'Pure torture': Aussie dad finds son lost at sea with Facebook search operation
When 19-year-old Darcy Deefholts vanished this week, his dad Terry faced every parent's nightmare.
But he responded in the only way he knew how: with action.
'It took all my resolve to hold my s**t together and focus,' Terry told Kidspot.
Darcy had failed to return home after going surfing at One Tree, Wooli, on NSW's North Coast on Wednesday afternoon.
Rescue teams located Darcy on a remote island off NSW on Thursday morning. Image: Supplied
RELATED: 'Why dad alone, when we can dad together?'
"Fearing the worst"
Once marine officials stood down for the night, with the search set to resume Thursday morning, the determined dad turned to his community. He refused to sit back and wait.
'Tears and shouting at the wind weren't going to find my boy,' he said.
Taking to Facebook he wrote:
'My boy Darcy is still missing. Marine Rescue searched tonight from Bare Point to Pebbly Beach at sea. They have been stood down for the night but expect they will be back early to resume the search.'
'I am asking anyone with a seaworthy vessel to please meet me at the main Wooli boat ramp and take me to sea to help with the search.'
He gave a rough description of Darcy's last known location, what he was wearing, and the wind conditions.
'Of course we are fearing the worst,' he wrote.
'There is only one thing we want now. Our beloved boy to be found safe.'
Want to join the family? Sign up to our Kidspot newsletter for more stories like this.
"The dark night of the soul"
Terry launched a grassroots mission of his own. One late-night Facebook post at a time.
Within hours, strangers were launching boats, drones took flight, and a digital village rose up to help.
The post spread rapidly through local community pages, and a dedicated search group was created and monitored.
'There's much to say about the gratitude I've felt for this astonishingly beautiful community,' Terry said.
The thought of losing his child had taken him to the brink.
'The idea of potentially losing my Darcy, well I'm going to call it the dark night of the soul. Pure torture that weighed so heavily it was almost crushing,' he explained.
At around 8am Thursday morning, Terry got the news he'd been desperately hoping for.
Darcy had drifted kilometres from shore and ended up stranded on an offshore island overnight.
A private helicopter, arranged by a volunteer, spotted him.
A boat was quickly dispatched to retrieve him. He was found cold, disoriented but miraculously unharmed.
After nearly 16 hours missing at sea, his son was finally safe. Terry could finally breathe.
'I'm currently in the aftershock of a traumatic ordeal that had the best possible outcome,' he said.
Terry was going to stop at nothing to find his son. Image: Supplied
RELATED: Police use sound of mum's voice to try bring home her missing son
For all the technology and rescue protocol, it all came down to a dad and a Facebook post.
What could have been a tragedy became a miracle.
Terry is now preparing a way to properly thank those who answered his call.
'I'm preparing a story to try and thank everyone. It's going to be a long one,' he said.
This week proved that a parent never stops leaning on their village.
Originally published as 'Pure torture': Aussie dad finds son lost at sea with Facebook search operation
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
21 minutes ago
- ABC News
Bradley Murdoch's death presents glimmer of hope for finding Peter Falconio's remains
Bradley Murdoch's death presents an opportunity for a late break in Peter Falconio's cold case murder, a leading forensic anthropologist says. It comes as NT Police confirmed they had received tip-offs after last month announcing a $500,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of Mr Falconio's remains. Murdoch died overnight on Wednesday, 24 years after he killed Mr Falconio and kidnapped his partner, Joanne Lees, on a remote stretch of the Northern Territory's Stuart Highway in 2001. The 67-year-old, who had been receiving treatment for throat cancer, had continued to deny his crimes and was destined to die in prison after refusing to reveal the location of Mr Falconio's body. After news of Murdoch's death broke, Central Queensland University criminologist Xanthe Mallett said, "a lot can have changed" in almost a quarter of a century, and "people may now be able to speak that couldn't at the time". "There's always the chance that Bradley Murdoch would have shared some information, and people wouldn't have been able to share that until he's dead, so this may be an opportunity," she said. Dr Mallett said DNA could "remain active for decades" depending on "exactly how they've been left", making it possible to identify Mr Falconio if a new lead were to reveal his final resting place. "If human remains are found in the bush … whomever they are, if they're human remains, it's likely that they will be able to get DNA from them, either from the bones or from the teeth," she said. "So if that person's DNA is on record, as I'm sure Peter's would be, then you could do a match to those remains. "It's finding those remains in the first place that is going to be the key challenge." In a statement acknowledging Murdoch's death, the Northern Territory Police Force said it was "deeply regrettable that Murdoch has died without, as far as we are aware, ever disclosing the location of Peter Falconio's remains". "The Northern Territory Police Force remains committed to resolving this final piece of the investigation," it said. "We continue to appeal to anyone who may have information that could lead us to Peter Falconio's remains to come forward, no matter how small the detail may seem." Last month, NT Police announced a $500,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of Mr Falconio's remains, saying investigators still "hold out hope" of finding his body. "There may be someone out there that he's confided in — whether that's family and friends — we just don't know," Acting Commander Mark Grieve said in June. "It's a good opportunity for us to up the ante in regards to the reward. On Wednesday, an NT Police spokesperson said investigators were yet to verify tips they had received since increasing the reward. "The Northern Territory Police Force can confirm it has received information since the announcement of the reward; however, the information is yet to be verified," he said. In a statement to the ABC, Peter's parents, Luciano and Joan Falconio, said they continued to "hold out hope" their son's final resting place would be found. "We didn't have much faith, but we were hoping Bradley John Murdoch would reveal where Peter was before he died," they said. Upon hearing the news of Murdoch's death, Falconio's parents said their "first feeling was of relief". "It's like a weight that's been lifted," they said. "We are only forced to think about [Murdoch] now that he's died, we don't want to let him ruin our lives more than he already has. "The awful thing is our family's future with Peter was cruelly taken away. "Today, we instead focus on the three children we have left and our grandchildren." The family also expressed their "profound thanks" to the Northern Territory Police "for the support and continuing efforts to investigate our son's murder". During Murdoch's sentencing in 2005, Chief Justice Brian Martin said the killer put Mr Falconio's body into his vehicle before dumping it somewhere between Alice Springs and Broome — a distance spanning almost 1,700 kilometres. Dr Mallett said, unlike some other "no body cases", "the scale of the territory which the police would have to cover" meant recovering any remains would be challenging unless someone came forward. "Next year it'll be the 25th anniversary [so] the likelihood of them finding Peter's remains without significant intelligence — which we were all hoping was going to come from Murdoch — it's going to be very difficult," she said. Initial search efforts in July 2001 involved line and motorbike searches as well as aerial searches 60 kilometres north and south of the location where Mr Falconio was last seen alive. Extensive searches for Mr Falconio were again held in 2005. Dr Mallett said the increased scrutiny on the case after Murdoch's death would be "a really difficult time for Peter's family". "They would have been hoping that Bradley Murdoch would have had a change of heart, knowing that he was terminally ill, and would have shared information to help the police find Peter," she said. "We have to remember Joanne Lees in all of this, too. She lost a partner, she was devastated, and she was vilified as a result of this case. "So this will be a very hard time for people who knew and loved Peter, and I'm just sorry that they didn't get any answers before Bradley Murdoch died."
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Joshua Brown sacked from previous child care centre
More details are emerging about the work history of Joshua Dale Brown, who's been charged with dozens of child sex offences in Victoria. He was sacked from one childcare centre in 2021 over his handling of an incident report. There's no suggestion that Joshua Brown engaged in any offending during his time at the centre.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
‘Freak off': Escort's Mark Latham claims
A Queensland sex worker has said that MP and commentator Mark Latham and his then girlfriend contacted her and even met with her at a ritzy event at Sydney's Randwick Racecourse. Carly Electric said she suspected she was contacted because the couple wanted to hire her for a threesome. In a message sent by Mr Latham, to his now ex-girlfriend Nathalie May Williams, he said Ms Electric was 'good rooter' and joked if she might want to be involved in a 'freak off' – the now infamous term used by Sean 'Diddy' Combs to describe threesomes where one person looks on. 'It was just implied … who comes to a sex worker and behaves this way?' Ms Electric said of the interactions. Mr Latham, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, the state's upper house, is the subject of an apprehended violence order application by Ms Matthews. Ms Matthews, 37, is seeking an order preventing Mr Latham from going within 100m of her, alleging an 'ongoing, reasonable fear of harassment, intimidation, and potential harm'. She has alleged he asked her to call him 'master' and engaged in degrading sexual acts. Mr Latham has strongly denied the claims and said they are 'absolute rubbish' and 'comical'. Ms Electric, a sex worker, stand up comedian and part owner of a racehorse, said she was 'contacted out of nowhere' by both Mr Latham and Ms Williams last year on social media. The Daily Telegraph has reported that Ms Electric believed there was interest in her services as an escort, but that it soon became clear there was no interest in booking. 'A big part of what I do is see couples,' she said. 'I believe Mark already knew who I was and told Nathalie to message me. 'She just came out of nowhere and it's like they were love bombing me'. Ms Electric said Ms Matthews messaged her about their shared interest in horse racing. Mr Latham then made contact. She said Ms Matthews said words to the effect of 'We're looking at your photos, we think that you are so stunning'. 'I was like: 'Are you going to book me?'' Despite messaging back and forth Ms Electric stressed that she was never hired and nothing intimate ever occurred with the pair. Nonetheless, she did meet them at Sydney's Royal Randwick Racecourse on April 5 last year at the Group 1 Doncaster Mile. Ms Electric's horse Iowna Merc was competing. She then went to dinner with the pair and several others with an image of the three snapped at the meal together. 'I thought it was quite weird that someone like him would interact with someone like me, he seemed quite excited,' she said of Mr Latham. The Daily Telegraph also revealed this week that WhatsApp messages exchanged between Mr Latham and Ms Williams discussed inviting Ms Electric to Randwick. 'Multi skilled. Comedian. Race lover. Keen rooter. Exactly our sort of person!!' Mr Latham wrote to Ms Williams about Ms Electric. 'Maybe she wants a freak off,' he added. The allegations have come to light following Ms Williams' court filings targeting Mr Latham. 'Throughout our relationship, the defendant engaged in a sustained pattern of emotional, physical, sexual, psychological, and financial abuse, including defecating on me before sex and refusing to let me wash,'' the application states. 'Forcing degrading sexual acts, pressuring me to engage in sexual acts with others, demanding I call him 'master,' telling me I was his property, and repeatedly telling me that my only value to him was for sex to demean and control me.' does not suggest the claims are true, only that they have been made in an application to the NSW Local Court in pursuit of an AVO. Mr Latham said the claims were false. 'Nothing has been served on me nor has anyone contacted me. 'I haven't had anything to do with her (Ms Matthews) since 27 May, so nearly seven weeks ago. I ended the 'situationship' that night for very good reason. NSW police sources say officers who initially interviewed Ms Matthews did not believe there was sufficient evidence to proceed with charges or an apprehended violence order on the information they were given. They remain open to taking a further more comprehensive statement. It is understood police did not receive the extent of the information that has since been made public when they initially spoke to Ms Matthews. They again spoke to her recently and will continue to seek a comprehensive statement.
