The final moments before Zac Erin Barnes vanished into bushland have been laid bare by the two mates he was with when he fled from their car nearly seven years ago.
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The 18-year-old teenager from Metford in NSW hadn't been his usual bubbly self in the days before he disappeared in November 2016, his friend Matt Hindwood told the inquest into Zac's suspected death on Tuesday.
Mr Hindwood had spent Friday and Saturday nights with Zac, before watching him walk off down a road in Thornton on the fateful evening of Sunday, November 13, 2016.
It would be the last time he was seen in more than six years.
"I could just tell, he wasn't his laughing character he normally was," Mr Hindwood told the NSW Coroners Court in Sydney on the second day of the three-day inquest.
"He definitely wasn't himself."
Mr Hindwood detailed how he and his partner Courtney Jones spent much of that weekend at their East Maitland home with Zac and another friend.
"[We] drank, watched movies ... I think we even played Monopoly," he said.
He gave evidence about Zac's drug use that weekend.
The quiet Sunday evening at home escalated when Zac became agitated and asked to be driven to the train station.
Mr Hindwood said he, Zac and Ms Jones got in the car and picked up cigarettes from the Maitland IGA before heading towards the Thornton train station.
Mr Hindwood said Zac started shaking the front seat and screaming "let me out" from where he was in the back.
The car pulled over at the intersection of Tripp Close and Haussman Drive in Thornton, the court heard.
Mr Hindwood said they had a smoke on the side of the road and Zac had calmed down by the time he walked off the same way they had driven.
Counsel assisting the coroner Tim Hammond asked if Mr Hindwood was concerned.
"No, because he'd given me a hug ... he'd calmed down a lot and he said he'd see me tomorrow," Mr Hindwood replied.
Mr Hindwood claims he lost sight of Zac when he walked between a parked truck and bushland before 8pm on November 13, 2016.
Mr Hindwood said Ms Jones turned the car around and they looked for Zac in the area, but couldn't find him.
They also searched the Thornton train station and nearby shops with a friend, Mr Hindwood said.
By the next morning, Zac's mother had reported him missing to police.
"You know Zac's family is desperate to find out what happened," Mr Hammond told him.
"That's all the details I can give, that's all I know," Mr Hindwood replied at the end of his evidence.
Ms Jones also gave evidence at the inquest in Lidcombe on Tuesday, and said her heart broke for Zac's family.
Ms Jones said Zac had been "a little bit antsy" on the Saturday before he disappeared.
Ms Jones told the court that when she pulled the car over on November 13, 2016, Zac had almost immediately walked off quickly.
Two others who had seen Zac the weekend he went missing also gave evidence at the inquest on Tuesday that Zac had not seemed his normal self.
The inquest is expected to shed light on the enduring mystery by examining Zac's movements on the day he vanished, his behaviour, what had been going on in his life, and how the police response played out.
The years-long police investigation has included police dogs and divers, CCTV, PolAir, and a coordinated multi-agency search eight days after Zac, an apprentice bricklayer, disappeared.
Strike force detectives pursued lines of inquiry, while Zac's family and friends scoured bushland.
The inquest will continue before deputy state coroner Carmel Forbes on Wednesday.
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Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald. Email: afalkenmire@austcommunitymedia.com.au
