‘Keep your eyes open': Mum of missing German backpacker Caroline Wilga issues heartbreaking plea
Caroline Wilga has been travelling in Australia for the past two years and was last heard from by friends on June 29.
She was seen on CCTV at Beacon - about 333km northeast of Perth - on the same day.
Her mother, who is from Castrop-Rauxel in Germany, issued a heartbreaking plea on social media following her daughter's disappearance.
'I'm her mother and need her [sic] help, as I can't do much from Germany,' she wrote.
'Carolina is still sorely missed.'
She then issued a heartbreaking plea to others in the area.
'If anyone has any information, please contact the police,' she said. 'Please keep your eyes open!'
WA Police Commissioner Colonel Blanch told media on Wednesday homicide detectives were now going to the Wheatbelt region to investigate Ms Wilga's disappearance.
'They are investigating, not that it's a homicide at this point, but we want our very best capabilities to investigate something that is very concerning to us,' he said.
A spokesman told media police were conducting a land and air search to locate the missing woman.
'WA Police urge anyone with any information, or footage in the area of Beacon, WA, and the surrounding northeast Wheatbelt area between June 29, 2025 and July 4, 2025, to contact Crime Stoppers,' the spokesman said.
Ms Wilga has mostly stayed in hostels while she has been travelling, and works at mine sites.
She has a slim build, frizzy-curly long dark blonde hair, brown eyes and several tattoos, including a symbol on her left arm.
Police believe she is travelling in a black and silver 1995 Mitsubishi Station sedan with WA number plates 1HDS330.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
7 hours ago
- ABC News
A ride-share driver has been charged with assault over this car park incident
A ride-share driver who allegedly kicked a Perth retail worker to the ground in an Inglewood carpark, has been charged with assault and making threats.
ABC News
8 hours ago
- ABC News
Defence lawyer accuses retired police officer of 'playing cop' before alleged Geraldton axe attack
The lawyer for two men accused of attacking a retired police officer with an axe in country Western Australia has questioned the former officer's credibility and accused him of "playing cop". Jack Seelander and Justin Troy Ernest Little allegedly assaulted former WA police sergeant Adrian Barker during a confrontation in Geraldton in March 2024. The pair faced trial over three days in the Geraldton Magistrates Court this week. The court heard Mr Barker was returning to his home in Wandina around 3am on March 17, 2024 when he passed a group of eight Aboriginal boys and men. Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Lauren Roycroft, Mr Barker admitted he thought the group would "be trouble". Mr Barker said once in his Wandina home, he sat near his front door, which was slightly ajar behind a locked flyscreen. He initially said it was left open for the breeze, but later Mr Barker admitted it was because he thought the group would attempt to break into nearby houses. Ms Roycroft put it to Mr Barker that he heard "a barely audible click", saw figures running away, then followed and confronted them. However, Mr Barker said he confronted members of the group, including Mr Seelander and Mr Little, after they attempted to break into his house. The confrontation saw Mr Barker allegedly hit Mr Little in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground. After initially running away, the court heard members of the group attacked Mr Barker, with Mr Little allegedly hitting him in the side of the face with an axe before fleeing the scene. In his closing statement on Wednesday, police prosecutor Sergeant Thomas Potts said the group had "fairly laid into Barker with a pick to the back" without being provoked. Sergeant Potts said Mr Barker "pre-emptively" struck Mr Little due to his path to flee being blocked by other members of the group. He said Mr Barker's decision to confront the group was honed by his 15 years of experience as a WA police officer. But the defence questioned Mr Barker's conduct, arguing he had pre-emptively formed "a negative view" of the group without cause. "There is a wealth of evidence that Mr Barker was the aggressor," Ms Roycroft told the court. She pointed to Mr Barker's inconsistent accounts of the incident, and his conduct immediately after the attack, as detrimental to his credibility as a witness. The court was told that after the incident, Mr Barker got into his car, pursued a car carrying a group of Aboriginal people unconnected to the attack at speed, flashed his headlights, pulled them over, and interrogated them at the side of the road. When the car's occupants asked if he was a police officer, Mr Barker answered "yep". Magistrate Matthew Walton reserved his decision, telling the court the matters were difficult, with "complexities often forgotten" in closing statements. He agreed that Mr Barker was "getting brutalised" by people in the group. The matter will return to court next month for the verdict.
ABC News
11 hours ago
- ABC News
Manhunt launched across Perth for 53-year-old allegedly armed with gun
Police have launched a manhunt across metropolitan Perth in search of a 53-year-old man believed to be armed with a firearm who they say poses a potential risk to the public. Perth residents have been warned not to approach Jason James Cockie, who police described as 175 centimetres tall, of solid build and with greying brown hair. Detective Senior Constable Damian Webb said extensive police resources had been devoted to the search, and appealed to Mr Cockie to hand himself into police. "It's concerning that a person may be in possession of a firearm in our community," he said. Detective Webb said a gunshot had been fired into a home in the northern Perth suburb of Clarkson at about 10pm on Tuesday, and police believed Mr Cockie could help them with their inquiries into the matter. One person was inside the house at the time, but had not been injured. "There was damage to a house but there were no injuries to any person," he said.
