Daniel Hidden, 26, was last seen as he left his home in Queensland, Australia at 3am on June 14 – a massive search has been organised with units from the armed forces joining the hunt
A magician has vanished without a trace in remote wilderness with armed forces called in to help in the search.
Daniel Hidden, 26, was driving off from his home in Queensland, Australia at 3am the last time he was seen. He has been missing since June 14.
He was heading towards the Springbook area in his silver Hyundai towing a caravan, according to friends – but he has not been seen in over a week.
Authorities have launched a major search operation for Daniel, who reportedly switched off his phone at 6am on June 14. The 26-year-old is described as having long black hair, a black beard and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a maroon-coloured top and black cargo pants.
A search involving police, firefighters and volunteers has been organised with members combing the vast Springbook. Two days into the hunt, his silver Hyundai Santa Fe and Galaxy caravan were found by police near Currumbin Creek Rd.
The vehicles were discovered in a remote bushland several miles south of his home in Gold Coast.
Fire crews and drones have been searching the huge Currumbin valley area, a remote section of Springbook National Park.
Emergency services have been forced to call for reinforcements from the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Acting Inspector Brett Jackson said. “Because of the terrain and the large area that needs to be traversed, we have been utilising aerial assets in Queensland including police, Polair and also drones,” he explained.
Daniel’s disappearance is considered out of character, police have said. In a chilling twist, his website boasts the message: “Transformation requires disappearance.”
It is unclear when the message appeared on his site and is not being treated as connected to his disappearance.
Meanwhile, the grandparent of a four-year-old boy missing in the outback for almost a year has spoken out.
Little Gus Lamont was last seen playing outside his home on his family’s sheep station, Oak Park Station, near Yunta, in the Australian Outback on the evening of September 27. He then vanished without a trace.
Since then, 11 individual, large-scale searches of Oak Park Station have failed to find any trace of the toddler on the sprawling South Australian sheep farm.
Speaking for the first time about the tragic case, grandparent Josie Murray said she had nothing to do with her grandson’s disappearance – despite what police may think.
Speaking to 7News’ Spotlight programme, his 75-year-old grandparent revealed she is the “main suspect” in the police investigation.
“They’ve said they don’t think I’ve hurt him, they think that I’ve buried him – that’s one of the theories they’re working on,” Ms Murray said, alleging the police theory is that she did so to cover up Gus’ accidental death.
She added: “For so many reasons it’s ludicrous. It doesn’t make sense. Why would you do that to yourself?”
