Deceased/Not Found AUSTRALIA - Ms Lesley Trotter, 78, Homicide, Brisbane, 28 Mar 2023

[SouthAussie]

So what happened to Lesley, do you all think, why was she murdered and put in a bin in her neighborhood, or less probably IMO, why was she deceased after going into a bin (did someone lay in wait and disable her as she went to place things into the bin?), based on the evidence and what's been divulged by LE and postulated in the media?

Apologies, I haven't followed her case closely, and am just an "interloper" on this thread, but I have been following the facts of her murder case lately.

Big picture, here is some speculation on my part, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong:

Less Likely, IMO: Someone who knew her or knew of her, whom either didn't like her "interfering" with the trash and recycling or being a "busybody" (sorry, for lack of a better term) in her neighborhood and had a grudge against her, and just decided to "take her out".

OR

More Likely, IMO; This person or persons knew she would be moving on and selling her place at a profit and taking it elsewhere, and they had some scheme in mind, and thought they had wheedled their way into her life to the extent they thought they could get what was hers, and didn't like the fact that she was selling her place and (especially if she had been experiencing some dementia, it's one of he oldest tricks in the book to prey on the elderly) they decided they had to stop her going off? And they could only take advantage of her assets (sorry, if she was gone), and/or took advantage of an opportunity to gain access to her assets (the place she lived in, crazy maybe but, what if they thought they could say "oh, we were helping her and so close and she said she would want me/us to take over her place), so she couldn't (and didn't, wasn't able to) prevail with her move?

I am very suspect of the late night call she was on the night she died, and I am concerned she got a bad feeling about whomever she was maybe "friendly with", and they were threatening her, like "how could you (sell this place we had our tentacles on, we've been your supporters/friends/etc.), and she was calling a third party friend at midnightish, telling them she was afraid?

MOO, and please feel free to correct any wrong notions about this tragedy, TIA !

I tend to agree with you that money would seem the bigger motivation. Uncanny that Lesley 'died' in between her settlement on her current apartment and the settlement for her retirement unit.

I also wonder what Lesley's 'phone activity' might have been, for the hour or two following the midnight phone call. I wonder if any of that activity was online banking/financial activity.


"When asked whether there had been attempts to access Trotter’s bank accounts, [Det Supt] Massingham said he could not comment."
‘It’s a sad story’: Retired teacher’s body picked up in rubbish bins

 

[Seni]

Oh dear, Ms Lesley RIP, becoming more of a pain in the butt for her neighbours.

Would the neighbours have received fines as a cause of her actions?

 

[Ladyotm]

From what I know, Lesley liked to enforce rules not only at her complex but also in the streets around. I can entirely understand why she would put people offside. I know she made complaints to individuals about their behaviour and also to Brisbane City Council about a number of issues/people. And a number of people had issues with her as a rule enforcer. I don't wish to speak ill of the dead as they are not around to defend themselves, but unfortunately, she wasn't well liked by quite a few people. The term 'good riddance' was mentioned which I thought harsh to say of someone who died so abruptly and tragically. That person is the one who was interviewed by police on Saturday (as a past tenant of her complex). Btw, this person is elderly and frail and is unable to hoist 50kg into a wheelie bin.

I was wondering how her relationships were with her neighbors outside of the bin issues. . I don't think anyone laid in wait for her. I believe whatever happened that morning happened in the area of the bins. I also believe it was done by someone whom she confronted that day.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Would the neighbours have received fines as a cause of her actions?

I don't think so, or I've never heard of it.

At times here we had vandals who would tip your bin over during the night.

Mine and a neighbours used to regularly get tipped over. I'd go out and check after the bang happened, sometimes at 3 am and pick all the rubbish up and put it back in the bin.

The neighbours was a business and it was all clean stuff like papers and cardboard and I used to pick theirs up too.

Our bin trucks would sometimes collect as early as 4am so we had to put them out the night before. We still do.

There were others bins further down the street but I didn't like wandering around the street at that time of night, otherwise I would have picked everyone's up

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Like the Police, I still haven't ruled out it being an accident.

 

[SouthAussie]

I don't think so, or I've never heard of it.

At times here we had vandals who would tip your bin over during the night.

Mine and a neighbours used to regularly get tipped over. I'd go out and check after the bang happened, sometimes at 3 am and pick all the rubbish up and put it back in the bin.

The neighbours was a business and it was all clean stuff like papers and cardboard and I used to pick theirs up too.

Our bin trucks would sometimes collect as early as 4am so we had to put them out the night before. We still do.

There were others bins further down the street but I didn't like wandering around the street at that time of night, otherwise I would have picked everyone's up

Speaking of vandals, I noticed that a bin on Clayton Lane (the short dead-end street behind Lesley's place) had been vandalised with graffiti.

It is possible that as well as neighbours putting out their rubbish, cars whose occupants may have been leaving or driving by to go to work or whatever, rubbish truck(s), and at least one bin-diver, there may have been wanderers (like people who might do a little vandalism) out on the streets between 5 and 7am.



Google maps

 

[kiwi50]

It might sound mean, I live in a retirement village, and I’m sighing with relief, that she wasn’t moving into our village.
Would still love to know who she was talking to after midnight, for most people, especially old people, it would have to be an emergency to call someone at that time.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Speaking of vandals, I noticed that a bin on Clayton Lane (the short dead-end street behind Lesley's place) had been vandalised with graffiti.

Ooh good spotting!

 

[FromGermany1]

That potentially puts a different spin on a lot of things.

My neighbor, who had previously always looked immaculate, began to wander around without clothing after she developed dementia. She had also always been polite and tolerant, but the dementia turned her into a completely different person who said and did things I never would have expected.

If there's a chance that Lesley was suffering from dementia, it might explain many things she said or did in the months preceding her death, particularly if she hadn't behaved that way previously. And even behavior that had been normal for her, such as sorting the bins, might have become something she was more obsessed with.

It could explain why she was moving to a retirement home, and it might also increase the possibility that her death was a tragic accident or medical episode.

This is unlikely, but what if Lesley had gone down to the bins without clothes on, and jumped into the bin deliberately to hide, because she didn't want to be seen by someone?

I think, LT's family (brother, nephew, niece) would know, if there were incidents like this (half clothed messing with neighbor's bins by night), especially since a move to a Senior residence was planned already and might have been an urgent consequence of her health status. Leslie would have needed help with all her transactions before the sale (whether she wanted it or not) for a better course of affairs.
May very well be, Leslie's upcoming change into dependency increased an already existing confused state. IMO

 

[TootsieFootsie]

It might sound mean, I live in a retirement village, and I’m sighing with relief, that she wasn’t moving into our village.

It doesn't sound mean at all.

I'm sure if I was there, the thought of another resident constantly checking my bin and punishing me would be too stressful for me.
There is no way I could live like that. I'd have to move.
I wonder what the turnover of the units was.

Maybe it was an ex resident ? Maybe someone who held a grudge.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I have a friend in their 80s who started calling me at midnight because I made the mistake of telling them I didn't go to sleep til about 1am.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

Would still love to know who she was talking to after midnight, for most people, especially old people, it would have to be an emergency to call someone at that time.

Not if there's a chance Lesley had dementia. The neighbor I mentioned in a previous post used to go shopping at 4:00am--the shops didn't open for another 4 or 5 hours.

 

[musicaljoke]

Would still love to know who she was talking to after midnight, for most people, especially old people, it would have to be an emergency to call someone at that time.

Did she have family overseas and thus the late night phone call? We don't know anything about her family, do we, but it appears that they weren't concerned that her body was left in the dump. Or perhaps she didn't have anyone to care for her.

It still bothers me that the recovery of her body from the dump was stopped, especially when LE knows that her body was in the garbage truck. We've seen other recovery operations go on much longer, even in very hot weather. It makes me wonder if police had all the evidence they needed without recovering her body.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

From what I've read the family are devastated about Lesley being missing.

 

[musicaljoke]

From what I've read the family are devastated about Lesley being missing.

Thanks Footsie. I hadn't heard about her family.

 

[neighbour4462]

I'm with twistinginthewind's second theory. I noticed her lights were not on very much around dinner time in the months prior to her passing. This was a change in her routine. When I heard of her disappearance (and knowing her unit had just sold) my first thought was she was seeing someone new and both these matters had something to do with her disappearance. But that was a gut feeling.

I wasn't aware Lesley would leave rubbish from other's bins on the ground. It doesn't sound like something she would do, but then she did do other strange things prior to her demise.

I think was was meant by 'her actions' is 'her complaints to council' about other residents' perceived (or not) wrong doings. The person I know whose DNA was collected was one of the subjects of Lesley's complaints, however, it is unlikely this person caused her any harm - I would go so far as to say I'd bet my life on it. I say this for a few reasons: 1. other people (yes, plural) have made worse complaints about this person and they did not take revenge at any time on those other people; 2. this person knew Lesley was moving out, therefore complaints from her would have stopped; 3. this person just couldn't give a rats a$$, lol.

 

[neighbour4462]

From what I've read the family are devastated about Lesley being missing.

Thank you for providing this. I don't know the family and it must be a very difficult time. I can't imagine how to plan a funeral under these circumstances. I really hope there's some closure soon.

 

[Marg944]

The Police have managed to avoid revealing whether it was Lesley who made the call around midnight, or if it was someone who rang her... they just state that Lesley spoke to someone.

Superintendent Massingham said the last time she was known to have spoken to anyone was at 12.02am that day on her phone, and she continued to use the device for an hour or two after that.

Body in bin: is there a killer in the block?
May 13, 2023 | Australian, The/Weekend Australian, The/Australian Magazine, The (Australia)
Author/Byline: David Murray, Michael McKenna | Page: 5 | Section: TheNation

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Thanks Footsie. I hadn't heard about her family.

From what I remember it was her brother who found her missing and it was said he is devastated, and her niece.
I don't remember any other family being mentioned but she was very well thought of by her former students and the school she taught at.

Members of the bushwalking club searched places they hiked at in the early days.

I wonder though if she might have been a bit of a loner as I don't recall any friends coming forward and talking about her.
It mostly seems other residents.

 

[neighbour4462]

Speaking of vandals, I noticed that a bin on Clayton Lane (the short dead-end street behind Lesley's place) had been vandalised with graffiti.

It is possible that as well as neighbours putting out their rubbish, cars whose occupants may have been leaving or driving by to go to work or whatever, rubbish truck(s), and at least one bin-diver, there may have been wanderers (like people who might do a little vandalism) out on the streets between 5 and 7am.

View attachment 423448

Google maps

If it assists, I think that graffiti is really old...probably some bored private school boys after school. We caught some chuffing at the side of our complex a few years ago.