Volunteers search bushland near Metford for missing teen Zac Barnes

Metford teenager Zac Barnes disappeared nearly two months ago when he left a friend’s car in a distressed state.

The 18-year-old has not been seen since – his social media accounts remain inactive, and he had no phone or wallet the night he left.

On Sunday, his worried mother Karen Gudelj, and step-father Mick Gudelj, led a group of more than 50 concerned friends and relatives to search an area surrounding the Metford railway station. This search, like another police and SES-led search at Thornton last November, did not find Zac.

But Ms Gudelj felt it was something she needed to do.

“Our reasoning for the search is if Zac was trying to find his way home, it would have been in the dark, and logic would have taken him to the railway track,” she said.

“He would have tried to make his way to light.”

Ms Gudelj said the “very spontaneous” way Zac went missing, deciding to leave a friend’s East Maitland home to catch a train at Thornton, later leaving the car in panic, does not lead her to believe he left to start a new life.

She said her son would have had ample opportunity to return home for his belongings without being noticed. “Why wouldn’t he come home to get his wallet? Why wouldn’t he come home for any of his things if he wanted to leave town?” Ms Gudelj said.

Participants in Sunday’s search party walked in a line, combing through swamp and bushland for any sign of Zac.

Ms Gudelj said finding her son on Sunday would have in no way been good news, but “at least we could cherish his life”.

“It would be devastating for us,” she said. “But right now we’re in limbo, we’re in a void.

“We don’t know what happened to our son – does he need our help? Is he OK?

“We don’t know – and that hurts us the most.”

Ms Gudelj did not tell Zac’s friends of Sunday’s search out of fear they would find his remains. “We didn’t want him to be remembered like that,” she said.

Ms Gudelj, who is hopeful of another police and SES search in the future, again appealed for her missing son to call home.

“If Zac’s out there, we just want to know if he’s OK. If he needs to live somewhere else – that’s OK,” she said.

“Just ring home if you can. If you can’t ring home, just hang on and keep fighting and we will find you.”

Zac can be identified by a tattoo of a VB logo on his right calf. Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact Maitland police on 4934 0200 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.