Police hold ‘grave fears’ for missing Qld mother

Missing woman Tayla Spies’ mobile phone stopped working about an hour after she was last seen in the rural town of Surat as investigators release the last known vision of the young mum.

Missing woman Tayla Spies’ mobile phone stopped working about an hour after she was last seen in the rural town of Surat, investigators have revealed as they say they have grave fears for the young mother.

Police have released footage of Ms Spies, on Sunday, February 2, in Dalby about 8am at a hotel. She was seen carrying a large bag into her white Toyota Hilux, with registration 559 GJ7.

Police are seeking urgent public assistance to help locate 28-year-old Tayla Spies.

She travelled west and her vehicle was seen in Surat about 11.10am, at the intersection of Burrowes St and Cordelia St. She had planned to return to Roma but has not been seen since.

Detective Chief Inspector Garry Watts said there was activity on her phone after leaving the small town of Surat, 450km west of Brisbane, but then nothing further.

“We know there was some activity on her phone about an hour later,” Chief Inspector Watts said.

“Which puts in her in quite a large area from Yuleba south, east of Surat, around Glenmorgan, Meandarra, Yuleba State Forest, anywhere in that area.

Anyone who has seen this car is asked to contact police.

“So what we are really honing in on is if any members of the public were out about any roads in that area between 10.30am and 12.30pm on Sunday, February 2, if they could check their dashcam footage please, if they see her 2017 Hilux utility give us a call.

“Additionally we are looking at landowners in that area, if they don’t mind having a look at their holdings to see if Tayla’s vehicle or Tayla is around.”

Insp Watts said police did not know why the mother travelled to Surat. He said police were appealing for anyone who had seen or spoken to the mother – whose 29th birthday has since gone by during her disappearance – to come forward.

He confirmed Ms Spies had worked as a courier and ran a local post office but said it was unclear how long she was doing that before she went missing.

“She was definitely in Dalby over the weekend, over Friday-Saturday, but was in Surat area on Sunday morning,” he said.

“We have grave concerns about her safety and her health and wellbeing. It’s been quite some time since she was last seen and we have some concerns about her health.

The 28-year-old mother was caught on CCTV before she disappeared.

“We have received information from members of the public about possible sightings and we act on that information. But there has been nothing that we have been able to verify in relation to any sighting of Tayla since Sunday.”

Insp Watts said police were working with the information they had including the mother’s last known phone usage.

“Without knowing what happened to Tayla, that’s a point we are working from,” he said.

“It gives us timing. As to why the phone has gone off we don’t know. We really are focused on a fairly wide area, west of Dalby, east of Roma, where there is a possibility where the vehicle may be.”

Insp Watts confirmed the homicide squad was assisting local detectives and police.

“But we’ve got nothing to suggest at this stage (relating to foul play),” he said.

“We don’t know. We know she was in Surat at that time, we don’t know what happened afterwards.”

Tayla is described as caucasian, with brown shoulder length hair, blue eyes and a slim build. She is about 170cm tall and has the word KARMA tattooed across her chest.

She was last seen wearing a fluorescent pink long sleeve shirt and light coloured shorts.

Police said her vehicle had a distinctive black bumper bar, blacked out wheels and the word Toyota displayed on the vehicle’s rear tray.