Neighbour tells of concerns for missing Greenbushes man

A neighbour of a missing Greenbushes man has told how she knew “something wasn’t right” when his front door was left open for a week. The homicide squad has now taken over the investigation for missing 68-year-old Raymond Smith who has not been heard from for four weeks. Police who had been searching Mr Smith’s home since Monday, expanded their search on Wednesday to surrounding bushland and taped off the entrance to a local bush walking trail. Neighbour Joanne Woods said there had “constantly” been a police presence at the home since he was reported missing. “He (Mr Smith) was always very polite. He’d stop out the front, wave, say hello,” she said. “We noticed that his door was open and his vehicle was in the garage. “The door was never closed for the rest of the week, we realised then that something wasn’t right. “I was going to put in a report to the police on the Monday to do a welfare check, but somebody had his daughter’s phone number and rang her on the Sunday night. “She was here with the Bridgetown police on the Monday morning.” A number of police arrived at the house on New Year’s Day, with forensic officers in masks and overalls regularly entering and exiting the house on Blackwood Road, which is Greenbushes’ main street They continued to search the property on Tuesday and on Wednesday announced they were treating the disappearance as suspicious and that the homicide squad would be taking over the investigation. Police have offered no comment as to what they have discovered inside the property or if anything of consequence has been found in nearby bush, but continue to refer to the investigation as being into “the disappearance of Mr Smith”. Mr Smith last seen in the town about 5pm on Thursday, December 7 with a missing persons alert issued on December 21. That alert said Mr Smith had not contacted family or friends since he was reported missing, which was “out of character”. Mr Smith is described as being 172cm tall with a slim build and long grey hair styled into a ponytail and a full beard and moustache. Anyone who has seen Mr Smith or has any information connected to his whereabouts is asked to contact police on 131 444.