Australian Tourist Vanishes During Solo Las Vegas Trip

Key Points

  • Australian tourist Sally Grace Contarino, 26, remains missing after vanishing during a solo vacation in Las Vegas
  • Police are reviewing a social media influencer's smart-glasses video showing him approaching her days before her disappearance
  • Investigators believe she traveled toward Mount Charleston for a hike but failed to return to her Las Vegas hostel

The investigation into the whereabouts of Sally Grace Contarino, a 26‑year‑old Australian tourist who vanished during a solo trip in Las Vegas, is about to enter its second week. The latest piece of the puzzle is a creepy video shared by a social media influencer whose Instagram feed shows him attempting to hook up with random attractive women around Las Vegas.

A social media influencer films himself approaching Sally Grace Contarino, who is shown smoking a cigarette outside a 7-Eleven in Las Vegas four days before being reported as missing. (Image: Instagram/@epicdamianpov)

The video, recorded on Meta smart glasses, shows the man asking Contarino for her phone number outside a 7‑Eleven on Boulder Highway on June 17 — four days before she was reported missing.

Contarino politely declines, saying she has a boyfriend. Las Vegas police confirmed their missing persons unit is aware of the video, though there is no indication the influencer is connected to Contarino’s disappearance.

Last Contact

Contarino’s last contacted friends on June 19, texting that she planned to hike Lone Mountain before returning to the Bungalows Hostel, where she was staying. Surveillance footage later captured her arriving back at the hostel in the early hours of June 20.

A few blocks east of the Fremont Street Experience, the Bungalows is in a part of downtown Las Vegas often described as high-crime, especially late at night. The 7-Eleven is 6 miles southeast of that location, directly across the street from Sam’s Town, a locals casino owned by Boyd Gaming.

Las Vegas police have classified Contarino as an “endangered missing adult” who may be in severe emotional distress and in need of medical assistance. (Image: LVMPD)

Later on June 19, Contarino visited Timbers Bar & Grill, a locals bar 2 miles southeast of UNLV, where staff said she appeared quiet but content. Surveillance footage shows her leaving around 10:30 p.m. after using an ATM. Nothing seemed unusual, according to employees.

Her family told police that Contarino ordered breakfast the next morning at a nearby café, then boarded a bus toward Mount Charleston, a popular hiking destination northwest of Las Vegas. Investigators believe she got off the bus and began a planned hike — one she had reportedly completed before — but never returned to her hostel.

When she failed to board her return flight to Melbourne on June 21, her family reported her missing. It was then discovered that a Greyhound ticket she purchased to travel back to L.A. for her flight home was never scanned, and no footage shows her boarding the bus.

Police have recovered her luggage from the hostel and are using search dogs with her clothing to track her scent. As of the latest updates, Contarino has not been located.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Missing Persons Detail at 702.828-2907 or missingpersons@lvmpd.com.

Corey Levitan joined Casino.org in 2022 after a long career covering Las Vegas. He currently covers entertainment, dining and gaming news in Las Vegas.

Corey spent six years covering the Vegas Strip for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he also wrote the most popular humor column in the city’s history. (For “Fear and Loafing,” he tried out 176 Vegas jobs, including poker player, blackjack dealer and Follie Bergere dancer.)

Corey has won more than 100 local, state and national awards for his journalism, which has also appeared in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and the New York Post.

Corey is a New York native whose hobbies include playing guitar, trying to be a better husband, and arguing with strangers on Facebook.

Contact Corey at corey@casino.org.

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