Mark Jones’ backpacking brother Tony Jones has been missing for over 37 years, after vanishing on a solo trip across the Queensland desert in 1982.
The 20-year-old Perth hitchhiker was the youngest of seven with a thirst for adventure that could never be quenched.
With each day that crawls by, the Jones family are losing hope that they will ever find their “gentle, cheeky larrikin”.
“Being 1982, Tony’s only way of contacting us all was the odd letter or a call from a payphone. Every few days he would ring home, regaling us with stories of his travels,” Mark tells New Idea.
“He told us one day he had no money left and was sleeping on beaches. So he was due to hitchhike to Mt Isa to meet up with my brother Tim and head home for Christmas.”
After that phone call, Tony was never seen or heard from again.
He had vanished without a trace in the vast, sprawling Australian outback.
LISTEN TO INVESTIGATES: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TONY JONES
The phone calls and bank records left breadcrumbs of evidence, like a Hansel and Gretel trail.
When a $20,000 reward was posted for answers, it was clear Tony had met with foul play.
And in a strange twist, police received a letter in 1983 which contained a major clue.
“I believe body of AJ Jones buried in or near Fullarton River,” it read.
The area was searched for two days, yet not a shred of evidence was found.
Mark and his family followed every tiny lead in their desperate search for their dear brother.
Six years after his disappearance, Brian started something special.
The Jones’ realised there was no support system for families of missing people, despite more than 31,000 people reported missing in Australia each year.
This is how National Missing Person’s Week was born, held every year in August.
“Sadly, 10 years after Tony vanished, my beautiful mother Beres passed away,” Mark says.
“Tony’s disappearance broke my mother’s heart, and she died not knowing.”
In 2002, a coronial inquest ruled that Tony had been murdered in November of 1982.
Playing cards with Tony’s face on it were distributed around prisons in the hope someone would come forward with the truth.
This year, Tony would have been 57.
A $250,000 rewards remains for any information on his whereabouts.
“Tony was a son, a brother and friend. We miss him dearly and just want him home,” Mark says.
If you have information that may assist police to locate Tony please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
