Helen BARNETT

53 year old Helen Barnett was last seen about 300 metres from her home on Turnors Paddock Road, Koumala QLD at approximately 4.20pm, on Sunday, February 13, 2022. The location is about 11 kilometres from the Bruce Highway. Helen was last seen wearing a black and white top, shorts, orthopaedic thongs with dark canvas straps, a shoulder brace and a knee brace. Her hair was in a ponytail. Helen doesn't have a car and her phone was left at her home address. She also did not take her sneakers and sunglasses, both of which she always wore when leaving the house. Helen has a medical condition which limits her ability to walk long distances.

Police request that anyone who has information regarding seeing Helen Barnett on Turnors Paddock Road on that day or any other information that may lead to her location is asked to contact police. 1800 333 000

Search operations continue for missing Koumala woman

The search for missing Koumala woman Helen Barnett has continued today with police coordinating a land and air search.

Multiple agencies assisted in today’s grid search of dense farmland on the 53-year-old’s Turnors Paddock Road property where she was last seen at around 3pm on Sunday, February 13.

Police have been coordinating search efforts since Helen was reported missing and today saw 27 SES volunteers along with five Rural Fire Service volunteers and police scouring bushland and grasslands, which at times was up to a metre high.

The RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter completed a reconnaissance mission late this afternoon and tomorrow’s land search, expected to be bolstered by thirty new search personnel, will resume from 7am. Drones and quad bikes will also be used in the search.

UPDATE 2: Search operations continue for missing Koumala woman

Queensland police continue to search for missing 53-year-old Koumala woman Helen Barnett after her disappearance near her property on Turnors Paddock Road last month.

Investigators have today reiterated an appeal for information around the circumstances of Helen’s disappearance, establishing she was last seen about 300 metres from her home at approximately 4.20pm, on Sunday, February 13.

The location is about 11 kilometres from the Bruce Highway.

Investigators have also revealed that Helen was last seen wearing a black and white top, shorts, Orthopaedic thongs with dark canvas straps, a shoulder brace and a knee brace. Her hair was also in a ponytail.

Multiple agencies, including SES, Rural Fire Service, and the RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter, have assisted police in the search efforts within the past few weeks.

Police request that anyone who has information regarding seeing Helen Barnett on Turnors Paddock Road on that day or any other information that may lead to her location is asked to contact police.

Search continues for missing woman

"This is an appeal to the people who could have been on Turnors Paddock Road at that time between say 4pm and 6pm on Sunday 13th February 2022."

Koumala woman Helen Barnett reported missing after not returning from walk

There are growing concerns for the safety of missing woman Helen Barnett, as the police search enters its third week. Police are calling for any information that might help.

Helen Barnett has not been seen since she set out for a walk at her Turnors Paddock Rd property the afternoon of Sunday, February 13.

Ms Barnett, who suffers an undisclosed medical condition, is believed to have gone for a walk, and concerns are growing for her safety and health the longer she is not found.

Inspector Ian Haughton said the initial search had focused on the area around Turnors Paddock Rd, and renewed appeals to the wider Koumala area for any information that could help find her.

“An extensive land search in and around that area has failed to locate Helen, so we’re requesting information from the public for anyone that may have seen, or have any information as to her current whereabouts,” he said.

“It’s concerning because of some medical conditions that Helen had, and to put it bluntly, we’re not giving up but we’d like to locate Helen.”

Ms Barnett was wearing shoulder and knee braces at the time she left her house on February 13, with a witness reporting to police confirming she was dressed in a black and white top, shorts and orthopaedic thongs.

Dense scrub and rugged terrain hampered the search on the 80-plus hectare property.

But the search areas have now been exhausted, and Inspector Haughton said police had no new leads.

“She doesn’t have a car, her phone was left at the home address, but we’re looking at contacts and who she may have contacted and that’s ongoing as we speak,” he said.

“Someone’s already come forward to identify that they saw her at that time on that Sunday afternoon, but we’re wondering if there is anyone else in the area who may be able to assist.”

An exhaustive search effort on February 19 included 50 SES people and police divers who scoured nearby waterways but failed to find any sign of Ms Barnett.

About 20 volunteers continued the search on February 20, and Australian Defence Force personnel using drones and aerial surveillance including the CQ Rescue helicopter have also been involved in the operation.

Inspector Haughton said he hoped help from the public would give the inquiry a new angle.

Previously, Ms Barnett’s neighbour of 11 years Shannon Wajeski said he could not believe it when he received advice from police to check his shelters and sheds for his missing neighbour, so shortly after Ms Latimore’s death.

Mr Wajeski said during his time, the community had never experienced anything like the events of the past six months.

“We had some really big bushfires a few years back, and the whole community rallied together, everyone was in everyone’s backyard helping out,” he said.

District Duty Officer Tony McDowell said they had requested the military’s help to find the 53-year-old, who came equipped with drones and ATVs.

He said they stood down the SES to give them a break. But the search did not prove fruitful.

Police searched more than five square kilometres on land and 15sq km in the air using drones and the RACQ CQ helicopter.

A police spokeswoman described the property as remote and rural, “bound by large properties that contain heavy bush land, thick vegetations and vast fields of long grass”.

The spokeswoman said rural property owners in the area were being asked to check their yards, sheds and shelters.

Friend Michelle Cain, who has known Ms Barnett for 38 years, has pleaded with people in the area to keep searching.

“To the Koumala community, I appreciate all their help but Helen is still missing and I need my friend found.

“If there is anything unusual, people call police. I am so overwhelmed by the police and SES and community for their efforts in finding Helen.”

Ms Barnett is described as caucasian, about 168cm tall with a proportionate build and light brown hair.

Anyone with information in relation to Helen’s whereabouts is asked to immediately contact police.

Missing woman Helen Barnett is out there somewhere, her best friend says

For months, Helen Barnett’s best mate been trying to find out what happened to the 53-year-old Koumala woman. The mystery of the missing Queenslander is far from being solved.

Ms Cain, a mother-of-eight children, has been doing everything she can to alert Australians about the disappearance of 53-year-old Helen.

Helen was last seen about 4.15pm on Valentine’s Day eve, some 300m from her home on Turnors Paddock Rd, 11km outside of Koumala.

Police, the SES, the Rural Fire Service, the army and the RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter scoured a 5km radius but dense scrub and rugged terrain hampered the three-week search on the 80-plus hectare property.

Police also combed local waterways and drones were used in a 15sq m aerial surveillance to no avail.

Helen had a major medical issue that prevented her from walking long distances and, Ms Cain says, she was being cared for by another friend.

Her phone remained at home and she also did not take her sneakers and sunglasses, both of which she always wore when leaving the house.

Dressed in a black and white shirt, shorts and thongs, Helen had on a shoulder and knee brace. The 168cm-tall woman’s long brownish-grey hair was tied back in a ponytail.

There are just fewer than 400 people listed as “long term” missing – meaning they have been gone for more than three months - in the state.

Helen is one of those people. And experts say the longer a person is missing the higher the chance they may never be found or they will be located deceased - Helen’s loved ones hope Helen’s case will go against this trend.

Speaking with this publication from her home on the Sunshine Coast, Ms Cain says the past five and a half months were heart-wrenching for herself and for Helen’s 85-year-old mother.

“Her mum is elderly and the fear of not knowing where her daughter is too much.”

Their 38-year friendship had never weakened, with the pair communicating at least once every two days.

“Helen and I were good close school mates and as we moved on into leaving school we drifted apart physically but we stayed in contact,” Ms Cain says.

“I was with her at her wedding and she has got to see me have all my children.”

When her health was at its lowest, she spent 12 months living on the Sunshine Coast with Ms Cain who helped her get back on her feet.

“I cared for her and got her medication stabilised and her health stabilised,” Ms Cain says.

“I really wanted her to stay here but she was determined to return to Koumala, which she loves very much.”

Ms Cain said it was well out of character for Helen to take long walks unaided because her medical condition stifled her ability to go long distances.

Since February, Ms Cain has run a Facebook page – Help Find Helen Barnett – to try and raise community awareness about her missing mate.

She has liaised diligently with missing person’s groups and police and has reached out to residents living between Rockhampton and Far North Queensland.

Ms Cain has even gone so far as to contact people interstate, including in the Northern Territory, on the chance Helen may have travelled to Darwin or that someone passing through the Mackay region might have witnessed something.

“Every very few days I try and post on social media or do other things to spread the message,” Ms Cain says.

“I have had local people distribute leaflets for me to keep those who do not have access to social media updated.

If you can help find Helen or have information about her disappearance, please phone CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

Friends won’t give up search for Helen Barnett, 54, missing since walk south of Mackay one year ago

It has been one year since Helen Barnett went for a walk in her home town and was never seen again. Despite searches turning up nothing, her dedicated friends haven’t given up hope.

“This week you would have been Miss Chatterbox about the bloody tennis. Well guess what, I have it on.

On February 13, it will be one year since Helen Barnett, 54, left home and took a walk along Turnors Paddock Rd in Koumala, south of Mackay.

She did not take her mobile phone, sunglasses or proper footwear and was not capable of walking long distances because of a number of health concerns.

A neighbour spotted her at 4.20pm, about 300m from home and Helen waved. That was the last time she was seen by anybody.

“They said she put her hand up and waved,” Ms Cain said. Not a frantic wave, but a wave hello.

Nobody knows what happened to Ms Barnett, but her close friends believe she was not suicidal and was possibly picked up by someone driving by.

Ms Cain said she and Ms Barnett met in high school and connected a couple of years later after a chance meeting on the train.

“She was a friend that you could talk to and talk to all the time,” she said.

Ms Cain was a bridesmaid in Ms Barnett’s wedding and the pair kept in touch over the years as they both moved around.

She would live there for around eight or nine years but moved in with Ms Cain after suffering a seizure while driving.

“I went and grabbed her and brought her home and she lived here for just under a year until she got her health right.

Ms Barnett moved back to her Koumala property with a housemate who would be able to drive her to medical appointments, Ms Cain said.

On the morning of February 13, she texted Ms Cain to say she’d been up all night watching television.

“I’ve been up all night watching (the) Winter Olympics. It was awesome. Then a few other shows. Tired now and going to get some sleep.”

Ms Cain said her friend was happy and had plans to visit her mother in New South Wales, and had spoken about visiting a friend later that week.

Police conducted extensive land and air searches in the vicinity of Ms Barnett’s Koumala home but no trace of her was ever found.

Ms Cain said she’d like to see the area searched again in case recent heavy rains had unearthed anything.

“Just to see if we can find her clothing or whatever. I believe she’s not there, but just to eliminate that,” she said.

Ms Cain said she posts constantly in the Facebook group she set up, “Help find Helen Barnett”, in the hope of unearthing any new information about what happened to her friend.

“I end up just writing as if I’m talking to her. I don’t want to write, ‘another week gone and nothing’.