{"id":345533,"date":"2024-03-15T13:11:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T03:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=345533"},"modified":"2024-03-15T22:41:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T12:41:36","slug":"mum-shattered-by-tragic-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/03\/15\/mum-shattered-by-tragic-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum Shattered By Tragic News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FLASHBACK:\u00a0 Inspector Scott Stahlhut, from the South Burnett Patrol Group, Luke’s mum Sue Bedey and another police officer at the search headquarters in June last year (Photo: Kathy Duff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 15, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Proston mum whose son has been missing for nine months is distraught she learned via Facebook that his body had been identified.<\/p>\n

Sue Bedey’s son Luke Fergusson, 28, went missing in the Stalworth \/ Proston area on June 9 last year<\/p>\n

A massive search continued for nine days, involving police, firefighters, SES volunteers, Defence Force personnel and many South Burnett residents.<\/p>\n

Searchers scoured the area on foot, horseback, on motorbikes and police divers checked dams.<\/p>\n

Helicopters and drones were also deployed unsuccessfully to find the missing man, who had autism.<\/p>\n

On September 18, a member of the public reported the discovery of a man’s body near a creek in the Okeden area.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since then, Ms Bedey has been awaiting news from authorities about the results of DNA tests to determine if Luke had been located.<\/p>\n

She learned the tragic news on Friday morning after reading a post published on the South Burnett Times’ Facebook page, part of the Courier-Mail newspaper.<\/p>\n

“It’s been such a long time that Luke’s been missing and for us to find out by a Facebook post is, honestly, the worst way you could find this out,” a sobbing Ms Bedey told southburnett.com.au.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Why weren’t we contacted first before the media?” Ms Bedey said.<\/p>\n

She said the last time police had spoken to her about Luke was “months ago”.<\/p>\n

“The State Coroner said they sent his DNA to Canberra because there’s such a long wait for DNA here in Queensland,” Ms Bedey said.<\/p>\n

“That was the last contact and that was before Christmas.<\/p>\n

“It’s just so wrong, it’s fundamentally wrong.”<\/p>\n

A police spokesperson told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> on Friday afternoon that police have provided a report to the Coroner following the non-suspicious death of a 28-year-old man in Okeden last year.<\/p>\n

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