National Missing Persons Week
National Missing Persons Week strives to raise awareness of the issues that relate to missing persons throughout the wider Australian community, profile long-term missing persons, and reduce the number and impact of missing persons in Australia.
This year’s National Missing Persons Week, which is coordinated by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) National Missing Persons Coordination Centre, runs from Sunday, 3 August to Saturday, 9 August 2025. The theme for the 2025 National Missing Persons Week campaign is ‘Forever Loved’ with a focus on acknowledging the experiences of families of missing persons and the impact it can have on their lives.
One profile is nominated by each Australian jurisdiction, with a quote about the missing person provided by their family. This year’s South Australian campaign will focus on missing person, Melissa Trussell (aka Melissa Brown).
Melissa Trussell (aged 15 years) and her mother, Rosemary Brown (aged 33 years) were last seen leaving their home in Blair Athol at about 2.30 am on Saturday, 13 May 2000. Rosemary’s handbag was discovered later that day in Stirling Street, Northfield, although it was not handed to police until 23 May 2000 following a media appeal in relation to the missing women. On Sunday, 2 July 2000, Rosemary’s body was discovered in the mangroves at Garden Island, but no-one has been charged with her murder. Melissa has never been found and is also suspected to have been murdered.
As part of this year’s National Missing Persons Week campaign, Melissa’s sister has described the experience of having someone you love go missing as:
“No answers, no closure, no way of truly saying goodbye. The uncertainty and confusion tears you apart. It is soul destroying.”
A reward of up to $1,000,000 is on offer for information that leads to the conviction of the person or persons responsible for the suspected murder of Melissa and/or leading to the location and recovery of her remains.
Additionally, a social media campaign is running throughout the week with all states and territories’ profiling cases featuring on the AFP National Missing Persons Coordination Centre and AFP Facebook pages.