Jo-Ann Adams is searching for answers regarding her son’s dissappearance. Gary Adams has been missing since 5 December, 2003.By Lia Bichel
A DESPERATE Cranbourne mother is pleading for information regarding the disappearance of her son five years ago.
The last time Jo-Ann Adams saw her only child was Friday 2 December 2003. Ms Adams said Gary, 17, put up a Christmas tree and was looking forward to decorating the entire house, but that never happened.
Gary left that day to spend the weekend at a friend’s house in Karingal. His stepfather was the last to see Gary when he returned Monday afternoon. He had then left on his bicycle and never returned.
Gary left all his personal items, money, and identification at his Cranbourne home.
“I would like to know who he was with on Friday night,” Ms Adams said, “simply to know where he was and what happened from there.”
Ms Adams said she told the police her son was missing but felt it was not taken seriously until seven months after Gary’s disappearance.
“I visited police stations, and always left in tears,” she said. “I didn’t go back again because of the stress levels. You don’t keep going back just to be flogged off.”
After Gary failed to vote in an election, Ms Adams was asked to fill out a missing persons report and police sprung into action. But five years after the disappearance, Ms Adams said the case has been buried.
“I’ve been told by a reliable officer that his case was packed up in May and has been put away in storage,” she said. “They are no longer actively working on my son’s file.”
Detective Inspector Kim West from Taskforce Bellier told the News that Gary’s case is not currently being actively investigated but has become an open matter.
“It is an open case in our books,” he said. “It has the same status as every other missing person in Victoria. When a case has been taken as far as it can be taken, it becomes an open matter.”
Though Ms Adams said she believes Gary would have come home by now if he was alive, she was hopeful and will continue to search for answers.
“Things happen; there could have been an accident, but I am not interested in revenge,” she said. “I just want answers.”
Christmas will never be the same without Gary, Ms Adams said, and she hopes everyone who has lost contact with a loved one will reunite this Christmas.
“I don’t put up a Christmas tree, I haven’t in years. It is still something I leave for him to do if he comes home,” she said.
“If someone has lost touch with a family member, Christmas is a good time to pick up the phone and get in touch with them.”
Ms Adams asks anyone with information regarding her son’s disappearance to call 1300 787 058 or email coffeemissingpersons@bigpond.com.
