A PHONE call reminds Wagga woman Maria Vanegas that another year has passed without word from her husband, Rafael.
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Yesterday, yet another launch of Missing Persons Week by Premier Barry O’Farrell at NSW Police headquarters has been welcomed yet met with certain scepticism.
Eleven years on, leads on the whereabouts of the brown-eyed former fisherman and father of seven have dried up.
But a glimmer of hope remains.
“We miss him every day,” Mrs Vanegas said of her husband.
“He was a wonderful person and our family won’t give up hope until we know what has happened to him.”
Originally from South America, Mr Vanegas was 58 when he left his Ashmont home on November 12, 2002 for the last time.
An inquest seven years later yielded no answers.
Marriages have occurred. He is now a grandfather.
“You go through an extended period of grief,” his daughter, Gloria Blacka, said.
“You think of scenarios – where he could be, what he could be doing? ... I think to ask a family to accept a loved one is gone just because they’re missing isn’t fair.”
Launching yesterday, Missing Persons Week will run until Saturday, with NSW Police profiling a missing person each day of the campaign.
This year, police aim to raise awareness of the 35,000 people who are reported missing each year, with the campaign targeting people living with mental illness as a key group in the community most at risk of going missing.
Mrs Blacka said her father suffering from schizophrenia added another dimension to his disappearance.
“We are concerned he could be living somewhere, unaware of his identity,” she said.
“But not knowing is what is so hard about a person missing.”
The campaign message, “see the signs before they disappear” encourages people to learn potential warning signs of someone they may know who isn’t coping and seek help.
Wagga police were unavailable for comment yesterday but NSW Police assistant commissioner Peter Barrie implored people to tell their families if they planned on leaving – even for a short time – as a way of preventing emotional turmoil.
“It is not a crime to be missing,” he said.
“But by letting family and friends know, you can alleviate an amount of heartache they may experience.”
