Loved ones they might never bury

STILL MISSING: Christopher Face, James Perry and Dawn Radke. Source: The Courier-Mail

CHRISTOPHER Face's mobile phone goes straight to voicemail now. It probably rests with his body, but no one knows where.

The 63-year-old was never found after his Grantham house "imploded" under the pressure of the floodwater that tore through the Lockyer Valley on January 10, 2011.

The great-grandfather is one of three victims - along with James Perry and Dawn Radke - whose loved ones have not been able to bury them.

Within days of the disaster, authorities warned traumatised families that their loved ones might be lost forever, and in June last year state coroner Michael Barnes confirmed their fears, declaring the final three missing persons officially dead.

The eldest was Mr Face, who was at his Anzac Ave home with partner Brenda Ross, 56, and her son Josh Ross, 25, when the wall of water hit.

Mrs Ross had limited mobility and Mr Face, who was also her carer, stayed with her as their house filled with water and the walls started to shake.

The bodies of Mrs Ross and her son were later recovered.

Adam Face, 40, said he and his three siblings - Karen, Amanda and Simon - would not find peace until their father was found.

The Courier-Mail print edition this week presents a series of special reports exploring the aftermath of the January 2011 southeast floods. TOMORROW: What we've learnt and what we haven't.

"I still wait for the call to say that they've found him," he said. "There's always hope. He has to be somewhere.

"I went and saw psychics and they said that he's not where they expect him to be, that he's a bit further down."

Simon, 38, said the tragedy still felt surreal.

"It's not something you think could happen, especially when we spoke to him on New Year's Eve (2010) and everything was fine," he said.

"When you pass away like that you can't be too much at peace, especially if you're laying in a paddock somewhere three feet under mud, but we can only hope he's at peace.

"If we could find him and his remains and put an end to it all it would make things a whole lot better."

For the family of James Perry, their pain remains too raw to discuss.

The 39-year-old racing steward spent his final minutes trying to save his wife Jenny Thorncraft and their nine-year-old son Teddy after their car was engulfed in floodwaters on the Warrego Highway at Helidon.

Their terrifying situation, as the family climbed on to the roof of their station wagon before being forced to jump into floodwaters as it neared downed power lines, was captured on film by a helicopter.

SAVAGED: The Grantham area suffered severe damage and loss of life during the 2011 floods. Picture: Mark Calleja

Mr Perry, who vanished in the raging torrent, had put their son on top of a blue feed bin while his wife clung to a tree for several hours before she was rescued.

Mr Perry's father Kingsley, a Sydney-based watercolour artist, said losing - and being unable to bury - their son was "very difficult".

"We're fine. We're all right. But it has been difficult," he said.

Warren Thorncraft said his sister and nephew were overseas but doing "pretty well".

Mrs Thorncraft took Teddy to Laos in South-East Asia, where another brother lives, in the wake of the flood.

In another heart-wrenching loss, grandmother Dawn Radke, 56, died - along with Pauline Magner, 65, and their 23-month-old granddaughter Jessica Lily-Ann Keep - after floodwaters rushed through the low-set Grantham house of her daughter Stacy and son-in-law Matthew Keep.

The bodies of Mrs Magner and Jessica were later found, but Mrs Radke, who was last seen hanging on to a lawnmower, has not been found.

The Keeps, who have moved to a new property in Grantham, could not be contacted.

Member for Lockyer Ian Rickuss said those affected just wanted "to get over it personally".

"And I'm a little bit that way too," he said.

"It was terrible and that sort of thing, but really it's two years now.

"There will be a small memorial (today) for people who want to go down to Murphys Creek and say their piece, but it won't be a public thing."

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