By Peter Douglas
VICTORIAN police are continuing their search for missing Silvan man Mark Tromp, 53, who is believed to be located in the Wangaratta area in north-east Victoria.
Earlier today, his wife, Jacoba (Coby) Tromp admitted herself to a hospital in Yass NSW just days after the couple’s adult children reported them missing to Goulburn police in NSW.
While it was earlier reported the couple and their adult children had been enjoying a holiday in the Central Tablelands area of NSW, it appears the family had fled their Silvan home due to what has been described as stressful circumstances.
At a media conference in Monbulk this afternoon, two of the couple’s three children – Mitchell, 25, and Ella, 22 – appeared with Monbulk Sergeant Mark Knight, who is assisting with investigations.
Mitchell and Ella said the family had taken off on Monday.
They then split up from their parents some time after visiting the Jenolan Caves area, with the children deciding to return home.
Mitchell said his parents’ decision to leave the home was out of character.
“(It was) just a build up of events, just pressure that slowly got worse as the days went by … (I’ve) never seen anything like it … pretty hard to explain … they decided to leave,” he said.
Ella added: “We were a bit stressed at the time”.
Both children pleaded for their dad to present himself to police.
“We love you and we just want you to come home,” Mitchell said.
Ella described the family as close and said they worked closely together.
Meanwhile, on inspecting their home on Tuesday night, Sgt Knight described it as one of the more “bizarre” scenes with which he has been confronted.
“The house open, there was … paperwork all about the house,” he said.
“Keys were in cars, passports were there and phones were on the bench – it was an unusual scene.”
The family’s Peugeot station wagon had been spotted in Wangaratta yesterday afternoon, with a man later witnessed jumping out of the car and fleeing into Merriwa Park.
Sgt Knight confirmed they believed the man was Mark.
“We’ve got concerns for the dad … who is still outstanding,” Sgt Knight said.
“We’ve located Mark’s car in Wangaratta this morning after a concerted police effort was conducted overnight – the search was conducted with the dog squad and uniformed branch of the CIU (Criminal Investigation Unit).
“We’re now calling on public assistance to further support our efforts to find Mark.”
Sgt Knight said there was nothing to suspect foul play.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Mark Tromp can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
