Lucinda MILLER
Lucinda MILLER
A fresh sighting has prompted police to expand the search area for a 24-year-old woman missing in "heavily forested" bush terrain in West Gippsland, while also saying it is possible she may not want to be found.
Lucinda Miller was last seen at 11am on Sunday when she was dropped off on a track 2.5 kilometres from her home by a rideshare driver in Neerim South, about 110km east of Melbourne.
The original search focused on the bush between the drop-off point and her home but had been expanded after someone came forward yesterday afternoon to report a possible sighting of Ms Miller several kilometres to the south on Monday.
"We're talking to all property owners in that area, checking all the rivers, creeks, roadways, tracks," Victoria Police Inspector Peter Fusinato said.
"So any property owners ... be mindful that she may have wandered onto your properties and we just ask if you could check all your buildings or outbuildings just make sure that no-one has either been there or Lucinda is still located within your property."
Inspector Fusinato said about 30 people were involved in the search today, including crews with search and rescue dogs, down from about 50 yesterday.
Police have interviewed the rideshare driver but said they did not have evidence to suggest the driver or anyone else was involved.
Inspector Fusinato said it was possible Ms Miller may not want to come home.
"She may be missing of her own volition or unfortunately has .. hurt herself. We're not quite sure," he said.
"But we're working on the theory that Lucinda may not want the family to know she'd come home.
"We're exploring all those avenues and at this stage, we really have no answers in regards to what her intentions were.
"We're just working on the fact she's missing and we're going to continue to try and find her."
Inspector Fusinato said the search would continue tomorrow.
"We've had a survivability assessment done, the time frames for that if she doesn't have food and water, probably have passed," he said.
"We've spoken to the family in regards to that, they're very aware of that situation.
"As far as the ongoing investigation, whilst we haven't located Lucinda, that will be ongoing in different formats, which we will continue to work hard on until we feel that we've exhausted every option."
Ms Miller was last seen wearing a pair of pink pants, a white top, green jumper, beanie, scarf and face mask.
Police are calling in dogs trained to sniff out electronic devices as they resume a search for a woman who disappeared three years ago in Victoria's east.
Lucinda Miller, 24, went missing in October 2022 after taking a rideshare vehicle home from Melbourne to Neerim South, near Warragul.
Victoria Police said she was dropped off along a roadside about 11am but never made it home.
Her disappearance prompted an extensive search of bushland at the time, involving police, SES volunteers and cadaver dogs, but she was not found.
Acting Inspector Paula Linford, local area commander for the Baw Baw police service area, said police are hopeful of finding something this week.
"It's extremely important … that we reopen this search and that we try again to see if we can find Lucinda or some items that might have belonged to Lucinda," she said.
"Hopefully, if we do, that will give the family and the community some closure."
Detective Senior Constable Michael Fowler said search crews would be looking for any sign of Ms Miller, including her clothes, two vodka bottles she was known to be carrying when she disappeared, and human remains.
He said the search would be thorough and time-consuming.
"We don't want speed, we've got the numbers and we've got the time," he told searchers.
He added that anything found would be treated as a crime scene.
This week, about 50 people, including local and federal police, SES crews, CFA members and Forest Fire Management officers, began scouring an area near McDougal Road and Whitelaw Track in Neerim South, where police believe Ms Miller was dropped off.
The search will involve technology that was not available to authorities three years ago.
Police say GPS data and information from the rideshare driver have pointed them to a new search location around 2 kilometres north of the original search area.
The Australian Federal Police brought its new canine unit technology dogs into the search, which are trained to sniff out devices like mobile phones.
"We were never able to find Lucinda's phone, so we're hoping that they might be able to locate that for us," Acting Inspector Linford said.
The area under investigation features dense bushland and steep terrain that police said would make the search difficult for crews.
Searchers were also warned to look out for snakes, disused mine shafts and wombat holes as they combed the ground.
"We believe this [area] needs a further and a deeper search than was done in that area three years ago," Senior Constable Fowler said.
Police are asking people to avoid interfering with the investigation.
"We would be calling on anybody, other than the local residents that live within that search radius, that they steer clear of the area for a few days," Senior Constable Fowler said.
Officers will knock on the doors of residents who live within one kilometre of the search area.
Victoria Police has released images of the last sighting of Ms Miller, and the items she was known to be wearing and carrying.
They are hopeful someone may have seen Ms Miller's clothing or these vodka bottles (pictured above) while in the area.
"We want to provide Lucinda's family, in particular, with some answers about what happened to her, so any information, even if you think it is irrelevant, we want to know about it," Senior Constable Fowler said.