Air Force veteran Vincent vanished 50 years ago. Finally the truth about his disappearance – and his wife’s sordid affair – can be revealed
An air force veteran and ex-police officer who disappeared without a trace more than fifty years ago was likely shot dead by his wife’s lover.
Vincent Edward Down, 43, was last seen at his home in the small Tasmanian coastal town of Bridport on August 7, 1969.
Mr Down was reported missing by his wife Doreen in the early hours of the following morning, prompting a search and investigation.
Police at the time interviewed the couple’s then-25-year-old neighbor, Alvin Feuerhammer, but the overall investigation “stalled” without a body being found.
In findings published on Thursday, coroner Simon Cooper ruled that Mr Feuerhammer most likely shot Mr Down and then disposed of his body in his ute.
Mr Feuerhammer died by suicide in Queensland in 1994 after killing his wife with a .22 rifle.
Mr Down’s disappearance was reported to the coroner in 2020, prompting an inquest which held a public hearing in February.
Vincent Edward Down, 43, was last seen at his home in the small Tasmanian coastal town of Bridport (pictured) on August 7, 1969
The initial police investigation had a ‘sharpened’ focus on Mr Feuerhammer after it became clear he may have been the last person to see Mr Down alive.
Officers also discovered that Mr Feuerhammer was having an affair with Mrs Down, something she ended not long before her husband’s disappearance.
Mr Cooper said Ms Down had told police ‘something to the effect that he would cause her as much pain as she had caused him’.
Mr Cooper described Mr Feuerhammer’s accounts to police as inconsistent.
Mr. Feuerhammer told investigators that he invited Mr. Down to his home on the night of August 7, 1969, to repair a TV stand, which he said had a bullet hole as a result of an earlier accident.
He said Mr Down, who was a truck driver in the Royal Australian Air Force in Japan after the Second World War, left without repairing the cupboard.
Before a formal interview with police on August 18, Mr Feuerhammer visited an officer’s home and said: ‘I have been thinking about (Mr) Down and maybe I did something to him’.
He also said: ‘I keep thinking I washed out the back of the car that night (Mr) Down went missing… but I don’t know if it actually happened.’
Mr Cooper said Mr Feuerhammer’s comments were not raised during the formal interview and it was unclear whether the interviewing detectives were aware of them.
“(He) made a number of statements… which must have raised suspicion then, and certainly now, that he was responsible for Mr Down’s disappearance,” Mr Cooper said.
Mr Feuerhammer’s usually muddy ute was found ‘remarkably clean’ the day after Mr Down’s disappearance.
A witness said at around 9.30pm on August 7 he saw Mr Feuerhammer driving between Scottsdale and Bridport with the bin lid in place.
Mr Feuerhammer said he went for a drive at 9pm to get a pack of cigarettes.
Mr Cooper said the police response in 1969 was rapid and comprehensive by the standards of the time and that investigations had revealed no new information or a possible grave location.
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