On the night of Monday, April 6, 1987, Rodney Galvin left his parents' home on Rice Street in Ballarat.

He was not reported missing at the time and his family believed he had simply left, but he has not been seen or heard from since.

Rodney, a keen sportsman and member of numerous sporting clubs - the Ballarat East Football Club, Golden Point Football Club, Miners Ice Hockey Club, Millbrook/Black Hill Cricket Club and Lucas Cricket Club - was only 21 at the time of his disappearance.

In 1995, police received anonymous information from the community about his disappearance.

This person made it clear that foul play was involved and that there were people in the community with information about what happened to Rodney and the reasons why, police said.

Since that time, police have made a number of enquiries in an effort to solve the case, however they have never been unable to locate any trace of him.

Investigators have been unable to establish Rodney's final movements during the evening of April 6, 1987 and the events that led to his suspected death.

While police do not believe Rodney is still alive, they are still hopeful of finding out what happened to him and providing his family with answers after more than three decades.

Detective Acting Inspector Tony Combridge, from the Missing Persons Squad, said that while it had been well over three decades, police still believed there were people out there who could help solve the mystery.

"When he walked out the door that night, his family would never have known it would be the last time they would see him.

"Sadly, they have lived all this time without answers as to what has happened to Rodney.

"Investigators strongly believe that there are still people out there who know what happened to Rodney, why and who was responsible.

"It is our belief that he met with foul play, but we are really calling on those people with any knowledge of the matter to come forward and help us fill in the gaps."

He said detectives had spoken to numerous people as part of the investigation, including some who "cannot be ruled out as being involved in Rodney's likely death".

"Circumstances change; people may move in different circles, have new friends or partners and information they may not have felt comfortable providing 35 years ago, they can now speak more freely to police about.

"It doesn't matter how insignificant you think the piece of information is, it could be exactly what our investigators need to make a breakthrough in this case."

Police have released two images of Rodney in the hope someone recognises him and can provide further information about his current whereabouts or what has happened to him.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at crimestoppersvic.com.au.

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