On Australia Day in 2000, Marc Mietus called somebody in Brisbane. It was his last phone call

And Mietus’ remains have never been found.

Now, 24 years later, the Queensland Homicide Cold Case team has announced a $500,000 reward as part of an appeal for further information.

Police on Saturday will also begin a search of the 44-hectare Booyal property, where Mietus had been staying in a caravan, with investigators hopeful they will find new clues.

Mietus’ father says the years of not knowing anything has been an emotional stretch for the family.

“We are resigned to the fact that he is deceased, and he’s actually met with foul play,” Kris Mietus told reporters at a press conference on Friday.

Mietus had moved to Queensland from Melbourne in 1997 for a fresh start. The youngest of three siblings, Mietus had focused on a promising career in AFL playing for the Northern Knights under-17s, but when he was cut from the squad, his family said Mietus took the news hard.

There was hope for Mietus in the move to Queensland, and he made friends in the Gold Coast and Brisbane. But he later received a prison sentence for stealing a car in Bowen.

Upon being released in 1999, Mietus returned to live with his mother in Melbourne. There, she purchased him a ute, and he worked as a plumber.

In September 1999, Mietus celebrated his 21st birthday at a party. He left for Queensland in his ute on January 6.

On the way, he picked up a hitchhiker, who offered him a place to stay at the Booyal property.

In the following weeks, he travelled between Booyal and Brisbane several times, staying also with friends at a Kelvin Grove address in the city.

Mietus later traded in his ute for a motorbike while he was in Moorooka, in Brisbane’s south. The next day, January 19, Mietus was intercepted by police while riding the motorbike in Holland Park, in the city.

“At the time, Marc had a pillion passenger on the motorbike with him. This person is known to police,” Kentwell said.

“Witnesses advised that Marc attended a known address in Brisbane in the early hours of January 26, 2000, quickly packing up his belongings and leaving straight away on his motorcycle.”

At 2.40am on the morning of his disappearance, police spoke to Mietus at a service station near Gympie.

He was travelling alone, and it was the last time police saw him alive.

Mietus was later reported missing to Victoria Police by his father.

In 2005, a coroner found Mietus was dead due to unknown circumstances. Proof of life checks conducted by police had also returned negative.

“Police believe that Marc was involved in the use and production of drugs at the time of his disappearance,” Kentwell said.

Police are calling for anyone with information that could lead to the conviction of the person or people responsible for Mietus’ death to come forward.

Part of the appeal focuses on Mietus’ call at the Booyal Roadhouse and the tan-coloured Ford. Indemnity from prosecution is also available for any accomplice who did not commit the crime.

“There must be someone out there that knows something about this case,” Mietus’ father said.