.441 --> 0:19:36.241 something happened, something that affected DES's emotional state that could 0:19:36.281 --> 0:19:39.561 have contributed to his disappearance in nineteen seventy nine. 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:45.960 Rick was only overseas in Vietnam for oh, just two 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:48.200 or three months. I think it wasn't he was killed 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.120 that really hit is hard, and I think that's when 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:57.880 he started to go drinking a bit more than what 0:19:57.921 --> 0:19:58.521 he should have been. 0:19:59.561 --> 0:20:02.881 Death often has a way of triggering emotion that might 0:20:02.961 --> 0:20:06.920 not normally appear. In de Us case, it wasn't just 0:20:06.961 --> 0:20:10.921 an emotion that was triggered. It was drinking. Dez started 0:20:11.001 --> 0:20:16.080 drinking and drinking hard. Was Dez drinking to forget or 0:20:16.201 --> 0:20:20.201 drinking to dull the Paine? Whatever his reason, his family 0:20:20.241 --> 0:20:28.840 feel this may have contributed to his disappearance. At this 0:20:28.961 --> 0:20:31.600 point in the podcast, I think it's important to call 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:35.761 out a few things. There is a certain significance with 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.520 this story that I'm attached to. We will explore that 0:20:39.761 --> 0:20:43.720 in later episodes. But it's fair to say this story 0:20:43.801 --> 0:20:46.600 is not just intriguing to me. It's played a part 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:51.080 in my life for a long time. Let's get to 0:20:51.120 --> 0:20:56.001 the disappearance. It was an evening in late June nineteen 0:20:56.041 --> 0:20:59.761 seventy nine at Thangu station in out back Western Australia. 0:21:00.761 --> 0:21:03.961 Dez had finished work on his steamroller. After working in 0:21:04.001 --> 0:21:08.120 the hot suny himself on a road stretching fifty kilometers 0:21:10.041 --> 0:21:12.761 it was an unsealed road, and Desert's roll at this 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.001 time was to steam roll the road flat and from 0:21:16.041 --> 0:21:19.881 there a team would come in and lay down hot ashphalt. 0:21:21.561 --> 0:21:25.041 Then the road would be classed as sealed. You can 0:21:25.041 --> 0:21:27.640 see pictures of that red dirt that would soon become 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:33.521 a sealed road on our website. Whereas dez dot com, 0:21:33.681 --> 0:21:36.720 Thangu's station was the meeting point for the main roads 0:21:36.721 --> 0:21:39.480 department and where workers from all over the stretch of 0:21:39.521 --> 0:21:44.120 highway were stationed. Most nights, it was the same get 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.041 back from the road, have some grub in the mess hall, 0:21:47.561 --> 0:21:51.761 have some beers and hit the sack. These days, drinking 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:53.960 while being a fly and fly at worker is not 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.920 tolerated for good reason. Most fly and fly out workers 0:21:57.961 --> 0:22:00.880 are breathlyzed before they start a shift and they must 0:22:00.921 --> 0:22:04.681 have a reading of zero. In fact, most FIFO workers 0:22:04.761 --> 0:22:07.640 are not allowed to drink while they're on roster. It's 0:22:07.681 --> 0:22:09.880 only when they're on the leave that they can unwind. 0:22:11.001 --> 0:22:14.441 That's now, But in nineteen seventy nine the rules were different, 0:22:14.961 --> 0:22:19.080 mainly because there were no rules. You could get drunk 0:22:19.481 --> 0:22:22.241 head to work the next day and not be breath tested. 0:22:23.041 --> 0:22:27.521 Mom and Dad were worried about him drinking, but that's 0:22:27.561 --> 0:22:30.120 a depthural thing. All the young blokes up there, you 0:22:30.241 --> 0:22:32.200 go to work through the day. It didn't interfere with 0:22:32.281 --> 0:22:35.360 his job. They all had a beer of a night time, 0:22:35.521 --> 0:22:37.561 So how can you do you know? 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:41.961 In June nineteen seventy nine, a few months before he 0:22:42.041 --> 0:22:45.080 went missing, Dez had finished writing a letter to his 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:47.840 mum and dad and had decided to head into the 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:51.561 nearest town, Derby, which was a little under forty kilometers 0:22:51.561 --> 0:22:55.481 from the station. It was a Friday night, and after 0:22:55.521 --> 0:22:58.160 a long week at work, it was finally time to 0:22:58.241 --> 0:23:02.761 unwind at about ten pm. From the records and interviews 0:23:02.801 --> 0:23:07.001 that were conducted around the time, was a fight. There 0:23:07.041 --> 0:23:09.561 is no record of who was in the fight and 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:13.321 why it occurred, but whatever happened, it didn't end well 0:23:13.360 --> 0:23:16.880 for des He suffered a cut on the head, a 0:23:17.001 --> 0:23:20.281 cut so bad he needed to be taken to Derby Hospital. 0:23:20.921 --> 0:23:23.561 This head knock is well documented in the police reports 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.360 back from nineteen seventy nine. The detective in charge back 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:30.721 then is now eighty two years old and retired. He 0:23:30.761 --> 0:23:33.360 put us in touch with the current detective in charge 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:38.041 of missing Persons in wa Detective Sergeant Jude Sevright, she 0:23:38.241 --> 0:23:40.761 shared some information from his missing person's file. 0:23:41.921 --> 0:23:45.921 A missing person's reports was compiled by a Sergeant Pethick 0:23:46.481 --> 0:23:49.281 who was attached to Brim Police station at the time, 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:55.561 and his inquiries has shown that before Des went missing, 0:23:56.840 --> 0:24:02.241 he was apparently suffering from quite terrible headaches, so the 0:24:02.961 --> 0:24:07.840 sergeants contacted Broom Hospital and he was advised that back 0:24:07.840 --> 0:24:10.561 on the twenty third of June, in only seventy nine, 0:24:11.160 --> 0:24:14.720