AN inquest was held in Glebe Coroner’s Court on Monday into the disappearance of missing person John Schreck who was last seen in Moree in 1978 and presumed dead.
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In 1978 John Ewen Schreck resided in Moree with his wife and their children.
On August 7, 1978 Schreck left home to go to work. Later that day his wife phoned to remind him to collect their children from school but she was told her husband had left work earlier because he did not feel well. On her return home his wife found a note saying Schreck had “gone away”.
Schreck subsequently sent a letter and a number of cards to his children, the last of which was received in May 1979. After this there was no contact between Schreck and any member of his extended family.
On April 11, 2008 the suspected death of Schreck was reported to the coroner and on October 26, 2011 an inquest was conducted in Mudgee touching on the man’s disappearance and suspected death.
Having considered the evidence available, the coroner found: “John Ewen Schreck died sometime after May 1979. As to the place of his death, the cause and the manner thereof, the evidence available does not enable me to make a finding”.
But fresh evidence of Schreck’s death later became available and a new inquest was ordered. In October 2012 the death of John Charles Stewart, who resided in Victoria, was reported to the coroner.
Subsequent to Stewart’s death evidence became available that suggested the deceased, John Charles Stewart, may have been the same person as John Ewen Schreck.
As a result, DNA samples recovered from Stewart were compared by a forensic biologist with the sister of Schreck. The DNA recovered from Stewart was found to be 120,000 times more likely to have originated from the biological brother of the woman than from an unknown, unrelated individual.
With this evidence Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon found on the balance of probabilities, the person known as John Charles Stewart was one and the same person as John Ewen Schreck.
The manner of his death was natural and the cause was due to Ischaemic Heart Disease.
In handing down his findings the coroner said this was a case where the searches undertaken in preparation for the first inquest failed to discover Schreck had adopted a new identity and started residing in Victoria after leaving Moree. He said this was notwithstanding the fact that during the course of the investigation Victorian Government records were searched.
“Were things not to have changed this issue may have given reason to the making of recommendations... I am however aware, during the almost 40 years that have passed since these events occurred, there have been significant legislative and other changes that would make such an occurrence unlikely today.”
