Tearful plea from the daughter of a missing 75-year-old man in NSW, as heartbreaking news continues to devastate the family
May 2026 has left a somber silence across the news cycle in New South Wales. With 50 separate missing person appeals issued in less than 30 days, state police are confronting an alarming reality. Among these cases, the stories of Ivan Jakus (75) and Rita-Marie Collin (60) are not merely headlines; they represent the lingering anguish of families trapped in a state of indefinite waiting, where every lead is slowly eroded by the relentless passage of time.
Ivan Jakus: When Dementia Battles the Survival Instinct
Ivan Jakus, a retired bricklayer of Croatian descent, walked out of the Istra Social Club in Leppington, Sydney, at 5:30 PM on April 12 and has not been seen since. Five weeks have passed, and his daughter, Victoria, remains tirelessly dedicated to the search. What makes this disappearance particularly tragic is the heartbreaking contrast in Mr. Jakus’ condition: a mind steadily fracturing under the weight of dementia, yet a body possessing an astonishing, resilient strength.
Victoria recounted her father’s capability to NewsWire through tears: “My dad is very fit. His mind has started to go, but he’s fit as a fiddle. He can jump fences and he can walk for kilometres on end. We know he walked 18km to the last point we saw him … we just don’t know how much further he went after that.”
She also struggled to mask her frustration regarding the authorities’ initial approach: “I just feel like my dad was underestimated from the start. There was such a time lapse in everything, and we would spend days searching one area when days later it would come out that he was somewhere else.”
Her frustration is not merely a critique; it is the desperate plea of a daughter racing against time. She admitted: “It’s frustrating, but at the same time I understand as well. They can’t just keep everybody out here for us.” Her resilience, bolstered by a community of 2,000 Facebook followers, has become her sole anchor as official investigative avenues run dry.
Rita-Marie Collin: The Mystery of an Unmarked Departure
On the other side of this tragedy lies 60-year-old Rita-Marie Collin from Kariong, Central Coast, who vanished in the early hours of May 5. Unlike Mr. Jakus, who may have wandered off due to disorientation, Ms. Collin’s disappearance remains a complete enigma. She left her home at 2:45 AM without leaving behind plans or notes—a move entirely out of character for a woman known for her meticulous nature.
Her daughter, Amy, bared her soul in a desperate message on their GoFundMe page: “My mum is still missing. Someone must know something. No, she did not say where she was going and no one was aware of any plans she had that day. She would usually diarise absolutely everything and there were no entries for that day.”
Amy added a chilling detail to the mystery: “She was not a bushwalker or camper or hiker or nature person at all, (but) we are keeping an open mind though.” The silence of the landscape, coupled with the lack of dashcam footage along Woy Woy Road, has left the family in a state of profound disorientation: “There are no further sightings and every single lead has gone cold. There are so many questions and absolutely no answers.”
Perspective: The Chasm Between Technology and Humanity
From an investigative standpoint, Meni Caroutas—a specialist from The Missing Australia podcast—emphasizes that it is never too late to search. The police’s renewed appeals are a final attempt to bridge the gaps in information. Yet, from a human perspective, these cases raise a haunting question about the impotence of modern society: How can a person simply “evaporate” in a world saturated with surveillance and constant connectivity?
The frustration voiced by Victoria Jakus and the grief of Amy Collin are not just personal tragedies; they are a reflection of a society where the elderly and the vulnerable can become “ghosts” at any moment.
Police search efforts may eventually wind down, but for those left behind, time never stops. They continue, day after day, clinging to the fragile hope that a seemingly “insignificant” tip from a passerby will become the key to solving the mystery that claimed their loved ones. For the families of Ivan and Rita-Marie, life has ceased to be a journey; it has become a breathless vigil in the void where there are no answers.
