Pictured: Jayden Penno-Tompsett before he disappeared
A young man who vanished on a notorious stretch of highway was threatened in the weeks leading up to his disappearance.
Jayden Penno-Tompsett was just 22 when he disappeared from Charters Towers on a road trip from his hometown of Newcastle to Queensland on New Year’s Eve in 2017.
His mother Rachel Penno told Daily Mail Australia her son was being threatened and was ‘frightened’ in the weeks before he vanished.
‘As time has gone on, it has shown to be far more sinister than what everyone once thought,’ Ms Penno said.
Described as an ‘outgoing larrikin’, Jayden was on a 26-hour road trip with a man named Lucas Tattersall to meet friends and family over his New Year break.
Ms Penno learned Jay was in financial debt and believes he felt pressured to go on the road trip after someone he knew threatened to have bikies ‘rough up’ both he and his mum.
Prior to his disappearance, Jayden asked his mother to make sure she wasn’t home during the day one afternoon leading up to Christmas.
When she eventually returned home, her screen door had been partially ripped from its hinges.
‘There was a lot of suspicious stuff. He told me he was in a bit of trouble and that he was getting threats, but he didn’t say who from,’ Ms Penno said.
Jayden was always a bit of an ‘outgoing, larrikin type’ his mother told Daily Mail Australia. She shared pictures of him as a baby to her Facebook page dedicated to bringing Jayden home
Jayden Penno’s mother, Rachel, told Daily Mail Australia she was worried about her son before he disappeared
‘I was worried. His actions prior to him going away were different. He was obviously very scared. I knew something was happening, but I just didn’t know what.’
Jayden was sleeping with a knife under his bed and on the lounge with him.
As time has gone on, it has shown to be far more sinister than what everyone once thought
Ms Penno on her son’s disappearance
Ms Penno believes her son met foul play when he arrived in Charters Towers, in north Queensland.
The stretch of road where he was reportedly last seen has become known as the ‘highway of death’ by locals in recent years.
His disappearance adds to a growing list of unsolved mysteries, dating back to the 1970s, that surround the notorious stretch of outback road 130kms inland from Townsville on the Flinders Highway.
His friend Mr Tattersall claims the pair had a disagreement but denied it came to physical blows.
According to his version of events, Jayden walked into the bush to clear his head, while he simply drove away.
When he returned shortly later, Jayden was still gone.
He was never seen again.
Jayden was on a 26-hour road trip with a man named Lucas Tattersall (pictured) to meet friends and family over his New Year break
Jayden was reported missing three days later, triggering a search of bush and farmland within an 85km radius.
Mr Tattersall has been described as ‘more than helpful’ by police in the past. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest he had anything to do with Jayden’s disappearance.
Ms Penno learned more about who Jayden was hanging out with and what he was getting up to when she finally managed to hack his Facebook account and email.
She found further threats from a man she later identified as a local drug dealer trying to get Jayden to pay money he allegedly owed.
All the information was passed along to officers working on her son’s case, but Ms Penno said all she can hope for now is a coronial inquest to release all the evidence.
Jayden was popular among his social circle but was ‘in a bit of trouble’ before his disappearance
One of the hardest things for his family is watching Jayden’s friends grow up and move into new chapters of their lives, like starting families of their own. Ms Penno said her son loved children
Pictured: The car Jayden travelled in to Queensland before he disappeared
Daniel Morcombe’s parents helped campaign in Queensland for coronial inquests to be carried out within two years of a person going missing, Ms Penno said.
She hopes an inquest into her son’s disappearance – and presumed death – will confirm some long-held suspicions she has had.
Ms Penno runs a Facebook page dedicated to processing tips and sharing information about Jayden’s case.
She told Daily Mail Australia one of the hardest parts is watching the boys her son grew up with turn into men.
‘Some of his mates have partners, they’re having children,’ she said.
Jayden always loved kids. He was a godfather, and took the role very seriously. Since his disappearance, one of Jayden’s best friends named his son after him.
She said one name has been repeatedly brought to her attention for almost two years, including from anonymous tipsters who described in excruciating detail how her son was ‘shot on private property and buried there or dumped in the river’.
Pictured: Jayden as a baby. Ms Penno shared photos of Jayden to Facebook to celebrate his 24th birthday this year
The fact that the one name has been involved in so many different tips suggests, to her, that person may know more than they’re letting on.
Ms Penno said the person who has been named never met her son as far as she was aware.
On Friday December 29 2017, Ms Penno received a call from Jayden: ‘He and Lucas were almost at the Queensland border and the drive so far had ”been good”, she said her son told her.
The next day she messaged him asking ‘R u ok’ and received a one-word reply: ‘Yeah’.
She thought the message was strange. He would normally elaborate. Now she suspects that someone else may have sent that text from her son’s phone.
One potential lead came from a nurse at Charters Towers Hospital, who claims she took a phone call from a panic-stricken man asking for Jayden by name and enquiring whether he was a patient on December 30.
A spokesperson for Queensland Health since revealed that the nurse made a statement to police.
Queensland Police shared CCTV footage from a service station which they believe may be the last time he was seen