A DISTRAUGHT family has made an impassioned plea for information on the whereabouts of missing Ballarat man Jason Richards.Mr Richards is believed to have left Darwin on Monday, June 20 travelling through South Australia on his way home to Ballarat.He was driving a navy blue 1991 Toyota Hilux ute with a metal dog cage on the back, registration ODV 747.Mr Richards was also towing a trailer loaded with an aluminium boat, which was found abandoned and slightly burnt, just off the Stuart Highway at Pimba in South Australia.He also has a pointer-cross dog with him named Amy, who is white with brown spots.His mother Yvonne said the whole family was praying for the safe return of the father-of-two.“It’s just not knowing that’s the hardest,” she said.“His partner is just devastated — we haven’t told the kids yet.”Mrs Richards raised the alarm when she hadn’t heard from her son, who regularly calls home.“It’s not like him ... if he can’t use his phone he’ll reverse charges to me from a phone box or something.”Mr Richards has a daughter, 5, and a son, 3, waiting for their dad to get back from the Northern Territory, where he had worked for the past three months.He and his son share the same birthday, which was just two weeks ago.“That’s why he was coming back down — his birthday party was supposed to be on Saturday,” older brother David said. “We’re not even 18 months apart and we’re best friends.”“The last thing he said to me was ‘I’ll see you in a few days’, then we told each other we loved each other and that was it.”Mrs Richards said the family was incredibly grateful for the support they have received since Jason went missing.A Facebook group set up to find the missing Ballarat man has so far received more that 1600 “likes”.“I just want to thank everybody so much, we’re just overwhelmed with the support we’ve got,” Mrs Richards said.“Even people we haven’t heard from in years, they’ve all got in touch with us.”Police and SES personnel have conducted an extensive air and ground search of the area where the boat was found but have not been able to locate Mr Richards, his dog or the Hilux ute.Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Jason Richards, or who may have sighted the dog or ute can call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Roxby Downs police on (08) 8671 4200.