I tried to reassure her but instinctively, I knew something was wrong.

Stephenie (right) says she and her brother Rigby (left) were close. Source: Supplied

I called Rigby immediately, expecting our usual brief chat. When he didn’t answer, I called again and again, each attempt meeting with silence and filling me with a growing panic.

I recall the officer told me that as a 53-year-old adult, Rigby had the right to go missing if he wanted to.

This wasn’t like him and I felt they didn’t seem to care.

Days, weeks and months

Weeks later, I tried the police again but the officer I’d spoken to had gone on leave, and left no notes on file. I had to explain the case again to another officer and was assured they would follow up and check his phone and bank transactions.

A system that wasn’t built for urgency or for families clinging to hope.

‘A dismal sense of resignation’

Frustratingly, they told me that the CCTV footage from Perth Station, the last place Rigby was seen, was now unretrievable. 

Rigby’s family still don’t know what happened to him on the day he disappeared in 2015. Source: Supplied

Come November of that year, I felt a dismal sense of resignation.

But nothing of interest was found — another dead end. 

‘I can’t stop searching’

I live with a haunting understanding of the indifference of our systems to personal loss.

Stephenie refuses to give up her quest for answers around her brother Rigby’s disappearance. Source: Supplied

For me, Rigby’s disappearance has become a symbol of everything broken in the systems meant to protect us.