The Google Maps data of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez has been released, and it’s left investigators with more questions than answers.
Theo went missing from Byron Bay in 2019, when he was 18 years old. He was last seen leaving Cheeky Monkey’s bar in the NSW town on May 31. The closest thing to evidence that investigators found was a hat similar to one Theo wore, and pings from his mobile phone that were detected near the Cape Byron lighthouse the day after his disappearance.
In August 2019, groups of volunteers brought cadaver dogs to the area after police initially suspended the official search, and then in September, his case was referred to the Coroner.
Now, in 2021, two days into an inquest regarding Theo’s disappearance, new information has emerged: the teenager’s Google data.
The new data shows that after the last confirmed sighting of Theo at 11pm on May 31, he googles directions to his hostel, but walks off in the opposite direction.
He ends up at some cricket nets and stays there for seven minutes.
At 11.30pm, about 1km from the bar, Theo googles directions to his hostel again. But, confusingly, he then leaves the streets of Byron to walk through dense bush along the dark Milne Track towards Tallow Beach. Which again, is in the wrong direction. According to his Google data, he at times appeared to be running or walking quickly.
At 11.39pm, Theo googles directions to his hostel again, while literally in the middle of the bush, but then heads down towards Tallow Beach.
Yet again, at 11.49pm, Theo googles his hostel but then walks along the sand towards Cosy Corner beach, about 1.2km away.
Just past midnight, Theo arrives at Cosy Corner beach, and the location services are turned off his phone, probably to save battery. He sends messages via Facebook to his friends and family joking about a U2 concert, and then watches episodes from a French quiz show. At 12.55am, he sends his last message to his stepsister on WhatsApp. And then his phone suddenly stops receiving data. It pings again at 6.17am, and then at 1.42pm Theo’s phone stops receiving data for good.
According to The Guardian, the inquest heard police believe he climbed up the beachside cliffs, dropped his phone and fell into the sea.
His family, who have travelled to NSW from Europe for the inquest, disagree, saying that Theo was a really cautious guy and would only have climbed the cliff face if someone was there to encourage him that it was safe.
Theo’s cousin Lisa Hayez retraced his steps when trying to understand what happened to him. She told the inquest that there’s no way he would have wandered into bushland in the dead of night alone.
“There is no way he was doing that by himself,” she said, per The Daily Mail.
“It was scary.
“I could see him starting the walk but he would probably have stopped once he started to go into the deep bush land and be like, that’s not safe for me to do by myself,” she said.
She also told the inquest that Theo was an expert at using Google Maps, and that it’s unlikely he was confused and wandering in the wrong direction, or that he got lost.
The inquest into Theo Hayez’ disappearance will continue for the next two weeks.
