Former missing person found dead at age 40
A former missing girl has been found dead in Queensland, 24 years after she disappeared as a teenager.
The body of Natasha Ryan, who was at the centre of one of Australia's most bizarre disappearances, was found on the Rockhampton Golf Course on Sunday, with police saying the circumstances of her death were not suspicious.
The RACQ CapRescue chopper service had been searching for a reported missing person for several hours on Sunday when Ms Ryan's body was found, as statement from Queensland Police said emergency crews confirmed her death.
“Police will prepare a report for the coroner following the sudden and non-suspicious death of a woman in Rockhampton,” it said.
Ms Ryan first made headlines in 1998 when she was 14 years old, when she ran away from home to be with her 21-year-old boyfriend Scott Black.
The teenager was presumed to have been murdered by serial killer and rapist Leonard John Fraser after the investigation into her disappearance turned up no leads.
However, five years later after a tip off to police, she was found hiding in a cupboard at the home of Mr Black in central Queensland in 2003.
She then became known nationwide as 'the girl in the cupboard'.
In 2005, the pair stood trial on charges of falsely causing a police investigation, where Mr Black pleaded guilty to perjury for telling police he didn’t know where Ms Ryan was, and was jailed for 12 months.
Ms Ryan was also found guilty of causing a false police investigation and fined $1,000.
The couple later married and had four children.
Image credits: 9News / 60 Minutes