Patrick LIEDKE
Patrick LIEDKE
Find Patrick Liedke Facebook group
The sister of a man missing for the past two weeks in bushland around the New South Wales-Queensland border has rallied a team of volunteers to continue a search for him.
Patrick Liedke, 39, was last seen west of Tweed Heads on April 22.
His car was found on April 26 on a property at nearby Cobaki, and a multi-agency search operation was launched the following day.
The multi-agency co-ordinated search was suspended on May 1.
Nicole Liedke said police had told her they could not resource a full-scale operation without fresh evidence to narrow the search area.
Since then she has been out every day scouring bushland in the area with the help of volunteers, including off-duty police and rescue specialists.
Ms Liedke said she had strong hopes her brother was still out there.
"I believe that if anyone was missing, if you were missing, if one of your family was missing, you'd hope that no-one would give up on you, that no-one would stop searching for you," she said.
"He's my little brother, my job is to protect him and I am always going to be searching for him.
"We have power as people, we see a lot, so it could just be a stroke of luck that you could see him."
Ms Liedke said Patrick had most likely headed into the bush to help with his mental health, and he would possibly now be disoriented and confused.
She described her brother as a "gentle giant" who loved to paint, had been involved in team sports and studied engineering.
Queensland Police sergeant Beau McNamara has been assisting with the search on his days off, and returned in a professional capacity on Thursday after some promising signs of life the night before.
Volunteers had reported seeing some footprints and a stick hut on private property off Currumbin Creek Road in the Currumbin Valley.
"I'm just doing everything I can tracking through the mountains and whatnot," Sergeant McNamara said.
"The community is just rallying around the family.
"Obviously it is a tough situation to go through and so we are just throwing in as much support as we can."
Search and rescue expert Philip Benfield has volunteered the use of his thermal drone, which is used to detect heat emanating from humans and animals.
Mr Benfield said it was tough terrain and it was a large search area.
"The recent footprints are a good indicator of where he may have been in the past 12 to 24 hours," he said.
Family friend Kaye Ball has also joined the search.
Ms Ball said hundreds of search hours could be clocked up if every property owner in the Currumbin Valley, Cobaki and Pigabeen areas spent some time each day looking for Mr Liedke on their land.
"I think it is very reasonable to hope that Patrick is still in good condition and he is out there, so if we can just all keep going at the very important moment, they will have a great chance of locating him," she said.
Mr Liedke is described as being of Caucasian appearance, solid build, 183cm tall with short brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone who sees him is asked to call triple-0.
Police are no closer to finding a man missing for three months after he seemingly vanished on the Queensland-NSW border. Family have now issued a heartfelt plea for more support.
On Wednesday morning, Ms Liedke appealed to local boaties and asked if they could assist in searching mangroves around Cobaki on the Qld-NSW border.
Ms Liedke wrote in her appeal more resources needed to be given to the families of missing persons.
“I am calling for police to be given immediate access to the online location records of missing people from technology companies. We urgently need legislation to speed up access to this critical information so we can improve the chances of locating the missing person early in the search. Making just this one change could greatly increase their chance of survival,” Nicole wrote.
When asked for the up-to-date status of the investigation, a NSW Police spokesperson said despite a multi-day, multi-agency search being suspended in May, “local police have continued to search for Patrick as part of regular taskings”.
“Every missing person deserves to be found and the NSW Police Force dedicates significant resources and effort to locate individuals who are reported missing,” the spokesperson said.
“Police diligently pursue all lines of inquiry and explore every available lead in their quest to reunite families and bring closure to communities.”
Mr Liedke’s family have set up a Facebook page Find Patrick Liedke.
Further south, Mullumbimby man Gage Wilson, 31, has been missing for more than two months after his abandoned car was found crashed into a tree on Koonyum Range Rd at Wilsons Creek on May 18.
His family have also issued desperate pleas to find him.
Anyone with information about Patrick Liedke’s whereabouts should phone Tweed-Byron Police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The appeal comes ahead of the Australian Federal Police’s National Missing Persons Week in August.
“This week marks three months since Patrick was last seen on 22 April west of Tweed Heads, New South Wales. He is now officially deemed as a long-term missing person,” the statement read.
“Patrick’s sister Nicole Liedke says more needs to be done to improve the system for searching for missing persons and to increase understanding across agencies, the healthcare sector and the public of neurodivergent individuals and those with mental health challenges.
“After Patrick’s car was located near the town of Cobaki, a multi-agency search was initiated on 26 April, which police later suspended on 1 May.
“With no fresh evidence to narrow the search area, the police informed Nicole they were unable to conduct a full-scale operation.”
Since searches to find Mr Liedke were called off, his sister and a band of volunteers have taken to bushland in an attempt to find him.
There is currently a 13-day search operation underway around Currumbin Valley, the statement reads.