Edan HUNTINGTON, was visiting Montville QLD with family when he left
unexpectantly and without notifying anyone in the early hours of
January 18 2023. Edan was driving a grey Ford Territory wagon with
NSW registration CQG59F
Police and family hold concerns for Edan’s safety and well-being as
he has not contacted family since this time, nor returned home,
which is out of character.
Edan is described as Caucasian, approximately 175cms tall with a
proportionate build, brown hair and green eyes. Edan has tattoos on
his right upper and lower arm.
Anyone with information which may assist in locating the whereabouts
of Edan HUNTINGTON is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Police seek female witness in Edan Huntington missing person case
Police are looking for a female witness who might have seen a man
missing from the Sunshine Coast hinterland since January.
Edan Huntington, 28, was last seen in Montville on January 18.
The Gold Coast man was staying at a holiday home with his father
when he left suddenly in the early hours of the morning.
His last phone call was to triple zero about 4:07am where he asked
for help and said he was lost.
Sunshine Coast Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Mansfield said police
have received new information that indicates Mr Huntington was in
Montville at 4:12am on Main Street, near Hoffman Court.
"We have a witness who's come forward to say that the missing
person's vehicle was just parked in the middle of the road on
Main [Street] road there at Montville, and a female was seen to
be walking in the vicinity of that vehicle, about 100 metres
away from it," he said.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mansfield said there are no suspicious
circumstances relating to Mr Huntington's disappearance, but he
hoped the woman could help police with their investigations if she
spoke to him.
"We're really trying to fill in the gaps as to what she saw or
heard, or if she engaged in any conversation with him whatsoever,"
he said.
The woman is described as being in her late 30s to early 40s
with long, dark hair which was tied back.
She was wearing a white shirt and maroon and purple shorts with a
black bag.
Mr Mansfield said Mr Huntington had a complex past.
"Edan has some known associates that have come to our police
attention in the past," he said.
"There are some people there that have committed fraud
and identity theft and some things like that, that we're
investigating at the moment.
"That also presents as a challenge as to which identity is real and
which one isn't, and there's a number of mobile phone traces that
we're trying to do to establish who these people are and where they
fit into the picture."
Detective Senior Sergeant Mansfield said Mr Huntington could have
crashed his car on one of the steep, windy roads in the region, but
extensive searches of bushland from the ground and the air have
found no trace of the man.
"We do know that Edan was potentially under the influence of alcohol
or drugs at the time when he left [the house]," he said.
"We do know that he … appeared to be a bit agitated as he left in
that vehicle.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mansfield said there has been no activity
on Mr Huntington's bank accounts and no record of his car on number
plate recognition systems across the state.
"It's a bit of a needle in the haystack at this very point in
time. It's very challenging in that environment [with] heavily
treed, steep inclines.
The day before he went missing, Mr Huntington had called paramedics
about a medical condition.
Police on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast have inquired at
hospitals, airports, train stations, banks, and phone companies.
Mr Huntington is of Caucasian appearance, about 175 centimetres tall
with brown hair, green eyes, and tattoos on his right arm.
He drives a grey Ford Territory with New South Wales plates CQG
59F.
Police have released CCTV of missing 28-year-old Mermaid Waters
man, Edan Huntington captured in Montville in mid-January, and
continue to appeal for a female witness seen nearby to come
forward.
Around 4.12am on Wednesday January 18, Edan’s vehicle, a grey
2013 Ford Territory with NSW registration CQG59F was parked in
the middle of Main Street near the intersection of Hoffman Close
after he left a nearby dwelling, driving off in a northbound
direction toward Mapleton.
A woman, who may have witnessed or spoken to Edan was seen
around 100 metres away and is urged to come forward to assist
investigations.
She is described as being late 30’s or early 40’s, with dark
long hair which was tied back, wearing a white shirt with maroon
and purple shorts. She was also carrying a black bag.
Detectives continue to conduct extensive inquiries and search
and rescue efforts, including the use of aerial assets and
drones across Montville and surrounds.
Landholders including those with properties bordering Main
Street, Flaxton Mill Road, Flaxton Drive, Philips Road and Obi
Obi Road are urged to check their land including nearby road
access points and recesses for signs of Edan and his vehicle,
including in heavy undergrowth.
Edan is described as Caucasian, approximately 175cms tall with a
proportionate build, brown hair and green eyes. Edan has tattoos
on his right upper and lower arm. He was last seen wearing a
blue t-shirt, black shorts with white cap and is barefoot.
Keeping it together for Edan:Family of
missing man continues search for answers
“HOLD ON,” Edan Huntington told the 000 operator before his
phone cut out.
The 28-year-old has not been heard from since that call,
about 4.15am on Wednesday, 18 January.
Nine months later, his mother, Delia Harpur, is determined
to keep her son’s case in the public eye hoping that someone
might come forward with something that could lead to his
whereabouts.
Edan, 28, of the Gold Coast, had been on a 10-day break with
his father at an Air b’n’b at Boongala Avenue, Montville,
when he went missing.
“He rang and spoke to me for some time when they were on
their way up there, and then I rang him the Saturday before
he went missing,” Delia said.
“He seemed distressed when I spoke to him and said he was
going to ring me back but he didn’t. I figured he would ring
me sometime.
“Time went by and I hadn’t heard from him and I tried
ringing him on the Wednesday morning but his phone was off.
It was strange. He didn’t usually have the phone off.”
Edan’s father had been woken early that morning by ambulance
officers looking for Edan, who had called them earlier
during their stay when he felt unwell.
Delia said Edan had been on the phone the night before to
his ex-girlfriend but had not been in contact with anyone he
knew on the Sunshine Coast while staying in the area.
Edan was driving a grey 2013 Ford Territory, NSW
registration CQG 59F, which has not been located.
A passer-by recalled seeing Edan parked on Montville’s main
street, north of the Altitude on Montville building, early
on the same morning he made the 000 calls.
The witness said a woman with long dark hair tied back, and
possibly aged in her late 30s or early 40s, was walking
along the roadside a short distance away.
“He saw her walking away from the car about 100m away and
thought they might have been together. There’s not a lot of
people who are around at that hour of the morning,” Delia
said.
The woman, who was wearing a white shirt and purple shorts
and carrying a black bag, has not come forward.
Delia has listened to Edan’s 000 phone conversations – after
calling 000, he asked the 000 operator to call him back
while he checked his location - but gleaned few clues as to
her son’s movements.
“He’s hard to understand on the phone at the best of times
but he was talking fast. All I could hear him say was, ‘I
might need you to call back because I need to use my phone
to check maps because I don’t know where to go’.
“There was a lot of background noise. There was some coming
from 000. There was some noise that was different.
“Ethan definitely wasn’t driving. It’s not clear where he
was calling from.
“My opinion was he wasn’t ringing them for himself, he was
ringing them for someone else. It sounded as if he was in a
situation.”
Police have forwarded a report on Edan’s disappearance to
the coroner.
Searches have found no trace of Edan or his vehicle but the
Sunshine Coast Missing Persons Facebook page administrator
has been in contact with Delia about further searches.
Delia, who lives in northern NSW with Edan’s stepfather, has
turned to GoFundMe to try and fund trips to the Sunshine
Coast to look for her son.
“We have to keep looking. We just feel that we can’t stop
until we find out if something has happened to him,” she
said.
“It’s been awful. I cry every day. It’s a totally different
existence.
“I’m lucky I’ve got a really supportive partner. He says I
need to keep it together for Edan. That really stuck in my
head.
“I’m just trying to be realistic and not go too far down
certain lines of thinking.”
Edan is described as Caucasian, about 175 centimetres tall
with brown hair, green eyes, and a tattoo of an oriental
dragon on his right arm.
• Anyone with any information should call Policelink on
131 444, Nambour police on
5459 0200, or Crimestoppers on
1800 333 000 quoting reference number QP2300130691
.
Sunshine Coast’s unresolved missing persons cases
Christmas is typically a time of celebration and family
gatherings, but for some households, it brings the heartache
of an empty seat at the table and the lingering pain of
unanswered questions.
The disappearance of 28-year-old Mermaid Waters man Edan Huntington
in January 2023 has left his mother, Delia Harpur, grappling with an
unimaginable void as the family continues to search for answers
nearly two years later.
Mr Huntington went missing while visiting family in Montville,
sparking an extensive police search that covered a 6km radius around
the hinterland town.
Despite the use of drones and ground teams, no trace of him or his
grey Ford Territory (NSW registration CQG59F) was found.
“It’s been really hard,” Ms Harpur said.
“The first nine months or so I could barely do anything. I would cry
every day. I’d go to the supermarket or anywhere, hear a sad song on
the radio, and just cry.
“Every morning we wake up and think of him, every night when we go
to sleep, it’s a different way of existing.”
On the night he vanished, Mr Huntington made a cryptic triple-0 call
requesting an ambulance.
The call was muffled and unintelligible.
“He was speaking so quickly,” Ms Harpur said.
“He said, ‘can you call me back because I need to look at my phone
to tell you where to go.’”
When operators called him back, Edan sounded “stressed.”
“There was a lot of fumbling with the phone … it was like he was in
some type of situation. The last thing he said was, ‘hold on,’ and
then the phone cut out. That was it. That was the last thing he
said.”
Police, family and friends have thoroughly searched the area where
Mr Huntington’s phone last pinged off a cell tower but found no
evidence of him or his car.
One witness came forward, reporting a sighting of Mr Huntington and
his car near the Altitude Hotel around the time of the triple-0
call. The witness described seeing a woman in her late 30s or early
40s with long dark hair, wearing a white shirt with maroon and
purple shorts, and carrying a black bag. She was spotted about 100
metres from Edan’s location after 4am.
The woman has never been located.
Describing Mr Huntington as “very intelligent” and educated in IT,
Ms Harpur shared how deeply his disappearance had impacted his loved
ones.
“He really didn’t realise how popular he was. He just had so many
friends. I cannot believe the number of people who have come
forward, people who were in his life and heard what happened. It’s
been overwhelming.”
Friends of Mr Huntington have taken it upon themselves to conduct
their own investigations, sharing any leads they uncover with Ms
Harpur.
Ms Harpur said switching between “investigator mode” and grieving
while also trying to maintain her day-to-day life had been
exhausting.
She said the ordeal had become “incredibly frustrating” but remained
hopeful for answers and continues to appeal for anyone with
information to come forward.
