16 years on, still no closer

Not that people haven’t tried, with several locals making contact with the Courier to tell the stories of unusual behaviour they witnessed on October 14, the day Gerard was kidnapped.

One of those locals, Medina resident Barry Hunt (71), used to catch the bus from Medina to Rockingham Beach to pay his bills.

He said he has reported what he saw on Kent Street on the morning of Gerard’s disappearance three times over the past 16 years, but has never been called back or asked for his number or name.

On the way to the shops on Kent Street at about 10.25am, Mr Hunt said he noticed a white Isuzu ute with drop sides and an old wooden ladder in the back, parked facing towards the main drag.

‘I only noticed it because it was an old ute but it had new number plates, so I thought ‘he’s just been over the pits’,’ he said.

However, about 10 minutes later when Mr Hunt was on the bus back, the vehicle was facing in the other direction. A man aged around 30 to 40 was sitting in the ute near the old Salvation Army building on the corner, wearing a black beanie and a blue checked shirt, and had a black beard.

Mr Hunt didn’t think anything of it until he heard about Gerard’s disappearance a few days later. He reported what he’d seen at the time, and twice more over the following decade.

‘I don’t know if it’s relevant or not because I don’t know when he disappeared,’ he said.

‘I’m not blaming the police, you’d just think that if Crime Stoppers are looking for information, they’d have forwarded it on.’

A spokesperson for the WA Police said the Gerard Ross case was ‘an ongoing investigation, and police will not be making any comment’.

Anyone with information about Gerard Ross’ murder is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.