THE FAMILY OF MISSING STEPHANIE’S ON-OFF LOVER FINALLY BREAK THEIR SILENCE..! – Mystery deepens after her car was found abandoned at their hippy compound
The counterculture family of a missing woman’s ‘on-off’ boyfriend has spoken out a month after she vanished and her car was found at his family compound.
Stephanie Cordery, 42, disappeared on August 5 when her white Hyundai i30 was found outside lover Chilo Pike’s rural home near Mount Nardi, outside of Nimbin in northern NSW.
She was last seen on CCTV holding a suitcase outside ‘temporary accommodation’ in Ballina, believed to be the Ballina Motel, around 5am on the day she vanished.
The vehicle was also seen by roadside cameras later that morning as it drove through Lismore and Nimbin.
Around 12.30pm, Mr Pike phoned Ms Cordery’s sister Monique to say he’d found the car, with her bag and keys still inside, abandoned in the driveway of the home he shares with several generations of his hippy-style family.
Monique alerted police, sparking an intensive search within a 300m radius of the car into Nightcap National Park, which features dense rainforest and rugged terrain.
Mr Pike is believed to be helping police with their investigation and is currently on bail after pleading not guilty to an unrelated assault charge.
The Daily Mail can reveal Ms Cordery applied for an apprehended domestic violence order against Mr Pike in 2023, but withdrew it in 2024.
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Stephanie Cordery vanished a month ago, and was last seen in northern New South Wales
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Her vehicle was found in the driveway of her on-off lover Chilo Pike’s home
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Stephanie was captured on CCTV footage leaving temporary accommodation in Ballina
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It is not suggested Mr Pike has had anything to do with Ms Cordery’s disappearance.
Monique Cordery told A Current Affair that Mr Pike, Stephanie’s ‘on-off boyfriend of eight years’ and said to be ‘intensely private’, had been interviewed by police.
He is understood to be declining media interviews, but Daily Mail spoke to a relative who lashed out at ‘gossip’ surrounding Ms Cordery’s car being found at the home.
‘You have to see it from our point of view,’ said the family member who asked not to be identified.
‘It’s a whole lot of trouble in our life. People love to gossip. Horrible things are being said for people’s entertainment.
‘People are paying attention because it’s entertaining, and I feel like this is going to play into that.’
He said Ms Cordery was ‘trouble’ and ‘heard voices that would tell her to do things’.
The family member said he had joined searches for Ms Cordery and that what has happened to her is a ‘mystery’.
‘I have given days to the cause and she is nowhere to be found,’ he said.
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Stephanie is a much-loved daughter and sister, with her parents pleading for information
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Chilo is part of the Pike family in Nimbin, led by musician Neil Pike of the band Pagan Love Cult
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Barry Cordery has vowed not to give up the search for his missing daughter
‘It is possible she is not on the mountain anymore and has ended up in a car with someone else.’
On Thursday, Ms Cordery’s devastated father Barry told the Daily Mail his family had no contact with Mr Pike.
‘We don’t want anything to do with him, I’ve never had any time for him and nor has my wife,’ he said. ‘Monique is the only one who talks to him.
‘This is the worst thing to ever happen in my life and I’m almost 81 and not very well.’
‘I just want to find her. If it’s a body, it’s a body. But we can’t give up and we don’t know what happened.’
Mr Pike has not responded to several interview requests through various associates on behalf of the Daily Mail.
Mr Pike is a former member of the so-called ‘Lane Boys’, who allegedly dealt marijuana on Nimbin’s Paradise Lane in the Byron hinterland, long associated with the pot trade.
In 2016, Mr Pike was among 11 Lane Boys arrested for cannabis supply by Strike Force Cuppa, established in 2015 to battle the illicit drug trade.
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Neil Pike is a well-known pro-cannabis activist within the eccentric Nimbin community
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Nimbin, near Byron Bay, has long been associated with the pot trade in Australia
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Police have revealed Stephanie’s last-known movements, before her car was discovered
Mr Pike avoided jail, and his lawyer told the court he was to undergo ‘intensive detoxification’.
The Pike family has a long history within Nimbin’s eccentric rainforest community, which has drawn hippies and backpackers for decades.
At least three generations live at their compound on Newton Drive, with patriarch Neil Pike being well-known in the region for forming psychedelic band Pagan Love Cult and being a prominent pro-cannabis activist.
Neil’s late father Arthur, who died at the property in 2012 aged 89 is understood to have established the family community.
A comment under his funeral notice in 2012 read, ‘The only family I know who have had four generations living on the same property are the Pikes. Arthur of course was instrumental in that coming about.
‘[He was] a man of vision, relating both to past and future, open-hearted and open-minded’.
When Ms Cordery was discovered missing, police, police rescue, sniffer dogs, the RFS and the SES immediately launched a search, but not a single clue has been found.
NSW police declined to comment when asked if they would declare the disappearance a major crime, or whether they had identified any persons of interest.
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The Pike family have lived in a rainforest compound near Nimbin for generations
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Stephanie’s parents, Barry and Joyce, ‘don’t have anything to do with’ Chilo
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Monique Cordery is calling for able-bodied volunteers to join the search for her sister
Her mother Joyce Cordery-Boyd has revealed her ‘gratitude’ for the efforts of searchers, but also expressed her disbelief that the official search had apparently concluded.
‘As a mother, I am deeply concerned by the ongoing level of resources allocated to bring my daughter home.
‘The presence of vital specialist resources – including search and detection dogs – remains extremely limited and intermittent.
‘Alongside that gratitude is a question I can no longer keep to myself: What more can the police and authorities be doing right now to find Stephanie?’
She acknowledged that her daughter had suffered from mental health issues.
‘Stephanie has lived with a mental health condition,’ the distraught mum said on Facebook.
‘I do not raise this to define or diminish her. She is our daughter – a deeply loved person whose life matters enormously.
‘But I cannot stop questioning whether assumptions regarding her health have influenced how urgently her disappearance is prioritised. I sincerely hope I am wrong.’
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Stephanie’s mum confirmed she lived with a mental health condition
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A private search will scour the rugged Nightcap National Park this weekend
NSW Northern Region police told the Daily Mail on Thursday: ‘Search operations in Nimbin have been conducted across 14 days, including Wednesday September 2.’
They said police divers attached to Marine Area Command conducted searches of dams and waterways on August 26 near where Ms Cordery’s car was found.
‘On Wednesday afternoon, PolAir conducted further aerial searches of the area. Despite extensive search efforts, Stephanie has not yet been located,’ they added.
‘Further discussions are underway with specialist search and rescue personnel regarding future search activity.’
The Cordery family launched a GoFundMe to help finance ongoing private searches, with a group setting off this weekend to scour a search radius 500m beyond where authorities have already looked.
‘Our immediate priority is thoroughly searching every inch of an 800m radius around where Steph’s car was found,’ Monique Cordery said on Tuesday.
‘We cannot move past this stage without volunteers checking behind every bush, log, palm, and gully.’
