It's a grim and lonely place to die.

His fully clothed body, according to those who found it, appeared like it had been "placed" there.

How Nathan Booth happened to be in such a remote place - somewhere he'd never chosen to visit before - and why, remains a mystery.

The official line from the police is that his death is regarded as "suspicious". No coronial hearing has been publicly scheduled.

Nathan was formally identified by DNA and police have given the family limited information on the investigation, which has increased their frustration. This week, after The Canberra Times sent questions to the police about Mr Booth's disappearance and death, detectives spoke with the family for the first time in months.

"They [the police] have basically asked us to back off and don't contact them," Nathan's sister Deanne Booth says.

More than a year has passed since he was last seen alive, and more than six months has passed since his partially decomposed body was found by schoolboys in a barely accessible part of the gorge.

Mr Booth's partner of 13 years, Sharelle Charles, has a cross she'd like to take to the place where his body was found, but the rough map given to her by the police doesn't help her much. So instead she scrambles down the rocks to where she thinks the location is.

"I go there and just sit with him a while," she says.

"But he's not at peace down there. That's not a place Nathan would ever choose to go.

"We all know something bad happened to him. I don't know if it was murder or not but I know for sure he wouldn't choose to go down there [to the gorge]."

At a time when protesters have marched the streets of Canberra and all around the world in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Mr Booth's large, extended family is wondering why this particular life, belonging to a man who was a father, grandfather, brother and cousin, appears to mean so little.

Mr Booth's name, together with that of Indigenous man Stephen Freeman, who died in custody in May 2016, was read out at the recent Canberra Black Lives Matter protest.

"We keep asking the questions, but there's no answers," his older sister Deanne says.

"He's not the sort of person who would go to that place and take drugs. He wasn't suicidal, and he wasn't depressed. That place where he was found; that's not where he would go.

"We know Nathan was murdered. And the worry to everyone should be that whoever murdered him is still out there, in the community somewhere.

"But it's like he's been forgotten; it's like to them [the police] Nathan is just another problem black fella dead and now he's forgotten. Would this happen if he was white?

"But we haven't forgotten. We're not going to let them forget."

Nathan Booth's mother, Rayleen, freely admits that her son was "no angel".

He had been in and out of prison for an extensive part of his 40 years. He had led a troubled life and a court was told that he had been expelled from three schools for stealing from teachers, and had been taking drugs since the tender age of 11.

From his teenage years he'd burgled dozens of homes for cash, cigarettes, homewares and prescription drugs, and fled from police in stolen cars on several occasions.

However, like many who fall into the spiral of drug use, his crimes were motivated by a drug habit. It was a physical craving which led him into custody time and time again.

The father of four daughters, a stepfather to five children and a grandfather to 10 more was not a violent man, according to his relatives. He was much-loved by his partner, his extended family and a wide circle of friends.

"Nathan always struggled with drugs right through his life, but that was a struggle he kept to himself," Deanne Booth says.

"He was such a happy soul, he loved a laugh, loved being around the family and he had many, many friends. He loved doing cook-ups for the family and for people who just needed a feed.

"But the thing is: when he was on a [drugs] bender, he would stay away from us; he wouldn't come over. He knew we didn't want to see him like that."

It was after he had been on one of those "benders" that Mr Booth went missing. There was discord between Mr Booth's partner and the family at the time he went missing which is the reason it took so long for his missing persons report to be filed. That issue has since been resolved.

"He was a gadabout; he was here, there and everywhere," Rayleen says.

"His girlfriend didn't tell us she hadn't seen him, so we thought he might have just took off somewhere and we'd see him again when he was good and ready."

The last reported sighting of Nathan was on June 27 last year, when he visited the methadone clinic at Canberra Hospital.

He became an official missing person in September and five months later, on November 20, in a public statement Acting Station Sergeant Mark Rowswell said that police held "serious concerns for his [Mr Booth's] welfare".

Police said at the time that Mr Booth did not have a "digital footprint", which increased their difficulty in locating him.

It is now almost certain that by the time police issued the call for public assistance, Mr Booth was already dead and his body in the gorge where it was found on December 1.

Since then, lurid speculation and alarming stories around what may have happened to Mr Booth have circulated around the community, which has further fuelled the family's unease. They've offered up many contacts that may be able to help the investigation.

Canberra was in the grip of long drought last year. Water levels in the Murrumbidgee River were so low that in places you could walk from one riverbank to the other.

Mr Booth's body was found between the Kambah Pool recreation area and the Red Rock Gorge lookout. Walking and mountain biking trails connect from the north and south, but there's difficult access to the river and gates prevent any four-wheeled vehicle access.

There are also hidden surveillance cameras in the Kambah Pool area to prevent the dumping and torching of stolen cars.

Meanwhile, the extended family continues to call police and seek answers. July 15 would have been his 41^st birthday.

"I'm not delusional about the fact that whatever happened to Nathan was drug-related," Rayleen Booth says.

"I don't care about that. He was my son and I want to know what happened to him."