WEBVTT
1
00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:06.559
One moment, the Tromps were a hard working family on
2
00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:14.759
their farm. The next they vanished without warning, abandoning phones, wallets,
3
00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:22.600
and reality itself. Was it a shared psychosis, an unseen threat,
4
00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:25.800
or something even stranger?
5
00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:32.960
What you were about to be is burid to be you.
6
00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:42.159
Based on witness accounts, testimonies, and public record, this is
7
00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.399
terrifying and.
8
00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.960
In the final days of August two thousand and sixteen,
9
00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:04.079
the Trump family led their home without warning, leaving behind
10
00:01:04.159 --> 00:01:09.480
their phones, their money, and all sense of reason. For
11
00:01:09.640 --> 00:01:15.599
five days, they vanished into the Australian wilderness, hunted, they believe,
12
00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:23.000
by forces unseen. As fear overtook them, the family fractured,
13
00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:30.879
each member spiraling deeper into confusion and terror. What drove
14
00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:36.040
the Trumps to abandon everything they knew? Tonight? We follow
15
00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:41.120
a trail of paranoia, silence and madness, So make sure
16
00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:56.359
you're subscribed. We'll tell that story after this. On a
17
00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:02.200
quiet afternoon in late August two thousand and sixteen, truck
18
00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:09.039
driver Keith Whittaker was cruising down a rural highway outside Goldburn, Australia,
19
00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:14.840
when something thumped the back of his seat startled. He
20
00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:20.240
pulled over and checked behind him. Quote. I turned around
21
00:02:20.360 --> 00:02:24.520
and saw two legs stretched across the back between my
22
00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:28.479
seat and the floor. She was lying on the floor,
23
00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:35.080
Whittaker later recalled, still shaken. I got an extreme shock.
24
00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:40.120
What he found was a young woman curled up in
25
00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:44.919
a catatonic state on his back seat. Unable to say
26
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:50.400
who she was or how she got there, Whittaker immediately
27
00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:54.840
called the police. Only later would he learn that the
28
00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:01.639
stranger in his back seat was twenty nine year old Tromp,
29
00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:06.039
one of five members of a family that had mysteriously
30
00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:12.400
vanished from their home a day earlier. The Tromp family's
31
00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:17.719
bizarre disappearance and the bewildering series of events that followed
32
00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:24.120
would soon grip the entire nation. Just days before their
33
00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:28.840
story became headline news, the Tromps had appeared to be
34
00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:33.800
an ordinary, hard working family living a quiet life on
35
00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:39.919
a red current farm in Sylvan Victoria. Mark Tromp fifty
36
00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:44.400
one and his wife, Jacoba fifty three ran both the
37
00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:48.759
family barry farm and an earth moving business, and by
38
00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:55.800
all accounts, they had no significant debts or enemies. Their
39
00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:01.039
three adult children, Rihanna twenty nine, Mitchell twenty s and
40
00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:05.960
Ella twenty two helped with the farm and business, and
41
00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:11.719
were similarly well regarded in the community. They lived together
42
00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:16.360
on a spacious twenty hector property, which equates to just
43
00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:21.759
under fifty acres. Their property located in the Yarra Valley,
44
00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:28.519
enjoying the relative isolation of rural life not far from Melbourne.
45
00:04:29.160 --> 00:04:33.079
There was nothing to distinguish the Tromps from countless other
46
00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:37.879
Australian farming families, which made what happened at the end
47
00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:42.279
of August two thousand and sixteen all the more baffling.
48
00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:47.199
Without warning, the Tromps fled their home in a panic
49
00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:52.800
on the morning of Monday, August twenty ninth, two thousand sixteen.
50
00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:58.040
The entire family of five piled into Ella's silver Pouzau
51
00:04:58.279 --> 00:05:03.360
suv and roar away from the farm, leaving behind their
52
00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:08.079
daily routine and a multitude of clues that would later
53
00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:13.639
puzzle investigators. When police visited the Tromp home the next day,
54
00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:17.920
they found the house unlocked and all the family's phones,
55
00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:25.000
credit cards, and passports left behind inside. Several cars and
56
00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:29.160
farm vehicles had been left behind as well, with keys
57
00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:36.120
still in the ignitions as if abandoned mid use. Inside
58
00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:40.680
the house were neat piles of financial documents, almost as
59
00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:45.639
if someone had been frantically searching for something just before departure.
60
00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:50.360
It was as if the family had intended to erase
61
00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:56.439
their digital footprint and vanish off the grid. Indeed, this
62
00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:02.600
sudden technology free road trip, taken without phones or bank cards,
63
00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:06.959
would spark one of the most bizarre missing persons cases
64
00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:13.000
in recent Australian history. Neighbors and friends were astonished. The
65
00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:21.319
Tromps had seemed fine and now they were simply gone.
66
00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:27.000
After leaving Sylvan, the Tromps drove north, heading out of Victoria.
67
00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:32.680
They carried little beyond some cash, having deliberately left behind
68
00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:39.040
traceable electronics and identification. Not long into the journey, Mark
69
00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:44.920
and Jacoba's paranoia about being tracked surfaced. Around thirty two
70
00:06:45.000 --> 00:06:50.160
kilometers from home. Father Mark insisted that Mitchell throw his
71
00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:54.240
mobile phone out the car window, fearing it could be
72
00:06:54.399 --> 00:07:00.040
used to locate them. Mitchell complied under pressure, and the
73
00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:04.399
family continued barreling towards the New South Wales border, with
74
00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:11.360
growing unease in the car. As the hours passed and
75
00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:16.519
the Tromps pressed further north, the adult children began to
76
00:07:16.680 --> 00:07:24.079
sense something was very wrong. Whatever fears or delusions had
77
00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:29.120
gripped their parents were only getting worse. By early the
78
00:07:29.160 --> 00:07:33.920
next morning, Tuesday, August thirtieth, twenty five year old Mitchell
79
00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:40.879
Tromp's patience snapped roughly eight hundred kilometers or four hundred
80
00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:44.399
and ninety seven miles from home, near the town of
81
00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:49.360
Bathurst and New South Wales. Mitchell quietly abandoned the road
82
00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:55.240
trip alone and stranded in an unfamiliar region. He made
83
00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:59.120
his way to the nearest city, Sydney, and caught an
84
00:07:59.120 --> 00:08:06.720
overnight train back to Melbourne, intent on returning to sanity. Quote.
85
00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:11.519
I didn't feel in danger, Mitchell later explained of that moment,
86
00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:14.639
but I had to go with the family at first
87
00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:18.399
because I wanted to see where they were going. It
88
00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.759
was tough to see your family like that. Now, seeing
89
00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:27.839
no end to his parents panic, he decided quote getting
90
00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:33.720
out was the best idea at the time. Mitchell's departure
91
00:08:33.799 --> 00:08:37.840
left Mark and Jacoba alone with their two daughters, and
92
00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:43.799
the family's journey only grew stranger from there. A short
93
00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:48.039
time after Mitchell left, the Tromps arrived at the famed
94
00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:53.519
Genolan Caves in the Blue Mountains. There, twenty two year
95
00:08:53.559 --> 00:08:57.639
old Ella and twenty nine year old Rihanna made their
96
00:08:57.679 --> 00:09:03.240
own break for freedom. Sensing that their parents' mental state
97
00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:09.320
was deteriorating, the sisters devised a quick escape. They stole
98
00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:14.000
a parked car and took off, leaving Mark and Jacoba
99
00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:18.320
behind at the caves. The two young women drove the
100
00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:23.480
stolen vehicle southward toward home, but together they were also
101
00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:28.240
struggling under the weight of the paranoia that had infected
102
00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:33.080
the family. By the time they reached the town of Goldburn,
103
00:09:33.159 --> 00:09:38.919
New South Wales, Ella and Rihanna's paths diverged in dramatic fashion.
104
00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:43.720
In a panicked state, the sisters separated from each other,
105
00:09:44.440 --> 00:09:57.519
each proceeding alone. After splitting from her sister in Goulburn,
106
00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:04.200
Rihanna trump effectively went into hiding. Extremely distressed and disoriented,
107
00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:08.399
Rihanna snuck into the back of a stranger's utility truck
108
00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:13.519
and hunkered down on the floor, apparently hoping to stow away.
109
00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:19.039
It was this utility vehicle that driver Keith Whittaker was
110
00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:24.399
operating when he felt an unexpected kick and discovered Rihanna
111
00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:29.039
curled up in the back. Whittaker described the young woman
112
00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:34.200
as catatonic, unable to even tell him her name or
113
00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:39.279
where she was. Thanks to his call, police soon arrived
114
00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:43.159
to take Rihanna to the local hospital in Gulburn, where
115
00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:48.399
she was treated for stress induced exhaustion and mental distress.
116
00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:52.440
News that an unknown woman in a near fugue state
117
00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:57.120
had been found only deepened the mystery for authorities who
118
00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:00.480
had just begun to realize they were dealing with a
119
00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:09.200
family gone missing under bizarre circumstances. Meanwhile, Ella Tromp was
120
00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:13.480
racing back toward Melbourne alone, still behind the wheel of
121
00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:17.200
the stolen car. She was determined to get home to
122
00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:23.039
the farm in Sylvan by Tuesday evening, August thirtieth, Ella succeeded.
123
00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:28.039
She drove six hundred plus kilometers or three hundred and
124
00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:32.519
seventy two miles straight through and arrived back at the
125
00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:38.320
now deserted Tromp family property. There, she was met by police,
126
00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:42.600
who had come to investigate after learning the parents, Mark
127
00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:48.200
and Jacoba were missing after the siblings raised the alarm.
128
00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:53.799
Exhausted and confused, Ella could offer little insight into what
129
00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:59.600
had driven her family to flee. Quote it is very confusing.
130
00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:05.759
I still feel confused, she admitted to reporters later, Struggling
131
00:12:05.799 --> 00:12:10.639
to articulate the chaos of the past two days. Ella
132
00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:16.759
did mention one practical reason for her urgent return quote,
133
00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:21.120
I needed to get home to feed my horses, she said,
134
00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:25.440
as if routine farm chores or a tether to reality.
135
00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.399
Amid the madness. With Ella safe at home and Rhianna
136
00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:34.200
recovering in a hospital, three of the Tromp children had
137
00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:40.440
now either escaped or been rescued from this unusual odyssey,
138
00:12:41.799 --> 00:12:46.320
but their parents were still out there, on the run
139
00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:52.399
and deep in the throes of fear. After being left
140
00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:56.840
behind at Genoleen Caves by their daughters, Mark and Jacoba
141
00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:02.480
Tromp became a two person fugitive pain. The couple, still
142
00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:09.320
convinced they were in peril, did not contact authorities or family. Instead,
143
00:13:09.440 --> 00:13:16.759
they continued their strange rambling journey. Evidence later showed that
144
00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:23.159
Mark and Jacoba doubled back toward Victoria. By Wednesday, August
145
00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:29.399
thirty first, their vehicle, Ellas Pouzau, had traveled hundreds of
146
00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:35.159
kilometers southwest and was spotted around Wangarata, a country town
147
00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:40.519
back across the Victorian border. There. Late that night, the
148
00:13:40.600 --> 00:13:45.960
Tromp parents erratic behavior gave locals affright. A young couple
149
00:13:46.039 --> 00:13:51.279
driving through Wangarata reported being aggressively tailgated by a man
150
00:13:51.360 --> 00:13:55.200
in a silver pousau. When they pulled over an alarm,
151
00:13:55.720 --> 00:14:00.480
the pursuer stopped as well. A tall, while cald eyed
152
00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:04.759
figure believed to be Mark Tromp, jumped out and sprinted
153
00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:09.559
toward them, only to suddenly halt in the middle of
154
00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:14.240
the road under the flicker of headlights. He simply stood
155
00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:19.799
and stared at them in silence, before turning and wandering
156
00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:25.440
off into the darkness of a nearby park. It was
157
00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:29.720
a chilling encounter for the unsuspecting couple, and when police
158
00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:34.720
later learned of it, they too were unnerved. The sighting
159
00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:37.879
suggested that Mark was still in the grip of whatever
160
00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:43.840
terror had driven him from home. By dawn of Thursday,
161
00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:48.320
September one, the Tromp case had become a full scale
162
00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:53.519
missing person investigation. With Rihanna and Ella found and Mitchell
163
00:14:53.639 --> 00:14:57.120
safely back in sylvan He had returned home by train
164
00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:02.679
on Wednesday morning, attention turned to locating the still missing parents.
165
00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:07.399
Mitchell took the extraordinary step of appearing on live television
166
00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:12.399
to appeal for help in finding his father. Flanked by
167
00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:16.639
police on Channel nine's Today show. The twenty five year
168
00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:22.200
old described marx fragile mindset. Quote, He's scared that people
169
00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:25.519
are after him. He's not in a good state of mind,
170
00:15:26.279 --> 00:15:31.480
Mitchell told the National TV audience, hoping someone might spot
171
00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:36.799
his dad. He emphasized that his father was quote fearing
172
00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:41.440
for his life for reasons unknown, and urged Mark to
173
00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:47.440
come home. Mitchell himself seemed baffled by the situation. Quote,
174
00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:51.600
I've never seen anything like it. They were just fearing
175
00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:55.759
for their lives and then they decided to flee, he
176
00:15:55.879 --> 00:16:00.360
said of his parent's extreme behavior. His on air plea
177
00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:05.279
underscored how surreal the ordeal had become. In the span
178
00:16:05.440 --> 00:16:10.960
of seventy two hours, this normal family's private crisis had
179
00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:18.759
escalated into a public drama broadcast across Australia. That same day,
180
00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:24.080
Jacoba Tromp was discovered wandering in a daze near the
181
00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:29.720
small town of Yas, over three hundred kilometers from Wangarata.
182
00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:34.720
A passer by encountered the fifty three year old mother
183
00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:40.360
in an agitated but exhausted state and called for help.
184
00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:45.519
Jacoba was admitted to a local hospital, where doctors assessed
185
00:16:45.559 --> 00:16:50.240
her mental health as quote not of a good standard.
186
00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:55.559
According to Sergeant Mark Knight of the New South Wales Police,
187
00:16:55.639 --> 00:16:59.720
She was soon transferred to the same Gulburn hospital where
188
00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:04.480
her daughter Rhianna was recovering, reuniting the two women in
189
00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:19.319
involuntary respite. Now only Mark Trump remained at large. Back
190
00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:24.759
in Wangarada, police had found the abandoned pouzau and noted
191
00:17:24.839 --> 00:17:28.559
signs that Mark had been camping rough in the area.
192
00:17:29.559 --> 00:17:33.119
There were even reports of break ins at local properties
193
00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:38.000
during those days, with stolen food or water, suggesting Mark
194
00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:44.400
might have been scavenging to survive. Officers, joined by Mark's brother,
195
00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:49.119
scoured the forests and back roads, aware that Mark was
196
00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:54.240
likely in a disturbed and paranoid state and could be
197
00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:01.559
hiding or on the move. Finally, on Saturday, September three,
198
00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:06.759
the search for Mark Trump came to an end. A
199
00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:11.799
motorist spotted a disheveled man running along a road on
200
00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:17.480
the outskirts of Wangorada that evening and alerted authorities. Police
201
00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:23.160
converged and confirmed it was indeed the missing patriarch. After
202
00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:26.759
five days on the run, fifty one year old Mark
203
00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:33.839
Trump was found safe. Relieved officers noted that aside from
204
00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:40.680
dehydration and fatigue. He seemed physically unharmed. Mentally, however, Mark
205
00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:46.240
appeared confused and wary as police escorted him to a station.
206
00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:51.039
A throng of media had gathered, eager for answers to
207
00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:59.279
this unfolding mystery. Mark offered none. Instead, he wordlessly flipped
208
00:18:59.279 --> 00:19:02.279
a middle finger to the cameras from the back of
209
00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:06.880
a police vehicle as he was whisked away. It was
210
00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:12.400
a defiant, oddly comical gesture, the first public hint of
211
00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:19.519
the farmer's personality beyond the paranoia. The Tromp family's strange
212
00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:26.440
odyssey was over, but the question remained what on earth
213
00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:31.759
had caused it in the first place. With all five
214
00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:36.799
family members located alive, the Tromp saga shifted from an
215
00:19:36.799 --> 00:19:42.079
active search to an active investigation into why it all happened.
216
00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:47.680
The family's behavior had been so inexplicable that even police
217
00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:53.359
were at a loss. Quote, this is just a massive meltdown,
218
00:19:53.799 --> 00:20:00.160
I'm sure of it, Sergeant Mark Knight remarked, something triggered them.
219
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:06.240
Despite extensive interviews, authorities could not pinpoint any external threat
220
00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:12.519
or event that would justify the Trump's fearful flight. No
221
00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:17.559
evidence emerged of anyone actually chasing or targeting the family,
222
00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:23.079
As one officer flatly stated, the family was never in
223
00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:28.519
any real danger. The prevailing theory soon became that the
224
00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:35.920
cause was internal, a kind of group mental breakdown. Early
225
00:20:36.039 --> 00:20:41.680
speculation ran wild. Some observers wondered if chemical exposure on
226
00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:47.519
the family's farm, perhaps pesticides or carbon monoxide, had induced
227
00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:54.319
hallucinations or delusions. Others floated the idea that the Tromps
228
00:20:54.359 --> 00:21:01.359
were hiding from financial trouble or criminal entanglements, but investigators
229
00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:07.079
found no debts or enemies to speak of. Both of
230
00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:11.440
those theories were quickly ruled out, and no secret pursuers
231
00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:18.920
or vendettas ever came to light. Instead, attention turned to
232
00:21:19.039 --> 00:21:25.079
the psychological. It became increasingly clear that Mark Trump, the
233
00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:30.839
family patriarch, had been under immense stress. Later, in a
234
00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:35.039
rare interview, Rhianna would confirm that in the lead up
235
00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:39.880
to their flight, a quote build up of stresses had
236
00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:44.519
caused her father to suffer a mental breakdown so intense
237
00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:51.319
he truly believed someone was after him. But that still
238
00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:55.759
left a haunting question, why did the rest of the
239
00:21:55.839 --> 00:22:02.119
family go along with it. Psychologlogists suggested the Tromps might