Over 50 years Flinders Highway, which stretches 800km from Townsville to Mount Isa in north Queensland, has claimed 12 victims who were murdered or vanished, never to be seen again.
Coroner rules on fate of man who disappeared on road trip A coroner has ruled out foul play in the disappearance of a 22-year-old man who walked into the bush near Charters Towers.
Crime by Grace Mason
Premium Content
Subscriber only A CORONER has ruled out foul play in the disappearance of Jayden Penno-Tompsett and found he likely died due to exposure to the elements in remote bushland during a drug-fuelled road trip to Cairns. The 22-year-old was travelling from Newcastle with a friend Lucas Tattersall to celebrate New Year s Eve in December 2017 and the pair took drugs throughout the trip before Mr Penno-Tompsett was last seen early on December 31 near Charters Towers.
Coroner rules no foul play in the disappearance of Jayden Penno-Tompsett
The 22-year-old mysteriously disappeared while on a drug-fuelled road trip
He was travelling with a friend from Newcastle to Queensland at the end of 2017
His family fear he was murdered but an inquest ruled he perished in the heat
Locals have called the stretch of road where he disappeared highway of death
Mr Tompsett called Jayden his greatest achievement . This kid taught me to love when he was born, he said. Jayden Penno-Tompsett s father Brendan Tompsett leaves the Cairns court after closing submissions in the inquest. I ve stitched my heart together with tears every day so I can bleed out every night. That will never stop because there is no closure. I think we all know what happened, but you never stop having hope. Ms Penno said she prayed this inquest brings the answers I ve been searching for . My only mission is to find Jay and bring him home to his loved ones, she said.
(I said to him) we re in the middle of nowhere … don t do anything stupid, he told the court. I didn t want to be separated from my friend in a place I didn t know. He told the court he searched for some time before being told by other friends already in Cairns to continue driving. Jayden Penno-Tompsett was reportedly last seen on Stock Route Road, which is a semirural area on the outskirts of Charters Towers. When asked why he did not immediately report Mr Penno-Tompsett s disappearance when he reached Cairns he said he didn t want to be a rat if he was found in possession of drugs.