BREAKING NEWS: For one heartbreaking moment, Lily Hooper’s family thought their daughter was coming home…
BREAKING NEWS: For one heartbreaking moment, Lily Hooper’s family thought their daughter was coming home…
The family of the 18-year-old missing hiker has shown extraordinary compassion toward the police officers who mistakenly told them Lily had been found alive — before the devastating truth was revealed.
For a brief moment, her father felt the relief of believing his daughter was safe. Then, that hope was taken away.
Despite their unimaginable grief, Lily’s family has chosen to praise the officers involved. The reason behind their remarkable response reveals just how deeply those officers cared while searching for Lily… 👇
Lily Hooper’s family has responded to one of the most painful elements of their daughter’s death with a degree of grace that has moved many who have followed the story. After an eight-day search ended with the discovery of the 18-year-old’s body in Nattai National Park, a communication mix-up briefly led her parents to believe she had been found alive. Within minutes that hope was replaced by the confirmation that she had died. Yet Jim Hooper has publicly stated that he holds no anger toward the police, the State Emergency Service or the Premier.
“No, not at all. I’m not in any way angry at the police or the police commissioner or the premier,” he told 7News. Instead he expressed gratitude to the officers and volunteers who refused to give up during the long and difficult search for his “precious girl.” The family’s response has been described as remarkable precisely because the false hope arrived at the moment of greatest vulnerability, after days of waiting and fearing the worst.
The eight days that preceded the discovery
Lily left the family home in Oakdale, in Sydney’s south-west, on the morning of 12 August 2026. She told her parents she was heading for the Bonnum Pic trail in Nattai National Park, a challenging route through dense scrub and steep terrain roughly 90 kilometres south-west of the city. She was an experienced bushwalker who had previously completed a multi-day hike of Mount Kosciuszko. Throughout the morning she remained in contact. By nightfall the messages had stopped. When she had not returned by 10pm the family raised the alarm. Her car was found parked near the trailhead.
What followed was one of the largest recent multi-agency searches in the Southern Highlands. Nearly one thousand people took part, including police, SES remote-area teams, Rural Fire Service crews, National Parks rangers, paramedics and, in the later stages, Australian Defence Force personnel. Helicopters and drones searched from the air. Ground teams worked through thick vegetation, complex cliff lines and radio black spots. Jim Hooper himself returned repeatedly to the search area. On the fourth day he called a radio station, voice breaking, urging listeners to send love and energy because “we’ve got to go and find her.”
The family issued public statements thanking professional searchers while asking members of the public to stay clear of the dangerous terrain. Local community groups organised support. A fundraiser began raising money that would eventually approach thirty thousand dollars. Yet every day without a sign of Lily intensified the private fear that the worst might have occurred.
The moment of false hope
On the morning of Thursday, 20 August, an SES volunteer located a body in dense scrub a significant distance off the trail. The discovery was radioed to the command post. In the thick terrain, handheld radio communications were imperfect. A code system involving references to a “water bottle” — intended to convey condition without alarming any family members who might be monitoring open channels — was used. The initial information that reached the command post, the family and ultimately the New South Wales Premier indicated that Lily had been found alive.
At the search base the reaction was immediate. Jim Hooper punched the air. Family and friends embraced. He told those around him that they were going to get her, that she might be going straight to hospital. He had brought her guitar and a packet of Tim Tams in the hope they might lure her out of the bush. Kirrily had prepared herself for a reunion. There was a brief period of celebration and relief after eight days of strain.
In Sydney, Premier Chris Minns interrupted a parliamentary budget estimates hearing to share what he believed was good news. “Lily Hooper has been found alive,” he said. “Found in the bush with half a bottle of water with her.” Media outlets reported the apparent miracle. For a short window the story appeared to have a happy ending.
Within roughly eight to twenty minutes a more accurate account came through. Lily was deceased. The Premier returned to the committee with the correction: “I’ve got some terrible news… Lily’s body has been found. She’s been found deceased.” At the command post the family, still absorbing the first report, were told the truth. The tears of relief became tears of grief in real time.
The family’s response
Jim Hooper’s public comments in the days that followed have focused less on the pain of the mix-up and more on the effort that preceded it. He has emphasised that the searchers never gave up. He has spoken of gratitude rather than blame. When asked directly whether he was angry at police, the commissioner or the Premier, his answer was clear and consistent: he was not. He and Kirrily later visited their daughter’s body at the coroner’s office. A post-mortem examination was ordered to determine the cause of death.
The family’s stance has been noted across media coverage as an example of remarkable strength and forgiveness under extreme circumstances. Neighbours and community members have described the Hoopers as a lovely family and Lily as a fit, active young woman who trained in martial arts and loved the outdoors. The decision to speak publicly about the absence of anger has allowed the focus to remain on Lily’s life and on the scale of the search rather than on the brief period of mistaken hope.
Official apologies and the investigation
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon issued an unreserved apology for the miscommunication. He described it as born of elation that Lily had been found, followed by the deflation of the corrected information. He acknowledged the additional trauma caused to the family and the embarrassment and confusion that resulted. He promised that protocols would be reviewed so that such an error would not occur again.
Premier Minns also apologised, stating that he had genuinely believed he was sharing good news and that he was profoundly sorry if anything he said had added to the family’s heartbreak. He indicated he intended to apologise to the family in person. Assistant Commissioner Joseph Cassar explained that the initial report from searchers in dense terrain had been that they believed Lily was alive, and that a more accurate account had been provided within eight to ten minutes.
An investigation into the inter-agency communications failure was launched. The matter will also form part of the broader coronial process examining the circumstances of Lily’s death and the conduct of the search.
The young woman at the centre
Those who knew Lily described a free-spirited young woman who trained hard in Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, worked as a guide for Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb, and loved challenging outdoor adventures. Instructors remembered a tough athlete who was also simply lovely. Colleagues spoke of her smile and positive energy. Her father later said she was clever, unafraid to take things on, and that her free spirit was something the family had tried to nurture.
In the days after her body was recovered, the community of Oakdale and the wider Wollondilly region gathered. A candlelight vigil was held at Willis Park. Candles, flowers, purple balloons and fairy lights filled the memorial space. Mayor Matt Gould kept the site open for anyone who wished to leave a tribute or simply spend a quiet moment there. Buildings were lit purple. Flags flew at half-mast. Local sporting clubs planned black armbands. The Rotary fundraiser continued.
Jim Hooper has spoken of hoping that Lily’s example will encourage other young women to get outside and live fully. He has asked the Premier to consider flying the flag at half-mast as a tribute. These requests sit alongside the family’s public refusal to direct anger at those who searched for their daughter and who, in a moment of confusion, briefly gave them false hope.
The silence that remains
A post-mortem examination will help determine the cause of death. A report will go to the coroner covering the time, place and circumstances of Lily’s death as well as the search and the communications issues. Those processes will take time. They will not restore what has been lost.
In the space of a week the Hooper family moved from ordinary parental concern, through days of public hope and private terror, through a brief and radiant false dawn, into a grief that will shape the rest of their lives. Jim Hooper’s decision to speak of gratitude rather than anger has offered a different register of response — one that acknowledges the pain of the mix-up while refusing to let it define the relationship with those who worked to find his daughter.
The candles at the vigil continued to burn. The community continued to gather. And in the quiet of Oakdale a family began the long work of living with an absence that can never be filled, carrying the memory of a young woman who loved the outdoors, trained hard, smiled easily, and left behind both a profound silence and a record of parental grace under circumstances few would wish to face.
