Family’s ‘nightmare’ over missing 20yo
Written by admin on August 25, 2024
The last time Kim Brassington saw her cousin, it was her birthday and it seemed like he “didn’t want to get out of the car”.
“Jake is a beautiful young man, he was 20-years-old when we last saw him,” she said.
“He deserves for us to find him somehow.”
Ms Brassington braved news cameras on Sunday as Victoria Police issued a renewed appeal for information into the disappearance of Jake Lyons a decade ago.
The then 20-year-old was last seen at his Dandenong home on Scullin St on August 25, 2014.
His father Rick left for work about 9am and initially wasn’t concerned when he returned home to an empty house and noticed his car was missing.
But three days later after numerous efforts to get in contact were unsuccessful, Jake was reported missing to police.
Another three days would pass before investigators found Rick’s silver Holden Astra station wagon at Warner Reserve in Springvale, around the corner from where Jake previously went to school.
The car was locked with the keys under the vehicle, but police were unable to establish if he had driven himself to the reserve.
Since then there has been no trace of the missing man, with police now believing it’s “less likely” Jake remains alive.
“While his disappearance remains extremely out of character, police have never been able to establish if it is suspicious,” Missing Persons Squad Detective Acting Inspector Tony Combridge said.
“We’re hopeful that today’s appeal will provide us with further avenues of inquiry.
“It may be that with the passage of time someone now is able to share information with us that they weren’t able to do in 2014, or in the years following.”
Acting Inspector Combridge said a friend of Jake’s had told police he arrived at the Scullin St home in the afternoon after making plans to go rental hunting with Jake.
He found the front door open with no one home.
“It doesn’t look as though he’d planned to leave at that stage,” the detective said.
“There’s a number of gaps in the day he goes missing and in the days subsequent to that … I believe there’s people out there that probably know things we would like to know.”
Ms Brassington described Jake as “kind, thoughtful and intelligent”, noting he had dreams to join the army.
She said he had previously lived with her and her partner but before his disappearance had suddenly expressed a desire to move back in with his father.
Jake had been seeing a counsellor for depression, but Ms Brassington says she had seen “some positivity”.
“Ten years of stress worry anxiety – it’s a nightmare,” she said.
“His father wakes up every morning and has to deal with this and it’s really hard not knowing where your child is or has he been hurt.”
Ms Brassington asked for anyone with information, no matter how small, to contact police.
“Please come forward and bring our family some peace we’ve suffered long enough,” she said.
Anyone with information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
