The inquest into the death of 14-year-old Noah Donohoe heard that search teams received information on his phone's last location seven hours after police obtained it. The Telecoms Liaison Unit identified a ping from a mast on York Street within hours of his disappearance on June 21, 2020, but passed the details to the Community Rescue Service only at 11am on June 22. Noah's body was discovered six days later in a storm drain in north Belfast, with drowning determined as the cause.

Sean McCarry, regional commander of the Community Rescue Service, testified that police contacted his team at 3.40am on June 22. The volunteers first focused efforts around Cavehill, based on information Noah gave his mother Fiona about plans to meet friends there. McCarry agreed that earlier access to the phone data would have shifted more resources to the area around North Queen Street.

CCTV footage captured Noah cycling naked from his Fitzroy Avenue home in his final hours. Police missed footage from a camera at the rear of a house on Northwood Road, his last known location, and from Grove Leisure Centre due to an incorrect time stamp. When searchers later received the Northwood Road details, they narrowed operations to a 500-metre radius and entered Linear Park behind the road.

The team located an unlocked culvert entrance where a member could fit through the grill. McCarry viewed it as a potential hiding spot for the unclothed teenager but contacted police, as his group lacked underground search training. Noah's remains lay 590 metres inside the drain.

Belfast resident Daryl Paul came into possession of Noah's backpack, containing a laptop and schoolbooks, which police believe Noah left on Lancaster Street near Ulster University. Paul pleaded guilty to theft. Footage showed Paul and Noah briefly in the same frame near Fitzroy Avenue and Queen's Quarter, with no interaction, as Paul remained in south Belfast after Noah headed north.