As the urgent hunt for his family continues, a young father is ‘distraught’ at the loss of his fiancée and two small children who disappeared after a large move across three states.
Darian Aspinall, 27, her two children Winter Bellamy, two, and Koda Bellamy, four, and their grandma, 50-year-old Leah Gooding, were on their way to start a new life in Adelaide when they disappeared without a trace.
Police increased their efforts by initiating a large land search in far-west NSW with the assistance of their colleagues in Queensland and South Australia.
Police increased their efforts by initiating a large land search in far-west NSW with the assistance of their colleagues in Queensland and South Australia.
However, the two ladies and Mr Bellamy’s children never arrived at Packsaddle.
After frantic efforts to reach the family were futile, Mr Bellamy raised the alarm and reported them missing to police.
According to Noccundra Hotel workers, the family traveled a gravel road while Mr Bellamy remained on a paved road.
Ms Aspinall is a dedicated mother, and her social media is full of images and selfies with Koda and Winter.
She announced her engagement to her six-year boyfriend, Mr Bellamy, on Facebook nine months ago.
The family had spent the previous year in Cairns, far north Queensland, but had just chosen to return to Adelaide, where the couple was born.
Winter’s second birthday was recently honored by the pleased parents with films and photographs during a family excursion to a Cairns aquarium.
In a recent sequence of postings, Mr Bellamy paid heartfelt homage to his fiancée.
‘Happy Mother’s Day, this magnificent specimen! ‘We adore you,’ he wrote in May.
‘Six years of life with future Mrs Bellamy,’ he wrote a few weeks ago. I can’t wait for more.’ Mr Bellamy and the rest of the family have been anxiously waiting for the past 48 hours.
‘Darian’s fiancé Linny was driving the moving truck, they got separated along the road and he hasn’t seen them since,’ said relative Bree Jennings.
‘He’s in a lot of pain…’ I mean, we’re all. He’s simply waiting for some good news on the phone.’
Friends who are worried have resorted to social media for assistance.
‘Is anybody out there searching for them?’ Just sitting here makes me feel useless. Please return my friend and her kids home safe,’ one of Ms Aspinall’s pals said on the NSW Police Facebook page. Mocundra Hotel employee Rachael George recalls the family stopping at the hotel about Sunday midday before travelling south on a dirt road.
‘It’s a large, safe road, and you wouldn’t expect to get lost on it,’ she added, adding that if you use Google Maps or similar apps, you may end yourself on the wrong route.
She also recalls Mr Bellamy stopping a few hours later before continuing along a sealed route.
On Tuesday, NSW Police started a large-scale land search spanning much of the state’s far west for the family, who are said to be traveling in a charcoal-colored Hyundai Tucson with Queensland registration 729CV2.
With cooperation from the Missing Persons Registry, Queensland and South Australian Police, the large-scale effort spans Tibooburra, Broken Hill, Wilcannia, Packsaddle, and nearby communities.
The four travelers have all been characterized as Caucasian.
Darian is a woman with dark brown hair, tattoos on her right arm, and spectacles. According to investigators, the youngsters have brown hair and blue eyes.
Locals in Packsaddle, Tibooburra, Broken Hill, and nearby locations in NSW’s far west have received a geo-targeted SMS message.
It is not a fraud, according to police, if homeowners get a text message from +61 444 444 444 requesting for help in finding the family.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Wilcannia Police Station at 8083 8099 or Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000.