4 years in the past, the badly decomposed physique of lacking Melbourne man Jackson Stacker was discovered facedown in bushland at Byron Bay with a 30-centimetre looking knife caught in his chest, his head 13 metres away.
NSW Police concluded it was doubtless the 25-year-old, who lived in his van whereas browsing and partying at drug-fuelled “bush doof” raves, died by suicide.
Pals described his behaviour within the weeks main as much as his dying as more and more erratic and emotional, and he had reportedly talked of suicide — however his household insists he didn’t take his personal life.
“I immediately thought it was homicide, that was the primary thought my thoughts went to,” Jackson’s cousin, Ishtar Kenny, born and bred in Byron Bay, instructed 9’s 60 Minutes on Sunday evening.
“I’ve heard of various issues occurring in Byron in the previous few years the place all of the younger folks have been very afraid as a result of they’ve been concerned in one thing. They didn’t realise what it was, after which they’ve been threatened or stuff like that. So I do know it might occur in that space as effectively.”
As a coronial inquest prepares at hand down its findings into Jackson’s dying, Ian Stacker and Sandey MacFarlane say they imagine their son could have fallen sufferer to Byron Bay’s seedy felony underbelly.
“[The police’s] evaluation of him was that he was [a] homeless, alcoholic, drug consumer that they’ve simply present in a paddock,” Ian instructed this system.
“That evaluation was made fairly shortly. And he was none of these issues. He was undervalued as a human being due to how he was discovered. And I feel that the sensation was, you already know, ‘We’ll simply tick this off as a suicide.’ A knife within the chest, I feel, means that maybe it wasn’t a suicide.”
Ms MacFarlane mentioned “nothing made sense” about his dying. “I spoke to him the final day he was alive and he was tremendous,” she mentioned.
Ian remembered his son as “somebody actually trying ahead to simply going off on an journey, which is what it was meant to be”.
“He simply noticed the world a bit in another way,” he mentioned. “He was not materialistic, though he wasted cash on some loopy jackets typically. It’s laborious to know what he was doing there. He was off on this mission and I felt, ‘Nice. Go and have a ball.’”
Ms MacFarlane final heard from her son on July 22, 2021. She says there was nothing that involved her about their last dialog.
“His message to me was, ‘Mum, I’m so nice. I’ve by no means been happier,’” she mentioned.
“You recognize, ‘I’m hanging out with a variety of actually superbly clever folks.’ They had been simply having an excellent time, having a beer and simply chilling out or sitting on their roofs and simply listening, taking part in music and browsing, watching the sundown.”
Nonetheless, Jackson’s pal, Callum Whitehead, instructed the coronial inquest earlier this yr he did appear upset that day and had thrown a bicycle on the Important Seashore automotive park in Byron Bay earlier than crying.
Ms MacFarlane transferred Jackson $300 three days after their final dialog with the message “please name mum”. When he didn’t reply to thank her she started to fret.
His household referred to as police after they had been contacted by somebody asking to purchase his van after seeing it deserted on the Sleepy Hole relaxation space close to Pottsville, north of Byron Bay on the Pacific Freeway.
Two days later, on August 26, 2021, police discovered Jackson’s physique in a subject, 120 metres away from his ransacked Toyota Hiace.
Ms MacFarlane agreed one thing modified within the final month of Jackson’s life, and that he had recounted moments the place he obtained actually upset.
“I feel he was feeling utilized by sure those that had been borrowing his van,” she mentioned.
Pals blamed his emotional ups and downs on his use of LSD and marijuana.
Mia Kidis, who first met Jackson on the Premstock commune within the Daintree Forest in far north Queensland, instructed the inquest that he had beforehand taken LSD and hashish and it didn’t “react effectively with him”.
She mentioned he would cry or have low moods about 3 times per week and had been badly affected by a murder-suicide involving somebody they knew.
Nonetheless she additionally described him as having a “lust for all times”, saying he was a “very charismatic, a really energetic and pleasant particular person”.
Jackson had been hospitalised up to now for drug-induced psychosis, however Ms MacFarlane mentioned she didn’t put a lot inventory in reviews he had talked to pals about killing himself.
“Jackson had no filter,” she mentioned. “He would inform me if that was one thing that he was feeling. He had by no means really ever talked about suicide to me.”
A mecca for schoolies, backpackers and celebrities like Chris Hemsworth, the area has additionally seen quite a few mysterious deaths in recent times, together with Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez, 18, who disappeared on an evening out in 2019.
Jackson’s dad and mom worry he was concerned with criminals and drug customers who make up a part of the huge homeless neighborhood across the Northern Rivers coastal city.
They imagine somebody from that circle could have been concerned in his dying.
“We expect that maybe he obtained concerned with, at this [bush] doof, somebody within the drug commerce that had left some stuff in his van,” Ian mentioned.
“You recognize, Jackson left that doof prematurely, and left behind a number of those that he transported there. Simply the way in which that his van was discovered — it was completely trashed. It was prefer it had been strip searched. We expect there’s been an altercation between him and these folks. I don’t know what the altercation was, or the way it might presumably find yourself in him in a subject with a knife in his chest.”
Police discovered Jackson’s physique beneath a tree sporting his favorite fur coat, his scalp and dreadlocks round 13 metres away.
Officers additionally discovered a container of oil, matches, a lighter, a beanie, a roll of duct tape and a blueberry vape, the inquest heard.
Additional away they discovered his unzipped boots.
When his van was searched, his laptop computer, cellphone and digital camera had been lacking.
Jackson’s dad and mom have beforehand accused police of doing a shoddy job within the preliminary search of the realm the place his physique was discovered.
When Ms MacFarlane went to go to the location of her son’s dying she uncovered considered one of his enamel beneath a leaf.
It raised questions in regards to the thoroughness of any earlier police search, and coroner Teresa O’Sullivan ordered a brand new line search by officers on arms and knees.
Three finger bones had been present in that search and had been confirmed to belong to Jackson.
In February, the ABC reported two cops linked to early investigations into Jackson’s dying had been on prolonged sick depart and a 3rd had left the power and was refusing to present proof to the inquest.
In one other beautiful twist on Sunday evening’s program, the 60 Minutes crew discovered themselves a part of the story after stumbling throughout a semi-buried cell phone close to the place Jackson’s physique was positioned.
The cellphone was handed to Bryon Bay police by 9 producers. It’s not but recognized whether or not it belonged to Jackson.
However his dad and mom say Jackson’s cellphone is a key piece of the puzzle.
His Samsung was not discovered on his physique, however per week after he died it was booted up 200 kilometres away close to Grafton, pinging off numerous cell towers over the following 4 days earlier than returning to the Byron space the place it was final detected on August 2, 2021.
“If it was with him, then another person was there, as a result of the cellphone moved,” Ian mentioned. “If it wasn’t with him, then who took it?”
Nobody has been charged in relation to Jackson’s dying.
Former murder detective Gary Jubelin, nevertheless, mentioned after evaluating the case he believed police had come to the right conclusion.
“Any suspicious dying needs to be handled as a murder till you’ll be able to show in any other case, and looking out on the steps that the police have taken through the course of this investigation, I feel from a really early stage, they had been it as a possible murder,” he instructed 60 Minutes.
“Trying on the transient of proof being introduced by the police on this event, it was an intensive transient of proof.”
Mr Jubelin mentioned he didn’t need to be “overly vital” of police for lacking issues.
“We’re speaking a tooth in bushland like this,” he mentioned.
“Issues do get missed. It’s not a super state of affairs. [It] doesn’t look nice, and I feel the police can be feeling unhealthy about that, however I’ve been concerned in quite a few searches for stays and it is vitally tough and issues can get missed.”
The previous detective mentioned the cranium being discovered away from the physique was not essentially indicative of foul play.
“It’s horrific once you assume the cranium is 13 metres from the skeletal stays and different physique components,” he mentioned. “Sadly, that’s nature at work, you already know there’s a variety of animals round right here and I don’t discover it uncommon.”
The coroner is but to find out Jackson’s method of dying.
Her findings are anticipated to be introduced in coming weeks.
“What would he need?” Ms MacFarlane instructed 60 Minutes.
“What would Jackson need? That’s what I ask myself day-after-day. What would he need? He would need us to be blissful. And we’d like to seek out his reality. As a result of that may make us blissful.”
— with NCA NewsWire
