Police Searching Mine Shafts for Missing Mom, 41, Who Vanished Over 2 Months Ago

Trisha Graf hasn’t been seen or heard from since the early hours of Dec. 12, 2025

Trisha Graf.Credit : South Australia Police

NEED TO KNOW

Police in Australia are continuing the hunt for 41-year-old Trisha Graf, who disappeared in the early hours of Dec. 12, 2025
The search is now including numerous mine shafts in and around the remote mining town of Andamooka, in the South Australian outback
Australian Associated Press (AAP) notes that Graf is a mom of two

Police are searching numerous mine shafts amid the ongoing hunt for a 41-year-old mother in Australia, who disappeared over two months ago.

In a news release shared on Monday, Feb. 23, South Australia Police (SAPOL) confirmed a search at a residential property in the remote mining town of Andamooka, in the South Australian outback, had concluded that day as authorities continue to look for Trisha Graf.

Graf hasn’t been seen or heard from since the early hours of Dec. 12, 2025, police said.

The search for the missing mother will now include multiple mine shafts located near Blue Dam, close to where her abandoned 2012 white Ford Territory was found on the day she vanished, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

SAPOL confirmed to PEOPLE in an email that police would be searching multiple mine shafts amid the ongoing search.

Trisha Graf.South Australia Police

As previously reported by PEOPLE, Graf was last seen driving along Dunstan Drive, Andamooka — a remote town 385 miles north of Adelaide — at around 2:00 a.m. local time on the day she disappeared.

Graf is a mother-of-two, according to the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

Trisha Graf.South Australia Police

“Trisha was at the Roxby Downs hotel at 12.19 a.m. on Friday 12 December 2025. She left a short time later and was driving a white 2012 Ford Territory, SA registration S254BCX, accompanied by a friend,” police recalled in Monday’s news release.

SAPOL added that Graf had traveled from the hotel toward Andamooka “before colliding with a kangaroo a short distance from the Andamooka Township,” per the release.

“After striking the kangaroo, Trisha and her friend continued onto Andamooka, where they visited a home in the north-western area of the town,” the release stated. “After a short time, Trisha left just before 2 a.m. to travel the short distance home. Trisha was last seen driving along Dunstan Drive, Andamooka.”

A photo of Trisha Graf’s abandoned 2012 white Ford Territory.South Australia Police

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Graf’s partner and a friend, who had been out looking for her, then located the missing woman’s abandoned Ford Territory just after midday on Dec. 12 of last year, police said. The vehicle “was perched on a dirt mound near the Blue Dam east of Andamooka” and “was unable to be driven because of its location on the dirt mound,” per the release.

“An initial ground and aerial search of the area was conducted by police and SES followed by a further search by members of the Andamooka community. A search of the Blue Dam was subsequently conducted by police divers. These searches have failed to locate Trisha,” SAPOL shared.

The release continued, “Since that time police from the Far North, Port Augusta, the Missing Persons Section and Polair have conducted additional ground and aerial searches without success.”

A photo of Trisha Graf’s abandoned 2012 white Ford Territory.South Australia Police

In a previous press release, Detective Superintendent Darren Fielke, Major Crime Investigation Branch officer-in-charge, said authorities had grave concerns over Graf’s welfare, as previously reported by PEOPLE.

“Since Trisha was last seen there have been significant investigations and several detailed, thorough searches conducted in an effort to locate her,” Det. Superintendent Fielke said.

“Her thongs [sandals] were found with her vehicle, and we would have expected to locate her if she had simply wandered off a short distance,” he added. “Taking this step in the investigation will allow more specialist resources to be committed to both determine what has happened to Trisha and locate her.’’

“We are still seeking information from people who were with Trisha at the Roxby Downs Hotel shortly before her disappearance and those who saw her after she returned to Andamooka,” Fielke concluded.

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The mother of missing woman Trisha Graf has officially spoken out as the search resumes, reigniting old fears in the small town of Andamooka. The things that haunt her are the four words her daughter uttered before leaving the house.

In the unforgiving red dust of South Australia’s outback, where opal miners chase fortune in underground labyrinths and the horizon stretches into eternity, a family’s anguish refuses to fade. Five months after Trisha Graf, a 41-year-old mother of two, vanished in the early hours of December 12, 2025, fresh police activity has returned to Andamooka — and with it, a mother’s desperate public plea that cuts through the silence like a cry in the night.

Trisha’s mother has broken her silence, her voice heavy with the kind of pain only a parent who fears the worst can know. She fears her daughter met with foul play and would “never in a million years” abandon her children. The haunting last exchange — words spoken as Trisha prepared to leave — echo relentlessly: a light-hearted or reassuring comment met with her daughter’s response that now feels prophetic in its ordinariness. Those four words, relayed in family reflections, have become a tormenting refrain: “Please, come back, this isn’t a joke…” — a mother’s half-joking entreaty on what should have been an unremarkable night.

A Night That Changed Everything

The sequence of events remains etched in the community’s memory. Trisha had been at the Roxby Downs Hotel with a friend on the evening of December 11. Around 12:20 a.m., the pair left in her white 2012 Ford Territory (registration S254BCX) and headed toward Andamooka. They struck a kangaroo en route but continued into town, stopping at a home in the north-western area. Just before 2 a.m., Trisha left alone for the short drive home. She was last seen traveling along Dunstan Drive.

By midday, her partner and a friend discovered the vehicle stuck precariously on a dirt mound near Blue Dam, east of Andamooka. Her thongs were found nearby or inside, but Trisha was gone. Extensive initial searches — ground teams, aerial support, community volunteers, and dives in the dam — turned up nothing. Police declared the case a major crime, citing suspicious circumstances.

Renewed Hope, Renewed Dread

As of May 13, 2026, South Australia Police have launched yet another renewed search in Andamooka. Officers are focusing on the western fringe of the town, deploying inspection cameras into mine shafts in a painstaking effort to unlock the desert’s secrets. Early results on the first day yielded no new evidence, but investigations continue over the coming days. Previous operations in February and March involved searching over 300 points of interest, including residential properties, septic tanks, and disused opal diggings. A vehicle of interest was seized for forensic examination.

For Trisha’s mother, each return to the field reopens wounds. The vast network of old mine shafts — some flooded, collapsed, or long forgotten — looms large in her fears. She has publicly voiced concerns that her daughter may have been dumped in one of these hazardous voids, a grim possibility that aligns with the terrain’s dangers and the investigation’s direction.

Life Interrupted: A Devoted Mother

Trisha Graf was deeply embedded in Andamooka life. Described as a loving mother who cherished her children, she navigated the realities of outback existence — isolation, tight-knit bonds, and the ever-present risks of the land. Family members, including her mother, emphasize that Trisha was clear-headed with minimal alcohol that night and had every intention of returning home. The idea that she would simply walk into the desert and vanish contradicts everything her loved ones know.

Her children remain at the center of the family’s pain. The birthdays, milestones, and quiet moments of everyday life pass without their mother. The public plea from Trisha’s mother carries a universal message to anyone with information: come forward, end this torment, let the family heal.

Andamooka itself, a historic opal-mining settlement with a population that ebbs and flows with fortune-seekers, feels the weight acutely. “This doesn’t happen here,” residents have said in earlier reports, yet the disappearance has shattered that illusion. The town’s dusty streets, modest homes, and surrounding pits now carry an undercurrent of unease. Transients, old rivalries, and the code of silence sometimes found in remote communities add layers of complexity to the probe.

The Outback’s Deadly Embrace

The Australian outback is beautiful but merciless. Extreme temperatures, hidden mine shafts, wildlife hazards, and disorientation can claim lives swiftly. Yet investigators and family alike struggle to reconcile a simple misadventure with the evidence: the car’s odd position, items left behind, no distress signals, and no trace despite immediate searches.

Police continue to appeal for public help, particularly details from the Roxby Downs Hotel or movements along the route that night. Crime Stoppers (1800 333 000) allows anonymous tips. Forensic work on the seized vehicle and any digital or physical evidence could still provide the breakthrough desperately needed.

A Family’s Enduring Vigil

Five months on, Trisha’s mother’s words carry the raw exhaustion of prolonged uncertainty mixed with steely resolve. She speaks not just as a grieving parent but as a voice urging the community to confront uncomfortable possibilities. The desert has held its secret long enough.

As police cameras probe the depths of shafts and officers comb the fringes once more, the red earth of Andamooka seems to watch in silence. For one family, the plea remains constant: Please, come back. Whether those words lead to answers or further heartbreak, the search continues — driven by love, duty, and the unyielding belief that truth, like opals, can eventually be unearthed from darkness.

The outback rarely gives up its mysteries easily, but a mother’s love and a town’s collective memory refuse to let Trisha Graf’s story fade into the dust.