Detectives set up a mobile police office near a Kalgoorlie-Boulder market yesterday in a bid for information on the disappearance of 66-year-old Charlie Park.

Mr Park was last seen entering his house in Richardson Street, Boulder, about 10.20pm on Tuesday, January 3, after walking home from the Recreation Hotel. Since then, he has not used his bank accounts and none of his family and friends has heard from him.

Last week, forensic experts examined his home as major crime squad investigators joined local detectives to establish what happened to Mr Park.

Police at the mobile police office on Burt Street, near the Boulder markets, said Mr Park was well known in the area.

"We have had many locals coming up to us today chatting about their relationship with Mr Park and wanting to know if there was new information," one officer said.

Mr Park lives with a housemate, but that person was away when he disappeared.

Mr Park requires medication and his disappearance is out of character.

There were reports of a wheelie bin and two pillows missing from his home, and that his dog was dehydrated when worried friends and family went to check on him.

Mr Park's daughter Kristy said last week the family of five children and 13 grandchildren were holding together.

"We're all fairly cut-up at the moment - it's a devastating thing to happen to us," Ms Park said. "He's just not the type of person this sort of thing happens to."

Family pleads for missing man clues

Posted January 19, 2012 13:49:36 - ABC

The brother-in-law of a missing man from Western Australia's Goldfields says his family is desperate for some answers.

Charles Park, 66, who has been living in Boulder for more than 30 years, has not been seen since January 3.

Late yesterday afternoon, police and the State Emergency Service conducted a search of bushland near his Boulder home, in the hope of finding further clues about Mr Park's mysterious disappearance.

Mr Park's brother-in-law, Bob Gregory, says the family wants to know what has happened to their much-loved relative.

"At the moment we are just sticking all together and just try and comfort each other.. all we want is Charlie back and then we can deal with that side of things ... we need closure on this," he said.

Mr Gregory says he believes something sinister has happened.

"Oh completely out of character, going back to his dog, you know he was that close to his dog. He wouldn't leave it for 24 hours," he said.

"Like I said now it's the 15th day ... I suspect foul play."

He still visits his house, wonders why they can no longer pick grapes together and tries to comprehend the fact that he may never see him again.

It's a cruel reality for a three-year-old.

Charlie Park, 66, was last seen on Tuesday, January 3 when he left the Recreation Hotel in the goldfields town of Boulder and walked home with a work colleague about 10pm.

His friend bid him farewell at the front gate, but there has been no trace of the loving father-of-five since.

His bank accounts have not been touched and his family is mystified. Detectives believe certain locals are withholding vital information that will help solve the case.

As Major Crime detectives returned to Kalgoorlie-Boulder this week to continue their investigation, Mr Park's daughter, Kylie, described the torment of not knowing what had happened to her father.

She accepts it is unlikely he will be found alive and acknowledges the cold-hard reality that police are now looking for a body.

But she cannot fathom why.

``I just can't understand how this has happened,'' Ms Park said.

``He was 66 - what sort of threat was he to anybody? He was working, he was enjoying life and having a drink as he always had.

``I don't understand who's done it to Dad and I don't know why. You don't know if you're standing next to them in a shop. It's just really horrible.

``My children don't quite understand why they don't get to see grandad anymore. We have told them that we think someone has gone and hurt him and we don't know where he is.

``My littlest boy, he's three, he'll say: `My grandad, my mum's Charlie, is dead' and it's really confronting and hard to hear a child talk like that.''

By all accounts, Mr Park was a hard-working, knockabout, larrikin bloke. He enjoyed few beers and a yarn with mates at local Boulder pubs and his family did not know him to have enemies.

Concerns for Mr Park's welfare were heightened three days after he was last seen alive when his collie dog, Laddie, was found alone at home severely dehydrated. He was later euthanised.

``You always feel like you are looking for him, especially not knowing what's happened or where he is,'' Ms Park said.

``I feel really cheated that we've lost him the way we have.

``If someone's sick and they're going to pass away you tell them how much they meant to you. But when they are just snatched from you feel like you didn't tell them enough.''

Ms Park said she had been on holiday in Kalbarri when her father returned from a trip to Sydney.

``He said he'd see me when I got back and to have a good holiday,'' Ms Park recounted. But she never saw him again.

Ms Park said it had been especially difficult having to return to her father's empty home to collect the mail.

``It's horrible that you go there knowing you're not going to see him,'' she said. ``I went there around Easter time and I knew that he wasn't there but I called out: `Dad, are you here Dad?' just hoping he might be.''

Ms Park said small-town rumours about her father's disappearance, including that his body had been burnt and that he was dumped in a mineshaft, had only compacted her grief.

``We just feel like we want his body back so we can put him to rest, so we have somewhere to go and mourn and sit down with a beer and say: `How you going Dad?','' she said.

``Whoever took Dad's life, also took a piece of our lives.''

In the days before his return from Sydney, Mr Park's house and his regular haunt, the Rec Hotel, were daubed with derogatory graffiti . While details of the graffiti have not been released publicly, his family maintains it was unsubstantiated and designed to discredit him.

Homicide detectives have also called for public help to find a blue and yellow recycling bin missing from Mr Park's home. They also believe bedding, his phone and clothing were taken.

``Police believe there is a person or people in the community that know what happened to Charlie Park and are reluctant to come forward,'' Detective Senior Sergeant James Bradley said.

``Again, we call on them to come forward. They can contact Crime Stoppers anonymously, but the information is critical to this investigation.''

*Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Information can be given anonymously and rewards of up to $1000 are offered for information leading to an arrest.