More than 1800 days since Dylan Dickie vanished in the Hunter, his family hopes that a Coronial inquiry will shed light on what happened to the teenager on that June day in 2016.
An inquest into the disappearance and suspected death of Dylan has been granted.
A directions hearing has been set down before Magistrate Andrew Miller at Cessnock Coroner's Court on the morning of August 5.
It was five years ago today that the 19-year-old's family last saw him, as he headed off on a Yamaha 250 trail bike.
When he failed to return, he was reported missing.
A search of Corrabare State Forest - about 20km outside Cessnock - uncovered the bike, a helmet and a pair of gloves about a week later.
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Dylan Dickie, a 19-year-old from Cessnock, went missing nine days after his grandfather Robert Dickie
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Dylan has not been seen since.
Damien Dickie, Dylan's father, said yesterday that it had been "a long and painful time with no real answers".
"[It is the] worst thing to ever deal with," he said.
"Hopefully the inquest will give some answers."
Dylan's disappearance was one of two tragedies to strike the Dickie family in quick succession in 2016.
A week before he vanished, Dylan's grandfather Robert Dickie, 71, went missing from Elong Elong - northeast of Dubbo.
A woman was last year extradited from New Zealand and charged with murder over Robert Dickie's suspected death.
There has been no suggestion the two cases are linked.
Dylan's older sister Breanna said that reaching the five-year anniversary of the teenager's disappearance was a "reminder of how long we have had to deal with the heartache and pain of not seeing our beautiful son and brother".
"No words will ever explain what it feels like to lose someone you love but not being able to mourn and constantly having to think about what may or may not have happened - and still trying to hold on to hope is un-explainable and heartbreaking," she said.
"Regardless of the outcome ... of the inquest, I just hope we feel some sort of closure and [are] not left with more unanswered questions than before - something we can take away from it."
The Newcastle Herald contacted NSW Police for comment, but they declined to do so because the matter was before the Coroner.
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