Police searching for a missing Latrobe Valley teenager in Gippsland’s high country are appealing for a man and a woman who stopped to help on Friday night to come forward. Victoria Police said on Monday that local police and specialist units were continuing to search for 17-year-old William, who went missing while camping in Walhalla East on Friday afternoon.
Police said the pair “kindly stopped and assisted in the search for William on Friday and may be able to help with further information”. They were travelling on Stoney Creek Road sometime between 7.30pm and 8.30pm in an older white 4WD with a tray and dark-coloured canopy, according to police.
The ABC reported that William’s friend flagged the vehicle down when he began looking for him, and that the man had a beard. “We’re appealing to the public to try and identify that couple,” Superintendent Melanie Hamshere told the ABC.
William, also known as Will, was camping for the weekend with another teenager. Police said he was last seen near Stoney Creek Road and T2 Track at about 4pm on Friday, 6 November, after walking a short distance to another part of their camp. When he did not return, the other boy searched the area but found no trace of him.
Police believe he may have become disorientated and lost his way in the surrounding terrain. He was wearing minimal clothes at the time, a pair of shorts and work boots.
Superintendent Hamshere told the ABC that William had taken his T-shirt off in the warm weather on Friday afternoon because he expected a 20-minute walk back to where he had been dropped off. The ABC reported that he had gone back to collect an esky, two pillows, a fishing tackle box and a brown tabletop, and did not take his phone. The esky was found a short way up the track.
The weather has since turned. A cold snap brought a late dusting of snow to some of Victoria’s mountain ranges over the weekend, and at Mount Baw Baw, about 45 minutes’ drive north-east of Walhalla, overnight temperatures fell below zero on Saturday and Sunday, the ABC reported.
Police have set up a command post in Cowwarr to coordinate the search, using local police from Maffra, Sale, Rosedale, Morwell and Bairnsdale and bikes from the Gippsland motorcycle branch. Officers from the Public Order Response Team, Dog Squad, Mounted Branch and Search and Rescue Squad are searching with State Emergency Service personnel. The ABC reported that about 70 people searched on Sunday, supported by a police helicopter, water police and the dog squad, and that the search resumed on Monday morning from a staging area at Cowwarr Recreational Reserve.
news.com.au also reported the police appeal at the weekend. Authorities have not released his surname.
Anyone who sees William should call Triple Zero (000). Anyone with information about his whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Sale police station on (03) 5142 2200.
