40 year outback cold case WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR BOYS?

INSIDE THE TRAGIC TALE OF THE TEEN JACKAROOS

- Emma Levett

What was meant to be a great outback adventure for two teenage boys ended in tragedy after they disappeared in WA's Great Sandy Desert in the late 1980s. Four decades on, the families of Simon Amos and James Annetts still have questions about what really happened on that fateful day of December 1, 1986.

The pair were finally discovered months later. Seventeen-year-old Simon was found, stripped, with a rifle wound to the head, while James, 16, lay 19 kilometres north of their abandoned ute.

A crude SOS sign made of tools and sticks pointing in the direction of their bodies was also located. Next to James' body was his water cooler, which had a note to his family written on the lid. The misspelt message read: “James, My Follt. I allways love you Mum and Dad, Jason, Michelle, Joanne. I found peece.”

A coroner later ruled that Simon died from a rifle shot to the head and James from dehydration. James' father, Les Annetts, said he now believes they were victims of foul play.