For third time, volunteers find missing person after police pause search - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Volunteer Alex Smith (centre) pictured during the volunteer search for missing backpacker Celine Cremer near Waratah, Tasmania. (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

A team of volunteers has found what are believed to be the remains of missing George Town man Michael Vrankovic, the third successful result in a year.

The group, Find Our Lost Loved Ones (FOLLO), says its methodical, grid-based approach helped deliver results. 

Tasmania Police say the public can "absolutely" have confidence in its ability to execute searches.

For the third time this year, it appears a person missing in Tasmania has been found not by police, but by a team of volunteers.

Michael Vrankovic was last seen on January 13 and reported missing to police eight days later.

Police and the State Emergency Service searched extensively for him around George Town over six weeks, including conducting foot, motorbike and helicopter searches around the coastline, bushland and mountains.

On Friday, a volunteer search team member found what are believed to be human remains on a bush block on the outskirts of George Town.

The private search crew had planned to spend three days looking for Mr Vrankovic.

They found the remains just a few hours into their effort.

The group found the human remains on its first day of a planned three-day search, in an area that had been burned off since he disappeared. (ABC News: Georgia Hogge)

The volunteers were from Find Our Lost Loved Ones, known as FOLLO, which was set up after the successful search for missing Belgian tourist Celine Cremer.

Ms Cremer had disappeared while hiking near Philosopher Falls, in the state's north-west, in 2023.

Missing Tasmanian man Michael Vrankovic, who went missing from George Town on Jan 10th, 2026. (Supplied: www.missingpersons.gov.au)

After Tasmania Police's 10-day search for Ms Cremer ended, her family engaged IFW Global private investigator Ken Gamble.

He recruited a team of volunteers, including some of Ms Cremer's Belgian friends, to recommence the search.

The team found Ms Cremer's phone — leading the police to join the search.

During a later solo search in January, one of the volunteers found human remains.

In May, FOLLO volunteers found human remains during the search for missing Scottsdale man Peter Willoughby, who had not been seen since October last year.

Ken Gamble lifts up a phone, which would later be confirmed as belonging to Celine Cremer. (Australian Story: Morgan Timms)

In a statement on social media, Mr Vrankovic's family expressed their "heartfelt gratitude" to those who searched for him.

"To the police, the SES, the wonderful townspeople, and the volunteers from FOLLO — words cannot fully capture what your collective efforts mean to us," the family said.

"As we now know, remains that we think are Michael were found closer to his home in the surrounding areas, likely as he was returning from his walk, but every single bit of ground covered by everyone involved was a vital part of the effort to bring him back to us."

FOLLO chose to take on Mr Vrankovic's case because it was recent, had good access and covered a relatively contained area.

FOLLO secretary Alex Smith said the group had been working with Tasmania Police since Ms Cremer's case.

Alex Smith is one of the founding members of FOLLO. (ABC News: Emily Smith)

"They have been extraordinarily supportive," he said.

"It's been a really good relationship; we've explained things, asked questions, they've helped us out."

Mr Smith said collaboration and communication were crucial to getting results.

"This time around was the most sharing out of any of the searches we've done; almost every couple of days we've been contacting them for the last three months," he said.

Mr Smith said if the group had been involved in the initial search, it would have done exactly what the police did at the time.

"It's a different type of search for a different time," he said.

Mr Smith said police and the volunteers had searched hundreds of kilometres.

"It was only towards the very end that we were like, 'we need to make some adjustments here, let's look in a slightly different spot," he said.

Jon Edmunds (right) with Tony Hage during the search for Celine Cremer. (ABC News: Emily Smith)

FOLLO president Jon Edmunds said the group took months to prepare for its searches, while police were operating in the immediate aftermath of a disappearance.

"We take up these cases and spend a lot of months doing recon missions and really understanding the area. We've been planning this one since April," he said.

Volunteers searching for missing man Peter Willoughby in May, 2026. (Supplied: Rob Parsons)

Put simply: slowly and methodically.

Understanding of the terrain is key to their approach; they divide the search area into measured grids and walk in lines, recording their coverage live in the field.

The search for Mr Vrankovic took them from crawling through dense bushland to open areas.

The area had been burnt off since his disappearance.

Michael Vrankovic, seen with his younger sister Sue Ngan Wu, in a supplied image. (Supplied)

FOLLO had around 60 volunteers, split into five teams for Mr Vrankovic's search, its largest contingent so far.

The group takes registrations for volunteers, then selects the most suitable for the search based on the roles needed and conditions involved.

"There are people that just love the outdoors and bush walking, we've got nurses and paramedics and horse riders and all sorts of people," Mr Edmunds said.

Most volunteers act as line searchers, walking steadily in a line with their eyes on the ground and remaining evenly spaced.

Mr Smith said they were driven by the hope of providing answers to families.

Tasmania Police Inspector Melanie Groves said police would work collaboratively with anyone trying to find a missing person.

"We want to give answers to the family, and we want to, more importantly, give closure to the family," she said.

"We all have the same common purpose, and that is to assist the family in these times."

Detective Inspector Melanie Groves. (ABC News: Monte Bovill)

Inspector Groves said the public could "absolutely" have confidence in the ability of police to execute searches.

"We don't put a money value on looking for someone," she said.

"We will continue to search for someone as long as we can and with as much information that's coming to hand for us to actually act on to search for that person."

In her findings on Ms Cremer's death, coroner Madeleine Wilson recommended Tasmania Police review the use of private search groups in missing person investigations and develop protocols.

Yesterday, a spokesperson for Tasmania Police said it had been working with volunteer search groups to progress that work.

"While the protocols are still being finalised, the review has informed current practice around engagement and information sharing with volunteer search groups such as FOLLO," they said.

The confirmation of the discovery of her remains gave comfort to the family of Celine Cremer, which had followed the search from afar. (Supplied)

FOLLO already has more cases to chase.

"I've got about a dozen," Mr Smith said.

"I've already started maps for the next three people, we've got 270 volunteers now across Australia.

"We want to come up with strategies, come up with software, come up with hardware, all the things to make it work."