Search for missing Socceroo ends in tragedy
Police officers have found the body of Stephen Laybutt in New South Wales bushland, less than 48 hours after he went missing.
The ex-Socceroo was reported missing on Saturday morning after he couldn't be located or contacted by his loved ones, sparking a massive search for the 46-year-old.
Laybutt's car was found near a set of shops in Cabartia, on the NSW North Coast, at 11:30am on Saturday, only a few kilometres away from where he was last seen at a friend's house at Casuarina on Friday night.
Officers then located Stephen Laybutt’s body close to Cabarita at about 7pm on Sunday after an extensive police search.
Tributes have begun to pour in for the ex-Socceroo, with football legend Robbie Slater describing his death as a tragedy.
“He was a very good player, I played against him a few times when he was with the Brisbane Strikers,” Mr Slater told The Daily Telegraph.
“He was a big guy, uncompromising, he had a very good career... He was an extremely courageous person."
A talented footballer, Mr Laybutt played 15 matches for the Socceroos between 2000 and 2004 and remained with the A-League’s Newcastle Jets until he ruptured his achilles tendon in 2008 and was forced to retire.
He also represented Australia at the 2000 Olympics with the Olyroos team.
After retiring, Laybutt came out as gay, later revealing that hiding his sexuality was something that had a “massive effect” on his career.
Mr Laybutt also made headlines in 2021 when he selflessly donated his kidney to a man on dialysis he had met while working at the rehabilitation unit at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney.
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