The Lady Vanishes: New police investigation into 22-year-old mystery of missing teacher Marion Barter
Alison Sandy and Bryan Seymour
Monday, 1 April 2019 7:47 am
The Lady Vanishes - Sunrise launch.
(Source: Sunrise)
Play Video
Sunrise were given a preview of the new 7NEWS podcast.
UPDATE: The first episode of 'The Lady Vanishes' is now live. You can listen and subscribe via acast, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
It's a case that's baffled NSW police for 22 years: the disappearance, without a trace, of Gold Coast teacher, Marion Barter.
Barter was 51 when her adult children last heard from her, via a series of patchy phone calls, after she had gone on a trip to the UK in 1997.
Police in Byron Bay - where her bank account was last used - now they've sent out new probes for information into Barter's whereabouts, conceding they've never been able to find even a single trace of her.
“I’ve done searches throughout Australia, in every state and every territory, for things like driver's licenses, births deaths and marriages, Medicare, Centrelink - a whole gamut of things we normally look for when people are missing," Byron Bay Detective Senior Constable Gary Sheehan said.
No trace
"And I can’t find a trace of Marion or Florabella, which she probably goes by now, anywhere in Australia.
"That’s not to say she’s not here. I just can’t find her."
Ms Barter, then 51, left on a trip to the United Kingdom and Europe in mid-1997 but was never seen by her family again.
She had been married three times, including to national sporting hero, Johnny Warren, and had two children.
'That’s not to say she’s not here. I just can’t find her.'
Her daughter Sally Leydon reported her missing in October that same year, after learning tens of thousands of dollars had been siphoned from her bank account by someone in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.
“I rang the bank ... and said to the lady on the phone ‘my mum’s travelling overseas by herself, we haven’t heard from her in a while and ... we are concerned for her. Can you check to see if she’s using her account’?
“The standard answer was ‘I’m really sorry, I can’t tell you anything due to privacy’ but then she paused and asked ‘Did you say your mum’s overseas?’, which I said yes to.
“And then she said ‘Oh my god, money is coming out of her account in Byron Bay’.”
Never stopped searching
Leydon has never stopped searching for her mother and said the last time she heard her voice was shortly after Barter reached the UK at the end of July in 1997.
“She rang me. Chris (Sally’s now husband) and I had been skiing at Perisher the day before the (Thredbo landslide) disaster happened, and when we got home back to the Gold Coast, back in the days we had answering machines, the light was flashing," Leydon said.
"I pressed it and it was mum. It was the first time she rang me since she had been away."
The date was July 31, 1997. Her mother had heard about Thredbo and had wanted to make sure Leydon and Chris were okay.
"She called back later from a pay phone. She told me she was sitting at Tunbridge Wells in the UK," Leydon recalls.
"She was having scones and tea with some old ladies that she had just met and said she just wanted to touch base."
Leydon says her mother told her she had postponed a planned trip on the Orient Express because she was having such a lovely time exploring everywhere.
Phone drop outs
"But the phone kept dropping out. Then she would ring me back because she had more money, and I said ‘Where are you, I can call you back’," Leydon said.
"But she said ‘no I’m out at the moment having tea with these little old ladies and I just wanted to call’.
'The phone just went dead, and that was the last time I have spoken to her.'
“Back in the day, there was that delay when you were speaking to someone internationally, so she was definitely there (in the UK).
"She kept ringing back, like, five times, until she said her money ran out.
"I spoke to her about what I had been up to … and then the phone just went dead, and that was the last time I have spoken to her.”
Each year, 38,000 people are reported missing in Australia.
Lost souls
Most are found within a few hours or days.
There are about 1,600 people who have been gone for three months or longer.
Some were taken, possibly murdered, never to be seen again. Others fell ill and slipped away.
A few, the smallest group among these lost souls, choose to leave - their homes, partners, children, all traces of who the
It’s unclear whether Barter is part of the latter.
But authorities and her friends and family are baffled as to what’s become of her.
She is no longer on the missing person’s database, nor has she been located or sighted.
Sally said NSW Police had not done enough to find her mum and needed to at least put her back on the Missing Person’s database.
“If someone can prove to me she’s alive and well, I will accept it with open arms, and I can get on with my life,” she said.
The Lady Vanishes - Explained
Bryan Seymour has produced this short video to help explain the case.
WATCH: 7NEWS investigative reporter Bryan Seymour presents 'The Lady Vanishes - Explained'
(Source: 7NEWS)
Play Video
WATCH: 7NEWS investigative reporter Bryan Seymour presents 'The Lady Vanishes - Explained'
If you know something please e-mail our investigations unit:theladyvanishes@seven.com.au
The first episode of 'The Lady Vanishes' is now live. You can listen and subscribe viaacast, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
QLD NewsCrimeThe Lady Vanishes
Sent from my HTC 2PQ910 using Tapatalk
Alison Sandy and Bryan Seymour
Monday, 1 April 2019 7:47 am
The Lady Vanishes - Sunrise launch.
(Source: Sunrise)
Play Video
Sunrise were given a preview of the new 7NEWS podcast.
UPDATE: The first episode of 'The Lady Vanishes' is now live. You can listen and subscribe via acast, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
It's a case that's baffled NSW police for 22 years: the disappearance, without a trace, of Gold Coast teacher, Marion Barter.
Barter was 51 when her adult children last heard from her, via a series of patchy phone calls, after she had gone on a trip to the UK in 1997.
Police in Byron Bay - where her bank account was last used - now they've sent out new probes for information into Barter's whereabouts, conceding they've never been able to find even a single trace of her.
“I’ve done searches throughout Australia, in every state and every territory, for things like driver's licenses, births deaths and marriages, Medicare, Centrelink - a whole gamut of things we normally look for when people are missing," Byron Bay Detective Senior Constable Gary Sheehan said.
No trace
"And I can’t find a trace of Marion or Florabella, which she probably goes by now, anywhere in Australia.
"That’s not to say she’s not here. I just can’t find her."
Ms Barter, then 51, left on a trip to the United Kingdom and Europe in mid-1997 but was never seen by her family again.
She had been married three times, including to national sporting hero, Johnny Warren, and had two children.
'That’s not to say she’s not here. I just can’t find her.'
Her daughter Sally Leydon reported her missing in October that same year, after learning tens of thousands of dollars had been siphoned from her bank account by someone in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.
“I rang the bank ... and said to the lady on the phone ‘my mum’s travelling overseas by herself, we haven’t heard from her in a while and ... we are concerned for her. Can you check to see if she’s using her account’?
“The standard answer was ‘I’m really sorry, I can’t tell you anything due to privacy’ but then she paused and asked ‘Did you say your mum’s overseas?’, which I said yes to.
“And then she said ‘Oh my god, money is coming out of her account in Byron Bay’.”
Never stopped searching
Leydon has never stopped searching for her mother and said the last time she heard her voice was shortly after Barter reached the UK at the end of July in 1997.
“She rang me. Chris (Sally’s now husband) and I had been skiing at Perisher the day before the (Thredbo landslide) disaster happened, and when we got home back to the Gold Coast, back in the days we had answering machines, the light was flashing," Leydon said.
"I pressed it and it was mum. It was the first time she rang me since she had been away."
The date was July 31, 1997. Her mother had heard about Thredbo and had wanted to make sure Leydon and Chris were okay.
"She called back later from a pay phone. She told me she was sitting at Tunbridge Wells in the UK," Leydon recalls.
"She was having scones and tea with some old ladies that she had just met and said she just wanted to touch base."
Leydon says her mother told her she had postponed a planned trip on the Orient Express because she was having such a lovely time exploring everywhere.
Phone drop outs
"But the phone kept dropping out. Then she would ring me back because she had more money, and I said ‘Where are you, I can call you back’," Leydon said.
"But she said ‘no I’m out at the moment having tea with these little old ladies and I just wanted to call’.
'The phone just went dead, and that was the last time I have spoken to her.'
“Back in the day, there was that delay when you were speaking to someone internationally, so she was definitely there (in the UK).
"She kept ringing back, like, five times, until she said her money ran out.
"I spoke to her about what I had been up to … and then the phone just went dead, and that was the last time I have spoken to her.”
Each year, 38,000 people are reported missing in Australia.
Lost souls
Most are found within a few hours or days.
There are about 1,600 people who have been gone for three months or longer.
Some were taken, possibly murdered, never to be seen again. Others fell ill and slipped away.
A few, the smallest group among these lost souls, choose to leave - their homes, partners, children, all traces of who the
It’s unclear whether Barter is part of the latter.
But authorities and her friends and family are baffled as to what’s become of her.
She is no longer on the missing person’s database, nor has she been located or sighted.
Sally said NSW Police had not done enough to find her mum and needed to at least put her back on the Missing Person’s database.
“If someone can prove to me she’s alive and well, I will accept it with open arms, and I can get on with my life,” she said.
The Lady Vanishes - Explained
Bryan Seymour has produced this short video to help explain the case.
WATCH: 7NEWS investigative reporter Bryan Seymour presents 'The Lady Vanishes - Explained'
(Source: 7NEWS)
Play Video
WATCH: 7NEWS investigative reporter Bryan Seymour presents 'The Lady Vanishes - Explained'
If you know something please e-mail our investigations unit:theladyvanishes@seven.com.au
The first episode of 'The Lady Vanishes' is now live. You can listen and subscribe viaacast, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
QLD NewsCrimeThe Lady Vanishes
Sent from my HTC 2PQ910 using Tapatalk
