Reward announced as 1997 cold case investigation into disappearance of Marion Barter reopens
Investigators investigating a Queensland teacher who disappeared for decades are appealing for a $1 million reward to the public in the hope new information will emerge.
In October 1997, a Southport teacher named Marion Barter was reported missing to police in Byron Bay after they became concerned that she had lost contact with family members while on holiday in the UK.
She had legally changed her name to Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel, without her family’s knowledge, when she was last seen heading to the airport to fly to England.
NSW police said Ms Barter, who was 51 at the time of her disappearance, “may have re-entered Australia under the name Florabella Remakel with a passenger card stating she was married and resident in Luxembourg”.
“Detectives were also told that weeks before Marion disappeared, a family member was observed leaving a service station on Ferry Road in Southport in a red Honda Civic Breeze with a tall male passenger,” police said.
“Investigations also revealed that an unknown party accessed a bank account belonging to Marion following her disappearance.”
Police investigated numerous leads in connection with the disappearance both in Australia and abroad.
The case, which was initially settled voluntarily following initial investigations, was reopened in 2019 following extensive media coverage.
The NSW State Coroner ruled in 2024 that he probably died sometime after 15 October 1997, but was “unable to determine the nature of his death”.
