What’s behind the

THE Tromp family saga sounds like the synopsis for a mystery novel . The tale, acted out in Australia last week, goes something like this.

The setting is a farm in Silvan, a wealthy suburb of Melbourne. The main characters, a family of five: Mark (father), Jacoba (mother) and three adult children, Riana, 29, Mitchell, 25, and Ella, 22.

The Tromps are close-knit. They live and work together in the family fruit-growing business, are very hard-working and their luxurious home, gardens and swimming pool bear witness to their joint labours. They are having extensive refurbishment done to their home. Just an ordinary, successful, nice family; they say they love each other, they are all mates.

But then things change. On August 29, the family suddenly abandons its home, leaving doors unlocked, keys in the car ignitions; mobile phones, credit cards and passports are all left behind. They disappear from the stage set of their family life as if they’ve been abducted by aliens. The main action of this thriller zig-zags across time and place and lasts for six days. Meanwhile, most of Australia is looking for them, trying to piece together the scattered jigsaw of their erratic behaviours and increasingly fractured relationships. Although the family fled as one apparently cohesive unit, it was not long before cracks appeared as they drove north away from their home. By day two of their bizarre odyssey, son Mitchell breaks away to head back home to the farm. Daughters Riana and Ella also break loose, leaving mum and dad to continue their flight in the family car, but not before the two girls allegedly steal someone else’s car to travel back down south. Strangely, the two girls do not head home together, but split up and take different routes. Ella heads home and arrives back shortly before her brother Mitchell. There’s a welcoming committee of local law-enforcement agents in and around the family