Natasha Ryan, a former missing person and teenage runaway who gained national attention in Australia, has been found dead at the age of 40. Her body was discovered by police at a golf course in Rockhampton, Queensland, on Sunday morning.
Ryan’s disappearance as a 14-year-old in 1998 made headlines when she was presumed murdered.
She was missing for almost five years before being found hiding at her boyfriend’s house in 2003, during which time a man was on trial for her presumed murder. Her case drew significant media attention due to the extraordinary circumstances of her reappearance.
Officers will prepare a report for the coroner regarding Natasha Ryan’s death, stating that the circumstances are not considered suspicious.
Ryan vanished in 1998, last seen outside a cinema smoking a cigarette and talking to an older man. Her disappearance prompted her concerned mother to call the police, which initiated a large-scale search effort.
Police initially wrongly assumed that Natasha Ryan’s best friend had killed her and later accused local serial killer Leonard Fraser of her murder.
In 2003, police received a letter claiming that Ryan was alive, providing an address and mobile number.
Acting on this information, police raided the specified address and found Ryan alive, hiding at her boyfriend’s home.
