More than 50 emergency service members have combed rugged bushland to find Dylan Dickie, but the teenager remains missing four months after he disappeared.
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The 19-year-old was last seen leaving the family home on a motorbike on June 23.
Dylan’s social media and bank accounts have remained inactive since then.
His family raised the alarm after Dylan failed to return home as expected the following day. Investigators found his Yamaha bike, helmet and gloves at the edge of Corrobare State Forest, about 20km from Cessnock, but a subsequent search failed to find the teenager.
A renewed search of a wider area of state forest began on Thursday, after pleas from Dylan’s family for help to bring the young man home.
Dylan’s mother Nicole said about 55 members of the State Emergency Service, Rural Fire Service and Police carefully inspected the difficult terrain in search of her son.
“It was a long day of searching but [there were] no findings,” she said.
“Cliff faces were searched – it was very thick bushland and it makes it really hard to get through. I want to thank every single one of them for their tireless work.”
The search will resume on Friday, with about 30 emergency service members expected to look for Dylan.
Ms Dickie said she had not given up hope that her son would be returned home to the family.
“I believe he’s out there,” she said.
“If he’s not found, I have no idea where to start looking next.”
Ms Dickie told Fairfax Media last week that the family believed the initial search radius was not broad enough in the days after Dylan disappeared.
She described her son as a “homebody” and said it was out of character for him to venture into bushland alone.
“We try piecing the puzzle together only to assume the worst scenarios and outcome and that's very upsetting,” she said at the time.
“We've stopped guessing and chasing leads that led us no where and instead talk of the happy memories with him.
“He was such a whacky funny character who always made us either laugh or shake our heads and we cherish it all more than ever.”
Anyone with information about Dylan Dickie’s whereabouts can contact the NSW Police Missing Persons Unit on 1800 025 091.
- Lifeline: 13 11 14.
Nick Bielby
Nick Bielby is a crime reporter who has worked as a journalist since 2011. Having joined the Newcastle Herald in 2017, he won a Walkley Award in 2019 with Donna Page for their investigation 'Dirty Deeds', which exposed the decades of illegal dumping of toxic material in and around a Hunter waterway.
Nick Bielby is a crime reporter who has worked as a journalist since 2011. Having joined the Newcastle Herald in 2017, he won a Walkley Award in 2019 with Donna Page for their investigation 'Dirty Deeds', which exposed the decades of illegal dumping of toxic material in and around a Hunter waterway.
