Leisl Smith disappearance LEFT IN LIMBO

THREE YEARS AFTER A VERDICT WAS REACHED IN HER MURDER TRIAL, THE MISSING WOMAN'S FAMILY ARE WAITING TO HEAR IT

- Kylie Walters

After spending a harrowing decade not knowing what happened to Leisl Smith, her loved ones were on the verge of finally getting answers when that hope was snatched away from them. On the evening before the verdict was set to be delivered in the 2022 trial of James Church – Leisl's lover who had been charged with her murder – he committed suicide, leaving the judge with no other legal option than to seal the case's findings.

"I believe in our investigation, I know in my heart what the result was going to be in trial," Detective Sergeant Michael Jones, who led the case, told the New South Wales Coronial Court on June 11 during an inquest. “That decision would have helped [Leisl's family] to reconcile and move forward.”

Leisl was just 23 when she was last seen alive on CCTV getting into a car at Tuggerah railway station on the NSW Central Coast in August 2012. The vehicle belonged to her accused killer.