Could Mum Really Be Alive... 22 Years After Vanishing?

Sally Leydon refuses to give up hope of finding her mum Marion who didn’t come home after a holiday

- Lizzie Wilson

The disappearance of Marion Barter is without a doubt one of the most baffling cases ever in Australia, and her daughter Sally Leydon vows to find the truth about what happened.

The haunting story has divided investigators, who can’t explain how or why she vanished. If she wasn’t murdered all those years ago, it’s even harder to understand what could have happened to the devoted mum-of-two and private school teacher.

The year before she vanished, life could not have been better for Marion, 51, who was honoured as Queensland Teacher of the Year in 1996, and appeared to have the world at her feet.

Yet, just months later, the respected teacher from the exclusive Southport School on the Gold Coast quit her job with just four days notice, and sold the family home for under-market value.

SUDDEN DEPARTURE

“At her farewell gathering, she said she was heading to the UK on an adventure, and was going to ride the Orient Express,” remembers one fellow teacher.

“Another teacher, half-joking, said, ‘We know what happened there!’ referring to the movie