Approche production.

James Hunter, known as Crackers, vanished without a trace in early twenty twenty.

The last confirmed sighting was at a pharmacy and Dubbo on February twenty eight days earlier, he made what would be his final bank transaction.

Since then, for more than two thousand days, there's been silence.

James was fifty two years old.

He lived on the move, traveling through country towns across western New South Wales.

To some, his lifestyle seemed restless.

To those who knew him best, it was simply who he was, charismatic, unpredictable and deeply caring.

In March twenty twenty two, two years after he disappeared, James's blue toy at a highlux was discovered abandon on a rural property, a chilling development, yet still no answers.

Police launched a strike force, deploying high tech drones and combing through thousands of images across a vast farmland.

Nothing for his family, especially Marie, who's carried the search forward.

The pain is not only in James's disappearance, but in the uncertainty.

This is ambiguous loss, the torment of living without knowing whether someone you love is alive or dead, safe or harmed.

In this episode, Marie helps us peace James's story together, who he was, the life he lived, and why finding out what happened to him matters.

Welcome back everybody to the Missing Matter today.

I am very blessed to be speaking to someone I regard as a friend.

Her name is Marie Farrell and she has been working tirelessly on helping find her friend, James Hunter.

Welcome Marie, Hi, sal how are you going?

I thank you for having me.

Oh, You're absolutely welcome, and I'm so pleased that you're here in this space because you've been doing an amazing job to keep awareness and help find James and find out what has happened to him.

So welcome to the Missing Matter.

Thank you so.

James Hunter is also known as Crackers, was last seen on the twenty eighth of February twenty twenty at a pharmacy on Macquary Street in dub New South Wales.

So his last bank transaction was on February twenty eighth, and we believe it was at the pharmacy.

Sadly, James has been missing twenty and twenty days.

Marie, can you please share with us who James is to you and to your family.

So to me, he's only my friend.

He was my former partner of many years.

He raised my daughter as his own and even when we separated, that bond remained.

Even though we had our times of up and down, he remained that constant and was always there for her and for me if I ever needed it.

And to our family, he's part of the family.

He's poppy to the grandchildren and that's just how it was.

Even though he was in and out sporadically, he was still a part of our family.

So he was fifty two at the time, he would now be fifty six.

He was a resident of Newcastle and had traveled extensively through rural properties in western New South Wales.

He also spent a lot of time in the northern Rivers as well.

And you've mentioned to me before that he had a transient lifestyle.

What's your understanding about his work and his travel movements around the time he disappeared to.

Be honest, I really don't know anything at all, so I didn't know where he was or what he was doing.

I thought he was just off doing Jammus things.

I call him Jamas.

He would always drop things to do something else, depending on what happened, what happened on the phone.

So mining, he loved to mine, but if something else popped up in between, he'd be out of there doing something else.

If he was home and you know, he was here for a week and something popped up, he would just sporadically, I've got to go, and he'd be out here.

That was just how he was.

He just couldn't stay in one place for a long time, really, and even when we were together, he would often go away.

He'd be away a lot.

And so you said, it was pretty typical for him to go off the GRIB from time to time, and he wasn't regarded as missing straight away, probably because of that, and he's who he was as a person and what you guys knew of him.

Can you explain to us more about that?

So obviously COVID was on during that time, so I guess for me, I thought that he was just settled in somewhere off doing jamous things, possibly just mining in the ridge, just being away from COVID and just losing track of time.

And then I kept wondering why we hadn't heard from him.

Even though at times our conversations wouldn't be so nice.

You know, we'd still talk to each other, you know, it.

Would just be dropped overnight and we'd be back to just chatting as normal.

But I didn't hear from him, and I kept wondering where he was.

And then all of a sudden, I found out that he was me And when I contacted the police after finding that out, we'd realized that it had been almost two years since anyone had seen him.

By the time I got to realize that he was missing.

And do you know who it was who listed him as a missing person?

Yeah, so a family member listed him missing.

It was with reluctance that they did that because they did think he would turn back up, but as he didn't show up for such a long period of time, they felt that it was time to report him missing.

So that was in July twenty twenty one.

I don't really.

Think people understand or appreciate how hard it is to backtrack somebody's movements.

It's really hard to even backtrack your own movements.

Like if I said to you, so, what did you do on a Tuesday four months ago?

You know, there's no way that you could tell me who you were with what you were doing.

Without really thinking about it, or.

Unless you kept a diary, time stamping and things like that.

Not everyone does that, and it.

Was so long ago.

And then I reached out to, you know, some of the long term friends that we've had, and they all thought the same thing, that he was off doing his own thing, possibly mining.

But then none of us had heard from him, and we all thought that each other had heard.

Yeah, okay.

And then when I.

Did contact the police, I was basically told at that time it was a cold case.

And that's before they had any information on anything.

And so do we know who the last person was who knew James was to see him and win?

So I know that friends of his saw him in Maitland in December twenty and nineteen.

That's a definite.

I know that that's a definite.

He spoke to his mum on the twenty fifth of January and said he was busy and he'd been doing some concreting and he was sorry that he didn't come home for Christmas and that he.

Talked to us soon.

So that's the last that we know he's spoken to him.

That we know.

James had injured his hand in Lightning Ridge early in twenty twenty, and he needed surgery on his hand.

He heard it pretty badly.

So my understanding is that a mate of his got him from Lightning Ridge to Walgurt and then for whatever reason, he couldn't get him any further and from there James got from Walbot somehow to Dubbo.

So I'm guessing that he went via the property at Mendor and where the car was because he was in his car, and then went to the hospital.

From there, And there's a record of him going to the hospital, isn't there.

Yeah.

No, he definitely had surgery on his hand.

He needed physiotherapy on his hand.

He had to have physio at his hand.

And so just as a side note, when I was doing a little bit of background on James and his case, I mean, obviously we've been talking for a long time now as well, and I feel like I know a lot about James's case, But when you go digging, you sort of look at little facts and details.

And I noticed that on the National Missing Person's Coordination Center's website they've got him listed as the twenty fifth of January twenty twenty.

Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you about that, because I find like, even just looking at someone like James's case as well, someone who was known to be someone who would go off the grid for a bit not contact anybody.

So that wasn't out of the ordinary for you guys.

You were always like, as soon as he comes back in, everything's just like it was when he left the last time.

So there was no real sense of urgency for anybody to be worried until such time as it was.

Where you go, Oh, hang on, it's been a while now since I've spoken to him or seen him.

But there's so many dates in this isn't emory, like it must be just meddling with your head as.

To it does.

So, I think in the very beginning they use that date as the last date that he spoke to family.

We do know that that's not the date that someone last.

Saw him, you know, yeah, because that was the date that he spoke to his mum.

So we do know that he was seen in February in Dubo.

Yeah, but I don't know what he was up to.

I don't know what his movements were.

He kept me pretty in the dark about his movements.

Anyway, it was a need to know basis.

Basically, with Jamas very private on his movements, hence the factor, you know, like I'm pretty private with what I do on the Facebook page because I'm trying to respect that side of him as well.

He would not like any of this at all.

I get it.

I'm the same with mom.

Like my mum certainly wouldn't like people talking about her being married and divorced three times and things like that, and her relationships with men and their comments that come out.

But unfortunately it gets to a point where you have to sort of open up the door a little bit to let people in so that we can actually start trying to work out what's happened.

Right.

See, if anyone knows Jamas, they would know one hundred and twenty percent that he's got his own voice, you know, life, I am the last person in the world he would want to be his voice at the end of the day.

If he was out there, I know he would stop this because because of exactly that.

You know, and this is hard on you.

This is I see you, and I hear you, and I know this is hard for you.

So I think you're doing good things, okay, you know, I think James would be very grateful that you care as much as you do, because that's what this is all about, right.

We're not doing this for our health, are we?

It is And I've been contacted by some really nice people along the way that knew James, that didn't know us, and the sets a really nice things and known about us.

And I got a message, you know, a.

Couple of weeks ago from one of his friends that I've become friends with, who is very supportive and and you know, just helps me along the way, I guess because she knows him very well and also knows that even though we had our bickerings and whatever you want to call it, our love hate relationship, we're still there were always there for each other, you know.

And that was hard for me to hear from people that I that I didn't know yeh in the beginning.

Yeah, I'm sure.

So.

Another thing that I've come across during my research into what we were going to talk about todays, I noticed that the ABC also did an article, which is great, right, we want lots of articles, We want lots of media because that actually helps us get the word out there, share the story.

They did that article in July last year, so in twenty twenty four about James, but wrote that he was missing since July twenty twenty one, just another date that was thrown into the mix.

And I just wanted to say, like, you know, talk to you what problems have arisen as far as having different dates put out by the ME and by Missing Person's Coordination Center on a missing person's case.

In your opinion, it makes.

It hard because because people don't know where they're at and when they last saw him as well.

So I think some people think, well, is he really missing?

You know, I've had heaps of people not knowing that he was missing, And because the dates are so vast that eighty months is such a long period of time, people can't really rememberable whether they saw him before then or after.

Yeah, I think it just causes a few problems in the whole mindset of people looking for a missing person if they don't know what date are we looking at here when he went missing, so we can look and.

At the end of the day, like, I don't know what date we're looking for.

At the end of the day, I don't know, sal I.

Need someone to tell us.

I don't know what he was doing.

I hadn't spoken to him, and the last time I spoke to him.

It wasn't great.

You know.

It was a conversation we'd had a million times over and over again, but it wasn't good, you know.

And I have no idea what he was up to.

So I need people to let crime stuffers know.

Really I can't solve this, you know, I don't know how to.

Well, that's why you're here, my friend.

His world was so different, hows.

I know, But we're going to try and share it with as many people as we can.

That's why this podcast is happening, because knowing myself how hard it is to get the word out there and find people who know something and it does happen.

Like I think we've proven with Mum's case that by putting it out into the universe and getting people on board and helping, we did find information, right, So that can be helpful and that's what I want to try and do in this space.

So I know this is really hard for you, and I'm really sorry to drag you back through it, but you know, I know it's important to you as well.

Do you ever get to a point they so, where does it matter who?

Not what?

You just need to bring them home.

Yeah, I agree.

I've definitely been at that point too where I just want to I just want to bring my mum home.

And no, it sounds stilly, man.

If that's what's going to bring them.

Home, just give you some peace.

All right, Let's try and dip into a little bit of background so we can share it with everyone.

Okay.

So James's blue two thousand and five Toyota Highlux was found on a property in Menduran in March twenty twenty two, so that was two years since his last scene.

What have you been told regarding the car being examined forensically by New South Wales Police?

So I was told that there was nothing that come up in forensics and the car was actually returned to the property.

And so what's the last update on the Highlux?

The car was actually sold probably about eight weeks ago.

Now not really good with time frames these days, so but not that long ago.

It was sold for about three thousand dollars.

It was put on marketplace and what would you say the car was worse?

I don't really know very much about the cars, but somebody who worked on that property where the car was told me that the state that the car was in at the time that they were driving it around using it for the property.

It would have been worth seventeen to twenty five thousand dollars.

It was not very often that you see a high locks for three thousand dollars, is it?

But well, it had everything on it had like winches and all sorts of bits and pieces on it.

James needed his car, that's the odd thing.

I know that he needed his car.

And do we know who sold the car?

A gentleman on marketplace?

He said it was on a property and enduran.

That's all that he has said.

And I have just passed that on to the police that I come across that because I have no understanding of why that car was returned.

It's an interesting question, isn't it Like if a person is missing and they don't live on that property, but that's where the car is found.

It's a bit baffling to me that the police would return a car after forensically testing it back to a property that doesn't belong.

They don't own the car, so that's I know.

But apparently registration doesn't prove ownersy by either of a vehicle.

So I'm told I just I.

Don't understand any of it.

To be honest, it just doesn't make any sense to me.

And I've left it in the hands of the police.

I mean, I just don't know.

Yeah, okay, well the police talking about them, they established Strikeforce you' and I in March twenty twenty two, and they conducted high tech drone searches over seventeen hundred hectares in March twenty twenty four, yielding over thirty three thousand images.

Was that the police or was that actually you who organized that?

So I actually organized that.

I reached out to Dan from Working drain Ands Australia and he kindly donated his time and equipment to help.

And Dan made it really clear that it would be a lot easier if the police were on board.

Mind you, it would go ahead, you know, with or without their you know support, I guess.

And so I reached out to the detectives and just said, you know, look, we've got.

This man and this company.

He's willing to do this, and I want to go ahead with it.

And I kind of put it in a way, you know, like it was going ahead with or without their support, because at that time I felt like.

This was an opportunity that I just could not say no to.

And luckily enough they were on board and they worked in conjunction with Dan, and Dan and the detectives were on site together when those drones went up.

Yeah, we've talked about Dan a lot through these last few episodes that I've been doing.

His name keeps popping up.

He's doing good things that man.

Man.

Yeah, well done to you, Dan.

We're very grateful for everything that you do.

Amazing me.

So I remember when that was all happening and you were putting calls out on Facebook saying people, please help me to look at the images because you had an overwhelming amount of images that you had to look at.

I think back in episode one of the Missing Matter Dez Matters, we were talking about Corey who was found by Dan as well through images that he did with his drone sort over in Western Australia.

So it is important that we have an opportunity to really hone in and look at these images.

How did you go with all of that?

I know that Chris Darcy from Search Dog Sydney was also offering his time with Adele to go through the images as well.

Yeah.

Yeah, and there's still lots of images there and obviously every set of eyes see something different.

And what I have found with the images, not only are they confronting when you're not from a farming background and you don't know very much about rural life.

You know, you have no idea really what you're looking at.

And what I've found is people who are from those places straight away can say, you know, that's a cow.

Carcass, that's the sheep carcass.

Whatever it may be.

You know, like, but for us, we really don't know what we're looking for.

So I made a decision quite a while back not to look anymore myself.

My mental health just doesn't cope with any added extra on top of the unexplainable way that this has.

Reacted on me, you know, like it's been really left field.

And have the police gone through the images do you know?

No?

Not every single image.

No, the police don't have the manpower.

It's not in the budget for.

The police, unfortunately.

Okay, that's what.

I was told.

You know that sale, You know, you know that you're fighting for every cent to be spent to do what you need to do.

If you're wanted, it's endless.

He will go and go and go and go and go.

But if you're missing, you know that you know story.

It's very true, and we don't have a lot of that support in this space.

Unfortunately, we're hoping that will change.

So I also recognize very firmly that privacy is a big problem.

How is that with you with regards to the fact that you're not his next of ken, How is the privacy issue being that you're the front person for him trying to find him and speaking with the police.

How's that affected the case?

So my name was in the original missing persons report, I've been told.

So they were told who I was.

Where I worked, because his family believed I might have known something back then.

So when I rang the police that first initial phone call and I ran, they already knew who I was.

So you and I have spoken for you know, many times now over the years about the police and your interaction with them on James case.

What does it look like today?

How was it going?

So today I don't have that much interaction because there's not that much being done, really is there.

So at this point it feels like it's sitting in limbo.

And I get the common answer that we all get.

It's an active case.

I can't say this, it's active.

You know.

However, in the early days, they were quick to be on the phone and we were speaking every week.

We're speaking every week for eighteen months constantly, you know.

Was that up until you were pushing for an inquest or a PE seventy nine and b form?

Was that something?

No?

I just wanted to know what was going on, you know, like because I didn't understand the process of what happened.

And you know, when they're saying they're getting stuff ready to go to the coroner, I'm.

Like, well, what does that mean?

You know, Like I think people need to understand, like we're thrown into this world of police and legal and emotion and we're supposed to know what to do next.

And I don't know what to do from one day.

To the next.

And I just kept asking questions.

And I think because I asked the questions.

I don't know.

I think it got to a point where there was nothing for us to say because nothing had got wasn't moving anywhere.

Yeah, And I mean I'll speak to them months a month, and I speak to the detective and like, I respect what they do, but at the end of the day, they're understaffed as well, you know, like I feel like we're all triarched to the bottom.

And so is the case.

The term open budding active, is that the tone that you're getting.

No, it's no, it's active.

It's an active case.

Probably April twenty twenty two that they considered it to be a homicide.

I can't remember because I overheard her tell someone because she didn't want me to know at that time.

You know, that's what it is.

So I just feel in my heart that something's happened to him.

Because Jameses could look after himself.

You know, jameis lived on the street.

I'm a teenager.

He wouldn't allow this to go on.

I just he just wouldn't allow it to go on.

And I just feel something something's happened.

I don't even know if I want to know exactly what, you know, Like, I don't know whether my head would coat withs that.

So most people probably won't know this, but James was the son of famous acclaimed actor Bill Hunter, who died in twenty eleven.

Bill, here's loot, you can stop progress.

He left.

Yeah, well a postal vote in a way I didn't get in.

I'm going to do more for this place at grassroots level.

Paupa Spit Counsel believes in progress.

James wasn't reported missing until we let's work with the July twenty twenty one day, following months without contact.

So what's your understanding of James and his dad's relationship before he disappeared?

So people need to understand.

So firstly, yes, Bill was James's biological father.

James did not have a relationship with him, and Chloe and myself did not know him at all at all.

So the information that was printed in the Daily Mail was very incorrect.

And I heard a lot of people and it would have heard a lot of people on Bill's side of the family as well.

That's information that didn't need to be out.

You know.

We didn't talk to them about Bill being James's dad because, as I said before, this is not about it's about finding James, getting answers for James, not about who his dad is or was, you know, And I'm sorry to anybody that that did hurt, and I tried to get them to retract it.

I try it really hard to get that done.

We're not going to rehash that for you because I don't think I can see how disappointed and upset you are about this, and I know as your friend, how disappointing and upsetting that is for you.

And it's a hard to talk about a long time.

Yeah, it did, it did, and it's not something I really want to bring up either, but unfortunately it's out there now.

So I want to try and give you a platform to be able to fix Thank you.

Thank you giving me the opportunity to clear that up, because that's been bothering me a long time.

As you know, I know, and this is what happens when media do things like that.

Their series good media, and there is bad media, and sometimes James.

Wouldn't have wanted that out there, and like you know, big luck it was.

That's just it's just selling papers.

Really, it's not really getting to the point that we needed.

Okay, So your description of James conveys too many facets.

I guess, funny, spontaneous, deeply caring, yet able to just up and leave.

What do you think motivated his more sudden departures and how do you make sense of that today?

Probably fun and money to start with.

No, and Jemis, you know, like he was always doing something crazy.

That's just who he was, you know, Like I think I mentioned to you before, like he was just yes and no, black and white, you know, and you know, you say yeah.

Button, he'd be like no, no, But it's like yes or it's no.

You know, like people got used to just that's how he was, you know, like there's no in between.

You're either all in or you're out, you know, like, and I think he took that approach with pretty much everything.

It was never like a half glass empty, you know, it was always full.

The glass was always full, you know.

Yeah.

And in what ways did it create tension or frustration within relationships?

Well, it irritated me to know end.

I can assure you of that, especially as a young person who's navigating you know, herself, motherhood and everything else along the way.

And him, I guess, you know, like he's got so much energy.

You know, he's exhausting at times, you know, because he's on the guy all the time.

He's on the go, Like it didn't matter what it was, you know, he just had this amazing energy, which I guess other people felt that and and fed off that energy.

You said, he's got the gift of the gab, right, he.

Has got the I was gonna say he could talk to anyone, and his vocabulary was really vast.

You know, he could go down to the park and be like, hey, bro, how you going.

You know, you talk on the street, talk and you know, get everyone to feed.

But yet he could walk into you know, I Star restaurant and speak to somebody like he was a university professor.

He could just develop his vocabulary on who he was talking to at the time.

He's highly intelligent.

Javis is a very intelligent man.

And so when we talk about family dynamics and ambiguous loss, that kind of loss is often described as one of the hardest forms of grief without closure.

And I know this is very upsetting and stressful thing that you're doing to help find James.

How are you navigating that ambiguity.

From day to day?

I feel some days that I'm my own doing it, to be honest, because, let's face it mean against I don't know what, you know.

I sometimes feel like a needle in a haystack would be easier to find just being so long ago.

It's not like, you know, when someone goes missing and like they do an alert a week or two later and people.

Go, oh, I saw that person.

You know, people just don't remember, you know, like and I think too with the COVID lockdown and and everything like that.

I don't know, it.

Wasn't helpful, it was a good time.

Well are you okay?

He's probably my better question for me from me to you.

Are you okay?

You know what I'm going to tell you.

Yeah, I'm going really well, and I am in comparison to how I have been.

And I don't understand why this has hit me so so hard as it has.

I'm very lucky that I have a supportive partner and family that immediate family who were here in this house, that support me to the best of their ability that they.

Can, you know.

But you know it as well as I do that we're difficult.

To be around, like at times, you know, like when you get into those those spaces, you know, like we're a lot, yeah, like nothing else matters, you know, like, and that's difficult for our families as well.

And I've had you, you.

Know, to say to me, don't forget about the here and now, because we do lose sight of that, you know.

And for me, I have.

Times where I'm not okay and I just go off Facebook for a while because I need to, not because like of all the bullshit that's going on with it, but just because, like, if I can just have a couple of days where I have a few hours break, that's better than seeing.

The constant, you know.

And then I get like you, they get caught up with other people's families, and I get upset for them, and I get frustrated with comments that people make, and sometimes I just see the break.

I think we all need that, and it's very important.

It's a very important part of this journey, you know, Like I've had to go off and try and work on myself as to how do I manage this which is an absolute fireball over in one side of my world, and how do I pull it back and be a mum and be a wife and you know, be healthy and try and look after myself.

And things fall off that off that table quite often.

And you know, I was watching you actually with your girl and a formal and I was thinking to myself, God, I'm so lucky that I'm not going through that right now, because the stress of finding a formal dress and the whole thing that goes with a formal I would be like, that's the least of my problems at the moment.

And you're doing a good job too, because, like yours, you're getting stuff left, right and center from left field.

And I've said it before, you know, I always feel that if we can bring one home, it's kind.

Of a win for all of us.

Hundred percent.

We all follow each other and we need to support each other.

Right, we're louder and be heard if we stick together.

That's what we're supposed to do.

Not all of us have been, but that's what I think.

We're supposed to do.

That's the hope, right, that's our hope that we are all working together for the same purpose.

So you did say to me that James was your greatest supporter but also at times your greatest critic.

Yes, how has missing that dynamic impacted your personal journey since his disappearance?

Probably impacted it quite a lot, because right now I need him to tell me that everything's going to be okay.

And how much would that mean to you for him to say that to you?

Absolutely everything you know life.

I know deep down south.

That something's happened, and I also know that I may never get any hitswers because it was.

So long ago.

And just because of the way he was, you know.

Like Javis would say to people, if I'll go missing, don't look for me, and he'd be.

Very adamant about it, very and it can be could be intimidating at.

Times, you know, like people are probably hearing to him saying that, you know, like.

Yeah, no, you think he said that to other people, and he's.

Not backing up, you know, like he hasn't contact in anyone, he hasn't used his bank accounts, nobody's seen him, you know, Like, so he deserves a.

Dignity to be brought home whatever's happened to him, you know, because every human being deserves that night.

I don't want to.

I don't want to think that he's just laying out there somewhere, even if I don't even know what we're looking for.

So I know, I understand, I understand that very well, and I'm I'm sorry to see sorry.

And that's the harsh reality that we don't want to talk about either, none of us.

None of us want to talk about that.

I don't.

I don't think I talk about it.

The other thing, too, is like somebody said this to me, you know, what matters to you doesn't necessarily manage to other people.

And that harsh, that's true, And.

I just don't think that missing persons is on people's radars, you know, unless you've been in that space.

And it needs to be in people's radars, just like everything else, because they all are loved and they all matter to somebody.

To somebody, doesn't matter what walk of life they did, you know, like whether or not you know they were the Prime Minister, or they were homeless, or whether they were a good person to some and bad to others.

It doesn't matter what their life was.

If they have mental health, doesn't matter what.

It is, don't Somebody loves that person, and somebody needs to know what's happened to them, and nobody deserves the right to withhold that information.

That's not fair, that's not fair.

That's willingly let us all live like this every day and it's not nice and it's not comfortable for us or for anybody else.

To be around us.

Yeah, do you know what I'm saying?

Though I don't know, I do one hundred percent.

I was just going to say before I feel like I kind of block that side of the looking and thinking where is my mum?

Because I think if I did consider that she's in the bush somewhere, or you know, people have often said to me, Oh, she's in the boot of a car and the car's been dumped in a body of water.

And I think if I sat there and processed that and actually thought about it, I would send myself crazy.

So I tend to just park it, which has probably become a part of my person where I'm emotionally detached from those thoughts, because I don't know if I'd cope so well if I thought about it.

I'll have to disassociate with something, you know, Like p James's life is pretty full on, you know, and he could well and truly take care of himself well and truly, and I just felt that it would take someone.

I also know that he's started drinking too, you know.

He was drinking a lot to works, you know, the last few years, you know, and that's something he never did when we.

Live together, Like, there was never alcohol in the house.

It just wouldn't allow it, you know.

But he had started drinking, and I don't know, you know, so he would have frequented lots of pubs and he would have been in bottle shops and stuff, you know, like he was drinking a lot.

So he's led his guard down myself, is what I think.

And because the police didn't capture the CCTV footage, we don't have any footage of him in the local areas known to him.

No see count holds cct footage for twenty eight days, which to me seems just ridiculous.

But twenty eight days.

That's it, and then it's just recovered over and over again.

All right, So we'll just changed direction here a little bit.

Let's talk a little bit about James and his passion for life and his lifestyle that he was living.

So, you know, from hydroponics to plant experiments to open mining in Lightning Ridge, what do you think drove James tech nically or spiritually in those pursuits.

I think the adventure for a start.

I think he liked living on the edge, the thrill of it, yeah, and not any of the thrill of it.

I think James liked being the center of attention at times, and he facilitated many a party with people.

So there isn't another podcast that you've done with a gentleman by the name of Tyler.

Tell everyone where he's from and what that podcast is called if they want to do a deep dive?

Yeah, sure, so Tyler is from the Missing and Unexplained podcast, so he's in Canada.

Jason at the end in part two pretty much sums jamis up really really well.

I felt, so if you want to have a listen, that might give you a little bit of a better idea of who he was.

I guess too a lot of his friends.

We go and do a bit of a deep dive there and just get a bit more background for James.

The other thing I wanted to say, like you were talking before about how much the missing matter and what we should be doing in this space and that they all should count to everybody.

You know, what is your thoughts?

Have you read and seen about the Green Seat project that I'm trying to get off the ground.

Yeah, I think I think that's a brilliant idea.

I think that is absolutely amazing.

Just somewhere nice for us to sit, you know, and look out to the beach or look out to the mountains and just remember the missing and bring some awareness to this space.

Because I really feel like I think the.

Awareness is the biggest thing, and I think that somehow we need to get some multi companies, you know, like to back missing persons because we can't afford to constantly be putting our hand in our pocket, you know.

Like me, I can't work anymore, like you know, that's just something I can't function to do.

And I just feel that there's so many families, there's so many aspects of it.

You know, people are.

Dealing with their sons, brothers, uncles, aunts, child being missing, but supposed to function every day.

And then I think too, you know, when you say to someone that someone's missing, they say, well where are they?

You know, Like, to me, that's the most frustrating question that you can have, you know.

And I think I've spoken to to Nicole from Patrick Ki's sister about this before.

It's so frustrating when somebody says, well where are they?

Well, they wouldn't be listened as missing and we wouldn't be in a date if we knew.

Yeah, it's an insensitive question that I just don't think.

It sort of comes down to that ambiguity of people not understanding.

All the people talking about closure, like you'll get you know, at least you'll have some closure.

I'm more like, well, you know, I.

Don't think the word closure actually exists.

And I think that you know, and I did say it that when somebody.

Passes away and dies, you know, you know what happened to them, doesn't matter whether it was an illness, it was a sudden death.

You find out what happens to them, and then you plan a service and you come together as one and you grieve and you talk about them, and it is a form of you know where they are and you've got somewhere to go.

But for us, we don't know from day to day, and we change our mind from day to day.

What's happened where our mind's at.

What we feel comfortable with this hour might not be comfortable with what we feel in seven hours time from today.

Yeah, I don't know.

I think the headspace is like I think you want to detach yourself to it sometimes as well, because the head space haunts you at times.

Because where are they?

Where the hell are they?

So they just don't disappear off the face of the earth.

And like we say someone knows something, it's more than someone like I'm starting to get more logical as as I'm feeling I'm getting stronger.

Is like, how can you move somebody on your own dead.

Wait, come on, there's more than somebody that knows something, you know, there's peoples that know something.

That's how I feel for so many you know, like it's not just one person.

Well, we're hoping that we can reach out because and that's another reason why I talk about how many days each person who matters is missing, because I find it just so hard to comprehend it just really it plays with my head so badly.

But I think it's important for those people who don't have a missing person in their space to just stop and just pause and think about that just for a moment.

You'll imagine if your person was missing for a day, let alone two thousand and twenty days like James I know.

And then imagine trying to be happy at Christmas time when you just want to put your head under a pillow in the world to go away, you.

Know, like you've got a smile for.

The kids, and you've got to try and move on because the world just processes around you, even though you don't want to move at times, but you feel like in a still spot sometimes, you know.

Yeah, big milestones too.

I know that first Christmas which was like months later, like I didn't even realize I'd missed a whole year, and all of a sudden it was Christmas, you know, and I'm a Christmas fanatic normally.

I put Christmas up and ripped it down three.

Times because I felt like, I don't know, should we be moving on when they're not here?

You know, Like I was torn between.

I don't even know how to explain it, you know what I'm saying.

Though, Yeah, well they're not here.

And you see, it's hard to celebrate something when someone's missing.

There's a big hole in our space, in our heart, and it's.

Difficult for the kids to understand and other people, I think to understand, you know, like because I've had people say.

To me, you know, when you're going to let it go.

I still get that today.

You know, most people who are following my story will know my dad's got vascular dementia, and that's becoming very difficult in itself.

Because he sat there and said to me the other day, he said, where's your mother?

Like, why hasn't she contacted me?

Like why she's contacted me?

And I'm sitting there and I've got Chris there and Darcy there.

We're having lunch with him and I just I just said to him, she's lost, Dad, She's lost, and Darcy just looked at me as if to go like just an overwhelming I don't know.

It was such a weird moment because I don't know what to say.

I don't I don't know what to say to my dad who doesn't understand that she's a missing person now, And yeah, you know, I've gone from him saying why are you doing this to yourself?

Like this is not healthy for you, This is not good for you.

It's just the reality that we're living, isn't it.

Yeah, Yeah, it is something that we didn't choose.

We didn't choose his path.

Yeah, I'm sure as hell didn't choose his park.

I can say that, and I can guarantee you, like right now, that if James was to walk in that door, like through that front door right now, it'd be wild as hell that I'd be talking about him and we'd be arguing within two minutes about it.

I'd probably yell and st even carry on like I always have, you know, But we just probably link back to normal after I got over the anger.

If I did, you know, but I'd probably kill him, I told the police, but.

I don't know.

I'd love him to walk in the doorlays, Yeah, I would.

I would love that for you too.

I'd love him to pull up out the front, you know, or to ring me five thousand million times like he used to and hang up on me and then ring me back thirty seconds later.

But yeah, I just need answers.

Like we've got a luxury of crime stoppers guys, Like, come on, that's a luxury.

You can be anonymous, you can literally be anonymous, like I don't know.

And the crime stoppers number is one eight hundred, triple three, triple zero.

So if anyone does have any information and they'd like to share, please do ring crime stoppers and what police station is where James's case sits, Marie, just so people can link that if they need to.

Okay, so double.

Doub so you can speak to the detectives there.

And I just kind of just want to reiterate to people that, like, as your show is, the missing people do matter, you know, like, and.

We need your help.

And to me, James was not just just a person or a number at the end of the day.

He matters, you.

Know what I mean, And he's not forgotten and he deserves to be found.

And if you just know anything, you just anything at all, the.

Smallest thing can help us, you know, like it might seem insignificant to you guys, but it might be that tiny little piece of the puzzle that might make sense to us or somebody else.

And as I said, I don't know what his movements were or who he.

Was hanging out with.

That was a need to know basis, and I understand that, but like it's time for someone to please.

I can't leave like this.

I just can't.

And I can't stop it either.

I don't know how.

And so over the past five years, how has that hope transformed for you?

So you need to remember for me, it's been three and a half years because the police didn't contact me and I found out I'm faithful.

It's been horrendous.

It's been horrendous.

It's changed my whole world.

It's changed my view on people, it's changed my trust in so.

Many different things.

And I just think that I'm a little bit darker than I probably was before.

And I think people need to also understand that, Like, yeah, I am James's former partner and our relationship was on Like I can hectic up and down, hectic, hectic, hectic at times.

And I know him very well, you know, and he knows me very well.

But no matter what the relationship is, we love him and we need to find him.

And you guys that know him, know that even if he.

Left your lives abruptly for whatever reason he did, he did good for you too.

He would have done good for.

You guys too, Han years all know that, and I really need you to help me.

Find And So if someone was listening today and felt compelled to share something, no matter how small, what would you want them to know about what matters in finding James.

It matters because he deserves it.

At the end of the day, he doesn't deserve to be an unknown person.

He doesn't deserve to have if something bad has happened to him.

He doesn't deserve to have an unmarked spot somewhere where nobody knows where he is.

And also it matters because this is affecting his family.

We didn't ask for any of this.

We didn't ask for the repercussions of James's lifestyle and whenever he was up.

To, because I don't know what he was up to.

If I had no idea, I wouldn't know what avenue to even start, but we don't.

It could have been absolutely anything.

But just remember the good that he did for the people that know him.

And if that's you and you know something, just tell somebody, just tell somebody doing this.

I can't and his family can't keep doing this.

It's horrendous.

It's horrendous.

It's the worst thing that's ever happened in our lives.

I guess I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I just want to give you a big hug.

He's supposed to be here, he's supposed to be He's.

Out, and so let's share with everyone, Marie, like, what's the kindest, most hopeful gift James gave you that continues to live inside you.

I think that.

He taught me how to believe it myself and when things got hard, just to pick myself up and start again because I can do it.

I just need to.

Just tell myself I can't.

And I think he taught me about unconditional love.

Really, at the end of the day, because things weren't always pretty with us, I can say that, you know, he was kind and caring and all those things, but at the end of the day, like former partner.

People can imagine Mark.

You know, things weren't always nice.

It did take us a while to get back on track to even be mates, you know, but we were and nobody else is looking for him.

So there's nobody else looking for him.

Well, you've worked super hard to bring awareness to James's story, and in doing that you have built a great support network.

Through all that hard work, what would you say is essential for the public to understand about missing persons, about families and friends left in limbo, and about showing care and compassion in these times.

It's not going to go away.

God, it's not going away.

And it's not like when someone passes and you learn to move on.

It's something that's at your forefront, day in day out.

So I know people and I've heard people say they don't want it coming up on their feed on Facebook or Instagram or anything.

But you sharing that and liking that it reaches so many more people.

That boosts families, I guess, because look, nobody really cares about missing persons at the end of the day.

It's just not on anyone's radar.

Unfortunately, it's just not And like for me, I feel like a middle aged man is just.

A nonexistent thought.

And that's tough, you know, Like and I think people need to imagine that they to bed tonight as somebody that they loved they couldn't find, you know, like their phone wasn't answering and they didn't know where they were.

And I mean for a grown adult, you know who lives in a sharehouse.

You know, people come and go, you know, but imagine it's your own that you cannot find and you are frantic.

You literally cannot find them.

No one's seen a thing like put yourself in that position.

Maybe maybe you might have a little more understanding to how things are after.

For families every day, you know, like they've still got bills to pay, they've still got.

Functions to go to, they're still going to pick themselves up and walk out the door with a smile on their face when they really really want the whole world to just go away and they want.

People to talk about them, you know, like we don't know that they're they're really really gone.

There's that's not roo hope, but just saying that, you know, scrolling past when you can share it, that would be a really bigger help and good to.

Wed and you know, like if it wasn't for you guys too, Like, and I've said this to Nick as well, like we need each other to save latent things to each other that we don't want to hear sometimes, and I thank you guys for that, you know, Like I went on the walk with Nick for Patrick's first anniversary.

Yea, and I walk everywhere, so I walk at all hours of the day and night.

I don't care, you know, it doesn't bother me.

We were out there and it was it got dark about five point thirty, you know, it was because of the middle of winter.

And I was just walking along and all of a sudden, I got this real, real bad feeling, like I can't even explain it to you.

And I turned around and I said, and I said to Nick, I don't.

Feel right, Like I didn't feel right right and I never get like that ever.

And she goes, it's not much further, you know, I'm like, right.

And we kept walking and I just kept getting this like I can't even describe it.

I just felt cold, and I'm like, we need to get out of here, like we all needed to get the hell out of there.

That's how I felt.

And anyway, we're talking a few days after it, and I said to it, I'm so sorry, you know, like I didn't mean to upset anyone, but I just.

Got this really really bad feeling.

And she said to me, you know what you said to me, Hey, Nick, and you told me I went, yeah, She said.

That was the exact spot that Patrick was last week.

Yeah, and I'm like, really, I need to go out there again.

Like I don't know whether it was because it was dark or but I felt really uneasy.

I can't even explain it.

It was just it was just really weird, you.

Know, like because he's out there somewhere and he doesn't live far from me, like not very far.

At all, you know, Like, and I'm sorry that I got emotional.

Guys, but I just name there for a year.

You're so real, and I just I just appreciate you as a person.

I think you're kind, you have a deep connection with James, and I'm so grateful for your family and your partner who support you and are there for you through this, because I can see the damage it does to us and to the living with the not knowing is very raw, and I'm really grateful for your honesty and your time to speak, But can we finish with you telling us in your words why James matters.

He matters because he's important to me, He's important to the world.

He is important to his mom, he's important to his friends, and he laughed with all his heart.

You know, at the end of the day, he just matters to me.

I can't even explain in words.

Really, he's just important.

He's an important and integral part of who I am.

I guess because we were so young when we met.

You know, I got a text from a friend, you know, one of his friends, that said for me not to lose sight of how much I meant to Jamis.

Wherever he is or whatever the hell happened to him, it doesn't change that one bit.

If something did happen to him, that's your guarantee that Chloe and I would be have been the only one he closed his eyes and was thinking about.

And if he's still out there, we're the only two that's rattling his brain on repeat, you know.

So if that's the case, it works both ways.

Yeah, Well, thank you, my love, it really does.

You're brave for talking to us, and we're talking to me and sharing James's story with the universe, and you know, tell everyone what your Facebook page is and.

We'll just help find James Hunter.

I know he might hate you doing this, but I also believe that he'd be extremely grateful that you care so much.

So from thank you you're doing.

Someone did say to me that he said to them, doesn't matter what I say, if something happens to me, shall never start.

So he knows me pretty well.

Yeah, well, good on you, friend.

I love you to you.

Take care of yourself.

You're doing a great job and we all love you.

Next week on the missing matter, Jenny's last entry was hopefully go to the whole fingers.

Crossed, and that was it.

Yeah, nothing after that, and it was pretty much daily entries up to that point, and that's what ultimately raised the flag that something had gone wrong with.

The camp.

Has directed them to that whole, said that there's a smell coming from that hole.

You could see flies and et cetera.

And he said that the police officer actually record oiled from the smell.

They just went nowhere.

Clearly, they didn't have any suspicion.

Why they didn't have any suspicion is a whole other conversation.

But they didn't but yeah, very detrimental to everything since then because again it's contaminated the scene