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It was a question posed by Northern Territory police seven years ago, that's never found a definitive answer – what happened to Richard Roe?
The mystery as to why the former Darwin rugby player and unemployed concreter vanished without a trace has eluded detectives since 2016, and left a large family traumatised.
For the first time since his car was found abandoned on the side of the Stuart Highway in November, 2016, an inquest into the case is being held, opening on Tuesday in Darwin Local Court.
Mr Roe was last seen near the turn-off to the scenic rural holiday spot of Lake Bennett, south of Darwin, in November 2016, trying to find petrol to fix his broken-down car.
He vanished and was never seen again.
NT police detectives have long voiced the strong possibility that Mr Roe was murdered because of his known links to the drug trade, although other hypotheses have also been raised.
In her opening statement, counsel assisting the coroner Sally Ozolins detailed Mr Roe's "descent into significant drug use and dependency" before going missing, when he was regularly shooting up methamphetamine, or ice.
"Richard's family were aware that in the latter part of his life, things were spiralling out of control," Ms Ozolins said.
"His family loved him, and notwithstanding and despite of his troubles, they knew him to be a beautiful person … who remained very close to his parents, very respectful to his family."
His family believes that Mr Roe is dead, but continues to search for answers.
Mr Roe's first cousin Theresa Roe gave a statement on behalf of the family, which paid tribute to him as a loving son and father, as well as a popular sportsman and student in earlier life.
"Richard absolutely loved his children, and they were the number one priority in his life," Ms Roe said.
"They miss him dearly."
Mr Roe's bank and Centrelink accounts have never been touched since his disappearance.
Drugs debts owed, former dealers questioned
The inquest on Tuesday heard Mr Roe had owed a drug debt up to $15,000 and was using heavily at the time of his disappearance.
Two former rural area meth-dealing associates of Mr Roe gave evidence under oath.
Both were asked whether they had a hand in his disappearance.
The court heard how Filipino-born former meth dealer Jeffrey "Kenny" Drennan would have ice "sessions" with Mr Roe, but Mr Drennan denied the missing man worked as a dealer and debt collector for him, in exchange for drugs and money.
The former dealer was repeatedly asked if he had made threatening comments about Mr Roe in the past.
Ms Ozolins: Did you ever have a conversation with someone about Richard debt-collecting on your behalf, and you saying, 'don't worry, he's gonna get it'. Did you ever say that to anyone about Richard?
Mr Drennan: No, no.
He was also asked about the reasons behind his response to police officers when initially asked about Mr Roe's disappearance.
Ms Ozolins: One of the questions that the police officer directly asked you was 'did you kill Richard Roe?' – your response was 'I don't think so'. It sounds like an unsure response.
Mr Drennan: It's probably my English is not that good – when I say 'I don't think so' [it means] 'no way'.
Ms Ozolins: Do you know what happened to Richard Roe?
Mr Drennan: No.
A second former rural area drug dealer, Wayne Purtell, was also questioned over the disappearance, and about the reasons he ended up with Mr Roe's phone after the man was declared missing.
Mr Purtell said Mr Roe had left the phone at his property accidentally but had never returned to retrieve it.
Once Mr Roe had been declared missing, he said that he and his partner destroyed the phone and disposed of it in a creek out of fear it would wrongly incriminate them.
At the end of his questioning, Mr Purtell was also quizzed about whether he had killed Mr Roe — an accusation he vehemently denied.
Ms Ozolins: This inquest has received some evidence that you had a fight and in fact Richard Roe could be buried at your property?
Mr Purtell: No, no.
Ms Ozolins: You think that's just rumour?
Mr Purtell: That's rumour, that's definitely rumour… people are talking s**t.
Former partner involved in liquid meth drop
The inquest also heard from Mr Roe's former partner, Margaret Hewitt, with whom he had a tumultuous, occasionally violent relationship, centred around ice use.
When questioned by Ms Ozolins, Ms Hewitt detailed how she had once helped Mr Roe hide a vial of liquid meth in a bag behind an ant hill in a bush area near Lake Bennett.
Ms Hewitt later revealed under questioning that after Mr Roe disappeared, she went back to the site and retrieved the drugs with another user.
She said she never received any money from the possible sale of those drugs.
Roe often went out on aimless drives, ran out of petrol
Another hypothesis raised during the inquest was that Mr Roe had not been murdered, but had become disoriented and wandered into bushland where he died.
Ms Hewitt told the inquest that Mr Roe would often go on seemingly aimless drives through the back roads of the vast and remote Darwin rural area, sometimes running out of petrol.
"He'd just say, 'we gotta get out, we'll have to start walking, we'll have to walk in the bushes', he didn't want to get seen on the road," Ms Hewitt said.
The inquest continues on Wednesday, and is expected to run for four days.