There are 156 long-term missing people in Tasmania – that’s 156 families longing for answers.

While the loved ones of those missing are undoubtedly affected the most in such cases, investigating someone’s disappearance takes a toll on all involved.

One person who knows the true impact of missing persons cases is Tasmania Police Detective Inspector, Kim Steven.

A police officer for more than three decades, he has 24 years of detective work under his belt. Having worked for the Criminal Investigation Branch at Launceston, Devonport and Burnie, Detective Inspector Steven has investigated many missing persons cases, including some of the state’s long-term cases.

Currently a Detective Inspector at Devonport, he said there were many missing people he would “never forget”.

“They all leave an imprint on you for various reasons, it can be the family connections you make, the constant asking yourself ‘did I miss something that could have solved this already?’ and ‘what else can we do to solve this?’,” he said.   

Investigators spend days, weeks and even years trying to solve a case – a process that is sure to leave them physically, mentally and emotionally drained. 

So how do the state's police, like Detective Inspector Steven, cope with this part of their job?

“Policing is a difficult and demanding job, I make a point of ensuring I remain physically fit and healthy, and also make sure that my mental health is looked after also by ensuring I regularly utilise the various welfare sources we have available to make sure that I am ‘travelling OK’,” he said.

“I also encourage my staff to stay fit, and talk about any issues that may be causing some distress or concern, if not to me, then to our welfare officers.  It’s a job that can only be done effectively if everything else in your life is OK.”

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Over the past week, Tasmania Police has highlighted a number of missing people as part of National Missing Persons Week. 

In Tasmania, about 125 people are reported missing each year.

Some of those cases include Paul Byrne, who was 34-years-old when he went missing at Rossarden on September 20, 1996. He has not been seen or heard from since.

Trevor Bailey was 25-years-old when he last contacted his mother in Launceston on January 6, 1993. 

Mark Moylan was 42-years-old when he was last seen rowing his dinghy at Gravelly Beach on January 25, 2014.

Angela Jeffrey was 53 when she was last seen at her home at Penguin June 1, 2016. Her car was found in the State Forest off Browns Creek Road at Bakers Beach two days after she was reported missing, but she was never located.

Helen Munnings was last seen in Centrelink at Burnie in July, 2008. The 20-year-old was declared deceased by the Coroner, but the investigation into her disappearance remains open with police continuing to seek information about her death.

Of the people reported missing, they are generally broken down into three main categories – search and rescue, concern for welfare or ‘runaways’ and suspicious cases.

Missing bush walkers are an example of search and rescue cases while ‘concern for welfare’ could involve youths or people who may have intentionally ‘disappeared’. 

Such cases are often resolved quickly with the persons located within 24 to 48 hours. 

Long term missing people involve extensive investigations by Criminal Investigation Branch detectives. These are the cases that could involve foul play and have the potential to remain unsolved for many years.

Investigators will work to establish where they were last seen, what they were doing, what they were wearing and who they may have been with. 

These are just a few of the many details police will be trying to gather.

While social media has become a powerful platform to share missing persons cases, Detective Inspector Steven said it also made initial investigations more difficult.

“Social media has provided everyone with a platform to provide information , thoughts and ‘facts’, it takes time for investigators to get to the basis of this information to establish what are the facts as opposed to gossip or urban myth,” he said. 

In Tasmania a number of cases involving missing people have ended with that person being found deceased.

An example is Noel Joseph Ingham, who was reported missing from Ulverstone in October last year. His body was found in scrubland at Dulverton on November 23.

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“He had been missing, and deceased some 10 weeks prior to us being aware and his body not located until a further 2 months had passed,” Detective Inspector Steven said.

​“Unfortunately, from my experience the missing person is often dead even before we are notified that they are missing.

“In saying all this, you are hoping that your instincts are wrong and the person turns up alive and well.”

While police will investigate a number of cases throughout their career, Detective Inspector Steven said it was important for them to remember every person that goes missing is someone’s loved one.

“Each missing person is one family member to that one family and that empty seat at the dinner table remains a constant for them and we have a duty to try and give them some answers,” he said.

“Ultimately, as an investigator, and also as a member of the community with family of my own, I want to give answers to all those families still wondering where their loved one is and what happened.”

That personal connection with a victim’s family isn’t restricted to missing persons cases either.

Throughout his career, Detective Inspector Steven said there was another type of case that had a lasting impact on him – the unsolved murder of Victoria Cafasso.

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“I was working at Launceston CIB at the time and tasked with picking up Victoria’s mother, father and grandmother from the Launceston airport after they travelled from Italy knowing their daughter had been murdered,” he said. 

“I then drove them to the crime scene on the East Coast, walked on the beach with them where it happened and then to Hobart and assisted them with the viewing of Victoria at the funeral directors, that stuff never leaves you.”

While nearly all those reported missing in the state are located, most within 48-hours, missing persons cases will always remain open and any new information provided to police is investigated.

Detective Inspector Steven urged anyone with any information on any of the state’s missing persons cases to come forward.