Australia Australia - Chantelle, 27, and Leela McDougall, 6, Toni Popic, 40, Nannup, 13 July 2007

  • #501
[h=1]Ten years missing, how teen would look now[/h]Grant TaylorFriday, 26 May 2017 12:45AM[FONT=&quot]
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Cathy McDougall’s emotions are mixed as she stares at the face of the pretty teenager her granddaughter Leela may have grown into in the decade since she went missing.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It is just amazing because the family resemblance is so close — she looks just like my niece,” Mrs McDougall said.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It is lovely to see it but it also reminds me of everything I have missed over the years.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The image of Leela, who was five when she vanished, was prepared by specialist forensic artists from the United States National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children and is believed to be a highly accurate depiction of what she would look like today at the age of 15.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Leela and her mother Chantelle vanished from the South West town of Nannup in July 2007, along with Chantelle’s partner Simon Kadwell and family friend Tony Popic.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]A note left at their home said they were planning to travel to New Zealand, then Brazil to begin a new life but no evidence was found to suggest they had left the country through a monitored port or airport[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In the years since, countless appeals for information have been held without success and Mrs McDougall and her husband Jim are now hoping the release of the “age-progressed” image of Leela could be the key that helps to finally unlock the mystery.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“It (the image) will give people an idea now of what Leela looks like today and if they see her or if they know anything about her, we just hope they come forward and say something,” Mrs McDougall said.

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“They could do it anonymously, we just want to know what has happened to them.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Age-progressed images have recently been used in the Madeleine McCann case and have proved instru-mental in helping reunite several long-term missing children with their families in other countries, including the US.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The McDougalls say Chantelle, who was 27 when she vanished, gave them no warning about her plans to leave Australia and they believe it is likely she is now living quietly somewhere in another State with her partner Simon under assumed identities.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It was only after their disappearance that the McDougalls learnt their daughter’s partner had changed his name from Gary Feltham and that he was the leader of a shadowy internet-based cult called the Truth Fellowship.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mr McDougall said his daughter had met Mr Kadwell when she was only 16 and immediately fell under his spell.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]He believes Mr Kadwell is still exerting control over her, which is why Chantelle had never picked up a phone to let her family know that she and Leela were alive and well.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“I really believe he hasn’t hurt them and they are still alive somewhere in Australia but he just has that much power over them that I think he would not let them contact us,” Mr McDougall said.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The case was one of six from around the country highlighted by the Australian Federal Police yesterday to mark International Missing Children’s Day.
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  • #502
I don't think that's the best age progression I've seen :/
 
  • #503
I don't think that's the best age progression I've seen :/
I Agree, but it is good to see her face in the media.

Where are you Leela?

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  • #504
  • #505
  • #506
[FONT=&quot][h=1]Train journey linked to mystery disappearance[/h]The West Australian, Tuesday, August 13, 2013[/FONT][FONT=&quot]; Section: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]News[/FONT][FONT=&quot], Page: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]7[/FONT]
http://thewest2.smedia.com.au/Olive...px?href=WAN/2013/08/13&id=Ar00702&sk=2E5830F8

The trouble I have with this, is if it was Tony Popic, then wouldn't he of at least called to see or talk to his brother in East Perth before leaving on the Prospector?
 
  • #507
At the time, Sen-Sgt Balfour described the case as “truly a mystery”. “It’s such a bizarre story and we have as little an idea of their whereabouts today as we did in 2007 when they disappeared,” he said.
The detective said it was impossible to rule out murder but said: “There’s no evidence to suggest they are dead, just as there’s no evidence to suggest they are alive”.

WA Police said it was an “ongoing investigation and continues to be investigated as a missing persons’ case”. However, the Coroner’s inquest set down for December proves authorities also suspect the four may be dead.


[FONT=&amp]The West Australian, Sunday, May 07, 2017[/FONT][FONT=&amp]; Section: [/FONT][FONT=&amp]Confidential[/FONT][FONT=&amp], Page: [/FONT][FONT=&amp]38
[FONT=&amp]VANISHED WITHOUT A TRACE - The West Australian, 7/05/2017[/FONT]​
http://thewest2.smedia.com.au/Olive...px?href=WAN/2017/05/07&id=Ar03800&sk=81562B7E
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  • #508
[FONT=&amp]Well if Gary Felton is alive, I suppose his beer addiction might be a giveaway to finding him.
Mr Hudon wrote in a letter to Mr Kadwell. “You have way too many normal human frailties, such as being a quite substantial beer drinker...
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[FONT=&amp]
The town’s liquor store owner, former Labor MP Tony Dean, remembered Mr Kadwell, who came in regularly to buy German beer,[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]
[/FONT]

[FONT=&amp]The West Australian, Saturday, April 19, 2008[/FONT][FONT=&amp]; Section: [/FONT][FONT=&amp]News[/FONT][FONT=&amp], Page: [/FONT][FONT=&amp]12
Doomsday website could be key to missing family

A mother and her young daughter are caught up in a secret internet forum called The Gateway. Gary Adshead reports

http://thewest2.smedia.com.au/Olive...px?href=WAN/2008/04/19&id=Ar01200&sk=17849B39
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  • #509




[FONT=&amp]The West Australian, Sunday, May 07, 2017[/FONT][FONT=&amp]; Section: [/FONT][FONT=&amp]Confidential[/FONT][FONT=&amp], Page: [/FONT][FONT=&amp]38
[FONT=&amp]VANISHED WITHOUT A TRACE - The West Australian, 7/05/2017[/FONT]​
http://thewest2.smedia.com.au/Olive...px?href=WAN/2017/05/07&id=Ar03800&sk=81562B7E
[/FONT]
Ahh... Post 504 makes more sense now. Thanks, petedavo. I was reading some of the inquest cases and findings from the WA coroner's court. Helpful. There is a guy Cook who is listed in 2017 and disappeared a few years back... So I gather these inquests are initiated by the state and not family? If the coroner findings assume they are deceased, does WaPol officially cease investigation?
 
  • #510
Ahh... Post 504 makes more sense now. Thanks, petedavo. I was reading some of the inquest cases and findings from the WA coroner's court. Helpful. There is a guy Cook who is listed in 2017 and disappeared a few years back... So I gather these inquests are initiated by the state and not family? If the coroner findings assume they are deceased, does WaPol officially cease investigation?
An inquest can be asked for by any interested party by writing to the Coroner.

There could be various reasons for a Party to do so, like disbursement of an estate, payout of an insurance policy, or even as in the case of Sarah McMahon, by the police to force the hand of the suspect in a probable murder to give testimony under oath, and possibly incriminate themselves. BTW, that one makes interesting reading, although off topic.

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  • #511
An inquest can be asked for by any interested party by writing to the Coroner.

There could be various reasons for a Party to do so, like disbursement of an estate, payout of an insurance policy, or even as in the case of Sarah McMahon, by the police to force the hand of the suspect in a probable murder to give testimony under oath, and possibly incriminate themselves. BTW, that one makes interesting reading, although off topic.

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http://www.coronerscourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Mcmahon_finding.pdf

d1b2f450ea7e6f210c5e85fd3943f060.jpg

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  • #512

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  • #513
New here and I actually live not far from Nannaup so when I heard about this, I had to look into it.
Here's some thoughts:
1. I keep seeing the cheque for the car was cashed, chantelle would have need at least her bank card and if everything was left behind at the house then it shows they went back after selling the car.
2. I think it's worth thinking that whoever picked them up after selling the car is involved, because of it was just a lift why not come forward.
3. Nannup is an hour away from ocean so risking the bodies at sea is highly risky to get that way without being seen.
4. River is not a good hiding spot, that water is stagnant, it has amoebic meningitis in it and apparently some fish but it can be very shallow and to risky bodies would be spotted.
5. The comment of prize dog may have just meant prized as in beloved, as a dog show winner would be could a champion. The doxies are highly breed by none registered breeders. There is one in Bridgetown.
A non papered pedigree is worth far less. Also may have been a cross.
Did it say the sold it? Or did they give it away?
6. There is a lot of Forrest out here, plenty of places too hide.
7. The behaviour before hand leads me to believe they planned to leave or believed they were leaving, when I moved interstate years ago I drove my car to a dealer to trade in and had a friend waiting to pick me up - this was a week before moving, same friend dropped me at the airport. This could have been there plan.
8. If they left to go elsewhere why did they leave it all a mess. Also no mention of anything was missing, although they may not know since owner packed it up. If they left the country surely they would have taken some clean clothes even just for a few days till they got to where they were going.
9. Wonder what happened to their stuff, I believe the owner is required to wait 3 months before disposing of it. October being reported missing would verge right on this timeline.
10. People can go days in these towns without seeing anyone, even weeks. It doesn't say if Lela went to school or was home school. If they had given notice to there jobs and Lela was home schooled then they could have easily still been in Nananup for a few days extra before disappearing.
11. That SLaL either has something to hide or is obsessed with attention now, I remember seeing his name in a that's life article about a missing man in Broome. Will try to find.

For many people in this area it is easy to presume something sinister has happened as this is best place in the country to hide anything. Vast bushland, if your a local people will have as you pass them and never question why you are out of where you normally stay.
 
  • #514
New here and I actually live not far from Nannaup so when I heard about this, I had to look into it.
Here's some thoughts:
1. I keep seeing the cheque for the car was cashed, chantelle would have need at least her bank card and if everything was left behind at the house then it shows they went back after selling the car.
2. I think it's worth thinking that whoever picked them up after selling the car is involved, because of it was just a lift why not come forward.
3. Nannup is an hour away from ocean so risking the bodies at sea is highly risky to get that way without being seen.
4. River is not a good hiding spot, that water is stagnant, it has amoebic meningitis in it and apparently some fish but it can be very shallow and to risky bodies would be spotted.
5. The comment of prize dog may have just meant prized as in beloved, as a dog show winner would be could a champion. The doxies are highly breed by none registered breeders. There is one in Bridgetown.
A non papered pedigree is worth far less. Also may have been a cross.
Did it say the sold it? Or did they give it away?
6. There is a lot of Forrest out here, plenty of places too hide.
7. The behaviour before hand leads me to believe they planned to leave or believed they were leaving, when I moved interstate years ago I drove my car to a dealer to trade in and had a friend waiting to pick me up - this was a week before moving, same friend dropped me at the airport. This could have been there plan.
8. If they left to go elsewhere why did they leave it all a mess. Also no mention of anything was missing, although they may not know since owner packed it up. If they left the country surely they would have taken some clean clothes even just for a few days till they got to where they were going.
9. Wonder what happened to their stuff, I believe the owner is required to wait 3 months before disposing of it. October being reported missing would verge right on this timeline.
10. People can go days in these towns without seeing anyone, even weeks. It doesn't say if Lela went to school or was home school. If they had given notice to there jobs and Lela was home schooled then they could have easily still been in Nananup for a few days extra before disappearing.
11. That SLaL either has something to hide or is obsessed with attention now, I remember seeing his name in a that's life article about a missing man in Broome. Will try to find.

For many people in this area it is easy to presume something sinister has happened as this is best place in the country to hide anything. Vast bushland, if your a local people will have as you pass them and never question why you are out of where you normally stay.
This article?
https://www.thatslife.com.au/he-went-to-coles-then-disappeared
76ff72d90b6191b6bc462a255546248e.jpg
54700eb15df7edbd35249d48de6be49d.jpg


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  • #515
Yes that's the one
 
  • #516
Catherine and Jim McDougall not giving up on 10-year search for daughter and granddaughter
Vanessa Brown
news.com.au
SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 6:12pm

'FOR MORE than 10 years, Catherine and Jim McDougall have been living in hope.

Hope that their daughter Chantelle, and granddaughter Leela will be found safe — and alive.

But as each day, month and year ticks over — their hope slowly fades, and the reality of never seeing the pair again sets in.

Appearing on Insight on SBS on Tuesday, it’s one of the most baffling disappearances in WA history — and a mystery that keeps the McDougall’s searching for answers.'

Read more at:

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...r/news-story/3063c4400d4ba1420fe17ddae93cb2c1
 
  • #517
Unresolved
By SBS Insight
Airdate: Tuesday, September 12, 2017 - 20:30
Channel: SBS

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/tvepisode/unresolved

'We meet Cath and Jim McDougall whose daughter Chantelle and granddaughter Leela vanished 10 years ago. The young mum and her 6 year-old daughter were living with an internet cult leader and another disciple in Nannup, WA, when she told her parents they were all going to Brazil. They have not been seen since.'

Meet the Guests

View attachment 123072

Catherine McDougall

“Like every time there’s another body found I keep thinking maybe it’s Chantelle, maybe we’ll find something out, and then it's happened so many times now, it is just so hard.”

TRANSCRIPT

JENNY BROCKIE: Cath, your daughter Chantelle and your granddaughter Leela disappeared ten years ago?
CATHERINE: That's right.
JENNY BROCKIE: You last saw them ten years ago?
CATHERINE: Yes.
JENNY BROCKIE: Where were they living?
CATHERINE: They were living in a little farmhouse just out of Nannup in Western Australia.
JENNY BROCKIE: And what were the circumstances they were living in?
CATHERINE: Um, they were just living as, with a friend and then the father of Leela.
JENNY BROCKIE: Chantelle was 27?
CATHERINE: That's right.
JENNY BROCKIE: She was living with this man known as Simon?
CATHERINE: Mm-mmm.
JENNY BROCKIE: And he was involved in a cult?
CATHERINE: Yes.
JENNY BROCKIE: A small cult, can you tell us about him?
CATHERINE: Yes, he thought he was a cult leader but I don't think he'd sort of had many people interested in it really.
JENNY BROCKIE: What did you make of him?
CATHERINE: Very weird. You never got to know him very well because when I ever went over to see Chantelle and Leela he would stay in his room all day.
JENNY BROCKIE: So how did you feel about the relationship?
CATHERINE: Um, I was very apprehensive but they'd sort of been together for a fair while, but it was always sort of strange.
JENNY BROCKIE: And was she committed to those ideas, to those beliefs?
CATHERINE: A little bit but I don't know if she was that way.
JENNY BROCKIE: We have a short clip that she sent you of her and Leela, your granddaughter, with another man who's in the cult.
CATHERINE: Yeah.
JENNY BROCKIE: Who's there on the right.
CATHERINE: Yeah.
JENNY BROCKIE: And then Simon is there at the back?
CATHERINE: Yes.

VIDEO PLAYED.

LEELA: Namaste. Yeah. A fun night.

END OF VIDEO.

JENNY BROCKIE: Leela looks like a very chirpy little girl?
CATHERINE: Yes, she is.
JENNY BROCKIE: Tell me about that last visit you had with your daughter and granddaughter ten years ago, what was it like?
CATHERINE: Um, I got there and it was really exciting to see them and we would go out in the day, but the whole time I was there, probably after the first couple of days, I felt something strange was up. I just had this gut feeling and I just tried to ask her questions without being too prying, but they apparently got a passport for Leela and it had come in the mail while I was there but they didn't say anything about it. Simon took it and put it away and then they had visitors one night because she asked me to have Leela with me at the little cabin that I was staying in in Nannup and I said, she said oh, I'm tired, I wanted to get an early night. So I had Leela and when I saw her the next day she said to me, um, that she didn't get an early night, they had visitors and that was unusual because they didn't have visitors very often.
JENNY BROCKIE: So you had a bad feeling?
CATHERINE: I did.
JENNY BROCKIE: Could you put your finger on what it was?
CATHERINE: No, I wished I'd asked perhaps more questions or tried to find out more but I thought well, you know, she's an adult and I just, you know, she's got her life so I just let it go.
JENNY BROCKIE: What are they like? Tell me what your daughter and granddaughter are like?
CATHERINE: Oh, they are full of life. They're very creative. Leela, she is very loud and in your face as you can see from the video. But she was, they were loving, they were kind and caring and I just can't imagine that, you know, they're gone and where are they? They don't contact me because I used to keep in contact all the time.
JENNY BROCKIE: After that visit your daughter rang you to say that she was leaving the country?
CATHERINE: Yes.
JENNY BROCKIE: Where did she saw she was going?
CATHERINE: She said she was going to go to Brazil and help people and I said oh what, are you going to live in like a commune near the Amazon and they were going to help people and that sort of what they believed in, so I just thought oh, you know, that's okay. I said but please keep in contact and I wanted her to, you know, contact me. We've got the internet on and everything but we never heard.
JENNY BROCKIE: When did you start to worry?
CATHERINE: Probably, well it was a month or two had gone by and we kept trying to find out, you know, what's happened because we told her to write to us and we never heard anything and my brother told me to get in contact and report her missing through our local police which we did.
JENNY BROCKIE: And what happened then once you'd done that?
CATHERINE: Once we'd done that, he'd done a bit of sort of research and that and he come back to us and said that there was a note on the door and they said they're gone to Brazil. There was furniture in the house, food in the fridge and they'd gone and, um, their bank accounts weren't touched and she'd sold the car and there was nothing.
JENNY BROCKIE: So their bank accounts hadn't been touched?
CATHERINE: No.
JENNY BROCKIE: And was there a record of them going to Brazil?
CATHERINE: No, the Immigration said there was nothing unless they went out by other means.
JENNY BROCKIE: So how were you feeling by then?
CATHERINE: Oh, frantic. Um, I was so worried and I was so sort of, I felt like I was blaming myself at first because I had that uneasy feeling when I was there and then they were gone and why didn't I, you know, do this and why didn't I ask more questions? But I just sort of kept trying to find out and, yeah, and that's all I could do.
JENNY BROCKIE: Your husband Jim is also here?
CATHERINE: Yes.
JENNY BROCKIE: Jim, what was it like for you and how did you react when you realised that all this had happened?
JIM: Oh, it's pretty hard to say. I suppose that's really a big emotional roller coaster that you're on and you can't get off it so you just keep trying to find ways you can try and find out. So I did the things like I contacted embassies and I contacted Immigration before we finally got onto the police to get them to do it all. You just feel hopeless and useless sort of thing so you really just try whatever you can. You know, we made posters and posted them everywhere and did all sorts of things.
JENNY BROCKIE: You did a lot of that kind of thing yourselves?
JIM: Yes.
JENNY BROCKIE: Yeah?
CATHERINE: Yes, we travelled around Australia and my boss printed out all these flyers for us to put up and with the Crime Stoppers number on it and their descriptions and photographs and we went around Australia putting them everywhere because we were told that they hadn't left Australia so we were hoping to find them.
JENNY BROCKIE: And did you get anything back from that?
JIM: We got a fair bit of help from the media actually so they found out things like that Simon wasn't really Simon that he was under an assumed name and illegal immigrant.
JENNY BROCKIE: This is her partner?
JIM: The partner, yeah, he was really Garry Felton so the media sort of found out more than the police and told us so that all took about four years, I guess, or maybe a bit longer.
JENNY BROCKIE: And what was that like as that unfolded, as you realised that he wasn't who he said he was?
CATHERINE: It was awful. Jenny, you just felt who is this person? What has he done that he's got to have an assumed name? Your mind goes crazy thinking of all the things that could be happening and things like that that you just don't know then.
JENNY BROCKIE: And ten years on you still don't know?
CATHERINE: No.
JIM: No idea.
CATHERINE: We just hear all these things that, you know, he'd been involved with beforehand.
JENNY BROCKIE: What sort of things had he been involved in beforehand?
CATHERINE: He's just conned people out of their money and plagiarised the stuff he'd written in the books and that was sort of nothing then. So just felt like to me that he was just a con man.
__________

JENNY BROCKIE: Are there things that have changed in your life Cath as a result of this, just in that day-to-day sense, in that practical sense?
CATHERINE: Oh, yes, yeah. Like every time there's another body found I keep thinking maybe it's Chantelle, maybe we'll find something out, and then it's happened so many times now it is just so hard.
___________

JENNY BROCKIE: Cath, last year some photos appeared on Facebook of an English speaking teenage girl who was dazed and lost in Rome and there was speculation that that girl was your granddaughter. What was that like for you when that happened?
CATHERINE: First I felt yeah, could be, but I was pretty sure it wasn't because our granddaughter had a sort of a high forehead and this girl did not have a high forehead and I don't think that changes in time. But it did look a little bit like since we've had an age progression photograph given to us by the missing person, or missing children's group in Canberra, they do look similar but I'm fairly sure it's not her and they did investigate and it wasn't. But yeah.
JENNY BROCKIE: What went through your mind though during that time?
CATHERINE: Well first I thought that would be good because we'd maybe find out some things, and then you sort of feel a bit disappointed because you don't …
JENNY BROCKIE: Because your hopes get raised momentarily?
CATHERINE: You do, all the time, every time something like this comes up I wonder where they are and yeah, it's, it's just horrible.
___________

JENNY BROCKIE: Are there things that help in a situation like this?
CATHERINE: I find I focus on the happy things to do with Chantelle and Leela, the fun things we used to do and Leela loved to dance around and things like that. So I focus on that.
JENNY BROCKIE: And do you think, is that something that's come with time Cath?
CATHERINE: Yes.
JENNY BROCKIE: Given that it's ten years for you and a much shorter time for everybody else?
CATHERINE: Yes it was. In time, I mean I wasn't coping at all but now I seem to cope a little bit better, even though it's getting harder but yeah, I just keep thinking of all the funny things she used to say and do and the jokes and all the things like that.
__________

JENNY BROCKIE: Cath, it's been more than ten years?
CATHERINE: Yes.
JENNY BROCKIE: For you, there is an inquest coming up in December, what are you hoping will come out of that?
CATHERINE: I'm hoping that maybe some witness will get up and say something that they know because we have this feeling that someone knows something, perhaps the friends that came.
JENNY BROCKIE: That came that night.
CATHERINE: And we'll find that out and we'll get somewhere, some lead to perhaps find something, yeah, because after ten years and you haven't got a lead and you haven't got a lead to anything, it's hard to deal with.
 
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