August 19, 2020
Police are appealing to the public for help to clear up a 12-year-old mystery.
Back in 2008, a man’s decomposed body was found near Nambour but despite extensive police inquiries his identity is still a mystery.
Police launched a fresh public appeal for information on Wednesday, releasing a new digital facial image created using DNA technology.
The new description is different from earlier images released during the investigation.
It shows a fair-skinned man, aged between 45 and 65, with probably green / hazel eyes.
The man’s body was found near the eastern spillway of the Poona Dam by a workman on September 9, 2008.
His death is not being treated as suspicious.
Detectives from the State Crime Command’s Missing Persons Unit hired external forensic specialists to identify the likely ancestry of the man.
The results show the man may have New Zealand ancestry.
He is described as being of a solid build, approximately 185cm tall, balding with grey hair and having an appendix scar and four tattoos.
The tattoos are of a shark and eagle on his left shoulder. On his right shoulder there is a woman with a Native American headdress and what appears to be a warrior or gnome.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Dario Goriup said information from the public was vital to solving the case.
“While we are keeping an open mind, current information indicates this man may have close family connections to the North Island of New Zealand, specifically the Tauranga, Bay of Plenty area,” he said.
“We would ask members of the public who are missing a loved one or perhaps have not spoken to a family member or friend since September 2008 to consider this information, take a good look at this image and if there is a resemblance, please contact police.
“All it could take is one person who recognises the image or details to come forward and this could help us identify this man and find an answer to this 12-year mystery.”
The man was wearing a red Bauhaus baseball cap, long sleeved Duchamp-brand black shirt, Aus Sport grey tracksuit pants, white orange and grey Fila ankle socks and a pair of Cougar white, navy, silver and orange sandshoes when he was found.
A brown, leather satchel – bearing a Fox logo – was discovered next to his body.
Anyone with information should contact CrimeStoppers on 1800-333-000.
