Theo Hayez's treacherous final steps: Disappeared backpacker's 'scary' tragic path is revealed for the first time - as family member says he would NEVER have walked it by himself
- The final movements of missing backpacker have been detailed at his inquest
- Theo Hayez, 18, vanished on May 31, 2019, after he was kicked out of a local bar
- Google data revealed he constantly searched for a route to his Byron Bay hostel
- But he repeatedly went in a different direction, taking him into dense bush
- His cousin told inquest he would never have walked the trail to the beach alone
In dense bushland in the dead of night, missing backpacker Theo Hayez Googled directions to his hostel - but walked off in the opposite direction to his likely death.
'There is no way he was doing that by himself,' his cousin and close friend Lisa Hayez told the inquest into his disappearance on Tuesday. 'No way.'
The tragic final steps of the Belgian teenager on May 31, 2019, have been detailed at day two of the inquest after being pieced together from Google data on his phone.
It revealed the treacherous route Theo, 18, took after he was he was kicked out of a local bar by security in Byron Bay, northern NSW, for appearing drunk.
But although the teen repeatedly Googled how to get back to his WakeUp! hostel on the opposite side of town, he constantly ignored the instructions.
In dense bushland in the dead of night, missing backpacker Theo Hayez (pictured) googled directions to his hostel - but walked off in the opposite direction to his likely death
The tragic final steps of the Belgian teenager on May 31, 2019, have been revealed at day two of the inquest after being pieced together from Google data on his phone
Instead he took a detour through the town, stopping at nearby cricket nets for seven minutes before heading to a remote scrub trail towards Tallow Beach.
Again and again on the bitterly cold night, he Googled how to get back to his hostel before going deeper into the bushland, at times appearing to run or walk quickly.
At a key point, he stepped off the trail to venture into even deeper bush and a steep hill down to the beach, losing his beloved Puma baseball cap in the process.
'If Theo had been alone, lost and trying to get back to WakeUp, this was a tragic mistake,' Kirsten Edwards, counsel assisting, told the inquest in opening remarks.
'If he kept walking straight through the crossroads, he would have soon hit Tallows Beach Road and a left turn would take him to Lighthouse Road and back to town.'
Finally he reached the waterfront and walked up the sand to a spot known as Cosy Corner beach, at the foot of Byron Bay Lighthouse, around midnight.
Once there he switched off his location services, sent relaxed messages to family and friends, before his phone suddenly switched off at 1:02am - and he was never seen or heard from again.
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Google data has revealed the treacherous route Theo Hayez, 18, (pictured with his girlfriend) took after he was he was kicked out of a local bar by security in Byron Bay, northern NSW, for appearing drunk
Ms Hayez revealed how in the wake of his disappearance, she had retraced his steps in daylight and at night to try to work out what had happened to him.
And she insisted there was no way he would ever have made the trip alone, especially deep into the bush.
'It was scary,' she told the inquest.
'I could see him starting the walk but he would probably have stopped once he started to go into the deep bush land and be like, that's not safe for me to do by myself.'
Ms Hayez insisted the engineering student-to-be was an expert user in Google Maps and would never have got lost.
Theo Hayez (pictured, right, with a friend) was spotted on CCTV at a bottle shop earlier on the evening he disappeared
The pair had been travelling Australia together she said and they would always use Google Maps everywhere they went to navigate even short trips around Melbourne.
'Obviously Melbourne is a big city, and we didn't know where to go and how to get to it,' she told the inquest.
'We would use Google Maps for everything - to see if the tram was walking distance or anything - so we would be constantly using Google Maps.
'He would be better at it than me.'
Theo Hayez sent his last messages on his phone from Cosy Corner Beach, near the base of cliffs below Byron Bay lighthouse (pictured)
She said Theo was the navigator of the pair and she never saw him make a mistake.
If the blue dot was slow to update when the app first started to navigate, she admitted, he could however set off in the wrong direction at first.
'That happened when we didn't have a good connection or if he just reopened Google Maps or stuff like that, but it wasn't for a long time and it didn't get us lost,' she said.
Ms Hayez said Theo was not a big drinker, and when in the company of others, he would sometimes dilute cask wine with orange juice to make it taste better.
'He was never drinking as much as the other people were drinking,' she said. '[But] if he was around other people who were drinking, he wouldn't say no to a beer.'
The pair caught up in Brisbane, where Ms Hayez now lives, just six days before her cousin disappeared.
She said Theo - who was a year younger than her - was keen to visit Australia's weed capital, Nimbin, near Byron, after she told him of her visit there.
Lisa Hayez said cousin Theo Hayez (pictured) was not a big drinker, when in the company of others, he would sometimes dilute cask wine with orange juice to make it taste better
'Obviously back home, there's nothing similar to that,' Ms Hayez told the inquest. 'I've been there just to see what it was like and it was really special.
'I said, "Oh, if you have time, it's kind of interesting to go and have a look there." It's quite funny, but that's it.'
She said she had twice seen him refuse to take MDMA while they were out in Melbourne although she said he would probably share a joint around a campfire.
But she added: 'He would never buy anything for himself or for his own consumption. He really wasn't interested in doing it.'
Theo also told her how much he was looking forward to returning home to Belgium after his trip to Australia.
'He was telling me he was really excited to sleep in a good bed, in his bedroom, in his house and see his family,' she said. 'He had no intention staying here.
'I really wanted him to hug all my family for me, because he was going to go home and I wasn't.'
She said that was the final conversation she had with him. The inquest continues.
