Marion Barter (born 3 October 1945) was a woman who disappeared from Southport, Queensland in 1997.
Barter was a mother of two. She worked as a teacher up until she quit her job, secretly changed her name and made large cash withdrawals before disappearing on a holiday in England.
In 2021, an inquest into her disappearance began. It revealed Marion was in a relationship with Ric Blum, who she knew as Fernand Remakel, who traveled to England with her and suggested starting a new life in Luxemburg.
In February 2024, the Coroner ruled that Marion was deceased and declared her date of death after October 15, 1997. However, they noted there was insufficient evidence to determine a place, cause or manner. Marion's remains have never been recovered.
Case[]
In April 1997, Marion Barter sold her house within three weeks of listing it below its asking price. In June, she resigned from her job. She changed her name to Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel in secret and bought a one-way ticket to England. Her daughter received a phone call from her on August 1, claiming she was in Tunbridge Wells and flight records show her passport returned to Brisbane on August 2. Between August and September, someone drained her bank account of $80000, making the maximum daily withdrawals of $5000 in branches in Byron Bay and Queensland.
Police investigating mistakenly closed the investigation in the 1990s as a runaway without contacting her before reopening it ten years later in the 2000s.
Her daughter received a letter claiming to be from the Salvation Army, stating she had run away in 1990, but this was later retracted as they had never made contact with her.
Media[]
- The 2024 book The Lady Vanishes by Alison Sandy recounts her case.
Sources[]
- Marion Barter on Wikipedia
- Marion Barter at the Doe Network
- 7 News
- The Lady Vanishes podcast
- ABC News