A year has passed since Dalmeny man Ray Speechley went missing on the Princes Highway after leaving the nearby IRT aged care facility.
Mr Speechley was suffering from Alzheimer's disease but had been placed in respite care temporarily while his wife Jan took a break.
Even though there have been no new leads as to his whereabouts, his wife Jan and family have not given up hope.
“We will never stop looking for him and never stop loving him,” said Mrs Speechley, who has now moved to Wollongong to be closer to other family members.
Wollongong is also where the family suspect Ray may have been trying to go once he got out of the aged care facility, as they used to live there and he often mentioned it.
No-one has come forward in relation to the red or maroon car, possibly a Honda Accord, seen stopped on the highway where Mr Speechley was last seen on July 7, 2016.
A memorial cross, built by the Narooma Men's Shed, has been erected on the highway near the spot.
Mr Speechley’s daughter, Nikii Smith, also continues to do everything she can from her home at Musswelbrook, including running the Help Find Ray Speechley Facebook page.
Ms Smith is also working with the new Sydney Search Dogs group, which is training a human remains search dog named Rufus.
Rufus and his handlers came down to the Narooma area on the June long weekend and did a preliminary search of bushland west of the Princes Highway, where Ray was last seen.
“It’s like looking for a needle in 10,000 haystacks but we’ve got to keep going,” she said.
The dog is still in training and would be back to do a more thorough search in upcoming months, she said.
Ms Smith organised her own volunteer searches in October and again in December, involving up to 20 volunteers, and plans to do more searches in the coming year – with or without Rufus.
“It’s a Catch 22 situation because the police won’t organise another search until there is a new lead, but we won’t get any new leads unless we do a search,” she said.
