The 18-year-old was last seen in the town of Ayr and was possibly travelling to Townsville in March 2019.

The teenager hasn’t made direct contact with family or friends in Ayr since then and police, following extensive investigations, deem there is no proof of life for Malayta.

Townsville Child Protection Investigation Unit Officer in Charge Dave Miles on Tuesday announced the reward for information that helped solve his disappearance and suspected murder.

Miles said Malayta had strong connections to his community and family and disappeared with no known footprint with spending, telecommunications or social media.

“Our suspicions are that he has met with foul play and that he is deceased, hence why we have gone to the minister and asked for assistance with the reward to progress our investigations,” Miles told reporters.

Police have exhausted their lines of inquiry and quashed reported sightings of the teenage in Townsville in the four years he has been missing.

Suspected use of social media accounts have also reached a dead end, with police confirming those accounts were used by a number of different people.

Miles said Malayta’s family have been thoroughly supportive of police investigations, with their last contact with him on the day he allegedly travelled from Ayr to Townsville.

No persons of interest are currently identified by police in their ongoing investigations.

“We don’t have any particular individual that we’re focusing on at this point in time, hence the issuing of the reward where we’re looking for the information to come to us so that we can progress this.”

Malayta is Aboriginal with brown eyes and dark brown hair and was last seen wearing a red baseball cap, which he frequently wore.