Terry Floyd was born on February 22, 1963.

He lived in Avoca Road, Maryborough, with his siblings Jenny, Ray, Daryl, Debbie and Sheryle.

The son of Dorothy and Ken, he attended the Maryborough Technical School.

His family described the skinny boy as cheeky and not a fan of school.

Terry played football for the Maryborough Rovers Football Club.

Like any typical Saturday, he played football in the morning.

On Friday, June 27, he and his brother had stayed with his grandparents who lived next door.

Terry and Daryl had shared a double bed that night.

He woke up early and walked to Jubilee Oval, stopping at the milk bar on the way.

Mr Floyd was meant to go to the football with his brother, but Terry had got up early and headed off.

“The last time I saw Terry was 7.30am,” Mr Floyd said.

It was after the under-15s match that this typical Saturday started changing.

“Normally what would happen, parents and people involved with the club would take all the juniors over to where the seniors were playing,” Mr Floyd said.

“On that day, the seniors were at Harcourt but Terry never went.

“At 5.30pm, we were expecting Terry to be home for tea.

“I can vividly remember sitting on the floor in the lounge and Dad was in the corner looking through the curtains waiting for a car to pull up.

“I was a scared kid. I knew something was wrong. Around 7.30pm Dad started to panic.

‘‘Terry had a mate, Chris, and Mum and Dad got me to go with them to show them where he lived.

“Chris was not home either and they assumed they were together. But come 9pm there was still no Terry. Dad went back to Chris’ place and at that stage he was home and he said had not been with Terry, and Terry had not been at the footy.

“After that the missing person report was made to the police.”

The investigation found Terry had spent the afternoon at his friend Greg Jess’ place at Avoca.

Police reports suggest a man picked up a boy matching Terry’s description as he walked away from the football oval.

The man gave him a lift just a few kilometres and dropped him off before driving off in a different direction.

The investigation found Terry told a friend between 11.30am and noon that his “Unc” was going to give him a lift to Avoca.

Terry arrived at the Jesses’ house about 1.30pm.

In her statement to police, Mrs Jess said the boys played Monopoly in the afternoon.

About 4.30pm, Greg walked Terry to the Sunraysia and Pyrenees highways.

Mrs Jess sent her son to check up on Terry about 15 minutes later.

The 12-year-old was 400 metres up the road leaning against a white post waiting for the Unc to drive him home.

In a statement to police, an Avoca woman told officers she saw a young boy standing on the side of the road as she got ready for work at 4.55pm.

About three minutes later, she witnessed a fawn panel van or ute with a canopy stop beside the boy.

The next time she looked up, the vehicle and the boy were gone.

Another witness told police he saw a young boy standing near a fawn vehicle on the side of the Pyrenees Highway about 5.15pm.

Police and the Floyd family believe this was the final sighting of Terry.

The man had earlier spotted the same boy in Avoca about 4.30pm.

He drove into the bush and on his way out, about 5.30pm, he saw the same fawn vehicle but no boy.

Another witness is rumoured to have told police she had seen a fawn-coloured panel van cross the road and turn into the forest on the Avoca side of Bet Bet Creek, about two kilometres from the mine.

The witness is said to have later withdrawn her statement.

Mr Floyd said he believed his brother would have told potential predators “where to go”.

He believes his brother “has lost his life in the bush” in the immediate hours after the final sightings.