WITHOUT A TRACE

One day in 2007, a farewell note was found tacked to a farmhouse door on the outskirts of Nannup, Western Australia. Inside, the belongings of the four people who lived there were left undisturbed, leading to a mystery - was it a voluntary departure, or was something more sinister at play?" Now, a new podcast might have answers.

- DOMINIQUE BAYENS

A bright-eyed teenager with long brown hair and pale skin smiles for the camera. She's pressed against a tall man twice her age with dark cropped hair and appraising eyes, her hand clutching his parka jacket and his arm wrapped firmly around her waist. It's clear they're a couple, but it's startling how young she looks beside him.

The girl in the photo is Chantelle McDougall, and I've spent months trying to learn as much about her as I can. I've had coffee with her old neighbour, been to dinner with her parents and tracked down her friends.

I know deeply personal things about her that sometimes I feel I shouldn't.

I also know funny anecdotes which paint a picture of a goofy, chatty person with a daggy sense of humour.

In the '90s Chantelle's family had moved to Wodonga in regional Victoria. Chantelle loved performing and with her sister would put on elaborate theatrical shows for their parents in their living room.

She'd say things to crack herself up like, "Pass the sugar, sugar; pass the honey, honey; pass the tea... BAG." Chantelle had dreams of being on stage and her mum, Cath McDougall, would tell her how she couldn't wait to see her on the red carpet.

But that never happened, because in 2007 Chantelle disappeared from the outskirts of the West Australian town of Nannup along with her partner, Simon Kadwill, their five-year-old daughter Leela and their friend Tony Popic.

They left a note pinned to the door of their blue farmhouse saying they'd moved to Brazil. But they never travelled on their passports nor accessed their bank accounts ever again.

No one has heard from them since.

I will never meet Chantelle, yet she's become a constant, invisible presence in my life as I've tried (in researching the ABC's new podcast Expanse: The Nannup Four) to understand what led to her disappearance.