The family of Nicola "Nick" Sallese has been living through what it describes as a nightmare ever since the devoted father and proud grandfather disappeared without a trace on November 17, 2008.
Despite searching more than 500 bodies of water across Tasmania, there has not been any sign of the 69-year-old or the silver 2006 Toyota Camry he was driving on the day he went missing in Sheffield, a town in the state's north.
Around the time of his disappearance, Mr Sallese had just been diagnosed with dementia.
"I owe it to Dad to find him because if I went missing he would drop everything to search for me," his son Jason Sallese said.
"As a son, I just want to find my dad."
Since early 2021, Jason Sallese has used the services of "Diver Dan" from Downunder Dan Diving, who is affiliated with the American YouTube channel Adventures With Purpose, a group which helps families of missing people by searching waterways.
Using new sonar technology, Jason Sallese, Dan and, on occasion, Adventures with Purpose diver Bill McIntosh, have been systematically searching dams, lakes, creeks, rivers and lagoons, following up reported sightings and tips about vehicles submerged in water.
"It has to be at a depth of two and a half metres or more to cover a vehicle," Mr McIntosh said.
Theory 1: Nick went to visit his wife's grave in Launceston
They do not know where Nicola Sallese was driving to on that day in 2008, but have been investigating three likely scenarios — including a visit to his late wife's grave at a cemetery in Launceston.
The eighth anniversary of Jill's death fell in the same week Nicola Sallese went missing.
Jason believes it is possible his father took the Bridle Track Road — a winding, single-carriageway road which cuts through farmland and heavily forested areas — and Bass Highway to get to the Carr Villa Memorial Park, but crashed his car at some point during the journey.
"I'm looking at that as a number one search site, because for the past eight years he spent most of his time going to visit his wife there," Mr McIntosh said.
"We searched every creek and every pond that we could get into, and the only place we didn't search was the Tamar River because it had been looked at before."
Theory 2: He took a short drive from home to play bowls in Sheffield
Another possible scenario is Nicola Sallese attempted to make the five-minute drive from his home along Vinegar Hill Road to play lawn bowls in the centre of Sheffield.
Theory 3: Possible sighting points to 3-hour trip south to visit granddaughter
The third main theory is that Nicola Sallese remembered he was supposed to travel with his son to his granddaughter's first birthday but got the date wrong and attempted the three-hour journey by himself a week earlier.
"A member of the public said they saw a man who had a heavy Italian accent at the Southport Boat ramp on the day of Mr Sallese's disappearance," Mr McIntosh said.
"The person mentioned [the man] was driving a Toyota Camry and asked for directions to Seven Mile Beach, so both of those things made it a credible lead."
The reported sighting led to a thorough search of the area, which included the Southport boat ramp, Esperance River near Dover, the Franklin boat ramp and waterways around Huonville.
While the team is yet to find Nicola Sallese's silver Camry, it has located a number of other cars — including a submerged Ford Fairlane in the River Derwent at New Norfolk, with the remains of 61-year-old Dale Nicholson inside.
Mr Nicholson had been missing since 2016.
In a YouTube video from last year, Dan dives on a "target" and resurfaces to tell Jason the car is silver, but appears to be a Nissan Pulsar or a Hyundai Excel.
"Someone has tagged it with spray paint and pushed it in the river on purpose, but it's not your dad's car, sorry," he says.
Another search from 2021 had a similar result, with Dan emerging from a river with a number plate, only to announce to Jason Sallese — watching and filming from a boat — that the submerged vehicle was "not your dad's car, mate".
Mr Sallese finances the searches for his father through crowdfunding, raffles and other means. And while the cost has been considerable, the emotional toll has not gone unnoticed by others.
Bill McIntosh, a US diver, says it appears on the day he went missing, Nicola Sallese may have been trying find Jason in order to get to his granddaughter's birthday.
""[Jason] was told his father was looking for him … it's a sad story," he said.
"Since 2008, I don't think there would be too many times where I wasn't thinking about my dad, what I had to do or what I wanted to do to find him," Jason Sallese said.
The Adventures with Purpose (AWP) team has helped solve several US cold cases, including that of Samantha Hopper, who vanished in 1998.
In 2021, AWP divers carried out searches in areas where it was possible for a car to run off the road and go into a body of water, later identifying a blue Ford Tempo with the remains of Ms Hopper, her daughter Courtney, and Ms Hopper's unborn baby.
On its YouTube page, AWP claims credit for "23 missing person cold cases solved since 2019".
Mr McIntosh said the team was involved in another Australian missing person's case — that of Allan Bentley, who was last seen in the New South Wales Hunter region in April 2021.
"We were able to bring Dale Nicholson home, and I believe Allan Bentley will be the next person we are going to find over the course of the year," Mr McIntosh said.
The search for Nicola Sallese is continuing, with Jason Sallese investigating how to scan blackberry bushes or thick growth on the side of the road which may be covering a vehicle.
The team is also looking at how to use satellite mapping to better catalogue the areas which have been searched and those yet to be looked at.
They are also open to any leads about what Nicola Sallese was doing on the day he disappeared.
"You look for a pattern," Mr McIntosh said. "Dale Nicholson ended up at his second-favourite fishing spot."
"It is difficult in Nicola's case because every receipt showed he went to do his grocery shop and to get petrol on Tuesdays … however he went missing on a Monday so it wasn't part of his routine".
Anyone with information is encouraged to reach out to the Facebook page Help Find Nicola Sallese.
To report a missing person call 131 444 or contact your nearest police station.
