A man who went missing in the Northern Territory outback nearly 24 years ago has been identified, after new DNA evidence allowed police to identify human remains found in Central Australia.
Owen Ryder was declared missing in August 1999 when he did not return to his home at Kwala Outstation, about 10 kilometres from Hermannsburg.
According to NT Police, local community members attempted to find Mr Ryder before his disappearance was reported to police.
Police established that he was last seen in the vicinity of the Larapinta Drive and Wallace Rockhole Road turn-off, and searched the area extensively by land and air.
He wasn't found, and at the inquest into his death in 2004, the coroner ruled he had died.
Remains found three years later
The remains, which would eventually be identified as being those of Mr Ryder, were found in February 2007, in a paddock about 8 kilometres from where police searched in 1999.
"Investigators understood a missing person, Mr Ryder, had been reported missing in the vicinity of the discovery back in 1999," NT Police said.
A crime scene was established and the remains underwent forensic analysis. However, no DNA profile was identified and police "enquiries were exhausted".
Fifteen years later, in 2022, a sample from the remains was sent by NT Police to the Australian Federal Police's (AFP) laboratory in Canberra for further testing, after the AFP had established its National DNA Program.
The AFP recovered a partial DNA profile, which NT Police compared to profiles of other members of the Ryder family, allowing them to establish the remains were those of Mr Ryder.
In a statement, NT Police said it had "substantially" improved its ability to recover DNA from remains, to help with identification.
NT Police urged people with loved ones who have gone missing in the Northern Territory to make contact to discuss providing them with DNA.
"NT Police are continually looking at new practices and enhancing their technologies to assist with identifying and locating long-term missing persons in the hopes of providing families' closure," the statement read.
