Matthew Leveson’s parents searched tirelessly for their son. They armed themselves with shovels and spent hours scouring bushland, lobbied for a $250,000 reward in the case and came face to face with the man once charged with killing him.
All of it had been in pursuit of finding “Matty” — and now, more than a decade after his disappearance, the 20-year-old will finally be laid to rest.
Taking to Twitter, Matt’s father Mark announced that a funeral will be held at Woronora Chapels at Linden Street, Sutherland on Friday, March 9th, 2018.
“Matty’s funeral service is now arranged. Wow, after all this time, we can give him the service he deserves,” he wrote.
“At the families request, please wear bright colours or a splash of Matty’s favourite colour; purple, thank you.”
Matthew was last seen leaving a Sydney nightclub in the early hours of September 23, 2007. He was accompanied by his then 40-year-old partner, Michael Atkins.
Ten hours later, Atkins was captured on CCTV buying a garden mattock and gaffer tape, but when questioned by police he denied being there.
Later that week Matthew’s car was found at Waratah Oval in Sutherland. Inside, police found a Bunnings receipt for a garden mattock and gaffer tape — Atkins’ fingerprints were all over it.
He was charged with murder in 2008 but acquitted in 2009.
Matt was last seen leaving a Sydney nightclub in the early hours of September 23, 2007.
Matthew’s remains were found beneath a cabbage-tree palm in the Royal National Park on May 31, 2017.
His family took to Facebook to confirm the news and post a heartfelt thank you for the unwavering support from family, friends and those across Australia that helped them continue their search.
“It has now been CONFIRMED by DNA testing that the remains found WERE OF OUR BELOVED MATTY,” they wrote.
Mark and Faye Leveson have since taken the palm tree home to plant in their backyard.
“It’s in a spot where we think it should be OK,” Mr Leveson said.
Mark has previously revealed how close the police came to not moving the vital palm tree in their search.
“[They were] probably about 45 minutes from finishing and walking away, again without finding Matt, when the police officer in charge of the area that was being investigated asked the backhoe driver to remove a small palm,” he said.
“They did that and I actually remarked to my wife ‘that’d be a nice palm for home’ just jokingly and within moments they put the palm down and that detective called over [Detective] Gary Jubelin.”
“Then Gary came across to us and said ‘we’ve got him, we’ve found Matt’ and it was just because they had moved that palm.”
“We’d literally had walked past this palm many times, literally one metre from Matt.”
WATCH: Matt’s parents take aim at Michael Atkins, who was acquitted in 2009 of their son’s murder. Post continues…
Despite finally discovering the remains after ten long years, Mr Leveson said it had not brought closure for the family.
“We’re looking for justice, for resolution but not closure,” he said.
And for the jury who acquitted the man that led the police to Matthew’s bones, Mr Leveson had just one question: “What the hell are you thinking?”
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