The Disappearance of Geoffrey Robert Hay
Geoffrey Robert Hay was last seen on Tuesday the 27th of August, 2013 at his residence in Devonport in the state of Tasmania. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance are considered bizarre and the cause of his disappearance is still unknown.
Background on Geoffrey
Geoffrey Robert Hay was born on the 14th of December in 1946. Both of his parents have passed and he has one sibling, a sister. He was known to be estranged from his sister. He was known to be a farmer and do farm-work as his primary source of income. He does not have any children and there is no evidence / documentation to suggest that he has ever been married. He was described as a reclusive man that resided in a property on Nixon Street in the Tasmanian coastal city of Devonport (in Australia).
The Disappearance
Mr Hay was last seen on his property by a neighbour of his at 2pm on the 27th of August 2013. There have been no known or verified sightings of him since this time.
In the early hours of the morning on the 28th of August, 2013 (Roughly around 3am) residents of Nixon Street were awoken by a loud bang coming from Geoffrey's property. Fire fighters were called to the property after it was observed that his house was on fire.
When firefighters arrived on scene, they were met with difficulty in controlling the blaze as seemingly there were many blockades put in place to prevent the fire from being put out effectively. This is what was observed on scene by firefighters during the blaze:
- The residence was surrounded by high fences, with all of the gates locked
- All of the entry points into the house such as windows and doors were boarded up with steel plates.
- Fire plugs within proximity to the property were unable to be utilised as concrete had been poured into them
- Large containers of chemicals appeared to have been strategically placed around the property. (I'm unable to find any info on exactly what chemicals these were, but I presume that they were flammable and aided in worsening the fire)
As a result of these contributing factors, Mr Hay's residence was completely destroyed in the fire, despite efforts from fire fighters. Geoffrey was not located at the scene. Longtime fire fighter 'Craig Burrows' who was on scene at the time was quoted as saying:
"This is definitely the weirdest house fire I have ever been to," In an article with 'The Mercury' newspaper
After it was determined by law enforcement that Mr Hay was unable to be located or contacted, they published several media releases appealing for information regarding his whereabouts. Mr Hay was known to own multiple vehicles, none of which could be accounted for at the time of his disappearance. Police stated that they would like to speak to anyone that knew information regarding the whereabouts of the following vehicles (all presumably belonging to him).
- A white 2003 Mercedes Campervan (registration / license plate number FB8981)
- A 2001 Suzuki Jimmy (registration / license plate number EW9974)
- A 2012 Mercedes Sprinter van (registration / license plate number C67LE)
He was also known to have owned boats and Four wheel drives.
Many members of the public came forward with information, including one man that contacted Devonport police with information that resulted in police focusing their investigations attention on an area of gravel pits near Dalgarth Road, Bakers Beach (Which is a 35-40 minute drive down the coastline in an Easterly direction from Devonport). In September of 2013, police searched this area, but not trace of Mr Hay was found.
On the 4th of June in 2016, police were searching this same area in relation to a seperate missing persons case (Not related to Mr Hay). In the process of doing this, A Suzuki Jimney identified as belonging to Mr Hay was found completely burnt with extensive damaged to the car. The car was located in bush area (which is terminology used to refer heavily wooded area with lots of vegetation for those not from Australia) roughly 600 meters in a North direction from Brown Creek Road which is a road that runs through a rural and forest-y area. Mr Hay was not located at the scene. It was not determined to have belong to Mr Hay until February of 2017 when forensic investigation was carried out on the car. There were no human remains or traces of human remains found in or around the car.
In January of 2022, a coronial inquest determined that Mr Hay is deceased as he has not accessed bank accounts, government services and has not been sighted since his disappearance. He was declared legally dead. Here is a direct quote from the inquest -
"I am satisfied to the requisite legal standard that Mr Hay is dead and has been since around late August 2013. How, where, and in what circumstances he met his death is not something I am able to determine on the evidence"
Theories:
Mr Hay committed Suicide - The reason for this being that it was stated in his coronial inquest that there was evidence to suggest Mr Hay had discussed suicide in the time period shorty before his disappearance. I'm unable to find any information on who he discussed this with and what exactly he said on the matter.
Mr Hay has started a new life - I'm unable to find any evidence of a criminal record for Mr Hay or a warrant for his arrest at the time of his disappearance. I'm also unable to find any evidence that he had some sort of outstanding debt or criminal affairs that may have landed him in hot water with some bad people, so if he has decided to start a new life, I'm unable to determine why. This being said, he was a known to be a very reclusive person, seemingly with no friends or close family that could have been privy to anything shady happening in Mr Hay's life at the time, meaning that it would not have been brought to the attention of lead investigators on the case.
Sources:
Coronial inquest into Mr Hay's suspected death PDF Document - https://www.magistratescourt.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/650876/Hay,-Geoffrey-Robert.pdf
Mr Hays profile on the Australian Missing Persons Register - https://australianmissingpersonsregister.com/GeoffreyHay.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawU0YGZleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMUlFS1NZUEl6NnZXY1dVQVVzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEexDffd-3GF0CninsJzuGVD8SQFg2s8m4ERCsaitV87Eu29Hps3L5VkgvcVUQ_aem_cdYLbhmPSC2d-8oka2Cxwg
NMPCC profile on Mr Hays - https://www.missingpersons.gov.au/search/tas/geoffrey-robert-hay
Media release from Tasmania Police - https://www.police.tas.gov.au/news-events/media-releases/structure-fire-nixon-street-devonport/
Map of the area which also details the distance between Devonport and where Mr Hays car was located - https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Devonport,+Tasmania+7310/Bakers+Beach,+Tasmania+7307/@-41.2006596,146.316799,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0xaa7bccca90ec94dd:0x503c94dd0de18a0!2m2!1d146.3502862!2d-41.1800656!1m5!1m1!1s0xaa7a256d498ecf8f:0x403c94dd0dde790!2m2!1d146.6050499!2d-41.1500475?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MTAwNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
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If you have information that may assist in locating Geoffrey please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. You can also report any info via their website - https://crimestoppers.com.au