Police search rural property for missing man

Marc Kristian Mietus was 21 when he moved from Melbourne to Queensland to start a new life in January 2000.

He vanished weeks after arriving and is believed to have been murdered, but a body has never been found.

"Twenty-four years of not knowing anything is really an emotional stretch for a family," Mr Mietus' father Kris said at a media conference on Friday.

"There must be someone out there who knows something."

Police searched a property in Booyal in Queensland's Bundaberg region on Saturday, conducting ground and water searches.

Mr Mietus drove from Melbourne to Queensland in 2000, picking up a hitchhiker in NSW along the way.

The hitchhiker offered Mr Mietus a place to stay in Booyal.

They travelled to the rural town where Mr Mietus lived in a caravan until his disappearance.

A week before Mr Mietus disappeared, he called his dad asking for fuel money while at a Gympie petrol station with an unknown passenger.

It was the last time his family had contact with him.

Mr Mietus was last seen alive at his Booyal residence on January 26, 2000.

Earlier that day, Mr Mietus had been asked to pay his rent and said he would call a friend for money.

He rode his motorbike to a roadhouse and made three calls to a person known to police in Brisbane before returning to his property.

Police believe Mr Mietus was then picked up in a tan Ford sedan with an unknown number of occupants.

He has not been seen since.

Mr Mietus was allegedly involved in the use and production of drugs at the time.

Police are also reinterviewing witnesses.

Detective Senior Sergeant Tara Kentwell said anyone with information should come forward to provide the family with long-awaited answers.

"We do believe with public assistance, irrespective of the passage of time, this crime can be solved and offenders can be brought to justice," she said on Friday.

Australian Associated Press