Zac BARNES
Zac BARNES
Zac has a VB logo tattoo on his calf and other tattoos as pictured.
Zac Barnes, aged 18, was last seen at about 8.00pm on Sunday 13 November 2016 at Thornton NSW. Zac was last seen wearing a faded blue singlet, dark blue board shorts and work boots. There are concerns for his welfare.
If you have information that may assist police to locate Zac please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
- Newcastle Herald
THE worried mother of missing Metford teenager Zac Barnes has pleaded for any information which may lead them to the 18-year-old.
Zac has not been seen since getting out of a car and running away from friends whilst in a distressed state on the night of November 13 – a Sunday.
The apprentice bricklayer had appeared fine earlier in the day before something
triggered him to want to leave a friend’s house to get a train at Thornton
railway station.
But on the way, Zac has asked his friend to stop the car before he got out and
ran off near the intersection of Haussman Drive and Tripp Close.
He has not been seen since, has not been on social media, has no money or phone
and has failed to return to work.
Police searched the area and canvassed residents last week.
They have returned on Monday and, along with State Emergency Service volunteers,
are searching the area where he was last seen.
A police helicopter will also search from the air.
“None of the residents in the area have seen him, he hasn’t hitchhiked, he
hasn't gotten on a train, he is only wearing a singlet and shorts and work
boots,’’ mum Karen Gudelj said.
“We don’t know where he could be and we really don’t know why or what kind of
mental state he was in.
“We need him to know that if he is thinking he might be in trouble, that there
is absolutely nothing he could have done that would cause us not to want to help
and support him.
“And we need his friends to know that nobody is going to get into any trouble for this. That we just want to know he is okay, that he is safe.
“Please come forward if you know anything, anything at all.’’
Ms Gudelj said Zac could be identified by a tattoo of a VB logo on his right calf, and asked anyone who may see him to contact police instead of approaching him.
He is described as being of Caucasian appearance, between 180cm to 185cm tall, of thin build, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Zac was last seen wearing a faded blue singlet, dark blue board shorts and work boots.
Anyone who has information on his whereabouts is urged to contact Maitland police on 4934 0200 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Emergency crews are searching bushland near the rail line at Thornton for missing teenager Zac Barnes.
But Police say the search has not been prompted by a tip-off or any "credible information" that they 18-year-old entered the scrub.
Mr Barnes was last seen on the corner of Tripp Close and Haussman Drive, Thornton, on November 13.
Central Hunter duty officer Inspector Glenn Blain said Monday's foot search was the second in the area, after an initial search using vehicles last week.
He said it was "part of the normal search process".
Police and 25 State Emergency Service volunteers combed the bushland on Monday morning in search of Mr Barnes.
Police helicopter PolAir was expected to conduct an aerial search of land behind the nearby Woodberry swamp at lunch time.
"We are still appealing to members of the public who may have seen him to contact police or Crime Stoppers [1800 333 000]," Inspector Blain said.
"We conducted the first search last week, we are conducting a more extensive grid search of the area [on Monday]."
A NSW teen sent a friend an eerie single word Snapchat message before he disappeared into the bush never to be seen again.
A New South Wales teenager sent a one word social media message shortly before he walked into the bush never to be seen again, an inquest has heard.
Zac Barnes, who was 18 at the time of his disappearance, got out of a friend’s car on the night of November 13, 2016, in Thornton, in the Hunter Valley.
Mr Barnes was wearing just a T-shirt, shorts and work boots when he went missing.
He had neither his wallet nor phone on him.
An inquest has commenced at the NSW Coroners Court, in Lidcombe in Sydney’s west, to investigate what led up to and what happened after Mr Barnes’ disappearance, as well as police efforts to locate him.
But, said counsel assisting Tim Hammond, there was no hope the teen might still be alive.
“It must be concluded that Zac has passed away,” he said noting that Mr Barnes’ bank accounts, social media profiles and phone had not been used since that day in 2016.
Mr Hammond said his baffling disappearance – and the fact no remains or possessions had been found – had left a “hole that remains with his family and friends and never leaves,” reported 7 News.
Mr Barnes, who excelled at maths and football, worked as a bricklayer.
He was reported missing on November 14 by his parents Karen and Michael Gudelj, who attended the inquest.
The 18-year-old, from Metford near Maitland, had been through a troubled few days. He had lost his job after what’s been described as an “altercation” with a colleague, the Daily Mail reported. He then had to ask his parents to give him $1200 to pay down a debt.
Friends said he was emotional, crying and was drinking heavily.
After he was fired, Mr Barnes allegedly made an eerie comment.
“All I have to do is walk into the bush and take a number of pills and no one will ever find me”.
In a message on social media site Snapchat to a friend just days before he vanished, he simply wrote: “dead”.
The friend who received that message tracked down Mr Barnes after his parents expressed concerns about his welfare.
He was found at a mate’s house drinking and watching movies.
But Mr Barnes did not want to go home, worried about his mother seeming him in that condition.
He instead took a drive with a friend, where a witness has said he became aggressive.
Mr Barnes asked for the car to be stopped and walked away, into the bush.
“Zac was not heard from again that night or since,” Mr Hammond said.
Despite a search by NSW Police no signs of Mr Barnes have ever been found.
Questions have been raised about the length of time it took for detailed searches to begin.
“(The inquest) is an important first step to getting to the truth what happened to Zac,” Mr Barnes’ mother Ms Gudelj said.
“We’re hoping to bring our boy home, whether he’s alive or not”.
The inquest continues.
Key witnesses say a missing New South Wales teenager was not himself before he walked into bushland, never to be seen again.
A friend of missing teenager Zac Barnes has revealed his final words before he vanished into bushland.
Mr Barnes, 18, stepped out of Matt Hindwood’s car near Thornton train station in NSW Hunter region on November 13, 2016, and has not been seen since.
Mr Hindwood told an inquest into Mr Barnes’ death that he had turned up at his home on the Friday before he went missing after losing his job.
Mr Hindwood and his partner Courtney Jones were the last people to see Mr Barnes alive, Daily Mail reports.
The trio had become close friends since meeting at TAFE nine months earlier, but Mr Barnes’ demeanour during that weekend was markedly different.
“He was upset and didn’t seem himself,” Mr Hindwood told the inquest at NSW Coroner’s Court on Tuesday.
Mr Barnes’ drug use was evident during the weekend at the East Maitland home, and on Sunday night, things took a turn for the worse.
“He was definitely stressed; I could tell he wasn’t his laughing character he normally was,” Mr Hindwood said.
The pair stopped to buy cigarettes during the car ride to drop Mr Barnes off at East Maitland train station.
However, Mr Barnes’ agitation resurfaced en route, and he demanded they stop the car.
“He grabbed the back of the seat and shook it,” Mr Hindwood said.
Eventually, Mr Barnes got out of the car and walked into bushland.
“He was starting to calm down,” Mr Hindwood recalled.
“He said, ‘I’m going to see a mate up the road,’ and that I’d see him tomorrow and don’t stress. He gave me a hug and said, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’.”
That was the last anyone saw or heard from Mr Barnes.
Despite efforts from his family to report him missing, questions arose about the urgency of the police response.
According to Detective Senior Constable Christopher Walker, who took charge of the investigation eight days later, no risk assessment was done into the urgency of the search surrounding Mr Barnes’s disappearance.
The young man’s family, who have been present throughout the inquest, told media they hope proceedings will finally provide the answers they’ve sought for the past seven years. “This is the day we’ve (been) fighting for a long time, and we’re hoping to get some answers,” Mr Barnes’ mother told reporters outside the court.
“We’re hoping to bring our boy home, whether he’s alive or not.”
Despite a search by NSW Police, no signs of Mr Barnes have ever been found.
Questions have been raised about the length of time it took for detailed searches to begin.
The proceedings continue and are expected to wrap up this week.
