the 2016 tromp family trip

In 2016, the Tromp family fled their home and drove 800km north. We still don't know why.

When Victorian Police arrived at the Tromp family ‘s home in Silvan, Victoria, on August 30, 2016, they found the doors unlocked. A station wagon was missing, but other cars had been left behind. The keys still in the ignitions.

Passports, mobile phones and bank cards belonging to the family of five were discovered inside, along with piles and piles of financial and business documents. They were neat and ordered, almost as if someone had been searching for something, police told The Daily Telegraph .

By then, the Tromps — Mark, 51, his wife Jacoba, 53, and their three adult children, Riana, 29, Mitchell, 25, and Ella, 22 — were already hundreds of kilometres into a journey that would spark one of the most bizarre missing persons cases in recent Australian history.

All five Tromps were ultimately located over the course of the next several days in various locations across NSW and Victoria. All were safe, but not all well.

The details of the case remain murky, pieced together from information provided by police and cryptic press conferences later given by Mitchell and Ella in an effort to satisfy the baffled press and public.

It was confirmed, via Riana’s 2017 interview with Woman’s Day , that a build up of stresses had led to her father suffering a mental breakdown. One so intense that he feared someone was after him and prompted him to flee.

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But many questions remain unanswered, including the key one: why did the rest follow? Why, on August 29, did an entire family suddenly pile into Ella’s silver Peugeot wagon and head north, with little on them but a pile of cash?

The timeline of the Tromp family saga.

Monday, August 29.

The family fled their Silvan home and drove toward NSW.

About 32km into the journey, Mitchell’s mobile phone, believed to be the only one brought on the trip, was thrown out the car window near Warburton, reportedly amid fears it could be tracked.

Tuesday, August 30.

Around 7am, Mitchell, frustrated by his parents paranoia, abandoned the trip near the regional NSW town of Bathurst and began the journey back home via Sydney.

A short time later, the rest of the family arrived in Jenolan Caves, near the Blue Mountains, where the two sisters then stole a car and drove back south to Goulburn. There, they went their separate ways.

Ella continued the drive on to Silvan, while Riana was found that afternoon in the back of a stranger’s ute, in which she’d attempted to steal a ride. Driver, Keith Whittaker, told The Goulburn Post that he’d driven several kilometres when he felt a kick to the back of his seat.

“I turned around and saw two legs stretched across the back between my seat and the floor. She was lying on the floor,” he said. “I got an extreme shock.”

He described Riana as being in a “catatonic” state; she was reportedly unable to provide any personal details or identify where she was. Whittaker phoned police, and Riana was taken to Goulburn Hospital, where she was treated for stress-related issues.

Jacoba and Mark were reported missing that afternoon, prompting police to attend the family home in Silvan.

Ella arrived there that evening.

Wednesday, August 31.

Mitchell arrived home that morning, having caught the overnight train from Sydney.

Police searched the Jenolan Caves area for the parents, but they were nowhere to be found. They’d already driven back over the Victorian border to the town of Wangaratta.

From there, Jacoba Tromp travelled alone north to Yass (outside of Canberra) on public transport, while Mark remained behind.

That night, a young couple in Wangaratta experienced a disturbing incident in which they were tailgated by a man in a silver Peugeot station wagon. When they pulled over, the driver got out of the car and ran towards them, before stopping in the middle of the road, staring at them, then walking into nearby Merriwa Park. It was believed to be Mark Tromp.

Thursday, September 1.

In an effort to locate his father, Mitchell Tromp appeared on Channel 9 alongside police, appealing for information.

“He’s scared that people are after him; he’s not in a good state of mind,” the 25-year-old told Today .

Who Mark thought those ‘people’ were remains unclear. Mitchell simply told host, Sylvia Jeffreys, that he couldn’t provide a specific explanation for his parents’ paranoia, and that their “extreme” behaviour shocked him.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s really hard to explain or put a word on it but they were just fearing for their lives, and then they decided to flee,” he said.

That afternoon, Jacoba Tromp was admitted to hospital in Yass after a passerby spotted her wandering around the town in an agitated state. According to The Daily Telegraph , Sergeant Mark Knight of NSW Police said doctors at the hospital had assessed her, and her mental health “wasn’t of a good standard”.

Sgt. Knight also referred to the case as the most “bizarre” he’d come across in three decades of policing.

Saturday, September 3.

Mark Tromp was located running along a street on the outskirts of Wangaratta that evening. He was picked up by police, and released to a relative several hours later. As he was driven away, he gave waiting media the middle finger.

In a statement the following week, he expressed his regret over the ordeal but didn’t elaborate on what had caused his distress: “Without reservation, I apologise for the hurt and concern caused by these events,” he said.

The theories about the Tromp family.

At the time, there was wild speculation about what prompted the Tromp family to flee. Theories ranged from psychosis caused by chemicals used on their redcurrant farm, to suggestion that they were running from debt collectors.

Both were ruled out, and police didn't comment further.

But as it was clear mental ill-health played a significant role, one of the most persistent theories to emerge was that the family may have been experiencing a psychological condition known as folie à deux  (madness of two), in which people in close-knit relationships experience a shared psychosis.

Riana appeared to nod to this in her Woman's Day interview.

"You do start thinking the same," she said.

“You have a few things and they do build up — you can get sick in some way."

Her siblings, meanwhile, seemed as baffled as those who'd followed their story.

"It is very confusing, I still feel confused," Ella said during a press conference. "I think our state of minds wasn't in the best place, um, and yeah, I can't even really… There's no one reason for it – it's bizarre."

Mitchell said he couldn't explain what had happened, either. But said he didn't share his father's sense of danger when they scrambled into the car on August 29.

"I just had to go with the family because I wanted to see where they were going. I couldn't leave them," he said. "But, yeah, it was tough to see your family like that, and I've never seen anyone like it, but the main thing is they're OK now. Everyone is safe, everyone is well. So we can just go back to being the family again."

The Tromps have kept a low profile in the seven years since, and have seemingly returned to work and their regular lives. Ella was charged with car theft over the incident, but the charges were ultimately withdrawn with the understanding of the vehicle's owner.

If you are struggling with your mental health, crisis support is available 24 hours a day via Lifeline . Please call 13 11 14.

This article was originally published in 2019, and has since been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Supplied.

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Wonder what`s become of them ?

I remember this case well. Also remember that not one of the people involved seemed to be telling the whole truth, or indeed quite well in a mental health sense.

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We’re Still Fascinated With The Tromp Family’s Bizarre Road Trip, Almost 3 Years Later

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That’s why we talk about it in Season 1, Episode 11 of PEDESTRIAN.TV ’s unsolved mysteries podcast, All Aussie Mystery Hour .

We all know the story: parents Mark and Jacoba “Coby” Tromp and their kids Riana , then 29, Mitchell , 25 and Ella , 22, piled into Ella’s grey Peugot SUV in the morning of Monday, August 29, which wouldn’t raise any alarm bells apart from the fact that when police arrived a few days later they found the house unlocked, all the family’s phones and credit cards behind, keys in the ignition of other vehicles and paperwork relating to the family businesses stacked in piles around the house.

They headed north, reaching the NSW town of Bathurst , 800km away, by Tuesday AM. Mitchell had secretly brought his phone along and been forced by his parents to throw it out of the car window just after leaving the house because they thought it was being used to track them. Seemingly unaffected by the paranoia that gripped other members of his family, he decided to make his way back home. After that, Mark, Coby and the two girls travelled to the Blue Mountains area which is where Riana and Ella separated from their parents.

The sisters stole a car and drove south to Goulburn , where they then split – but not before reporting their parents missing, which is when police (and the media) got involved, bringing the strange case to the country’s attention. We all began to speculate what had caused this family to flee their farm is such haste. Money problems? Something in the water? Farm chemicals affecting their brains?

We all read about Riana scaring the life out of a local man when she stowed away in the back of his ute and he found her there in a “catatonic state”. We also knew when Ella drove herself home in the stolen vehicle and when Mitchell arrived just after her. The pair, clearly shellshocked by the whole experience, made a statement outside the family home and attempted to explain why they’d fled and why Mark and Coby thought people were “out to get them”, with Mitchell saying:

I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s really hard to explain or put a word on it but they were just fearing for their lives and then they decided to flee. It was a build-up of different, normal, everyday events – just pressure – and it slowly got worse as the days went by.

Soon, Mark and Coby became separated and while his wife was located in Yass , Mark was missing for several days near Wangaratta , frightening some local residents by tailing them in the car. While he was found and the family reunited, very little was given by way of explanation – which is fine, it was clearly a family / mental health issue and it’s actually not our business. But with a strange and very public case like this, it’s pretty natural to be curious as to why it happened in the first place.

For a look at the events that unfolded and the rare psychological condition that could have been behind it, check out the episode of All Aussie Mystery Hour . Subscribe on iTunes HERE , or on Spotify HERE . Or, you can just listen / download below.

And of course, make sure you join the All Aussie Mystery Hour Facebook group HERE to share your own wild theories about the case.

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This bizarre road trip gone wrong may be a rare case of the shared psychosis called “folie à deux” in action

How did a family road trip end with a police investigation and two people in psychiatric care?

The ongoing saga of the Tromp family has left Australia stumped. The family of five disappeared over a week ago, leaving behind passports, credit cards, and mobile phones. All five family members would later be found one by one, some clearly traumatized.

Here’s how the road trip unfolded

• On Aug. 29, Mark Tromp, aged 51, and wife Jacoba, 53, fled their farm in the outskirts of Melbourne, taking their three adult children—Riana, Mitchell, and Ella—and heading north.
• Thirty miles into the road trip, eldest son Mitchell was made to throw his phone out of the car window. Mitchell, 25, eventually left the family trip on Aug. 30 at Bathurst, New South Wales and made his own way back to Melbourne.
• Eldest daughter Riana and youngest child Ella would also abandon their parents, leaving at Jenolan Caves. They headed to Goulburn, where the sisters split up.
• Ella stole a car in Goulburn, New South Wales, and drove it back to Victoria. She was later charged with theft of a motor vehicle . Her sister Riana was found “ catatonic ” hiding in the back of a man’s car in regional NSW, not knowing her name , nor where she was. She was eventually taken to Goulburn Hospital.
• On Aug. 31, police found the family car in Victoria’s north-east after they receive a report that it was seen following another car. Police pulled the car over and a man thought to be Mark ran away.
• Jacoba is found on Sept. 1 by a member of the public and taken to Yass hospital and transferred to Goulburn hospital to be treated alongside Riana.
• Mark is finally found  on Sept. 2 in good health on a street near the Wangaratta airport. He later releases a statement apologizing for the “hurt and concern” caused by the trip. The family would take the time to recover and receive appropriate assistance, including mental health services.

While it still remains unclear why the family went on the road trip, Ella later told reporters : “I think our state of mind wasn’t in the best place.” Quite the understatement.

Mitchell told local media that his parents were fearing for their lives before they decided to flee. While he’d never felt in danger, he went along with his family to see where they were going. He appears to have been the only one who  didn’t believe  his family was in imminent danger.

Folie à deux

The traumatic road trip has left some wondering whether the family were suffering from a rare shared psychotic disorder known as folie à deux  (which is French for ”the madness of two.”) It was first coined in 1877  to describe the transference of delusional beliefs from one person to another who knows them well. Married couples, siblings, and parents and children accounted for over 90% of the cases  of folie à deux.

In 2008, Swedish twins Ursula and Sabina Eriksson came to national attention when footage showed them running into oncoming traffic on a busy highway in England, near Liverpool. Both sisters were hit by cars, leaving one sister unconscious for several minutes. They had resisted help from paramedics and officers, with Sabina shouting, “They’re going to steal your organs.” Sabina was arrested for attacking an officer and later released, when she went on to stab a man to death . She admitted to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and sentenced to five years.

These delusional beliefs can affect more than two people, which was highlighted in the case of shared psychotic disorder involving  three biological sisters in South Carolina—a folie à trois, perhaps. The youngest of the three sisters became convinced there was a problem with the Bible and was chosen by God to make it right. In order to follow God’s commands, the sisters decided they needed to go to a house and demanded to be let in. When the owner refused, they tried to break into the house and attacked the police officers that were called. After they were arrested, the three sisters were put in the same cell in a small local jail, where they prayed, chanted, and sat in a circle while nude.

They plead temporary insanity. All three sisters were discharged and were prevented from visiting each other without supervision.

And then there’s the Slender Man phenomenon. Two 12-year-old girls lured a classmate into the local woods and proceeded to stab her 19 times to please a mythical internet creature known as the Slender Man. The creature, which became a widely popular Internet horror meme , was often depicted as a tall, thin, faceless man in a suit who preyed on children. The two girls told officers that by killing their classmate, they would earn Slender Man’s protection and would be able to live with him in a mansion in the forest.

While the rest of the world speculated on what impact these delusions had on these girls, a Wisconsin court ruled that both girls would be tried as sane adults . The girls’ lawyers insist they both suffer from mental-health problems .

Most of what’s known about folie à deux is is derived from case reports and anecdotes, making it difficult to study in a controlled manner. There’s therefore little known about the prevalence and best treatment. The disorder, though extremely rare, has garnered attention in popular culture , appearing in The X-Files , Law and Order , and Criminal Minds .

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Riana Tromp speaks about bizarre roadtrip in first interview

RIANA Tromp has spoken for the first time about what led her family on a bizarre roadtrip last year that fuelled a massive manhunt.

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In an interview with Woman’s Day , Ms Tromp opens up about the strange series of events that led to her family becoming a national sensation.

Ms Tromp vanished along with her parents Mark and Jacoba Tromp in August last year during an infamous roadtrip with siblings Ella, 22 and Mitchell, 25.

Her father drove the family from their berry farm at Silvan, east of Melbourne, across the NSW border, stopping at Bathurst and Jenolan Caves.

Her father was later found wandering along on a Wangaratta road after bolting from the car the family were travelling in, while Ms Tromp was found in the back of a stranger’s ute in a catatonic state.

Her mother was found in an “agitated state” in the NSW town of Yass and placed under psychiatric care. Sister Ella allegedly stole a car and drove back to the family home, while brother Mitch took a train back to Melbourne.

“We are all very embarrassed,” Ms Tromp told Women’s Day . “We didn’t want to be famous, that’s for famous people.”

Ms Tromp said her father had been suffering from a mental breakdown, which she now realises had been building for some time.

She said part of the reason he decided to leave the farm was because he felt like he was in danger, but also because he wanted to spend time as a family.

At the time there was speculation the Tromp family was suffering from a rare psychiatric condition known as folie à deux also known as the “madness of two” which almost always occurs in close-knit families.

In the interview Ms Tromp said she did start believing her father’s claims that the family were in danger.

She said she believes it was the build up of stress that caused the incident.

“You have a few things and they do build up — you can get sick in some way,” she said.

The family is slowly coming to terms with what happened with help from health professionals and good friends.

Brother Mitchell Tromp previously told police and reporters that the family fled after their parents became convinced somebody was out to get them.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s really hard to explain or put a word on it but they were just fearing for their lives and then they decided to flee,” he said.

So convinced were Mr and Mrs Tromp that their lives were in danger that they insisted all phones and tablets be left at home, leaving behind their home in a chaotic state with doors unlocked, car keys hanging in ignitions and credit cards, passports and mobile phones strewn around the property.

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Tromp family road trip still a mystery

The family of mark tromp have revealed scant details about the circumstances that led to their panicked road trip..

Ella and Mitchell Tromp speak to media outside their home. Source: ABC Australia

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Mark Tromp's children say road trip that led to search 'a family matter'

Mitchell and Ella Tromp relieved to have father back after road trip that led to five-day search for him

Mark Tromp’s children are relieved to have him back but still can’t explain the bizarre family road trip that led to a desperate five-day search for their father.

While elated Tromp has been found safe, Mitchell and Ella say they’re confused about how the family of five came to get in the car almost a week ago, leaving passports, credit cards and many of their mobile phones behind.

“I didn’t feel in danger,” Mitchell told reporters outside the family’s Silvan home on Sunday. “But I had to go with the family because I wanted to see where they were going.

“It was tough to see your family like that and I’ve never seen anyone like it.”

Ella said: “I think our state of mind wasn’t in the best place.”

Tromp and his wife, Jacoba, drove off to New South Wales with their three adult children, Riana, Mitchell and Ella, on Monday.

Mitchell was the only one to bring a phone but that was voluntarily thrown out of the car window to placate tensions. By Tuesday, all three children abandoned the trip and authorities were called in to investigate.

Mitchell, who made his own way to Melbourne from Bathurst, said he’d had enough and thought getting out “was the best idea at the time”.

Riana and Ella left their parents at Jenolan Caves and headed to Goulburn. There, the two daughters split up; Riana was found “catatonic” hiding in the back of a local man’s ute and Ella drove herself back to Melbourne.

On Sunday, she said: “I was still confused about the whole situation. But I needed to get home to feed my horses.”

Jacoba Tromp was found on Thursday in Yass hospital and has since been transferred to Goulburn hospital where Riana is also being treated.

Mark Tromp was found safe about 6pm on Saturday in Wangaratta after being spotted by a passerby and is being cared for by relatives and friends.

Mitchell said his father was “just how he always is” when he spoke to him.

He mentioned “possible things” that might have led to the panicked trip, but wouldn’t comment on whether a family dispute or mental health issues were the catalyst.

“I can see everyone’s questions,” Mitchell said. “I can see why they want to know but it’s a family matter.”

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Here's Everything We Know About That Bizarre Missing Family Road Trip Case

One by one each family member escaped the 1,500km road trip, fuelled by paranoia.

BuzzFeed News Reporter, Australia

Ella Tromp has been charged with theft of a motor vehicle and possessing the proceeds of a crime (the car) and will front court in April next year.

Riana Tromp was also charged with stealing a car but the charge was later dismissed under section 33 of the Mental Health Act of NSW, which excuses a mentally ill person from a crime.

The Australian police and media have been kept busy since the Tromp family inexplicably fled from their home on a red currant farm in Victoria a week ago and embarked on a bizarre interstate road trip. Here's everything we know about the case.

Last Monday, parents Mark and Jacoba and their three adult children, Riana, Mitchell, and Ella, left business papers, passports, bank cards, and phones scattered inside their unlocked house to travel 825km north from the town of Silvan, Victoria, to Bathurst, New South Wales, in their grey Peugeot station wagon.

One by one each family member escaped the 1,500km road trip until the last to surface, Mark, walked into a police station in Wangaratta, in northern Victoria, on Saturday, five days after he was reported missing.

He has not spoken to the media – which he flipped the bird to at the police station – but Ella told reporters her father was being looked after by relatives in Wangaratta.

Mitchell, who threw his phone out the window half an hour into the trip, said the family were "fearing for their lives" but no aggressor has been identified yet, fuelling speculation the Tromps suffered from a shared delusion that they were under an unfounded threat.

Ella and Mitch Tromp

The family may suffer from a rare psychiatric condition known as folie à plusieurs or "madness of many" in which individuals with hard-to-break attachments to each other share a similar delusion, News Corp has speculated .

The condition was first conceived of in relation to the curious case of a French couple who shared paranoid and delusional behaviour and convinced each other they were being targeted by random people who spread lint around their home by walking in the couple’s shoes while they slept. Others have wondered if the family had eaten something to make them hallucinate.

infinity petal @EllyOcean I want it on record that my theory about the tromp family is they ate weird berries AND that's before I found out they own a berry farm 08:42 AM - 03 Sep 2016 Reply Retweet Favorite

Mitchell, 25, was the first to leave on Tuesday, catching trains to Sydney then back to Melbourne where he addressed the media and explained his family's paranoia: "It was a buildup of different, normal everyday events [and] pressure and it slowly got worse as the days went by."

He later said: "I thought getting out was the best idea at the time, but in hindsight I should’ve stayed and tried to help, bring them back around, try to talk to them some more." Ella, 22, and Riana, 29, continued on the trip to the Jenolan Caves, around 175 kilometres west of Sydney, and then south to Goulburn, where they left their parents.

Riana was found by a Goulburn man in the back of his ute after he felt a kick in the back of his seat while driving. The 29-year-old was catatonic when Keith Whittaker found her, he told the Goulburn Post . "I asked her who she was and if she was all right. She did not know her name and had no idea where she was," Whittaker said. "She was a well-dressed young woman and she offered to give me $50 for my trouble." Riana remains in hospital. Ella told reporters she then left partly because she needed to get home to feed her horses.

"Our state of minds weren’t in the best place. I still feel confused," Ella told the media.

"There is no one reason for it. It’s bizarre."

She drove home to Melbourne, but it is unclear how she acquired a car.

Rebecca HarkinsCross @rharcross How am I supposed to get anything done when the Tromp mystery has not been solved. 11:40 PM - 04 Sep 2016 Reply Retweet Favorite

That night, Jacoba left her husband in Wangaratta, where a young couple playing Pokémon Go said Mark Tromp “stalked” them , following their car. Police arrived on the scene around 10p.m. but Mark abandoned the family car – with the keys still in the ignition – and ran into a nearby park where sniffer dogs were unable to find him.

On Thursday morning a passerby found Jacoba wandering around the streets of Yass – four hours northeast of where her husband was found – and she was taken to hospital.

Police said doctors at the hospital assessed the 53-year-old and that her mental health “wasn’t of a good standard”. She will be seen by specialists today, her daughter has said. Ella and Mitchell addressed the media on Sunday but did not explain why exactly the family had felt the need to flee the farm where they worked seven days a week. "No I didn't feel in danger ... I couldn't leave them," Mitchell said.

Peter Taggart @petertaggart Sarah Koenig sits up in bed, sleepwalks to the bathroom. Eyes closed, she grabs a lipstick and scrawls 'TROMP' backwards across the mirror. 05:21 AM - 02 Sep 2016 Reply Retweet Favorite

"But, yeah, it was tough to see your family like that, and I've never seen anyone like it, but the main thing is they're OK now. Everyone is safe, everyone is well. So we can just go back to being the family again."

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Episode 598: Tromp Family Mystery: The Strangest Road Trip

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On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast , we look at one of the most bizarre missing person cases in Australian history. The Tromp family went missing rather suddenly on August 29 th , 2016. This family of five left their passports, drivers licenses, credit cards, and cell phones behind. The children were all in their 20s, so it’s hard to figure out why they went along with this trip.

One by one, the kids peeled off from the main group. First their son left. Then the daughters split off. One stole a car (like you do), and the other was found catatonic in the back of a pickup truck. Then the parents had their own series of madness as they headed further north by themselves. How did the son get home? What lead from the mom trying to book a hotel room to being hospitalized? What caused this strange behavior (it could be anything from farm chemicals to an attempt to flee from the mob)? How does Pokémon Go tie into all of this? Do we really think the Tromp family was targeted by an Australian government beam weapon? Listen, laugh, learn.

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https://www.ranker.com/list/why-did-the-tromp-family-leave/jacob-shelton

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/riana-tromp-speaks-about-bizarre-roadtrip-in-first-interview/news-story/459be05ad66da097415bf3e865ea9b4c

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The curious cases and unsolved mysteries that perplexed us in 2016

From the Tromp family's bizarre road trip to the Bangladeshi boy who looks like an old man — the mysterious news stories of 2016 prove truth can be stranger than fiction.

Here are some of the most baffling tales.

The Tromp family

In August this year, Mark and Jacoba Tromp and their adult children Ella, Riana and Mitchell left their home in Silvan, east of Melbourne, taking cash but leaving behind bank cards and mobile phones.

Police found the house unlocked, with paperwork everywhere.

As they drove towards NSW, Mitchell's phone was thrown out the car window.

One day later he left the family trip at Bathurst, describing his parents as scared, paranoid and worried they were being followed.

The two girls left their parents at Goulburn, where Riana was hospitalised with stress-related issues.

The family's car was later pulled over in Wangaratta, after police received a report it was following another car, and a man, believed to be Mark, ran away into a nearby park.

Meanwhile, Mitchell and Ella had made their way back to Victoria to find police at their home.

Their mother Jacoba was found the next day in Yass — where she too was assessed for stress-related concerns.

The search for the family came to an end when Mark was found on a street near Wangaratta airport in "good health" .

Ella and Mitchell spoke to the media , saying their disappearance was "hard to explain" and referred to the situation as a "family matter".

At the time, one police officer described it as "the most bizarre case in 30 years".

The case, which made headlines around the world, remains a mystery, but theories have included drugs, financial troubles, mental illness and "shared delusions".

Mysterious kangaroo deaths

Hundreds of kangaroos were found dead in far west New South Wales this year from what was described as a "mystery disease".

Despite there being good feed and plenty of water around, something undetectable was knocking the roos off .

There were sightings of between 5-50 dead kangaroos at a time.

Former NSW Department of Primary Industry veterinarian Greg Curran suggested those figures indicated there were between 100-500 dead in any particular area.

"All the work we've done says it's not a plant poisoning and it's certainly not starvation," he said.

"It's possible it's an infectious disease process, but so far we haven't been able to pinpoint that."

Earthquake lights in NZ

When a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck near Christchurch in November, videos emerged that appeared to show the New Zealand sky lighting up in blue and green .

People who said they witnessed the sky light up said it occurred at the peak of the earthquake.

"The lights happened right on the peak of the shaking … [and were] of colours mainly green and blue and white, but a bit of yellow and other colour was there too [sic]," said the uploader of one video, Zachary Bell.

Reports of lights occurring during earthquakes date back thousands of years, with similar accounts also emerging after the Christchurch earthquake in 2011.

A paper published in science journal Seismological Research Letters hypothesised that the phenomenon was a result of positive charge generated along stress gradients that "accumulate at the surface".

High-density accumulations of charged atoms are thought to ionise pockets of air which form light-emitting plasma.

Bangladeshi boy who looks like an old man

This year it was reported that doctors were at a loss to explain the mysterious illness making a four-year-old Bangladeshi boy look like an old man.

Doctors at a top hospital in the capital Dhaka agreed to try to diagnose and treat Bayezid Shikdar for free after learning of his plight.

Bayezid was born with excess skin hanging from his limbs and face, and also suffers from related heart, vision and hearing problems.

Doctors initially suspected he suffered from progeria, which causes rapid and premature ageing shortly after birth.

The symptoms are similar to those suffered by Hollywood actor Brad Pitt's character in the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

One of America's most baffling crimes

The FBI announced this year that one of America's most baffling crimes — that of hijacker Dan "DB Cooper" who jumped out of a plane with a parachute and ransom money 45 years ago — looks set to remain an enigma.

During the flight, DB Cooper gave a flight attendant a note indicating he had a bomb in his briefcase.

Cooper gave the flight attendant a glimpse of wires and red-coloured sticks inside his case, the FBI said.

He asked her to write a note and take it to the plane's captain, demanding parachutes and $US200,000.

Once the plan had landed in Seattle, he exchanged the flight's 36 passengers for the money and parachutes.

With several crew members still on board, he ordered the plane to fly to Mexico City.

But somewhere along the way, he jumped from the back of the plane with a parachute and the money.

Nothing was heard from him ever again.

The FBI said after one of the longest and most exhaustive probes in its history, it would no longer actively investigate the case.

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The Strange Tromp Family Road Trip

On Monday, August 29, 2016 in Silvan, Australia, 51 year old Mark Tromp and 53 year old Jacoba Tromp, along with their three children: 29 year old Riana, 25 year old Mitchell, and 22 year old Ella all inexplicably fled their farm. This strange family road trip was set into motion a hunt for the family that would captivate Australian media. Local police Sergeant Mark Knight called it “the most bizarre case in 30 years. Officials were baffled as to why the Tromp family simply ran away from their home. The seemingly healthy and stable Mark and Jacoba Trump ran an earthmoving business along with the berry farm, where all of their children worked seven days a week.

Police found evidence that the Tromp family trip was meant to be off the grid

Later, when police investigated their home they found the following: mobile phones, passports, and credit cards. The trip it appeared was meant to be cash only and “off the grid.” The family left in 22 year old Ella’s Peugeot SUV. They drove for the first day and night till they reached Bathurst, roughly 500 miles away from their home in Silvan. Unlike the rest of his family, 25-year old Mitchell Tromp brought his cell phone. However, roughly 19 miles into their trip near Warburton, his parents forced him to throw his phone out the window because they were convinced it was being used to track them.

The next day on Tuesday, August 30, Mitchell left the family around 7:00 a.m. The family later headed out from Bathurst toward the Jenolan Caves that Tuesday. At the Jenolan Caves, Riana and Ella broke off from the family by stealing a car. They drove this car to Goulburn, where they reported their parents as missing, but from there Ella and Riana strangely split up. Riana Tromp was found in the back of Keith’s Whittaker’s Ford f-250. He was driving when he felt a kick, he came to a stop. Whittaker called the police. Riana was catatonic and did not know her name or location.

Ella Tromp actually made it back home Tuesday night, and the police were already there. When police began to investigate the Tromp home, the place was unlocked and in disarray. According to the Daily Telegraph, police found evidence that the Tromp’s had gone through years of their farms financial records shortly before leaving. There were several piles of documents throughout the home including passports and credit cards of every family member as mentioned before. An officer is quoted saying “the piles were very ordered and they were clearly looking for something.”

Mitchell Tromp eventually made it back home

One day later on Wednesday, August 31, Mitchell Tromp, the first Tromp sibling to break off from the family, arrived home via the train. Meanwhile, his parents Mark and Jacoba Tromp drove to Wangaratta and also separated. Jacoba headed north, while Mark remained in Wangaratta, where it is believed that Mark is linked to a case where a young couple was dangerously tailgated by a car of the same make in color that Mark was driving on Wednesday night around 10:00 p.m.

The couple was playing Pokemon Go at the time, the young man driving is quoted saying “I could barely see his headlights because he was that close to my car.” When the young man pulled the car over, the car tailgating them would also stop. They claimed that eventually Mr. Tromp got out of the car and ran towards them, but he stopped in the middle of the road and stared at them. He then walked into Wangaratta’s Merriwa Park and disappeared.

Police searched the park, but no one was found. The car still had the keys in the ignition. In an effort to track down Mark Tromp, the police investigated Miller’s Cottage motel in Wangaratta, where a room had been broken into. They believed he might have stayed there for the night. On Thursday, September 1, Mrs. Tromp took public transportation to Yass and tried to book a motel in the city. Allegedly, a member of the public helped escort her to a hospital in Yass. The hospital staff recognized her and called the police.

On Saturday, September 3, five days after first leaving his home, Mark Tromp was found wandering down a road in Wangaratta around 5:50 p.m. He was promptly questioned by the police and give it a mental health assessment. He spent five hours at the station before he was escorted out by a family member and gave the waiting media the finger. Though, Mark would later publicly apologized for “the hurt and concern caused by these events.”

The next day, Mitchell and Ella appear before media, thanking police and media for finding their father. They do not go into detail about what happened and essentially state that they are still perplexed by it. Considering that the family had no history of mental illness, and also the fact that Sergeant Mark Knight who worked on the investigation says there was no sign of the family using drugs, having outstanding debts, or being part of a church or cult. Many have wondered what triggered the family to simply leave their home and furthermore what prompted each member to leave individually.

Tromp Family Theories

The Tromp’s were poisoned by an environmental toxin on their farm causing them to have bizarre delusions, but there doesn’t seem to be anything else to back this theory up.

The second theory is just internet speculation, that perhaps the mob had been involved. Maybe there was truly somebody after the Tromp family, so they skipped town.

At one point, the entire family had planned to flee the country if necessary. They had changed their minds because they decided that it was possible that their passports would be tracked.

They wanted to go somewhere where technology couldn’t reach them. Credit cards and traceable items were clearly left behind. And if you recall, an officer did note that “they were clearly looking for something”. However, if they were truly fearful for their lives, it’s a bit strange that Mark and Jacoba Tromp would allow their kids to leave the car.

The family collectively suffered from a delusion called folie à deux. It is a rare psychological condition that can affect closed families. The term was coined after a French married couple that began exhibiting delusional and paranoid behavior. The couple believed that their home was targeted by people who would spread dust and lint throughout their home while wearing the couple’s shoes.

Though doctors were unsure who first began the delusional behavior, it was clear that they were reinforcing each other’s paranoia. Over 90% of cases of folie à deux have been couples, parents and children, and siblings. Media coverage later revealed that Jacoba and Mark Trump had been showing increasing signs of mental stress. Allegedly, one of them believed that someone was out to rob them and kill them. When asked what had possibly triggered the trip, Ella stated “it is very confusing, I still feel confused… I think our state of minds wasn’t in the best place and… there’s no one reason for it. It’s bizarre.”

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The Tromp Family Mystery True Blue Crime

This tale is about the Tromp family from the little eastern Melbourne suburb of Silvan and the interesting road trip the family of 5 went on back in 2016. On August the 30th 2016, police arrived at the family's 18 acre redcurrant farm to find, well, nothing. 51 year old Mark Tromp, his wife 53 year old Jacoba or Coby, and their 3 adult children - 29 yo Riana, 25 yo Mitchell, and 22 year old Ella, had simply vanished, with no clue as to why or where they might’ve gone. And as time went on, the police’s search for the family would yield even stranger results, results with questions which still remain unanswered to this day… Jon Shaun and Chloe as they discuss this bizarre road trip and the many swirling theories on the potential reasons behind it. Support the show on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/truebluecrime Website - www.truebluecrimepodcast.com - includes our merch store Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/380493356066315/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/truebluecrime/ Email - [email protected] This episode was produced by True Blue Media using the open source materials referenced below: https://www.mamamia.com.au/tromp-family/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4284496/Tromp-family-normal-bizarre-trip.htmlhttps://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/83901623/the-tromp-family-saga-what-we-know-and-what-remains-a-mysteryhttps://www.wikiwand.com/en/Folie_%C3%A0_deux#/Individual_caseshttps://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/search-for-missing-victorian-man-mark-tromp-enters-its-fifth-day/news-story/8c86d8c1977beb37d184e310c3f6d96ehttps://www.pedestrian.tv/podcast/tromp-family-road-trip-folie-a-deux/https://www.smh.com.au/national/bizarre-tale-of-tromp-family-road-trip-cloaked-in-mystery-20160901-gr6ujf.html Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/true-blue-crime. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/true-blue-crime. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Road Trip Gone Wrong: The Disappearance of the Tromp Family

• Length: 35 mins

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A family of five disappeared on a tech-free road-trip only to turn up one by one after a week-long odyssey of more than 1,600km (995 miles), which ended with a police investigation and two of them in psychiatric care. This week, Leah walks us through the strange disappearance of the Tromp family. (Hint: Keep your cell phone on you when you go camping.)

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True Blue Crime

The tromp family mystery.

This tale is about the Tromp family from the little eastern Melbourne suburb of Silvan and the interesting road trip the family of 5 went on back in 2016.

On August the 30th 2016, police arrived at the family's 18 acre redcurrant farm to find, well, nothing. 51 year old Mark Tromp, his wife 53 year old Jacoba or Coby, and their 3 adult children - 29 yo Riana, 25 yo Mitchell, and 22 year old Ella, had simply vanished, with no clue as to why or where they might’ve gone.

And as time went on, the police’s search for the family would yield even stranger results, results with questions which still remain unanswered to this day…

Jon Shaun and Chloe as they discuss this bizarre road trip and the many swirling theories on the potential reasons behind it.

Support the show on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/truebluecrime

Website - www.truebluecrimepodcast.com - includes our merch store

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/380493356066315/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/truebluecrime/

Email - [email protected]

This episode was produced by True Blue Media using the open source materials referenced below:

• https://www.mamamia.com.au/tromp-family/
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4284496/Tromp-family-normal-bizarre-trip.html
• https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/83901623/the-tromp-family-saga-what-we-know-and-what-remains-a-mystery
• https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Folie_%C3%A0_deux#/Individual_cases
• https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/search-for-missing-victorian-man-mark-tromp-enters-its-fifth-day/news-story/8c86d8c1977beb37d184e310c3f6d96e
• https://www.pedestrian.tv/podcast/tromp-family-road-trip-folie-a-deux/
• https://www.smh.com.au/national/bizarre-tale-of-tromp-family-road-trip-cloaked-in-mystery-20160901-gr6ujf.html

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/true-blue-crime .

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Music Features

Michaël brun’s bayo conjures a joyous destination for the haitian diaspora.

Sidney Madden

Fans cheer in the crowd at Michaël Brun's BAYO concert at Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, June 15. Lanna Apisukh for NPR hide caption

In the breezy heat of a Brooklyn summer night, DJ Michaël Brun leads a jubilant crowd of 8,000 chanting: “Bayo! Bayo!” Translated from Haitian Creole, “bayo” means “To give.” It's not only the name of one of Brun’s most loved songs, it's the namesake of his yearly festival that’s taken on new meaning amid its biggest show yet.

In years past, Brun and his team have toured the BAYO show around cities in the US and the Caribbean, but for the 2024 edition, the festival was consolidated into one night (June 15), in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, to become the destination event for the diaspora. As fans of all ages fill up the bandshell seating area and back hundreds of yards to the fences, Haitian, Jamaican, Guyanese and Trinidadian flags are donned as fashion at the waist, the neck, the head and, naturally, as extensions of waving hands.

DJ & Music Producer Michaël Brun backstage at his Benefit Concert: Michael Brun Presents BAYO at Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, June 15, 2024. Lanna Apisukh for NPR hide caption

“If you never experienced what Haitian culture, Caribbean culture felt like, it's supposed to be the most concise version of that in a single event,” Brun laughs. “The whole focus is on bringing joy.”

For Brun, that joy started with a collaboration back in 2016. The musician, who is Haitian and Guyanese and grew up in Haiti, was on a trip to Gonave Island to assist with a school’s music program. Working with the children inspired Brun and his collaborators, Strong G, J Perry and Baky, to give the students an anthem of confidence.

“So much of Haiti in the international news and conversations people would have about the country, it was about how Haiti is impoverished, going through tragedy after tragedy, crisis. It was always negative,” Brun says. “As somebody who lives in the country who is constantly getting this barrage of negativity about yourself, conversations we were having [when making the song], were like, ‘There’s so much more to the country than that’ and if we wanted to tell that, we might as well put it in a song.”

“We’re saying ‘We’re giving you culture, we’re giving you music, our story of freedom’,” Brun describes the translated lyrics. When Michaël and friends gave “Bayo” the classic car test after recording it, they started impromptu block parties in the streets of Jacmel, Haiti. From there, he says, “we knew we had something.”

Now eight years in, Brun has worked to extend BAYO's community reach with each show. As it has grown to an annual fest, BAYO still maintains a familial, block party feel. While summertime is the thick of festival season with sky-high ticket prices and crowded rosters, BAYO offers a different experience for fans.

Raina Ulysse, Marjorie Ulysse, Vick Ulysse and Tiffany Ulysse (the Ulysse family) at Benefit Concert: Michaël Brun Presents BAYO at Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York on Saturday, June 15. Lanna Apisukh for NPR hide caption

When BAYO is announced, Brun is the only advertised name on the lineup and all other performers are surprises revealed the night-of. As a sought-after producer for artists from across genres — Latin, electronic, jazz, pop — Brun operates as maestro onstage, curating a fete of acts that purposely span generations. And as much as the crowd buzzes with anticipation for who will pop out during the show, patrons are just as excited to embrace others in the audience with them.

“So many of us left Haiti because we had to, not because we wanted to,” says Rolandjhita Chavannes, who fled Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. As a fan of Brun since 2013, Chavannes says she’s been to more than four BAYO tours. “We come here to see our family members, our friends and party like we used to in Haiti and that's what’s different for us than any other festival. It’s coming here every year and seeing our people happy, just Haitian joy.”

“That isn’t something I saw when I was growing up,” remembers Mireille Lemaine as she claps along in her lawn chair. “Haitian music is huge now. Haiti’s on the map. When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn in the ‘80s it wasn’t like that.”

Jeff Pereisa at the Benefit Concert: Michaël Brun Presents BAYO. “The music’s so different from one generation [to the next]. You’ve got your konpa, your rara, your Rabòday,” Jeff Periera says while attending the concert. “Michaël does a really good job of blending it all together and bringing us all together,” says Pereisa. Lanna Apisukh for NPR hide caption

“The really cool thing that Michaël Brun’s able to do is he’s able to bridge the gap between older and younger Haitians and that’s probably like the biggest challenge,” notes Jeff Periera, 35, who came from New Jersey to attend this show, his first BAYO. “The music’s so different from one generation [to the next]. You’ve got your konpa, your rara, your Rabòday… but Michaël does a really good job of blending it all together and bringing us all together.”

This year’s lineup jumped all over the globe; Haitian-American R&B newcomer Serina, Nigerian pop sensation Oxlade, hype Haitian DJ TonyMix, Jamaica’s Serani, Colombia’s J Balvin and Brooklyn-bred, neo-soul icon Maxwell.

To close the night, the unofficial headliner was legendary konpa ensemble Tabou Combo, who received an official commendation award from the City of New York in celebration of their five-decade career and Caribbean American Heritage Month.

Legendary Haitian music group Tabou Combo performs alongside Michaël Brun. Lanna Apisukh for NPR hide caption

“Looking out [into the audience] I saw unity through music,” says Oxlade, who flew in from Lagos for the show. “I saw the power and magnitude of what we’re doing. Our job is to bring people together and heal souls with this.”

The more the sun dips under the tree line, the more the bandshell string lights illuminate the waves of excitement radiating toward the stage. Audience cheers intensify with each new surprise guest revealed. In the back grassy area by the merch and food tents, pockets of the crowd circle up into dance parties. With the diversity of genres and eras covered, most everyone gets to leave the night with a new musical discovery.

For a country that’s been fractured for so long, these moments of unity are visibly savored as a respite. As the first island nation in the Caribbean to fight for and win their independence from France in 1804, Haiti’s people have endured a history of struggles, facing both natural disasters and man-made power struggles. Since 2020, ongoing political unrest, including coup d'états and a presidential assassination, have caused much of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, to become overrun by gangs . This year, deaths from gang violence are reportedly surging and international bodies from the US, Africa and other Caribbean nations have pledged to intervene. In May, Kenyan police officers were deployed to the island to push back the gangs but were then sent home .

“I feel like there’s a lot of foreign meddling in the country and as a result, that, along with political instability make what’s happening in the capital what it is,” explains Misha Bernier from Brooklyn, attending her third BAYO. “Because of that, that’s all we see in the news. I think there is a demonizing of Haiti and a fear that’s constantly being pushed on us to not go back and I think we need to question, ‘Why is that? What’s the deeper motive? What’s underneath that?’ If you fear your homeland, it allows for you to not go back and maybe allows for others to come in and take it from you.”

Misha Bernier at Benefit Concert: Michaël Brun Presents BAYO on Saturday, June 15, 2024. Lanna Apisukh for NPR hide caption

Brun, at 32 years old, says he’s lived through two coup d'états and has been vocal about wanting transparency during government transitions. In the midst of political uncertainty, he wants BAYO to be a “vehicle” to start a new story about his homeland.

“Haiti is a massive country and we, our culture, we just have very little visibility,” he says. “To the point where I think that it's almost strange for people to see themselves, their music onstage like this at this level, so there’s that angle: To feel seen.”

It’s also about using visibility to funnel efforts into being heard. With BAYO tracing its origins back to a trip at a music school, Brun and his team work to collect a dollar from every ticket sold to donate to the Artist Institute and Friends of Matenwa , the same school Brun visited in 2016. Brun has also recently helped to found the central Haiti Relief Fund page which sends donations to Haitian-run organizations focused on agriculture and healthcare to help innocent people caught in the “power vacuum.” Brun focuses his philanthropic efforts to make sure Haitian people are proud of their past and, when the country rehabilitates, in full control of their future.

Music fans raise their phones with their flashlights turned on. Lanna Apisukh for NPR hide caption

“The people of Haiti have constantly been written out of their own story in the global sense. I think that’s maybe been the consistent factor, honestly since the founding of the country,” Brun says. “I would say I'm an optimist and I believe in love as a tool in order for change. I work hard to be welcoming, to create spaces that are safe and that are equitable… But that requires force sometimes, that requires pressure in a direction and I think my way of doing that is by doing these BAYO shows, raising money for these causes, making the music I make, by having conversations that maybe help expand people’s minds. I think helping people to understand there is greatness and excellence from my people and my cultures; by doing that, naturally the story will be rewritten.”

As BAYO Brooklyn wraps up hitting new attendance highs, the Rara band, a staple of any large Haitian celebration, take Brun’s party from the stage to the cement and ushers revelers out of the bandshell in a rhythm of drums and horns. Guiding the mass of people out onto the streets of Prospect Park West, chants of “Bayo!” and “Ayibobo! ( Amen! )” lead the way.

The Rara band plays as fans file out of the venue on Saturday, June 15. Lanna Apisukh for NPR hide caption

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Review: ‘Crazy for You’ serves up romance, dazzling tap moves in Ogunquit

Chockablock with Gershwin songs, the show is now at the Ogunquit Playhouse. The 'inimitable' Sally Struthers plays 2 comedic parts.

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Taylor Aronson, center, and the ensemble in “Crazy for You” at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Photo by Nile Scott Studios

“Who could ask for anything more?” is a famous line from “I Got Rhythm,” a classic tune by George and Ira Gershwin that’s included in the latest show at the Ogunquit Playhouse. It’s not a bad question to ask.

Theater review

WHAT: “Crazy For You”

WHERE: Ogunquit Playhouse, 10 Main St., Ogunquit

REVIEWED: June 16 (matinee); continues through July 13

TICKETS: starting at $40.

CONTACT: 207-646-5511; ogunquitplayhouse.org

You’ve got two solid stars up front, dozens of attractive singers and dancers behind them, and a wealth of both clever and romantic Gershwin songs. And, as if that weren’t enough, the inimitable Sally Struthers comes onstage to fill two comedic roles that supply some of the best laughs in the show.

Chalk it up to a production still coming together, but “Crazy For You” showed a few seams in terms of pacing in its first performance after opening night. But the impeccably performed vintage music and the let’s-put-on-a-show spirit of the book by Ken Ludwig carried the 2½-hour show through for an entertaining afternoon at the venerable summer theater on the southern coast of Maine.

The dynamic Max Clayton sang and danced like a veteran performer who knows where the audience-pleasing theatrical goodies are hidden. His banker character Bobby soon became a faux showbiz master as he falls for a girl and decides to revive her father’s theater in Nevada rather than foreclose on the property.

Clayton’s tap talents are many and were all smoothly executed with whirling flourishes that truly dazzled. His voice sold such long-time Gershwin favorites as “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” the latter accompanied by an impressive chorus of lovely, talented female singer/dancers.

Max Clayton (Bobby Child) and Taylor Aronson (Polly Baker) in “Crazy for You” at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Photo by Nile Scott Studios

Taylor Aronson plays Bobby’s love interest Polly, adding her own very natural-sounding delivery to such classics as “Someone To Watch Over Me” and “But Not For Me.” Aronson also held her own in romantic song and dance duets with Clayton on such tunes as “Shall We Dance” and “Embraceable You.” Director Angelique Ilo’s take on the show’s original dance moves, choreographed by Susan Stroman, fit the pair well in both upfront showy and more elegantly flowing moments. Advertisement

The 76-year-old Struthers again proved her brilliant comedic timing in scenes with Clayton and Jim Borstelmann, the latter as a companionable British twit. Her double takes and little exclamations were hilarious as were some timeless bits of physical comedy performed by others throughout the show.

Angie Schworer and Peter Kendall got hot and heavy on “Naughty Baby” while a Cowboy Trio and a group of layabout ex-miners spiced up several pieces. Alexandria Van Paris, Delaney Bailey, Jack Doyle and Tony Roach also stood out in secondary roles. All were backed by a jauntily swinging offstage band led by Ken Clifton while some occasional onstage percussion from the players, tapping feet and more, served to bring things forward.

The sets by Adam Koch and costumes by William Ivey Long mix old-style Broadway flash and rustic cowboy folksiness, placing the audience in a world closer to an earlier, 1930s incarnation (The Gershwin brothers’ “Girl Crazy”) on which this award-winning 1992 show was based.

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.

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