Woman Disappeared During Walk in the Wilderness. Her Phone Was Just Found More Than 2 Years Later

Two years after a 31-year-old Belgian woman went missing while walking in Australia’s Tasmanian wilderness, her phone has been found.

Over the weekend, police announced that they were joining search efforts for Celine Cremer — who has been missing since June 2023 — after her phone was found on Saturday, Dec. 13, at Philosopher Falls outside of Waratah, the Tasmania Police said in a news release. 

“I don’t think there was a dry eye in the area,” Rob Parsons, an adventure filmmaker who is part of the private search effort for Cremer, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation of the discovery.

Cremer was last seen in Waratah, a historic mining town on the border of the Tarkine rainforest, on June, 17, 2023.

“We believe she then drove to Philosopher Falls, parked her car and set off on what was meant to be a short bushwalk,” Inspector Andrew Hanson said in the latest news release from officials. “Unfortunately, she did not return.”

Nine days later, the woman’s friends notified officials that she was missing. Her car was found in the Philosopher Falls parking lot the next day.

“In the days since Celine’s disappearance, the winter weather in the area included sub zero temperatures, snow and rainfall,” Hanson continued. “Expert medical advice at the time indicated those conditions were not survivable for the duration she is believed to have been exposed.”

Authorities conducted an initial two-week search for Cremer, followed by other searches over the past two years.

Since then, there have been no signs of her — until the phone was discovered during the private search, officials said.

Parsons helped organize the search party, which included experienced off-trail hikers and some of Cremer’s friends, the ABC reported. Approximately 35 people participated in the search on Saturday, which is supposed to continue this week.

“The phone was found in an area that has been extensively searched previously and phone data, as well as the location it was found, supports our theory that Celine may have, using an app on her phone, elected to leave the Philosopher Falls track to take more a direct route back to her car as daylight faded,” Hanson said in a statement. “We suspect she dropped her phone and continued without it, becoming disoriented in dense terrain.”

The phone will now undergo additional forensic examination.

Following the major discovery, police have formally joined the independent search, which had to be paused on Sunday, Dec. 14, because of inclement weather.

However, search and rescue teams will be on the ground as soon as conditions improve, police said.

“The area that needs to be searched now, it’s still a very large area,” Hanson told the ABC. “It’s the kind of area where you can’t get technology into, you can’t search in any other way than boots on the ground.”

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Officials said that Cremer’s mother in Belgium has been informed about the finding.

“While finding her phone has provided some hope for the many people invested in this matter,” the inspector said in the news release, “it is a stark reminder for Celine’s loved ones of the tragedy of their loss.”