4 days ago
Police showed 'no sense of urgency' in search for missing First Nations man, family says
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family.
When Ginny Jones's brother Jai Gray disappeared, she and her family did everything to find him. They reported him missing, posted on social media, and handed out flyers.
But she says despite Jai being a vulnerable person, there wasn't a sense of urgency from authorities, forcing them to conduct their own enquiries and searches.
"I feel like I've watched enough 'Law And Order' to know ... more things should be happening," Ginny told the ABC.
Jai would visit his dad every week for a bacon and egg toastie and to mow the lawn — but one day in May 2024, he never showed up.
According to Ginny, it was "very out of character" for the 25-year-old First Nations man, who lived with disabilities and was "a bit naive" and "very trusting".
Days after reporting his disappearance, his sister says there had been no missing person alert issued on social media or to the media, and police had still not attempted a welfare check at the home.
"The lack of urgency from everyone else was really alarming."
The family started their own social media campaign to find Jai, who disappeared from his home in Morayfield, north of Brisbane.
The messages began to flood in. But receiving dozens of false leads was overwhelming for the family in their darkest hour.
Jai's body was found last June in an abandoned quarry in the Glass House Mountains on the Sunshine Coast.
Police did not invite the family to a press conference where they announced Jai's death was being treated as a suspected murder.
The family showed up anyway, and police acknowledged they'd provided crucial information that helped progress the investigation.
In response to questions from the ABC, a QPS spokesperson said "as is routine with any missing person investigation, detectives run several lines of enquiry before requiring and requesting a media release".
"In this instance, during the initial enquiries, the missing person investigation evolved into a homicide investigation. Therefore, a missing person release was not required."
Police did not respond to questions about why a welfare check was not conducted sooner.
The QPS spokesperson said: "As the matter continues to be before the court, no further comment can be provided at this time."
Since her brother's disappearance, Ginny has spotted patterns in other First Nations missing person cases.
It's inspired her to co-found The Disappeared Project.
Launched during National Missing Persons Week, the Indigenous-led missing persons organisation will help families in similar situations and collect data and research.
"Jai was missing for 10 days, and it was the worst 10 days of my life," Ginny said.
The organisation uses the term "disappeared" instead of "missing" — language they say is passive and denies the existence of potential perpetrators.
The expert team includes Yuin human rights lawyer Martin Hodgson and Dr Amy McQuire, a Darumbal and South Sea Islander researcher.
It also partners with Professor Jodie Ward, a DNA expert who runs Australia's first independent forensics lab.
Mr Hodgson says when an Aboriginal person goes missing, "the police response is marked by delay, indifference or outright negligence".
"That's a stark contrast to the urgency and resources typically mobilised for non-Indigenous people," Mr Hodgson told the ABC.
"The result is that lives are needlessly lost, justice is never served, and already traumatised Aboriginal families are left with no answers, only heartbreak."
Dr McQuire has sat through countless coronial inquests and says First Nations people are disappearing and being murdered at disproportionate rates across Australia.
First Nations women are being murdered at up to 12 times the national average.
Four Corners revealed in 2022 at least 315 First Nations women have either gone missing or been murdered or killed in suspicious circumstances since 2000.
Dr McQuire believes there are even more cases that we don't know about.
She says when First Nations people go missing, police often use mugshots of their time in custody, making them seem like "wanted persons" instead of victims.
"Aboriginal people are criminalised first and never really seen as victims or missing persons," she said.
Dr McQuire says it's not just police failing Indigenous people who are disappeared.
"When a First Nations person goes missing, I'm yet to see the groundswell of concern in the media.
"I think this issue is uniquely tied to Australia's history and our refusal to grapple with the fact that the disappearing, killing, the massacre of Aboriginal people and nations is actually endemic and core to how this colony thrives and functions."
Ginny says if it wasn't for her family and community pushing for action, her brother may still be missing.
"I have no doubt in my mind that if we hadn't acted and put pressure on the police, this would've been another 'walkabout story' that we may never know the outcome of."
