Family Seeks AFP Help to Find Son in Costa Rica
The father of a Melbourne man who has been missing in Costa Rica for more than a month wants an Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer assigned to his case.

Twenty-four-year-old Brendan Dobbins disappeared while holidaying in Tamaridno with friends from Australia and the University of Florida, where he was on exchange.

Searches by local authorities have not found any trace of the Australian.

The missing man's father, Brian Dobbins, believes his son is still alive and is being held against his will.

"I'm actually asking the Australian Government to assign an Australian Federal Police officer to help us assess information, new information that may come to light and information that we have to date on the case," he said.

Brian Dobbins says he and his wife will return to Costa Rica this weekend to conduct a wider search of their own and may hire a private investigator to help.

"My wife and I believe in fact that he is still alive, that in fact he is being held against his will but we don't have any information about the parties or the people that may be holding him," he said.

"Of course nothing is certain and in fact he may have been killed.

"There's no closure - we simply don't know what has occurred to him and we feel that we simply must travel to Costa Rica and make every effort to find out what happened," he said.

Brendan Dobbins vanished 39 days ago. Brendan was last seen about 7am on March 4 walking along the white sand beach of Tamarindo.