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Plea for info on missing prospector

Relatives of a missing prospector whose husband’s body was found at the bottom of a northern Goldfields mine shaft are desperate for authorities to resume a search for her.

Mystery surrounds the fate of Jennie Kehlet after her husband Raymond was found dead on April 8 during a search for the Beverley couple about 30km south of Sandstone, days after authorities found their campsite abandoned.

Police today refused to say how Mr Kehlet died or whether tests had determined exactly when he died.

Det-Supt Anthony Lee said police had not found any evidence of criminality in his death but inquiries were ongoing.


Police believe Mrs Kehlet had prospecting equipment with her.
Police believe Mrs Kehlet had prospecting equipment with her.

Police believe Mrs Kehlet had prospecting equipment with her.

Police believe Mrs Kehlet had prospecting equipment - including a metal detector, GPS device, ropes and chains – with her before she and her husband vanished and none of the items were found during an extensive air and land search surrounding their camp.

Det-Supt Lee said the gear was quite heavy and he believed Mrs Kehlet would have discarded some of it if she had been wandering disoriented.

He urged anyone who had been in the area in the past weeks to call police if they had found any similar items.

No prospecting equipment was found with Mr Kehlet’s body.

Relatives of the couple have added to police pleas for information and said they hoped authorities would resume a land search for Mrs Kehlet.

“You can come up with 1001 scenarios and really, we’re probably never going to have an answer until we find Jennie,” Mr Kehlet’s brother Malcolm said.

Prospecting equipment
Prospecting equipment

Prospecting equipment

He said the couple had been happily married for eight years and were inseparable.

Mrs Kehlet’s son Darcy said he was still hoping for a good outcome with his mum but there were too many unanswered questions.

“We’ve had devastating news with Ray and that’s hard to deal with but unfortunately the unknown with mum as well, it’s just adding to this,” he said.

The Kehlets were last seen by a friend on March 22 at an area known as Table Top. But a search was not launched until March 31 after their loyal dark coloured Great Dane dog wandered into Sandstone Caravan Park and inquiries led Shire authorities to the couple’s abandoned campsite.

Mr Kehlet’s remains were found at the bottom of a 12m-deep mine shaft about 1.8km from the couple’s camp.

Det-Supt Lee there were more than 140 mine shafts in the search area and it was a place where people could easily become lost because there were few landmarks.

Police want to speak to anyone who was around Sandstone between March 18 and March 31 or had found abandoned prospecting equipment.