A paranoid Aboriginal man who believed an evil spirit was going to kill him before he went missing may have been attacked by a crocodile, dehydrated or drowned, a West Australian coroner has concluded.
Mr Lawson, whose first name is not used for cultural reasons, was last seen at the Jinyaadi Homestead on the Dampier Peninsula in October 2010 and a subsequent search failed to find him.
The father-of-two had good bush skills and knowledge of fresh springs around the family property, but when relatives visited him one day, they noticed he was agitated and hearing voices.
Mr Lawson, 41, repeatedly said the Featherfoot, an evil spirit, was going to kill them all and he paced around while talking to himself and shouting.
He also indicated he would be unable to sleep because "the two bush men" would kill him.
"He began to act on his psychotic delusions, running around the homestead, gesticulating the throwing of spiritual powers at the bush men and calling out to the family to give him the power to kill the bush men," Coroner Barry King said in his findings.
Paul Luckin, an expert in search and rescue operations, said the reported paranoia exhibited by Mr Lawson was common in Aboriginal people withdrawing from alcohol and he might not have thought about food and water due to his psychosis.
Mr King said the search was difficult due to the remote location, high temperatures, dense bushland and saltwater crocodiles in the area.
He concluded it had been proved beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Lawson was dead, but he could not ascertain how death occurred.
"It is perhaps likely that the deceased succumbed to dehydration, but in his psychotic state he may also have caused himself an injury that led to his death," Mr King said.
"It is also possible that the deceased was taken by a crocodile or that he fell from a cliff and was swept out to sea.
"During the search, it was also considered possible that the deceased had swum out to Valentine Island, which opens the possibility that the deceased drowned or was taken by a crocodile while attempting to do so."
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