Key witnesses – including a holiday home owner, a nurse and a hiker – have taken the stand at Townsville Magistrates Court, offering what may be the final confirmed sightings of Ben Chisholm before he vanished on Magnetic Island July 13 2022.
Mr Chisholm, then 22, is the only person ever to disappear from the island. Despite extensive searches and years of unanswered questions, his body has never been found.
As the coronial inquest begins, Mr Chisholm’s family is renewing calls for stronger support for families of missing people. They say their early concerns weren’t taken seriously by island police and want faster, more coordinated responses when loved ones are reported missing.
More than 1,000 hours of searching have been carried out since Mr Chisholm disappeared, and his family continues to suspect foul play. The inquest will continue this week, and now aims to piece together the final hours before he vanished and to determine whether police did an adequate job in the search for Ben Chisholm.
