Marion Barter (born 3 October 1945)[1] was an Australian missing person, teacher and mother-of-two, who disappeared on Sunday 22 June 1997 from Southport, Queensland.
Her case also garnered significant speculation on internet message boards and forums, with theories ranging from identity theft to mental illness to witness protection and murder.
[3] On 29 February 2024 the NSW State Coroner announced that Barter is deceased, however there is insufficient evidence to declare a place, cause or manner of her death.
While on vacation, Barter sent family, friends and former students postcards, letters and gifts from locations around England postmarked Tunbridge Wells in Kent, Sussex, and London.
[1] Barter mentioned that she was extending her stay in Tunbridge Wells and decided to reschedule her upcoming reservation to ride the Orient Express.
[2] She also discovered, through a friend at customs that on the morning of 2 August 1997, less than a day after speaking to Leydon from Tunbridge Wells in England, her passport returned to Australia via Brisbane.
Unhappy with these findings, Barter's father decided to ask the Salvation Army Missing Persons Bureau for help in locating his daughter, convinced that her decision to leave was out of character for her.
[12] In 2007, Leydon contacted the Australian Federal Police (AFP) missing persons unit asking for information on the ten-year anniversary of her mother's disappearance.
[16] In 2013, Leydon was contacted by a stranger named Clark Hunter via a private Facebook message that stated: "Natalia is alive but you (sic) never see her again.
[18] Australian Federal Police Homicide Review unit reopened the case and decided to put Barter on the National Missing Persons register for the first time in 23 years.
[19] In June 2021 New South Wales police and local government announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of what happened to Barter.
[22] The inquest began in June 2021, before Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan with ten days of evidence from police officers and members of Barter's family.
The inquest sat for one further day in October 2022 to hear the evidence of a Byron Bay bank employee who says they remembered serving Marion Barter in 1997.
A statement from Courts Media quoted by The Lady Vanishes podcast in a special announcement said "There is no future date at this stage and it is postponed following further investigations.
It was hosted by award-winning freedom of information editor Alison Sandy and investigative reporter Bryan Seymour, with Sally Leydon's participation.