Sally Contarino's family has purchased electronic billboards around Las Vegas to raise local awareness of her disappearance. The 26-year-old Australian woman disappeared during a trip to the city in June, and nearly five months later, her relatives say they are not giving up.
Contarino was last known to be near 9700 West Skye Canyon Drive around 1 p.m. on June 20, according to Metro police, as reported by 8 News Now. Her family says the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has now scaled back its contact with them to once a month, and the outlet reports that no new information has surfaced in the case since early July, when search-and-rescue operations were called off unless new clues emerge.
Conflicting Accounts of Her Final Plans
Exactly what Contarino intended to do in the hours before she vanished is still murky, and different outlets have reported different details. Her sister told 8 News Now that Contarino planned to hike Mount Charleston the day after she was last seen, and that police dogs traced her scent to the Fletcher Canyon Trail before the trail went cold. FOX5 Vegas, however, reported that Contarino messaged a friend on June 20 saying she was planning to hike Lone Mountain instead.
Her travel plans are similarly disputed. ABC News reported that Contarino was due to return to Melbourne on June 20, while FOX5 Vegas reported she was believed to have missed a flight home scheduled sometime between June 21 and 22, and the Daily Mail reported she was due to fly home on June 21 but never boarded. None of the available reporting resolves which timeline is accurate.
A Search That Wound Down as Leads Dried Up
ABC News reported that a large-scale police search involving sniffer dogs and drones was launched after Contarino disappeared, but that the effort has since been wound back as leads on her location dried up. The Australian outlet also reported that Contarino has functional neurological disorder, a condition that changes how the brain receives and sends information to the body, according to the same report.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it is offering Contarino's family ongoing support, per ABC News. The family's own account, relayed through 8 News Now, says they purchased the Las Vegas billboards specifically to raise local awareness of her disappearance, framing it as a way to keep her story in front of residents and visitors passing through the city.
Family Fundraising and the Broader Numbers
A GoFundMe organized by Jennie Jean-Pierre to help Sally's father is seeking donations to help the family cover travel, lost income, and essential living expenses during the search, according to the fundraiser's page. The campaign reflects how long and costly an overseas search can become for a family trying to stay engaged with a case thousands of miles from home.
8 News Now also reported, citing Metro police's website, that more than 600 missing-person reports are filed in Las Vegas every month, and that most of those cases resolve within a few days as people are found or return voluntarily. Contarino's case has now stretched for nearly five months, making it an outlier against that backdrop and underscoring why her family says they felt compelled to take out billboards rather than wait on official channels alone.
