The family of a young woman who went missing in Toowoomba three days ago say they have given up hope of finding Jana Armstrong alive.
“You won’t see her walking around in public. You just won’t see it. That’s why we’re looking in the bush,” Sister Faith Isaacs said as she hugged her little nephew.
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Police determined Ms Armstrong’s car, a white Hyundai Kona, was seen in three different locations: Rangeville, on the eastern edge of Toowoomba, Preston on the Great Dividing Range south of the city and Darling Heights, south-west of the CBD, between 9pm and 10.15pm on July 7.
The car was then parked outside her Newtown home again from 3am to 5am on July 8th.
Police and the SES searched the area along Tabletop Drive in Rangeville on Friday and will continue searching over the weekend.
Detective Acting Inspector Brian Collins, from the Darling Downs, said police were suspicious about the manner in which Ms Armstrong disappeared.
Faith Isaacs cares for her sister’s four-month-old baby. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura)
“The circumstances in which the vehicle was located below her address and she was nowhere to be seen immediately raised our suspicions,” he said.
“The car was left in an unusual place, practically parked in the middle of the road.
“(It’s) very disturbing that a 30-year-old woman with a four-month-old baby disappears overnight.”
Police are appealing for anyone with information, CCTV footage or vehicle dashcam footage from the four locations to come forward.
Police said Ms Armstrong’s baby was found at her home but had not been seen since last Tuesday.
Ms Armstrong’s siblings, older brother Sam Davison and younger sister Ms Isaacs, said it was completely out of character for a young mother still breastfeeding to abandon her baby boy.
Jana Armstrong was last seen at an address in Newtown on Tuesday, July 7.Supplied by: Qld Police)
The family is urging anyone with any information that could help police find their sister to contact police.
“If they have any information please contact police immediately. And we would appreciate it if people would help by looking around their backyards or going for a walk… looking in those creeks, gullies and any bushes to see if we can find it,” Ms Isaacs said.
The family said Ms Armstrong was a person who always put others before herself.
Sam Davison and Faith Isaacs are worried about their sister’s well-being. (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura)
“She is very caring, the best sister and auntie, and an even better mother to her son. And at the moment she is very loved and missed,” Ms Isaacs said.
Mr Davison added that his sister was outgoing and caring. “It’s very unusual that she just got up and left. It’s definitely more like a story we don’t know about.”
Armstrong was last seen alive on Tuesday, July 7, at her home in the Toowoomba suburb of Newtown, 120km west of Brisbane, and was reported missing on Wednesday.
Her car was found on the corner of Jellicoe Street and Gordon Avenue in Newtown, about 500 meters from her home, at 6am on Wednesday.
Jana Armstrong’s family is appealing for any information about her disappearance. (Delivered by: Armstrong family)
On Friday morning, police forensic teams returned to the house, a semi-detached house, to continue collecting items for removal.
The family says the uncertainty and confusion are hard to bear.
Ms Isaacs saw her sister on the day she disappeared.
“We met for brunch and she seemed like herself, but now that I look back, maybe there was something wrong,” Ms Isaacs recalls.
Police released CCTV footage of Ms Armstrong arriving and parking outside the cafe where she had met her sister for brunch, pushing the baby into a pram and then holding the baby as she walked inside the cafe.
Jana Armstrong was working as a caregiver when she was reported missing. (Delivered by: Armstrong family)
The next day Ms Isaacs wrote to her sister. She now believes the response may have been sent by someone other than Ms Armstrong.
Barbara Bahr, who lived across the street from Ms. Isaacs and spent time with her and the child, did not hear anything suspicious the night Ms. Isaacs was last seen.
“She was here and now in all this mystery. This is one of the greatest mysteries I have ever seen,” Ms. Bahr said.