“THE ANSWER CAME TOO LATE” — Heartbreaking DNA Breakthrough Shatters Hope in Jayden Penno-Tompsett Outback Mystery After Nearly a Decade

Jayden Penno-Tompsett was on a road trip with friends when he vanished in December 2017

Jayden Penno-Tompsett.Credit : Facebook

NEED TO KNOW

On New Year’s Eve in 2017, Jayden Penno-Tompsett vanished in the Australian outback
After years of search efforts, remains found last fall were recently confirmed to be those of the missing 21-year-old man
“Whilst this isn’t the outcome we were praying for, we are grateful that Jay has finally been found,” Penno-Tompsett’s loved one wrote

Human remains have been identified as a 22-year-old man who went missing in the Australian outback in 2017, authorities said.

On Friday, Jan. 23, officials confirmed that remains discovered in northern Queensland in October are those of Jayden Penno-Tompsett, who was last seen on New Year’s Eve in 2017, the Queensland Police Service said in a statement.

Penno-Tompsett’s mom, Rachel, received the devastating news that same day, according to a Facebook page dedicated to the search for the missing man.

“Whilst this isn’t the outcome we were praying for, we are grateful that Jay has finally been found,” the organizer of the page wrote. The family also expressed their gratitude for everyone who has supported Rachel over the past eight years, either by searching, sharing his story or sending best wishes.

“We are forever grateful to you all,” the administrator continued.

His cause of death is under investigation, officials added.

The Queensland Police Service had nothing further to add, and Queensland’s Department of Justice and the man’s family did not immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE.

Penno-Tompsett was last seen in the early hours of Dec. 31, 2017, near a roadhouse on Thompson Street in Charters Towers, a historic mining town an hour and a half west of Townsville, officials said.

The 22-year-old man from Newcastle was traveling during what was planned to be a three-day road trip to celebrate the holiday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

A 2021 inquest determined that he was likely under the influence of drugs when he left his car and died in bushland.

Penno-Tompsett reportedly became “erratic and unpredictable” after he couldn’t locate a stash of drugs, and was last seen near the roadhouse on what is also known as Flinders Highway in Charters Towers, according to the outlet. His friend couldn’t find him and left to meet friends in Cairns, but he wasn’t reported missing until days later, on Jan. 3, ABC reported.

Breddan, Queensland, Australia.GoogleMaps

“An extensive multi-agency land search was conducted over several days in January 2018, but he was never found,” police said in their recent statement.

Years later, on Oct. 20, “suspected human remains” were located on a rural property in Breddan, which is not far from Charters Towers, police said.

Just two months before, the organizers of the Facebook page shared tributes to Penno-Tompset and his mom during Australia’s National Missing Persons Week.

“But sadly, life hasn’t gone to plan / Her heart forever broken / But her love remains the same,” the organizers wrote on Aug. 8. “You see, now her boy is missing / And her life is not the same / The torture of not knowing / When his Mother screams his name.”