The search for missing man Ray Speechley continued on Sunday but without any breakthroughs, despite more than 60 police and volunteers searching a vast expanse of thick bushland.
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Ray, or Raymond, Speechley, 77, was last seen about 4pm on Thursday, July 7, at the IRT Dalmeny aged care facility on Ruth Place, Dalmeny, about 10km north of Narooma. Despite extensive searches and appeals via the media, Mr Speechley has not been seen since.
Coordinating the search on Saturday and Sunday out of the Dalmeny RFS station were the specialist officers from the Illawarra Police Rescue Squad overseeing about 90 searchers on Saturday and 60 searchers on Sunday.
The coordinator said searchers on Sunday continued to focus on a search area with a 10km radius centered on Princes Highway extending north from Dalmeny, where Mr Speechley was last seen, past the timber mill to the north, an area totalling 215 square kilometres.
Within a core area of 45 square kilometres this weekend, there was a concentrated and comprehensive line search of the thick bushland being done on foot. The known trails of the area and roadsides were searched in the initial two-day search immediately after Mr Speechley’s disappearance.
Volunteers from the SES, VRA and the Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad worked in conjunction with officers from the NSW police dog squad, and police officers on horseback and motorbikes.
Local RFS volunteers this weekend also door-knocked an expanded area covering all the streets of Dalmeny.
In the wider area, also assisting was Moruya-based Westpac Life Saver 23 rescue chopper.
Local Narooma police officer Scott Wharfe had just returned from a stint being a set of extra eyes in the rescue chopper and has been involved in the search since Mr Speechley went missing, including the initial two-day weekend search.
He said the chopper had proved very useful during both searches and it afforded a good view down into the bush. The weather had proved perfect for a search on both Saturday and Sunday.
Volunteer searchers had come from as Dubbo, while the police dog squad and mounted officers were from Sydney, the police motorbike riders from Nowra. The VRA volunteers were from the Narooma and Bega squads, and the SES volunteers were from Shellharbour, Ulladulla and the Eurobodalla and Bega Valley.
Mr Speechley’s wife and daughter had visited the command post over the weekend to keep track of the search.
There was still hope that he was picked up by a car on the Princes Highway just after he escaped the retirement home and police are still hoping to speak to the driver of a red or maroon coloured sedan that was seen on the highway on Thursday, July 7 about 4pm that possibly had some interaction Mr Speechley. Anyone with any information should contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or Batemans Bay police on 4472 0099.
Stan Gorton
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
