Australia Australia - Marion Barter, 51, missing after trip to UK, June 1997 #7

[Estelle]

I wonder what's going on in their home tonight? Did RB think she said the right things? Has the penny really dropped now for Diane? For Casselden it was like pulling teeth. Diane would say she didn't know hoping she would get away with it. But he would probe again and she would reveal a little more, then Casselden would probe again and she half-heartedly gave him more information.

 

[KiwiNZ]

I couldn't stop wondering if she very hastily dyed her hair so as not to even remotely appear blonde? She is not tall. And ya'll know I've been waiting to see who the short blonde accomplice who picks up the luggage is.

Both her children are olive skinned with very dark hair so I was expecting her to be of olive complexion with dark hair. The blonde thing still has me perplexed

 

[DK007]

The bank stuff remains somewhat confusing/mysterious. I don’t think there have bas been any official record presented of the $5000 removals. We primarily know this from Sally & in the first inquest the Rep from Colonial Bank mentioned evidence of a high interest account where there would be 5k limit per day (but didn’t specify what that evidence was, but I assumed he meant evidence that suggests a connection to MB).

I also don’t think we know for sure if the $5k removals were then put into the Ashmore account and then withdrawn in October, or if the 80k withdrawn in Oct was additional money. But I think the general belief is that the 80k wirhdrawn in OCt is in addition to what was withdrawn earlier—money Marion had unrelated to the sale of her house.

The other confusing part is that Sally believes Marion had a commonwealth account, although no one has presented any official evidence of any MB account at commonwealth in 1997 (althouth in most recent podcast the indicate having a transmittal paper related to commonwealth dates October 14 1997) Presumably any evidence of an MB account at commonwealth should exist. The colonial records seem to be less well kept after the merger, but commonwealth seems to have other records from that time. This info was probably documented in the missing persons investigators “running sheet” that is also missing.

Thank you

 

[kbk]

I’ve said it before, but I believe Marion could have struck him first and they got into an altercation. Once Marion cottoned on to the fact that he was fleecing her. My impression of Marion is that she was much less compliant and more switched on than the other ladies. Sally’s dad claims that Marion hit him and he also hit her on at least one occasion when they were married.

This is a good point.
I too, think she seemed quite clever and quite possibly caught on to his plans. I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that it is an escalation from being a conman to a murderer. I don't think it's a small stretch but I do think something significant happened for it to happen. Does anyone have any different theories of what could of led to this?

 

[Deleted member 249471]

This is a good point.
I too, think she seemed quite clever and quite possibly caught on to his plans. I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that it is an escalation from being a conman to a murderer. I don't think it's a small stretch but I do think something significant happened for it to happen. Does anyone have any different theories of what could of led to this?

From your last post to this one, a whole bunch of us left theories, even if we didn't tag you

 

[RDBL2022]

Good evening Sleuthers!
I’ve finally been able to sit down and watch todays events and I’m now wondering who the hell spends more than half of their life with a man, finds out only a few months ago that he was unfaithful and is being questioned over someone’s disappearance, then finds out today that there was probably more women, and she isn’t in the slightest bit upset?!
She’s either a good liar or she just doesn’t care much for anything or anyone - and I don’t think either scenario is going to help this case.
I’d be needing a tissue if I was in her position in the witness box, not only because he’s a cheating pr!ck but also because his dishonest ways caused her to be getting questioned like that at her age, live streamed for the world to see. SMH.

i totally agree! I would have been on the internet as quick as possible, very suss to me!

 

[centred]

Someone asked earlier about possible Jewish roots, due to his alias Chaim F D Dehedervary.

No idea if he's actually Jewish. But I'd say he got that alias from adapting his daughter's middle name. In the NAA papers, I saw people scribbling Chusan, and it actually looked like Chaim. As we know, RB takes every opportunity to take documents that already exist and doctor them.

Why did he do it though? Maybe to scam rich widowed Jewish women? Or he was hiding as a Jewish man because no one was looking for that.

I also noticed he used Dehedervary with that alias so if you did a search, it would be harder to find. Just thoughts.

When i initially looked up DeH ...these are the first 2 that appeared to me

The House of Hédervary | Barons of the Realm

Claire de Hedervary's Biography

 

[Estelle]

Paul Townsend, is a Solicitor Advocate for one of the interested parties - but not sure which one. He was on the screen after lunch and none of the other solicitors were there on screen at least.

What role do you think he plays?

 

[Lokii]

Paul Townsend, is a Solicitor Advocate for one of the interested parties - but not sure which one. He was on the screen after lunch and none of the other solicitors were there.

What role do you think he plays?

Someone said earlier (Peralta I think?) that Paul Townsend might have been a legal aid lawyer there for RB.

 

[DK007]

i totally agree! I would have been on the internet as quick as possible, very suss to me!

Agreed! I personally found it hard to watch the live stream today. It was like watching a dentist extracting a stubborn tooth! I find it hard to believe DDH doesn’t know more.. Fingers crossed more comes out tomorrow! Interestingly DDH answered one curiosity how did RB get about as DDH points out in one of her replies to LCA at the time they only had one car, makes perfect sense MB and other victims driving him from A to B …. Glad this unexpectedly came out today by DDH !

 

[Estelle]

This is a good point.
I too, think she seemed quite clever and quite possibly caught on to his plans. I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that it is an escalation from being a conman to a murderer. I don't think it's a small stretch but I do think something significant happened for it to happen. Does anyone have any different theories of what could of led to this?

If they argued, it might have been manslaughter.

 

[Deleted member 249471]

From TLV fb: "There should not be any further closed sessions from here on in. They were to deal with procedural issues outside any evidence being provided, so please rest assured you have not missed anything."

 

[RDBL2022]

I cannot wait for tomorrows court appearance- hopefully it will be an open court all day.
So many questions unanswered!
If you had the chance ....what 1 question would you ask?

 

[Estelle]

Has TLV made a podcast tonight as promised this morning?

 

[Deleted member 249471]

At the very least, DdH loses my respect because she wears her mask beneath her nose.

 

[Belleandsebastian]

I cannot wait for tomorrows court appearance- hopefully it will be an open court all day.
So many questions unanswered!
If you had the chance ....what 1 question would you ask?

I’d say “Where’s Marion?”

 

[Estelle]

This is the podcast which focuses on what I would like to know more about:

Ita Buttrose joins hit 7NEWS podcast 'The Lady Vanishes'

 

[DK007]

I cannot wait for tomorrows court appearance- hopefully it will be an open court all day.
So many questions unanswered!
If you had the chance ....what 1 question would you ask?

Have you been that happily married all this time not ever hold an element of doubt regarding your husband’s whereabouts? Hence why I think DDH knows more… ! IMO

 

[sunnybree]

This is a good point.
I too, think she seemed quite clever and quite possibly caught on to his plans. I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that it is an escalation from being a conman to a murderer. I don't think it's a small stretch but I do think something significant happened for it to happen. Does anyone have any different theories of what could of led to this?

At the moment, I’m kind of leaning towards it being unplanned in the sense that the grand plan was for RB to vanish once he had the money. A conman might escalate to murder if he feared exposure - real exposure as in Marion found out his “real” identity and threatened to go to the police. This might have led him to murder if he thought he had a lot to lose. Perhaps he and Marion were together for awhile, and the relationship might have taken a turn toward domestic violence, like GGB where he took the photos of her and used them for blackmail (image-based abuse). He may have killed her in a rage. I do kind of favour the threat of exposure motive though.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Not there yet.

The Lady Vanishes on acast

Has TLV made a podcast tonight as promised this morning?