Police say the national park where Carolina Wilga’s car was found is an easy area to get lost in.
Police say the national park where Carolina Wilga’s car was found is an easy area to get lost in.
By Hannah Murphy
July 11, 2025 — 10.46am
Police say it is likely missing German backpacker Carolina Wilga left her car after it broke down in Western Australia’s outback.
Wilga went missing about a fortnight ago, after she was last seen in a country town about 330 kilometres outside of Perth.
Her car was found abandoned on Thursday afternoon in a national park on the edge of the state’s Wheatbelt region, which borders the Great Sandy Desert.
In a photo released by WA Police, it can be seen with recovery boards wedged under the wheels and surrounded by dense scrubland. Wilga was not with her vehicle.
WA Police Acting Inspector Jessica Securo told ABC Radio Perth the discovery of the car on Thursday meant police were developing the most likely theory in the search for the 26-year-old, which has involved the police air wing.
“Our information to date is she’s likely to become lost in that area, and has potentially walked away from her vehicle,” she said.
“You can see how it would be easy to become lost or disorientated in that area if you didn’t know it well.”
Police are continuing their search on Friday, focusing around the Karroun Hill Nature Reserve.
Officers have also been re-tracing the 26-year-old’s steps in the days following her disappearance.
Wilga left a Fremantle backpackers on June 28 and left a voice message for a friend indicating she had hit the road and intended to leave Perth.
On the same day, CCTV captured her buying petrol in Toodyay – a small town north-east of Perth – before police believe she drove about 200 kilometres east to the town of Beacon.
Beacon is on the north-eastern edge of the Wheatbelt and has a population of just 123 people.
It acts mainly as a service centre for surrounding farms.
Wilga arrived in the town on June 29, where she was captured again on CCTV attempting to enter a closed general store.
Police believe from there she continued travelling east to Wialki, a tiny townsite about 30 kilometres from Beacon.
For nearly two weeks, Wilga’s family and friends were unable to get in touch with her.
Police put out a call for information on July 4.
Locals were asked to look out for Wilga’s distinctive two-tone 1995 Mitsubishi Delica van, and any sign of the woman.
Overnight temperatures around the Beacon area at this time of year can drop as low as 2 degrees.
“Her vehicle was located at least about 35 kilometres inland from any main tracks, so it is dense around there,” Securo said.
The van was well-equipped, with water and solar panels.
Securo said it was hard to know if Wilga had taken anything with her, but police would forensically work through her car throughout Friday.
Hannah Murphy is a journalist with WAtoday.Connect via email.