Open-cut excavation of the abandoned mineshaft near Avoca proceeds where Daryl Floyd believes his brother's body was dumped 25 years ago.
FORMER Homicide Squad detective Charlie Bezzina knows all about the pain of families who don’t know what happened to a lost loved one.
During his 17 years on the squad, Mr Bezzina investigated more than 300 suspicious deaths, 150 high profile murders and several baffling disappearances, including Sarah McDiarmid, who vanished from Kananook Railway Station in 1990.
He also investigated the killings of policemen Gary Silk and Rodney Miller, along with Melbourne gangland figure Alphonse Gangitano.
Since he left the police force, Mr Bezzina has become a private investigator. He is also a newspaper columnist and has written a book about his time in the Homicide Squad, The Job - Fighting Crime From The Frontline.
On Friday, November 30, Mr Bezzina will speak at a Ballarat fundraising function to help Daryl Floyd continue the search for his missing brother Terry, despite having played no role in the investigation.
Mr Floyd has been excavating an Avoca mineshaft for two years, searching for the remains of his 12-year-old brother who went missing in June 1975 and was presumably murderered.
“Here’s a family continuing the search for their brother,” Mr Bezzina said.
“I know the angst families go through when there is no body.”
Mr Bezzina said when he was investigating murders he not only wanted to bring the murderer to justice, but also to give the families closure.
The fundraiser will be held at the Mercure Ballarat Hotel and Convention Centre in Main Road.
The master of ceremony will be award-winning journalist and crime writer Keith Moor.
Tickets are available at Regent Cinemas Ballarat or Noonan and Sutherland Lawyers in Maryborough.
For information, contact Daryl Floyd on 0402 125 551.
