A woman who was at the centre of one of Australia’s most well known and bizarre disappearances has been found dead on a golf course.
The body of Natasha Ryan was found on the Rockhampton golf course on Sunday. There are no suspicious circumstances.
Ms Ryan, then 14, ran away from home in 1998 to be with her 21-year-old boyfriend Scott Black.
Former missing person Natasha Ryan (pictured during her interview on TV program ’60 Minutes’ on April 27 2003) has been found dead
Ms Ryan hid in her boyfriend’s cupboard (pictured) when there were other people at the house while sparking a massive missing person investigation that lasted five years
Ms Ryan was presumed to have been murdered by serial killer and rapist Leonard John Fraser.
But following a tip off to police, she was found hiding in a cupboard at the home of Mr Black in central Queensland in 2003, five years later.
The pair stood trial on charges of falsely causing a police investigation.
In 2005, Mr Black pleaded guilty to perjury for telling police he didn’t know where Ms Ryan was, and was jailed for 12 months.
Ms Ryan was also found guilty of causing a false police investigation and fined $1000.
They later married and had four children.
Natasha Ryan was found alive in 2003 having been presumed murdered by Leonard John Fraser.
Ms Ryan (pictured left and right) sparked national concern when she vanished but was hiding in her boyfriends home within walking distance from her parents property
Emergency services had been searching, via land and air, for a missing person in the Rockhampton region for a number of hours on June 2.
The RACQ CapRescue chopper service was assisting this morning searching the Rockhampton Golf Course area in West Rockhampton near the zoo and botanical gardens.
A statement from Queensland Police said emergency crews conducting a search for a 40-year-old woman found her body this morning.
‘Police will prepare a report for the coroner following the sudden and non-suspicious death of a woman in Rockhampton,’ it said.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
