Inquest into the disappearance and suspected death of Youliang Lin

Case Number: 2020/00084918

Date of Findings: 10 April 2026

Magistrate: Deputy State Coroner, Judge Derek Lee

Catchwords: CORONIAL LAW – whether missing person now deceased, date and place of death, cause and manner of death, Eric Mobbs Reserve, Ted Horwood Reserve, LandSAR Coordinator, community canvassing, CCTV canvassing, media strategy, communication with family of missing person, Family Liaison Officer, community volunteers, Spontaneous Volunteers Manager, decision to cease search

Responses

Recommendations

To the NSW Commissioner of Police:

1. I recommend that, in consultation with the family of Youliang Lin, consideration be given to conducting a further land search operation of the bushland within, and contiguously extending from, Bidjigal Reserve in the immediate vicinity of Eric Mobbs Reserve and Ted Horwood Reserve with the aim of locating Mr Lin’s remains.
2. I recommend that consideration be given to reviewing the Victoria Police Family Liaison Officer Practice Guide and whether the current version of the Missing Persons, Unidentified Bodies & Human Remains Standard Operating Procedures ought to be amended to provide for the availability of a Family Liaison Officer (FLO) in missing person investigations. Such consideration should include the functional role of a FLO in facilitating communication between the NSW Police Force and a missing person’s relatives, and the ways in which a FLO might address the needs of the relatives of a missing person who are from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
3. I recommend that consideration be given to reviewing the Victoria Police Spontaneous Volunteer Practice Guide and whether the current version of the Missing Persons, Unidentified Bodies & Human Remains Standard Operating Procedures ought to be amended to provide for the availability of a Spontaneous Volunteers Manager (SVM) in missing person investigations. Such consideration should include the functional role of a SVM in safely and effectively managing spontaneous community volunteers to ensure efficiency and search effort cohesion in a missing person investigation.
4. I recommend that consideration be given to amending the current Missing Persons, Unidentified Bodies & Human Remains Standard Operating Procedures to provide that the family of missing person must be given at least 24 hours’ notice before the search for a missing person is suspended or terminated, unless such notification is likely to jeopardise the missing person investigation or disclose confidential information.