NT Police call off search for missing German tourist

NT Police call off search for missing German tourist

Authorities have called off the search for a German tourist believed to be missing in Central Australia for the past two weeks.

62-year-old Monika Billen, who had been holidaying in Alice Springs, has not been seen since New Year’s Day.

But she was not reported missing until January 8, when she failed to check out of her hotel.

NT Police said over the weekend they would cease searching the bushland near Alice Springs as they had “exhausted all locations of interests” but would “continue to conduct enquiries”, according to the ABC.

Superintendent Pauline Vicary said the last physical sighting of Billen was in the area surrounding Emily Gap.

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Monika Billen, source: NT News

“In the past five days Northern Territory Police have covered vast tracks of land via aerial and land searches,” he said.

“Unfortunately, despite our efforts no further evidence has been found to indicate Monika is still out there.”

The holidaymaker was spotted on CCTV leaving Desert Palms Resort in Alice Springs at 10:30 am on New Year’s day but failed to check out on the 5th of January.

However, she was not reported missing until the 8th of January, a week after she had last been seen.

Police believe Billen may have gone on a hike, but temperatures were as high as 43.5C on the day she was last seen.

Helicopters, drones, motorbikes, dogs and horses have so far been used to locate the missing woman, but no trace has been found.

Source: NT News

Source: NT News

“We are very concerned we are getting very little information coming in from the Alice Springs people in relation to whether they’ve seen Monika or not,” Acting Superintendent Pauline Vicary said according to the ABC.

“Just don’t assume that other people are going to tell us and you don’t need to.

“Particularly, there are eight vehicles that drove past her on Barrett Drive on the first [of January], none of those people have contacted us.

“We are urging you — please contact us so we can have a conversation, you may have seen something and not even realised it.”

Police do not believe her disappearance was suspicious.

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