Australia Australia - Ellen Wilson, 54, Ballina, NSW, 11 Sept 2015

[HinterlandObserver]

You said that Ellen was a professional carer - do you know this, or was it a guess? I was wondering if her work had been all voluntary:
- In 2015, Detective Sergeant Bernadette Ingram said Ellen "is relocated from a different part of Australia, the details of which I don't have with me, but she's been in this area for a little while now, so she has established friendships here and she's been involved in some volunteer work." (BBM)
(transcribed from about 03:26 in the video in Concerns for woman missing for two months, Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 09 Nov 2015 - not paywalled)
- In 2016 Ellen's sister said Ellen "always was a good worker with disabled children, and adults as well".
(about 01:47 in Police address the media for the launch of NSW Missing Persons Week 2016, Facebook Watch, 31 July 2016)

Also, same question: is it knowledge or a guess that the hotel was providing crisis accommodation at the time Ellen went missing? If it was, that might be interesting, particularly if she was staying there or went there to visit a resident. But it would also be possible that she went there for reasons unrelated to accommodation e.g. for a meal or a drink; to hear a band; to play the pokies; etc.

IMO one interesting thing is that the bank Ellen visited for the ATM in Lismore also has a branch and ATM in Ballina, in the same street as the hotel and less than 100 metres away. This makes me wonder whether Ellen withdrew cash in Lismore because she needed to use it during the day, before going to Ballina. (That's if she did actually withdraw money. The CCTV doesn't show cash as far as I can see. Maybe she was checking her balance?)

I only inferred her vocation from this quote:
In 2016 Ellen's sister said Ellen "always was a good worker with disabled children, and adults as well".
(about 01:47 in Police address the media for the launch of NSW Missing Persons Week 2016, Facebook Watch, 31 July 2016)

As for the Aussie hotel, it’s personal knowledge, I’ve lived between Lismore and Ballina for 15 years. It really was a dive, the news story about the homeless man who burned it down was a good example, I’ll try to find more.. he claimed to live there (probably did stay with other residents, they generally stick together).

And great point with the bank location in Ballina. It’s close enough to walk straight to from the pub she was at.

So she withdrew the money before the pub?
We should do a timeline, I keep getting confused by reports.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

Missing NSW woman's sister makes plea

“Ellen Wilson, then 54 and a disability worker, went missing from Ballina in the state's north last September, Elizabeth Crook says.
Her disappearance is not being treated as suspicious at this stage but police hold serious concerns for her welfare.”

This article confirms she was a disability worker at the time.

 

[stormbird]

I only inferred her vocation from this quote:
In 2016 Ellen's sister said Ellen "always was a good worker with disabled children, and adults as well".
(about 01:47 in Police address the media for the launch of NSW Missing Persons Week 2016, Facebook Watch, 31 July 2016)

As for the Aussie hotel, it’s personal knowledge, I’ve lived between Lismore and Ballina for 15 years. It really was a dive, the news story about the homeless man who burned it down was a good example, I’ll try to find more.. he claimed to live there (probably did stay with other residents, they generally stick together).

And great point with the bank location in Ballina. It’s close enough to walk straight to from the pub she was at.

So she withdrew the money before the pub?
We should do a timeline, I keep getting confused by reports.

Thanks for clarifying. And personal knowledge is worth a lot, IMO. There's no need to look for more examples about the hotel (not unless you want to). It's enough to know that it might have had a reputation that was known around the area.

I've been confused by the jumbled reports as well - reporters can't seem to get the times sorted. Some articles say that Ellen was last seen at the hotel; some say at the ATM. This one from October 2015 (a month after she went missing) says the early information was later changed:

"Ms Wilson was previously said to have been last seen walking along Woodlark Street, Lismore, about 10.45am on Friday 11 September 2015.
Now police believe she visited a pub in Ballina on the same day."
- Ellen Wilson visited Ballina pub before disappearing, The Echo, 29 Oct 2015

In the 2016 media conference (on Facebook Watch) at about 03:40, Detective Chief Inspector Lindsay says Ellen was "last seen at the Australian Hotel on that night", and for me that means she visited the ATM earlier than that, before going to Ballina. The hotel was her last-known location, IMO.

 

[stormbird]

From: Missing Persons Week 2019 – Missing Person Ellen Wilson, Mirage News, 07 Aug 2019

"Ellen Wilson, then aged 54, was last seen at a licensed premise in Ballina on Friday 11 September 2015.

She had spoken to a friend on the phone during the morning and the pair had arranged to meet in Ballina regarding some volunteer work they were participating in the following morning (Saturday 12 September 2015).

Ms Wilson failed to attend the location at the agreed time and was reported missing four days later by friends.

It’s believed Ms Wilson may have driven her vehicle – a silver Subaru station wagon bearing NSW registration CB 76 QX – from Ballina when she was last seen.

There have been unconfirmed sightings of her vehicle in the local area in the months following her disappearance; however, the vehicle has never been located.

Investigators from Richmond Police District [in 2015 called Richmond Local Area Command] have received no further leads as to her whereabouts."
...
Anyone who has seen Ms Wilson, or has information as to her whereabouts, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000."

I think this article by Mirage News was probably a copy/paste of a news post by NSW Police; a link to the NSW Police Latest News page was included at the end but it now goes to an error. I haven't been able to find the original post, so I'm hoping this article was an accurate copy.

 

[stormbird]

A news article quoting unspecified social media posts by Ellen's niece says that a coroner closed Ellen's case in 2017:

"The coroner had closed her case earlier this year and we are still at a loss of what has happened to her.
"My parents sadly had to pack up her belongings and store them at their home, hoping for her return one day.
"Someone must know something."
- Family's desperate search to find missing Lismore woman, Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 12 Sep 2017

I haven't been able to find a coroner's finding in the list at the Coroner's Court of NSW or any reports saying that an inquest was held.

Does anybody know more about this? Was it private?

 

[HinterlandObserver]

I

A news article quoting unspecified social media posts by Ellen's niece says that a coroner closed Ellen's case in 2017:

"The coroner had closed her case earlier this year and we are still at a loss of what has happened to her.
"My parents sadly had to pack up her belongings and store them at their home, hoping for her return one day.
"Someone must know something."
- Family's desperate search to find missing Lismore woman, Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 12 Sep 2017

I haven't been able to find a coroner's finding in the list at the Coroner's Court of NSW or any reports saying that an inquest was held.

Does anybody know more about this? Was it private?

I’ve trawled through a couple of times too. No such report available online that I can find either.
It’s quite concerning that they feign doing work on these cases but there’s no reports of where her car was sighted, nothing available for the community to see what police have done to find her.
The case with Theo Hayez has his movements down to the minute, understandably it was four years apart but surely if they did more there would be more info available.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

If you had the opportunity to ask someone that knew Ellen anything, what would you ask?

 

[stormbird]

If you had the opportunity to ask someone that knew Ellen anything, what would you ask?

That's a good question. What would you ask?

I get the impression that Ellen's sister and the police believed it was possible she went missing voluntarily, so I'd be trying to find out if that view was shared by other people who knew her. Maybe it was somehow obvious there were no suspicious circumstances? But if other people had doubts, I'd be looking for more information about Ellen and her life in the days or weeks before she disappeared:
e.g. "Tell us everything about Ellen - even the dumbest things, even the things you just wonder about or can't quite remember for sure."

 

[stormbird]

In August 2018, a law firm posted an advertisement in the "Missing Wills" section of the Law Society of NSW Journal (issue 47, page 102):

ELLEN RACHEL WILSON
"Would any solicitor, firm or person holding or knowing the whereabouts of a will, or other testamentary document of Ellen Rachel Wilson late of Ballina and formerly of Goonellabah who died on or after 11 September 2017[sic] please contact [the law firm in Dee Why, Sydney]."
BBM and my notes in square brackets

I'm interested in the "late of Ballina and formerly of Goonellabah" because an article published in 2016 (nearly one year after Ellen went missing) said:

"Investigators have ... attended Ms Wilson's Goonellabah home, on multiple occasions; however, no one appears to have accessed the home since she went missing and neighbours have not seen her in the area."
- from Missing Persons Week: Search continues for Ellen Wilson, Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 01 August 2016 (paywalled, sorry)

Why were police searching a home in Goonellabah/Lismore if Ellen had been living in Ballina?

What were her circumstances, anyway? None of the reports I've seen say whether she was living alone or with others: partner? children? housemates? pets?

 

[HinterlandObserver]

In August 2018, a law firm posted an advertisement in the "Missing Wills" section of the Law Society of NSW Journal (issue 47, page 102):

ELLEN RACHEL WILSON
"Would any solicitor, firm or person holding or knowing the whereabouts of a will, or other testamentary document of Ellen Rachel Wilson late of Ballina and formerly of Goonellabah who died on or after 11 September 2017[sic] please contact [the law firm in Dee Why, Sydney]."
BBM and my notes in square brackets

I'm interested in the "late of Ballina and formerly of Goonellabah" because an article published in 2016 (nearly one year after Ellen went missing) said:

"Investigators have ... attended Ms Wilson's Goonellabah home, on multiple occasions; however, no one appears to have accessed the home since she went missing and neighbours have not seen her in the area."
- from Missing Persons Week: Search continues for Ellen Wilson, Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 01 August 2016 (paywalled, sorry)

Why were police searching a home in Goonellabah/Lismore if Ellen had been living in Ballina?

What were her circumstances, anyway? None of the reports I've seen say whether she was living alone or with others: partner? children? housemates? pets?

Wow! What an interesting find. Amazing work.
I was able to learn that someone Ellen volunteered with at Biala special school was going to help her move to Ballina, I havnt spoken to them yet but that is corroborating info with that post. I wonder if she had moved already?

 

[stormbird]

Wow! What an interesting find. Amazing work.
I was able to learn that someone Ellen volunteered with at Biala special school was going to help her move to Ballina, I havnt spoken to them yet but that is corroborating info with that post. I wonder if she had moved already?

It's good to know a bit more about what Ellen was doing. Thank you!

Maybe if she had moved already, the school might have had her new address but she hadn't yet changed the details at her bank and elsewhere? That could possibly explain why the police thought she was still living at Goonellabah (if that is what they thought).

 

[Mel 1303]

A news article quoting unspecified social media posts by Ellen's niece says that a coroner closed Ellen's case in 2017:

"The coroner had closed her case earlier this year and we are still at a loss of what has happened to her.
"My parents sadly had to pack up her belongings and store them at their home, hoping for her return one day.
"Someone must know something."
- Family's desperate search to find missing Lismore woman, Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 12 Sep 2017

In August 2018, a law firm posted an advertisement in the "Missing Wills" section of the Law Society of NSW Journal (issue 47, page 102):

ELLEN RACHEL WILSON
"Would any solicitor, firm or person holding or knowing the whereabouts of a will, or other testamentary document of Ellen Rachel Wilson late of Ballina and formerly of Goonellabah who died on or after 11 September 2017[sic] please contact [the law firm in Dee Why, Sydney]."
BBM and my notes in square brackets

I'm interested in the "late of Ballina and formerly of Goonellabah" because an article published in 2016 (nearly one year after Ellen went missing) said:

"Investigators have ... attended Ms Wilson's Goonellabah home, on multiple occasions; however, no one appears to have accessed the home since she went missing and neighbours have not seen her in the area."
- from Missing Persons Week: Search continues for Ellen Wilson, Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 01 August 2016 (paywalled, sorry)

Why were police searching a home in Goonellabah/Lismore if Ellen had been living in Ballina?

What were her circumstances, anyway? None of the reports I've seen say whether she was living alone or with others: partner? children? housemates? pets?

My reading of this is that she disappeared from Ballina, but had resided in Goonellabah. I believe it is just worded badly.

 

[stormbird]

@Mel 1303
Sorry, I can't get this to work as a reply to your post, but that's what it's trying to be.
Re "My reading of this is that she disappeared from Ballina, but had resided in Goonellabah. I believe it is just worded badly."

So, the "late of" could really just mean "last known location". Thanks, that makes sense.

 

[stormbird]

Only one image of Ellen's car was released (as far as I can find), and it wasn't a photo of her actual car or a CCTV image, it seems to be an advertising image IMO.

For example, ten years before Ellen went missing this image was used by a car news site, captioned "2006 Subaru Forester X":

- photo from "Forester Offers the Power and the Fashion", Next Car, 11 July 2005 (the date of the article was shown in NEWS INDEX: Subaru)

To compare, this is the image used in a 2017 news article about Ellen's disappearance:

- photo from: "Family's desperate search to find missing Lismore woman", Northern Star / Daily Telegraph, 12 Sep 2017 (not paywalled)

 

[stormbird]

From a video "Missing woman" (4:24 minutes) in "Concerns for woman missing for two months", Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 09 Nov 2015
(Note that article is not paywalled; and for me the video will only play if I allow cookies and advertisements.)

The video shows a media conference featuring Detective Sergeant Bernadette Ingram (who is named in the article, not the video) and two unidentified reporters, and it looks like they're standing outside Lismore Police Station. Edited transcript by me, this first section starting from 0:28 minutes:

Reporter: Are there any indications where the car could be?

Police: No, not at this stage. Ellen was last seen at the Australian Hotel in Ballina. As far as where she went after that - we're at a loss as to know where she went, and we're appealing to the public for information. Any information may help us to find her.

Reporter: Given that, if she was out and she was drinking and things like that, have you looked into possibilities that um... have you talked to people who have seen her last and know what type of mood she was in or how she was feeling that day?

Police: We've spoken to quite a lot of witnesses, actually, and it's an absolute mystery. There is no indication as to what might have happened to her after she left the hotel.

Reporter: The initial press release says it was not suspicious circumstances. Do you think that's changed?

Police: Ah, no, no, look, to say anything else would be just speculating. All I can say is it's a mystery.

Reporter: Where have you searched for the car?

Police: We've searched all around the local area, but that's not to say that she hasn't gone interstate or that we believe may not be found somewhere else outside the local area.

And from 2:19 minutes:

Police: Our focus at the moment has been on the motor vehicle. It's a 2006 Subaru Forester, grey in colour. We've searched fire trails. We've searched bush areas. And we will continue to search but obviously anything that the public can help us with as far as information in relation to that car is going to help.

Reporter: And what about searching the river?

Police: We haven't done that. There's no indication to suggest that, you know, anything might have happened to her. Like I said, if we find that motor vehicle, that's going to be the best clue to finding out where Ellen is. ​

 

[stormbird]

From a video "Missing woman" (4:24 minutes) in "Concerns for woman missing for two months", Daily Telegraph / Northern Star, 09 Nov 2015
(Note that article is not paywalled; and for me the video will only play if I allow cookies and advertisements.)

The video shows a media conference featuring Detective Sergeant Bernadette Ingram (who is named in the article, not the video) and two unidentified reporters, and it looks like they're standing outside Lismore Police Station. Edited transcript by me <snipped>

From the Nov 2015 media conference:

Police: "We've searched fire trails. We've searched bush areas."
and:
Reporter: And what about searching the river?
Police: We haven't done that. There's no indication to suggest that, you know, anything might have happened to her.

As far as I know there aren't any fire trails or bush areas between Ballina and Goonellabah. So, following the thinking in regard to the apparently unnecessary river search, there must have been an indication to suggest that Ellen hadn't driven straight home after the hotel and had instead headed into bushland somewhere else.

Did Ellen have any links to bush areas or activities? Were there bush areas she had visited before? Her car had a clearance of 20 cm ("Min. ground clearance mm = 200", from Technical specifications: Forester Dimensions, Forester Offers the Power and the Fashion), which would not have been very high if driving on bush fire trails in the dark.

 

[stormbird]

<snipped> So, following the thinking in regard to the apparently unnecessary river search, there must have been an indication to suggest that Ellen hadn't driven straight home after the hotel and had instead headed into bushland somewhere else.<snipped>

It's too late to edit my earlier post but I'd like to add this: it's my opinion only that the detective sergeant meant that a search of the river was unnecessary because there was no indication that anything related to the river had happened to Ellen.

That's not what she said, it's just what I think she meant. And if that is what she meant, then I think the flip side of that is that, as police apparently did think it necessary to search fire trails and bush areas (which were presumably not along Ellen's trip home from Ballina to Goonellabah) that probably means there was an indication that something related to fire trails or bush areas might have happened to Ellen.

Does that make any sense? MOO

 

[HinterlandObserver]

From the Nov 2015 media conference:

Police: "We've searched fire trails. We've searched bush areas."
and:
Reporter: And what about searching the river?
Police: We haven't done that. There's no indication to suggest that, you know, anything might have happened to her.

As far as I know there aren't any fire trails or bush areas between Ballina and Goonellabah. So, following the thinking in regard to the apparently unnecessary river search, there must have been an indication to suggest that Ellen hadn't driven straight home after the hotel and had instead headed into bushland somewhere else.

Did Ellen have any links to bush areas or activities? Were there bush areas she had visited before? Her car had a clearance of 20 cm ("Min. ground clearance mm = 200", from Technical specifications: Forester Dimensions, Forester Offers the Power and the Fashion), which would not have been very high if driving on bush fire trails in the dark.

Searching fire trails or bush areas would lead me to believe they thought her car had been stolen/dumped IMOO.
There may not be marked "fire trails" on maps, but there are many many roads through bush areas, nat parks, private properties etc where vehicles get dumped and often torched.
As for the river, I have been considering that myself, but we have annual floods that I feel would have turned her vehicle up should it have been in there. Other bodies of water though, such as dams, should be checked.

 

[stormbird]

Searching fire trails or bush areas would lead me to believe they thought her car had been stolen/dumped IMOO.
There may not be marked "fire trails" on maps, but there are many many roads through bush areas, nat parks, private properties etc where vehicles get dumped and often torched.
As for the river, I have been considering that myself, but we have annual floods that I feel would have turned her vehicle up should it have been in there. Other bodies of water though, such as dams, should be checked.

I've wondered about floods, too, plus droughts and bushfires. There's been a series of disasters since Ellen went missing in September 2015 and IMO it's surprising that none of them have brought her car to light.

Even if the car is hidden in a private dam (and that would definitely qualify as suspicious circumstances), it's likely that water levels have been going up and down depending on drought or flood, and if in a bushfire area it's possible that firefighters could have taken water to fill their tankers. So IMO it's unlikely a car could stay completely out of sight to views from overhead e.g. from recreational aircraft, satellite mapping, police helicopter searches for drug plantations etc.

And in the recovery phases after floods or bushfires there would have been increased surveillance on the ground, with people out checking roads and fences and clearing debri and fallen trees etc. So if the car had crashed off a road (as I think is the most likely scenario), it seems strange that it still hasn't been sighted yet, MOO.

 

[HinterlandObserver]

I've wondered about floods, too, plus droughts and bushfires. There's been a series of disasters since Ellen went missing in September 2015 and IMO it's surprising that none of them have brought her car to light.

Even if the car is hidden in a private dam (and that would definitely qualify as suspicious circumstances), it's likely that water levels have been going up and down depending on drought or flood, and if in a bushfire area it's possible that firefighters could have taken water to fill their tankers. So IMO it's unlikely a car could stay completely out of sight to views from overhead e.g. from recreational aircraft, satellite mapping, police helicopter searches for drug plantations etc.

And in the recovery phases after floods or bushfires there would have been increased surveillance on the ground, with people out checking roads and fences and clearing debri and fallen trees etc. So if the car had crashed off a road (as I think is the most likely scenario), it seems strange that it still hasn't been sighted yet, MOO.

Agree entirely.
The only other real way the car wouldn’t be found is if it’s been parted out.
“The V.I.N. is recorded and located in a number of locations which can vary from model to model. Locations can include the vehicle firewall, build plate located in the engine bay or base of the passenger side 'B' pillar.”
Which I think would mean everything but the chassis could be removed and sold or disposed of without it being identifiable?