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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