Andrew Kieran DYMOTT
Date of Birth: 1972
Height: 180cm
Eyes: Green
Hair: Brown
Build: Medium
Complexion: Fair
Circumstances: Andrew Dymott is a qualified electrician who was attending a
family barbecue in Mt Eliza, Victoria when he went missing in the early afternoon of
10/1/99. He was last seen by his father walking to his car which was parked out
on the street. He did not return from his vehicle and has not been seen since.
His family are very concerned for his safety and welfare and have established a
website
to help trace Andrew =
http://www.findingandy.com.au/
Mystery of man who went to the shop and disappeared forever
ANDREW Dymott was enjoying a family barbecue at his sister’s house when he
popped out to the shop and never returned.
JULY 15, 2018 Marnie o'neill NEWS.COM.AU
ANDREW Dymott vanished on the most ordinary of days, a family barbecue at his
sister’s house at Mt Eliza, south of Melbourne.
Sometime in the early afternoon, Rachel Grace remembers, her brother said he
was going to go to the shop.
She watched Andy walk down her driveway, leaving his car behind. The family
would never see or hear from him again.
Mrs Grace chokes back the tears during our interview but later emails to say
how good it felt to talk about Andy.
“It’s hard because my brothers and I had such a happy childhood,” she said.
“We weren’t one of those families. We’d have picnics and play in the
sprinklers and have great days out at the botanical gardens. It would be so
wonderful to have some of those moments back, to do it all again.
“We have gone through that day over and over in our minds, looking for clues
we might have missed,” Mrs Grace told news.com.au.
“We constantly look back and question ourselves, anguishing over details and
possible signs he gave, but there’s really nothing.
“There was no conflict, there was no argument before he left. There was no
indication that he wasn’t going to come back.”
Almost two decades after the 26-year-old electrician’s inexplicable
disappearance, his family has never stopped searching, never given up hope.
“Mum and dad still live in the same house. They didn’t want to move in case he
wouldn’t be able to find them when he came home,” Mrs Grace said.
Her words echo those of Suzie Ratcliffe, founder of Leave
a Light On Inc, which supports and campaigns on behalf of people with
missing loved ones.
Ms Ratcliffe is the sister of 11-year-old Joanne Ratcliffe, who
was abducted from Adelaide Oval along with four-year-old Kirste Gordon in
1973 in an unsolved cold case that has drawn parallels with the Beaumont
children.
From the moment she disappeared, Joanne's parents would leave their porch light
on to help guide the little girl home.
And like Ms Ratcliffe, Mrs Grace’s pain has not eased over the decades.
Mrs Grace’s daughter Sarah shares a birthday with her missing uncle, who will
turn 46 on July 21. It is always a bitter sweet occasion.
“(My daughter) Kathleen and her cousin Christopher were lucky enough to have
known Andy as children and they were very close,” she said.
“All his nieces and nephews have grown up with stories about Andy. If he turned
up tomorrow they would feel like they know him.”
Mrs Grace said her brother suffered from a mental illness that was being managed
by professionals but that “a couple of months before (he disappeared) there were
signs he was having low points”.
“At the time we didn’t know enough about (his condition) to know what to look
for,” she said.
“He would talk to us, our brother Miles and mum and dad, about it but we were
conscious of not interfering too much.”
Over the years, there have been a handful of reported sightings of Andy, usually
after public appeals for information, but none have been confirmed.
“At the time he went missing we had another possible sighting of Andrew living
in temporary accommodation in Melbourne and my husband, brother Miles, my father
and a group of (Andy’s) friends searched high and low,” Mrs Grace said.
“His closest friend’s Lisa and Christian still offer their support to mum and
dad to this day and are waiting to carry on conversations with him as if no time
has passed.
“There was a time when a lot of us were certain he was living among the homeless
community and my father considered integrating into that community to try and
find him.
“He and mum have fought so hard to get information from government bodies about
facilities and services that may have been accessed by Andy but there have been
so many obstacles because of privacy issues.
“Some of the hurdles we’ve faced are because the states don’t talk to each
other, the original detective handling his case experienced the same hurdles and
there’s no centralised national database for information or DNA sharing.”
Mrs Grace said people did not realise how easy it was to go missing in
Australia. It was possible to live for years doing cash in hand work such as
fruit-picking, moving from town to town and crossing states undetected.
“We will never give up hope that Andy is still out there, and that he will come
back to us.”
- Andrew
Dymott was last seen at a family barbecue at Mt Eliza in Victoria on January 10,
1999, aged 26. He is described as 180cm tall with brown hair and green eyes.
- Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact CrimeStoppers on
1800 333 000 or contact his family via their Facebook
page.
- If you have a family member or friend who is missing, contact Leave
a Light On Inc for
advice about what you can do and to receive ongoing support.