NSW missing persons: NSW Police, AFP database of last sightings

More than 9000 people reported missing in NSW each year and while most are quickly found, it isn’t always the case. See the last sightings of every missing child in NSW.

In Australia, police receive more than 38,000 missing persons reports each year.

In NSW alone, there were 9395 people reported missing just last year. Of those cases 6840 were located inside 48 hours.

While most people are found within a short period of time, there remain about 2600 long term missing persons Australia-wide — these are the people who have not been found for more than three months.

There a range of reasons people can go missing, including mental illness, domestic violence, miscommunication, misadventure and being the victim of a crime.

In 2016, research commissioned by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) National Missing Persons Coordination Centre (NMPCC) found more than sixty per cent of people who go missing, will return or are found within 48 hours. And 98 per cent of people reported missing are ultimately located — most are found alive.

Each missing person case is investigated by state and territory police.

The NSW missing persons registry commander, detective chief inspector Glen Browne said the best chance at finding people was immediately after they are reported missing.

“It is crucial that police are alerted early when a person goes missing,” Chief Insp. Browne said.

“The NSW Police force take reports immediately and there is no waiting period before a person should be reported as missing.

“All forms of media are useful to help locate missing people quickly … (we) use social media, traditional forms of media, and a SMS geo-targeting tool in our efforts to find missing people as quickly as possible.”

Associate Professor Jodie Ward is a forensic DNA specialist who is the program lead of the Australian Federal Police’s National DNA Program for Unidentified and Missing Persons.

This program was launched in partnership with the AFP’s NMPCC in July 2020 — it aims to apply contemporary forensic techniques to help Australian law enforcement to generate investigative leads, establish the person’s identity and provide answers to families with missing relatives.

“(We are) committed to collaborating with state and territory police, forensic and coronial agencies to restore the names and faces of up to 850 unknown Australians to help reunite them with families who are missing them,” Dr Ward said.

“(And) one long-term missing person’s case has already been resolved as a result of a partnership between the NMPCC and state and territory police.

“In 2021, at the request of South Australia Police, the National DNA Program applied specialist DNA techniques to unidentified human remains located at South Australia at False Bay in 1977.”

These DNA results allowed SA Police, working alongside Forensic Science South Australia and the South Australia Coroner, to identify the remains as those of Mario Della Torre.

The NMPCC is appealing to all families of long-term missing persons, especially those whose family member went missing decades ago or was never formally reported to police, to participate in the National DNA Program.

Families can complete the Missing Person Details Form, which collects relevant details about each missing person to help the police and forensic investigation.

Family participation in this program includes providing a familial DNA sample, as well as personal items and records from the missing person, including medical and dental records, physical information and photographs.

The information supplied will be shared with police investigators and forensic scientists, and may be submitted to relevant national databases, to assist police with ongoing identification efforts.

Community members can view the profiles of all long-term missing persons cases.

If you have information on a missing person you should report it to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Crime Stoppers will refer the information to the relevant missing persons unit or the investigating officer on the case.