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A man who disappeared off-grid and lived in a cave for three years has resurfaced as an inquest examined the mysterious death of a woman he was the last known person to see alive.
Paul Jones has been a key person of interest in the homicide investigation into the disappearance of 30-year-old woman Jessica Zrinski, whose body has never been found.
Jones has not been charged in connection with her death.
Jones went off-grid on the same day New South Wales Police issued a search warrant relating to Zrinski's disappearance.
He was living in a bush cave in Berowra Valley National Park, Nine reported.
After three years, officials located the man there, with bodycam footage from March 2026 showing him shirtless and standing on a rock above his cave.
Zrinski and Jones met outside the Greenfield Tavern in Bossley Park on November 27, 2022.
She got into his blue Holden Commodore station wagon, and CCTV later captured the car in Mount Victoria with Zrinski inside.
Phone data showed Jones' phone was then in the Hampton State Forest region, where it was either turned off or disconnected for five hours.
Footage later showed him returning to Sydney alone and washing his car. Zrinski was never seen again.
In August 2026, NSW Deputy State Coroner David O'Neil concluded that she died on or shortly after November 29, 2022.
Jones was served with a subpoena compelling him to attend a coronial inquest into her death at Lidcombe Coroner's Court.
The inquest heard testimony about Jones' behavior around the time Zrinski disappeared.
His cousin testified that Jones unexpectedly called him asking for help to "get rid of something," per Daily Telegraph.
Jones denied remembering meeting Zrinski when giving evidence, despite being shown photographic evidence of the pair.
His stepsister also testified that Jones initially claimed Zrinski offered him money to drive her before later changing his account and saying she had offered him drugs as payment and that he dropped her off somewhere.
Jones had an explosive outburst during his testimony when questioned about his time living in the cave. He shouted that he did not want to watch the police bodycam footage again.
Jason Minney, a former friend of Jones, told the inquest that he received several calls and messages from him at around 6.30am on November 29, 2022.
During one video call, Minney recalled seeing a "blonde person on the screen for a moment".
"I recall hearing a female voice with him at the same time," he said. "I’m not sure if they were talking or arguing… I believe at one stage there were two people a male and a female and one of them was Paul Jones."
"I just thought there was something wrong with him but I didn’t know…. but at first I thought he was high on drugs, but he was too incoherent and not making sense," he added.
Witnesses at the inquest also described Jones making panicked, drug-affected calls on the day Zrinski vanished.
Jones' half sister, Tahlia Kite, told Lidcombe Coroner's Court that he contacted her through Facebook Messenger in January 2023.
According to Kite, Jones told her he had "done something bad" but would not explain what he meant.
"He had messed up and done something bad, he had ****** up. Were his exact words," she testified. "He said he had ****** up and was in trouble."
