The parents of a jogger who went missing for more than 24 hours in Victoria after a suspected abduction have told of their “indescribable relief” when they heard she had been found by police officers carrying out a routine patrol.
The 18-year-old woman, who does not wish to be named, went missing on Wednesday afternoon after setting out for a jog from the One Tree Hill lookout, a bush reserve in the Spring gully, and was found in a car on Thursday in Maiden gully, about 11km from where she went missing.
Daniel Reimers, a 38-year-old man from a small town near Bendigo, faced court on Friday for charges the media have been prohibited from reporting.
Little has been revealed by police about what happened to the teenager during the 25-hour period when she was missing.
In a statement, the teenager’s parents, who were overseas at the time, thanked the police and hospital staff who cared for their daughter. She was not believed to have suffered any physical injuries and was released from hospital on Thursday night.
“As parents, it was indescribable relief on hearing that our daughter had been located alive and was being well cared for in Bendigo hospital,” they wrote.
“Having closely monitored the search effort from London where we had been travelling, our only focus was on a reunion with our daughter. Getting out of the UK in the August holiday season proved very difficult at short notice and the efforts of Qantas staff to support our emergency travel was exemplary.”
They praised Victoria police, Parks Victoria and SES personnel who took part in a large, 24-hour search for their daughter as temperatures fell to -1C on Wednesday night.
Throughout the search, detectives were in frequent contact with the family to provide support and updates, her parents said.
Her father wrote that as a recently retired army colonel and volunteer New South Wales rural bush firefighter, it had been reassuring to have the Victorian country fire association and army reserve units involved with the search.
“Though our daughter was eventually located outside the park, we were very cognisant that alternative enquiries to find our daughter would not fully gear up until the park had been comprehensively searched,” he said.
“We would like to thank hospital staff at Bendigo and the female police who assisted our daughter … and our family is also effusive in its praise of La Trobe University. While we were stuck in the UK, the rest of our family and friends were incredibly well supported and looked after by the university.”
They described the experiences as horrendous, and said it had made their family stronger. They asked the media to respect their privacy.
“We have cried tears of distress and tears of joy and the ordeal will be ongoing as authorities now follow the appropriate judicial processes,” they said.
“This horrendous experience has made our family stronger. Our daughter is an inspirational young person and her friends exemplify a level of integrity and sincerity for which any community would be rightfully proud.”
Reimers remains in custody and will next appear in court in November.
