Laura McCulloch disappears after an internet date in Los Angeles

A frantic hunt is underway for an Australian actress and singer who was last seen on an online-arranged date in the United States.

Laura McCulloch, 37, was last seen at a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles on Friday, August 12; she was scheduled to meet someone for a ‘Bumble or Tinder’-arranged date.

The ‘bubbly and lively’ Victorian lady has not been seen since, has skipped work, yoga class, and other ‘commitments’ on a regular basis, and has even deleted her dating app.

It is said that her friends and relatives are undertaking a frantic search for her and that Los Angeles police did not consider her case a missing person investigation as of Tuesday night.

Her sister Clare McCulloch alleged in a social media post, “We’ve had nothing except resistance and denial from the cops.”

Merrie McCulloch, her cousin, has created a GoFundMe page to help pay for a private investigator, since the family is frustrated with the lack of assistance from the LAPD.

Laura’s distressed relatives and friends describe her behavior as “very out of character.”

Friends of Ms. McCulloch have urgently attempted to locate her and launched an internet appeal.

They stated in an online post that she was last heard from before to a Bumble or Tinder meet-up.

Before the date, she reportedly wore a blue shirt, red skirt, and tan shoes.

The family also claims that the restaurant in Santa Monica where she had agreed to meet her date refused to share surveillance video without a court order.

It was the Gyu-Kaku Japanese barbecue restaurant at 231 Arizona Avenue, Santa Monica (3rd St Promenade). Her anxious sister Clare McCulloch reposted their postings, saying, “If you are in L.A. or know anybody in L.A., please spread this across all of your networks!”

Please, please, please assist us in locating my sister!

Late Tuesday night, she added, “Keep praying those enormous f***ing prayers for my sister’s safe return.”

9News stated that Clare McCulloch claimed her sister’s dating app had been removed.

Clare McCulloch said that she is “completely out of her mind” because her sister is not answering her phone.

It’s a nightmare, and it’s difficult not to assume the worst.

According to the website of the California Department of Justice, there is no waiting time until a person is regarded officially missing.

The website states, “All California police and sheriff’s agencies must receive any complaint, including a telephone call, of a missing person, including runaways, without delay and will give priority to the report’s treatment.”

Laura McCulloch relocated to Los Angeles in 2021 after working in New York as an actress, singer, voice-over artist, writer, and producer.

In 2022, her only cinematic credit is the independent short film Covid Support Group, directed by American director Abigail Bogle.

In March 2021, she portrayed Madame Le Farge in an American theatrical adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities at South Carolina’s Bob Jones University.

She has also held the position of a nanny between employment.

In 2009, she had a supporting part in the cinematic adaptation of the legendary ballet The Nutcracker. In 2010, she starred in the Australian short film The Black Sheep.