By KATH GANNAWAY
AS FAMILIES and a young couple set up picnics, or wandered off into the bush at Dom Dom Saddle on Sunday, Zee Meyer was setting up a photo of her missing husband, Warren.
Seven Easter Sundays have been endured since Warren Meyer was last seen by Zee, their daughter Renee, and son Julien.
A vigil at the place where Warren set out on a bushwalk on 23 March, 2008, never to be seen again, brought family and friends together to light a candle to remember him, and to thank those who have provided support to the family as they searched for his remains, and continue to search for answers.
The family believes that Warren met his death at the hands of shooters, as reported in the Mail on 24 March, and are campaigning for a renewed investigation into his death, and for a coronial inquest.
They hope that their presence on Dom Dom Saddle, and keeping Warren’s disappearance in the media, might prompt someone to come forward with the information they need to finally know what happened.
They hope it will prick someone’s conscience.
“You should have the freedom to put on a pair of hiking boots, go on a 10-kilometre walk in a park setting in warm, sunny conditions, and have the expectation that you will return safely to your family,” Zee said.
She said Warren had such a zest for life and would have had the strongest will to live.
“He would have fought the toughest fight to get back to us,” she said.
Instead, she said, “He died alone in the hills around here, and that is not easy for a family to reconcile with.
“Seven years later we are still dealing with the consequences of that day.”
Zee spoke of life without Warren and said one of their deepest regrets was that he did not witness Renee and Julien’s marriages, welcome their partners Ewan and Brooke into the family, or hold his first grandchild, Cooper and other grandchildren she said would no doubt follow.
Renee spoke also of the bitter-sweet unreality they had lived with for the past seven years, saying it still felt raw and unreal.
“We are hoping from this that someone has empathy with how we feel and will come forward.”
Her almost whispered closing comment is heart-breaking, and very real.
“I just hope it was quick.”
Zee’s brother, Allan Spencer addressed some of the issues that their campaign raised.
He said while police searching did a fantastic job, he labelled the police investigation as ‘pathetic’.
He spoke in particular of shooters who were shooting indiscriminately on the Saturday and Sunday.
“We know Warren would have been on the track when this shooting started on Sunday morning,” he said.
He said reports indicated that the shooting stopped soon after that time and that the shooters presumably left the area.
As part of their ‘What happened to Warren? Speak up’ campaign, the family wants to speak to campers, trailbike riders, and hikers who might have seen or heard excessive levels of shooting in the area on that weekend.
They are also appealing for a trailbike rider to come forward who they say spoke to a disorientated man in his mid-thirties who was asking for help in the area.
The “What happened to Warren? Speak up” campaign can be found at warrenmeyer.com.au, or on Twitter@SpeakUp4Warren.
Anybody with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
