A long‑running North Queensland mystery has reached a sad conclusion, with police confirming that human remains found near Charters Towers last year belong to missing Newcastle man Jayden Penno‑Tompsett.
Jayden was just 22 when he disappeared on December 31, 2017. He was last seen near a roadhouse on Thompson Street along the Flinders Highway, sparking an extensive multi‑agency land search in the days that followed. Despite the scale of the effort, no trace of him was found at the time.
That changed on October 20, 2025, when suspected human remains were discovered on a rural property at Breddan, north of Charters Towers.
Police confirmed that the remains underwent forensic DNA analysis, and on January 23, 2026, testing verified that they belonged to Jayden.
Authorities say a report will now be prepared for the Coroner, with a coronial investigation continuing.
