Lost in the labyrinth, never found

On January 6, 2017, Bernard Gore, a 71-year-old man with cognitive impairment, vanished inside the labyrinthine corridors of Westfield Mall in Sydney. He was supposed to meet his wife for lunch, but instead, he got lost and wandered into a staff-only fire stairwell. The door locked behind him, trapping him inside the maze of service hallways, with no way out.

Gore had a history of occasional confusion due to his dementia. When an episode hit, he would sit and wait, hoping someone would find him. And that’s exactly what he did in that moment—he sat, hoping someone would come for him. But no one did.

Bernard Gore’s body was fund in the stairwell behind this Chanel store.

The mall’s CCTV footage showed him walking into the mall and, moments later, turning into the fire stairwell. But the authorities never properly examined the footage that could have led them to the stairwell earlier. By the time they found him, 21 days had passed. His body was discovered in a staff stairwell by a maintenance worker on January 27, 2017, decomposed and lifeless.

The search conducted by police and security was limited to certain areas. They didn’t search the labyrinth of corridors where Gore had gone, and they didn’t bother to check the stairwell where he had entered. If they had, the outcome might have been different. He might have been found in time.

It’s heartbreaking. A simple mistake led to a tragedy that could have been prevented with a more thorough search. How could they not have searched the entire building? How could they have missed him in those endless hallways?

The Westfield Bondi Junction stairwell where Bernard Gore lay undiscovered for three weeks after he disappeared from the level four shops.

On Exact Subtitle, I write about stories like this because they make you question everything. How could this happen? Why didn’t they look harder? His last moments—alone, confused, waiting—will stay with you. It’s a reminder of how fragile life is, especially when one small mistake can change everything.

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