Tony Jones disappeared without a trace in one of Australia’s most baffling cold cases. The 20-year-old man from Perth, vanished while hitchhiking between Townsville and Mount Isa in November 1982.
On February 20, 2002 during an inquest into the disappearance, Coroner Ian Fisher ruled that Jones was a victim of homicide.
"I am satisfied that the missing person is dead," the coroner’s findings stated.
"I find that he died on or around the 3rd of November 1982 at the hands of a person or persons unknown"
Now, more than 30 years on, this mystery will be revisited in a special investigation by television program 60 Minutes.
Where is the body?
In 2014 Mark Jones, brother of missing man Tony, said his family feared the investigation into the disappearance was a “wild goose chase''.
He said the family had been kept in the dark about the reported sightings and the information that had led police to set up a crime scene at the Grand Hotel and the Hughenden slaughter yard.
Mr Jones said he believed his brother was picked up by someone on the night he went missing, November 3, 1982, and was killed. He spoke to Tony that day when his brother made a reverse call to the family home in Perth. Read on.
Hughenden and the eye witness
Stephen Cox was working in Hughenden at the time. He said he picked up a hitchhiker who was on his way to meet his friend Tony at the Hughenden post office.
Mr Cox said he dropped the man off in town before seeing him again the next day with another young man.
Mr Cox later recognised this second man as Tony Jones after seeing newspaper articles with photos of the missing hitchhiker and the investigation was moved to Hughenden. Read on.
The inquest
A family review of inquest documents in 2007 unearthed many neglected leads and after petitioning the state government, a second inquest was ordered in Townsville for August 2016.
During the new inquest convicted killer Andy Albury gave evidence briefly from a Northern Territory prison. He admitted he knew who Jones was before hanging up saying the court had no jurisdiction over him.
The investigation continues.
The high profile case of Tony Jones the catalyst for National Missing Persons Week.
60 Minutes is on at 8:30pm Sunday on Nine.