Queensland coroner rules foul play likely in disappearance of Indigenous man Jeremiah Rivers

The family of an Indigenous man missing in remote Queensland say they will never stop searching after a coroner found he likely died as the result of foul play.

Jeremiah "Jayo" Rivers, 27, went missing from a campsite at Wippo Creek about 1,000km west of Brisbane on 18 October, 2021 while on a pig-hunting trip with six other men.

Rivers, originally from Western Australia's East Kimberley region, was never found despite a number of searches and a 2023 inquest into his disappearance.

The coroner, Donald MacKenzie, on Thursday handed down the inquest findings in Brisbane's coroners court. He ruled Rivers, on the balance of probabilities, was dead and had likely met with foul play, though MacKenzie could not rule out misadventure.

Rivers' uncle, Digby Rivers, said outside court he wanted to thank the coroner for his findings and bringing to light issues with the police's response.

"We got let down by the Queensland police from the word go," he said.

"We've done a lot of investigation ourselves, we walked that country for months ourselves and whatever leads we gave, we got nowhere."

MacKenzie found the police search for Rivers was hindered by his hunting companions waiting 30 hours after he was apparently last seen leaving their campsite to report him missing.

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He also accepted expert evidence that the search was extensive, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and there was nothing that could have been done differently to have led to a better outcome.

MacKenzie found members of the pig-hunting group had shown "incriminating" behaviour after the disappearance and they had given seven different versions of the last time Rivers was seen.

"I accept that they have put forward other reasons for this behaviour," MacKenzie said, referring to allegations at the inquest that the group had been trafficking cannabis to Darwin and were in breach of Covid-19 restrictions at the time. "But I did not find them to be credible witnesses and suspect they may know more than they have told police and this court."

The coroner said he did not have grounds to reasonably suspect members of the group had committed a serious offence and therefore could not make any referrals to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

"I am confident that the Queensland police service will continue to investigate any and all reasonable leads and lines of inquiry," MacKenzie said.

Digby Rivers said he did not believe his nephew, as a fit young footballer with knowledge of the bush, would have died through accident.

"We always knew that something did happen to them. Somebody has to stand up and be accountable ... I'm sure one of the other blokes has got a feeling in their heart to come forward and say something," he said.

Due to dismissive language used in one officer's notes about Rivers' disappearance, MacKenzie recommended Queensland police consider providing training on trauma-informed communication with Indigenous families when they are concerned about a missing person.

Digby Rivers said the family would keep on going until they got answers about what happened to "one of the best young fellas" they knew.

"We know one thing: we are never going to stop searching ... we are going to push harder and harder to get answers," he said.