Barbara TROUGHTON was last seen on 27 Jan 2016 at her residence in
Newtown, Toowoomba Qld. It is believed Barbara left the residence on
foot and has not made contact with family members since which is very
much out of character. Investigations into Barbara’s whereabouts have
failed to locate her and there are grave concerns for her welfare and
safety.
REPEATED appeals for help locating a missing Toowoomba wife and mother have
received a lacklustre response.
Police have been left concerned at not just the whereabouts of Newtown woman
Barbara Troughton but the lack of information coming in from the public.
Three calls have been registered with Crime Stoppers since Mrs Troughton was
reported missing last Wednesday when she was last seen leaving her Charlotte St
home in Newtown sometime between 6.30am and noon.
Mrs Troughton, 62, is described as a “decent woman with an upstanding character”
and owns a supermarket in Toowoomba.
Toowoomba police Officer-in-Charge Sergeant Dan Curtin said concerns were
growing every day.
“Police do not suspect foul play at this stage but we do want to locate her and
are seeking assistance,” he said.
Officers investigating her disappearance have carried out inquiries with
airports, train stations and bus operators in an effort to locate her.
“We assume she is still in the Darling Downs area but in reality she could be
anywhere,” he said.
“It is uncharacteristic for her to be a missing person for this length of time
which is why we’ve ramped up investigations into her disappearance.
“She has no history of it.”
Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 with any information.
Missing QLD woman Barbara Troughton could be in Tasmania
CHRIS CLARKE, police reporter
-
The Examiner
A QUEENSLAND woman missing for almost a month could be in Tasmania, police
believe.
Barbara Troughton disappeared from the suburb of Newtown in Toowoomba, in
Queensland's south.
The 62-year-old disappeared on January 27 and police hold grave fears for her
wellbeing.
Police have previously called her vanishing ``strange''.
In a statement on Friday morning Queensland Police said:
``Mrs Troughton is described as being Caucasian in appearance and around 163cm
tall with reddish-brown hair and green eyes.
``Police and family are concerned about Mrs Troughton and urge any who may have
seen her to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.''
A WOMAN who disappeared from Toowoomba more than a month ago could be
interstate.
Toowoomba police and detectives are working with their interstate counterparts
in an effort to locate Newtown woman Barbara Troughton, reported missing from
her home the morning of January 27.
Toowoomba Criminal Investigation Branch Detective Senior Sergeant Paul McCusker
said Mrs Troughton may have travelled interstate and despite a number of
reported sightings, officers were yet to confirm her location.
"We are following up all calls to Crime Stoppers regarding reported sightings,"
he said.
Mrs Troughton was formally reported as missing by her husband Ray McCaul after
her employees noticed she failed to turn up to work the morning of January 27.
She had owned the Spar supermarket on Herries St which, according to Mr McCaul,
had fallen on hard times over the Christmas and New Year period.
Mr McCaul said the shop had seen a sharp downturn in trade during that time and
the landlords had this week taken back possession of the store.
He appealed for anyone who saw Mrs Troughton to contact police, particularly any
witnesses who may have seen her in the passenger seat of a 4WD or ute on West St
about 8am that day.
The investigation remains a missing person case but concerns are growing for her
welfare with each day she is missing.
Police confirmed her bank accounts have not been accessed and her handbag with
personal documents was left behind.
She is believed to have links with far North Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria.
Tasmanian and Victorian police last week issued a missing persons bulletin
appealing for any information on Mrs Troughton's whereabouts to be reported to
Crime Stoppers.
She is described as Caucasian in appearance and around 163cm tall with
reddish-brown hair and green eyes.
AN UNRELENTING private social media campaign and increasingly desperate appeals
for information from family have failed to find any sign of a missing Toowoomba
woman.
Barbara Troughton, 62, was last seen walking down West St the morning of
Wednesday, January 27, but what happened to her after that remains a mystery.
Today marks 83 days since Mrs Troughton was last seen in Toowoomba.
A police spokesman confirmed Mrs Troughton remained a missing person but said
there was no evidence to suggest she had fallen victim of a violent crime.
He said it was possible the former business owner and wife wanted to disappear
and was intentionally not making contact with her worried family.
Mrs Troughton had owned the Spar supermarket on Herries St which ran into
financial trouble over the Christmas and New Year period which her husband Ray
McCaul said had caused her stress.
Mr McCaul has maintained a dedication social media campaign for any news on his
wife but so far has received no news on her whereabouts.
Mrs Troughton has links to North Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania with police
in those jurisdictions appealing publicly to help locate her to no avail.
Police said her bank accounts had not been accessed since she went missing.
Mrs Troughton is described as Caucasian in appearance, about 163cm tall with
reddish-brown hair and green eyes and of "good character".
Anyone with information about her disappearance should contact Crime Stoppers on
1800 333 000.
WHEN Barbara Troughton left her Newtown home the morning of January 27, she
simply vanished.
More than 185 days ago, the former Newtown shop owner left without a trace,
leaving no indication of where she might have gone and has remained out of touch
with her loved ones.
For her partner Ray McCaul, the past six months have been a whirlwind of
emotions and concern.
Now, breaking his silence in an effort to renew some hope of finding Barbara
alive, Mr McCaul said he was worried about his partner's well-being.
He believed she may be up north - possibly with family around the Cairns and
Tolga areas of far north Queensland, or maybe in a smaller town in the west.
Maybe Darwin or as far as Western Australia but nothing is certain except for Mr
McCaul's concerns.
"I've only been hearing things, what the psychics have been saying," he said.
"She's got a sister in Tolga and son and daughter in Cairns, so maybe she's
there. She'd have to be somewhere where it's warm because she hates the cold."
Police believed Ms Troughton might have gone to Tasmania in February, returning
to a place she had earlier visited with a friend, but Mr McCaul doesn't believe
she would have stayed down south.
The National Missing Persons Coordination Centre has added Ms Troughton's photo
to the thousands of other Australians whose loved ones have reported them gone.
"I think she's just disappeared so nobody can find her," Mr McCaul said.
"I just want her to come home (as) we're missing her - the dogs, the cats.
"I'm thinking she's gone somewhere and is just trying to start a new life but
that's not really working because her old life is still wanting her back.
"Her mother is really upset about it - she lives just around the corner and Barb
was really the only one who was close to her in Toowoomba."
Ms Troughton is described as 155cm tall with a proportionate build, red hair,
green eyes and a fair complexion.
She was the former owner of a takeaway shop on Herries St.
Anyone with information is urged to Contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or
crimestoppersqld.com.au.
On the morning on January 27 this year, Ray McCall took his
partner Barbara Troughton a coffee in bed in her Toowoomba
home and left for work.
It was a normal morning, nothing out of the ordinary happened,
but he hasn't seen her since.
Barbara is one of thousands of people deemed long-term missing
by police and just one focus of this year's national missing
persons week.
Ray doesn't understand what made Barbara leave without telling
anyone where she was going.
She was having some financial difficulties and was considering
selling her business, but he wants her to know things aren't as
bad as she might think.
"I just want to tell her to come home, things aren't as bad as
what she thought they were," he said.
"We all miss her, all the dogs... and I miss her, her mother is
really upset about it."
Police don't believe Barbara has met with foul play, but they do
want to ensure she is OK.
"There's no evidence of foul play so we do believe she is alive
and well," Detective Senior Sergeant Damian Powell of
Queensland's state crime command said.
"We received a considerable number of Crime Stoppers calls when
she first went missing but all those avenues have been run out.
"We believe she is with friends that are either unknown to
partners or other friends or simply she has put herself where
she can survive out of reach with the assistance of a friend or
friends."
Senior Sergeant Powell said police recovered 99.7 per cent of
their missing persons case load.
"There's about 20 to 30 each year that we cant locate," he said.
"Some are victims of homicides, some we believe to be suicides,
some are lost at sea or lost in our environment and that makes
up our point three."
He said this year's theme for national missing persons week was
that missing persons left frayed edges and urged people to stay
in touch with their communities.
"We are encouraging people this year to stay connected, let
people know where you are, what you are doing," he said.
"For every missing person there are 12 people who are directly
affected so that's 12 people who are worried about the missing
person as a minimum.
"Obviously its a big concern for family and friends."
Marina Simoncini, coordinator victim based crime at the
Australian Federal Police and responsible for managing the
national response to missing persons, said when families have a
person missing it is incredibly traumatic.
"What remains with me, over a period of time, is the rawness
that is always there with families of missing persons," she
said.
"The longer time goes on the harder it gets."
She said part of the reason for national missing persons week
was to remind people that there were families out there
struggling with the fact they don't know where someone they love
is.
"What we try to do is encourage people to go to the national
register and look at the profiles of missing persons that are on
there.
"We have found people have come across a profile and recognise
someone and even the smallest clue can help us find someone.
"What we often find in the public sphere, people see these faces
and they don't relate them to an actual person.
"Behind every single one of those photos is someones daughter or
brother or grandmother."
For more information about Barbara Troughton's disappearance
or any missing person visit the national missing persons website
at
www.missingpersons.gov.au
