Still missing 145 days on
No breakthroughs in search for Aussie woman
A CRACK squad of Gold Coast ex-military and police are baffled as a frustrating overseas hunt goes on for an Australian woman missing for four-and-a-half months.
Gold Coast-based members of Panoptic Solutions have returned from Malaysia in their ongoing search for Annapuranee Jenkins, who is in her mid-60s, with more questions than answers.
Her family has put up a 20,000 ringgit ($6750 Australian dollars) reward in the past fortnight for information leading to her whereabouts.
She disappeared 145 days ago on December 13 while holidaying in Penang with Vietnam veteran husband Frank Jenkins.
She had gone alone to a dental appointment before catching an Uber – seemingly en route to visit her mother in a Penang rest home. Her driver is understood to have dropped her 4km from her destination, allegedly at her request, and she has not been seen since.
The desperate family hired Panoptic to help with the search – and team members have made multiple visits to Penang liaising with local police.
Panoptic founder Troy Claydon said several of his team had continued to assist while in Penang where they also attended an Anzac Day dawn service.
“It was quite poignant in that Frank is a Vietnam veteran and our team is made up of veterans of later conflicts. They spent their Anzac Day helping one another out,” Mr Claydon said.
“Police now admit this has been a very unusual and difficult case for them.
“They initially thought this would be solved within a few days and have apologised for the poor policing and lack of investigative work early on which has been to the detriment of the case.”
Mr Claydon said the only positive aspect of a number of recent ‘sightings’, which all turned out to be mistaken identity, was that locals were being vigilant about the disappearance.
“We are unable to discount any theory,” he said.