The WA government has launched a new campaign to draw attention to the many long-term missing people.
To be classified as long term missing subjects must be missing for more than 90-days and currently there are 364 cases in Western Australia. Many have been missing for long periods of time, with some dating back seven decades.
One case being highlighted is Rigby Fielding who this year will have been missing for a decade. Fielding, who was 53 years old at the time of his disappearance, last contacted his family on 15th August 2015.
He was last seen at a residence in Goderich Street in East Perth, and had been in contact with family members the same day and was heading home to Rockingham.
For the last decade his sister Stephenie has been trying to find out what happened to him. Speaking to ABC Radio this week she shared information about Rigby’s life at the time he disappeared.
“He had told my mum that he was on the way home … he never turned up,” Stephenie Fielding told ABC Radio Perth.
“He was living with my mum, caring for my mum and my younger sister who has Down syndrome.
“There was something terrible that happened that stopped him from coming home.”
Months after he disappeared some of Rigby’s belongings were found in bushland near Kwinana. Police consider his disappearance to be a suspected homicide.
“My brother didn’t go missing into thin air. Something dreadful happened to him, and I need to know what that was,” Stephenie Fielding said this week.
A few weeks ago Stephanie appeared on the SBS program Insight detailing her decade long process of searching for her brother, where she faired her frustration about the resources given to police for missing people.
The new campaign will run for four weeks and see missing people being highlighted through a television and social media campaign.
“This initiative aims to generate new leads and provide resolutions for those left without answers,” WA Police Major Crimes Division Acting Detective Superintendent David Gorton said.
Police have offered a $500,000 reward for anyone who can help solve the case of what happened to Rigby Fielding.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000.
