Different focus with different terrain and different resources
In the dense bushland of Tasmania's Hollybank Reserve, a group of civilian volunteers found what months of official searching had not: the remains of Peter Willoughby, a 76-year-old man missing since October 2025. It was the second such discovery this year by the same group, now formally organised as FOLLO — Find Our Lost Loved Ones — whose methodical, grid-based approach has quietly outpaced the speed-driven logic of emergency search protocols. The pattern has been noticed, and Tasmania Police are now asking what it means when those outside the command structure consistently find what those inside it could not.
- A 76-year-old man vanished into thick Tasmanian bushland in October 2025, and eight months of uncertainty followed for his family before volunteers located his remains in late May.
- This is the second time in 2026 that FOLLO volunteers have succeeded where formal police searches fell short — a pattern too consistent to dismiss as coincidence.
- The tension is not adversarial but structural: police searches are built for speed and survival, while volunteer efforts can afford the slow, exhaustive grid-by-grid coverage that dense terrain demands.
- Tasmania Police have publicly acknowledged the gap, with Inspector Aleena Crack committing to a formal review of both FOLLO's methodology and the force's own protocols.
- FOLLO is moving toward registered charity status, and the prospect of formalised collaboration between volunteer searchers and police on future missing persons cases is now openly on the table.
On a Saturday afternoon in late May, volunteers combing Hollybank Reserve north-east of Launceston found the remains of Peter Willoughby — a 76-year-old Scottsdale man who had disappeared in October 2025 while searching for his own car in dense bushland. Clothing and personal items found alongside the remains strongly pointed to his identity, though formal confirmation would take several weeks. For his family, eight months of not knowing had finally come to an end.
It was the second time this year the same group of volunteers had located human remains in a missing persons case. Earlier in 2026, many of the same people had found Celine Cremer, a Belgian woman whose disappearance had resisted official search efforts. The group has since incorporated as FOLLO — Find Our Lost Loved Ones — with ambitions to become a registered charity.
Their effectiveness comes down to method. Searcher Matt Strickland described a disciplined "line search" technique, moving through the reserve grid by grid, covering ground that Hollybank's thick ferns and dense vegetation make easy to overlook. Police had searched the same area after Willoughby's disappearance, but under fundamentally different conditions — prioritising speed and the chance of finding someone alive, casting wide and moving on.
Inspector Aleena Crack was careful not to frame the outcome as a police failure. Different operational parameters, she suggested, produce different results — and a volunteer effort sustained over months, with the freedom to be methodical and return to the same ground with fresh eyes, is simply a different kind of search. She confirmed the force would formally review both its own tactics and FOLLO's approach, and left open the possibility of deeper collaboration on future cases. The second discovery had shifted something. Police were listening.
On a Saturday afternoon in late May, volunteers searching the Hollybank Reserve north-east of Launceston found what police had been looking for since October: the remains of Peter Willoughby, a 76-year-old man from Scottsdale who had vanished while searching for his own car in the dense bushland.
It was the second time in as many months that this particular group of volunteers had located human remains during a missing persons search. Earlier in the year, many of the same people had found Celine Cremer, a Belgian woman whose disappearance had confounded official search efforts. The consistency of their success has prompted Tasmania Police to reconsider how they approach these cases—and to acknowledge that there may be lessons to learn from civilians operating outside the formal command structure.
Inspector Aleena Crack, speaking for the police service, said the force remained open to collaboration and review. While formal identification of the remains would take several weeks, the clothing and personal items discovered alongside them strongly suggested they belonged to Willoughby. The volunteers had organized themselves into an incorporated group called FOLLO—Find Our Lost Loved Ones—with ambitions to become a registered charity. Police had engaged with them before the search began, sharing information about search patterns and terrain.
The volunteers' effectiveness came down to method. Matt Strickland, one of the searchers who found Willoughby's remains, explained that the group employed a "line search" technique, moving methodically through the reserve grid by grid. The Hollybank terrain, thick with fern and dense vegetation, was not suited to faster or less systematic approaches. This deliberate, exhaustive coverage appeared to be what made the difference.
Crack acknowledged that the police search, conducted in the immediate aftermath of Willoughby's disappearance, had covered the same ground but under fundamentally different conditions. Official search-and-rescue operations prioritize speed and the possibility of finding someone alive. They deploy resources rapidly, cast a wide net, and move on. A volunteer effort sustained over weeks or months, by contrast, can afford to be methodical, to return to the same places, to search with different eyes and different focus. The inspector did not frame this as a failure on police's part so much as a recognition that different operational parameters produce different results.
For Strickland and the other volunteers, the discovery meant something more personal. He described it as an honour to bring closure to Willoughby's family—to end the uncertainty that had hung over them for eight months. The work was difficult, the terrain unforgiving, but the outcome justified the effort.
Police indicated they had no intention of stepping back from engagement with volunteer groups. Crack said the force would formally review both its own search tactics and those employed by FOLLO, looking for insights that might improve future operations. Whether other missing persons cases would become collaborative efforts between police and volunteers remained an open question, but the inspector suggested it was something worth considering. The success of this second find had shifted the conversation. Police were listening.
Notable Quotes
Police are always open to any learning and any input we can have from groups, particularly when there is such success as this one.— Inspector Aleena Crack, Tasmania Police
It was an honour to bring closure to Mr Willoughby's family.— Matt Strickland, volunteer searcher
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did the volunteers succeed where the initial police search didn't, if police had already covered that same ground?
It's not really about police failing. They were searching for a living person in the first days after he went missing—speed and breadth matter then. The volunteers came months later with a different goal: to search thoroughly, methodically, the same area over and over if needed. They had time.
But time alone doesn't explain it. What made their method actually different?
The grid search. They moved through the reserve in lines, section by section, like they were reading a page. That works in dense fern and scrub where you can't see far. You have to be patient and systematic. Police search-and-rescue is designed for speed and coverage, not for that kind of inch-by-inch work.
So police are now saying they want to learn from volunteers. Does that mean they'll change how they operate?
Not necessarily how they operate in the first critical days—that speed still matters. But they're open to bringing in volunteers for longer, sustained searches. It's a different tool for a different phase of the work.
What does FOLLO actually want to become?
A registered charity. They've already incorporated as a group. They want to be the people you call when someone goes missing and the initial search hasn't found them. A second set of eyes, trained in these methods, ready to spend weeks if needed.
And the families—what does a find like this actually do for them?
It ends the not-knowing. Eight months of uncertainty. Now they can grieve, they can have a funeral, they can move forward. That's what the volunteers meant by closure.