A mother of two was seen at a bank withdrawing her remaining funds, telling staff she did not want her whereabouts disclosed after she reportedly disappeared in suspicious circumstances, an inquest has been told.
Gold Coast woman Marion Barter, the ex-wife of Australian soccer great Johnny Warren, was last seen by her family in June 1997, days before she flew overseas for what was meant to be a year-long holiday in the UK and Europe.
While postcards were sent by the 51-year-old to her family back home, they stopped coming and in August 1997, Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel flew into Australia.
Investigations later revealed Marion Barter changed her name to Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel in May 1997, resigned from her job as a schoolteacher and sold her house before she went overseas.
Police previously concluded Marion purposefully went missing and wanted to start a new life.
An inquest into what happened to Marion and the police investigation started in the NSW Coroners Court in 2021.
The inquest resumed on Tuesday, with former Queensland Police missing persons bureau senior constable Paula McKenzie giving evidence.
Ms McKenzie was the investigating officer tasked with looking into Marion’s case when a report was received by the Salvation Army’s family tracing unit.
She told the inquest she believed Marion was alive and well after making inquiries in November 1997 with a female bank officer from the Colonial Bank.
“It was a female who advised me that Marian was alive and well and it was her that was in their bank,” Ms McKenzie said.
“She advised me that Marion had been in the bank to withdraw the rest of her money.
“She couldn’t disclose her whereabouts to me. I can remember her informing me this was definitely Marion in the bank and she definitely didn’t want her whereabouts disclosed.”
Ms McKenzie said she could not recall what branch Marion had reportedly visited, however the inquest was previously told by another witness the branch was in Ashmore on the Gold Coast.
“No, I have not forgotten that conversation,” Ms McKenzie said when asked if she could have been mistaken about what she heard during the conversation.
“The teller was just so insistent that it wasxjmtzyw definitely her.”
Ms McKenzie confirmed she took no steps to verify the information the bank officer gave her.
“You miss things,” she said.
The inquest heard Ms McKenzie never wrote the name of the bank officer down and never asked for Marion’s contact details, because she believed the bank was doing police a favour by discussing their customer’s records.
“They’re doing us a service,” Ms McKenzie said.
When asked if she encountered cases where people went missing and did not want to be found, Ms McKenzie said she had.
“Many, many times; it was quite common,” she said.
“There’d be members of a family who were having trouble with their family, elder abuse was a normal one … gamblers, drug addicts, anyone that’s gone off wanting to join a cult or a similar circumstance to a cult, domestic violence.
“They’re just a few off the top of my head.”
The inquest continues.
