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

[TootsieFootsie]

If there was any premeditation involved. (Big if)

I had thought that someone took the bike to make it look like she had gone off on a ride, but now we know that the bike was not missing.

 

[SLouTh]

This is morbid but I think those things would have potentially pointed to a non-suspicious disappearance.

In the case of a suicide I think it isn’t uncommon for people to abandon their personal belongings or not bother locking a home. Combined with the large change about to happen in her life, that might have been the initial theory.

The reason I don’t think it was suicide is that she had future plans arranged .. the new unit had been purchased and she was moving in that week…


IMO

 

[SLouTh]

I guess the reason that I am even wondering (why the shift in direction) is because I wonder if Lesley's disappearance on her "usual hiking day" was chosen.

And the police spent a week fluffing around at Mount Coot-Tha. While Lesley was getting buried deeper and deeper in that rubbish dump.

"Look over there (Mount Coot-Tha)" ... 'but I know she's really over there (rubbish dump)'.

If there was any premeditation involved. (Big if)

Yes! Great Point!

Just like, was that day chosen because the bins were due to be collected??? As a “body removal“ option.??

Could even be a combination of both factors???

Definitely could suggest some premeditation …. IMO

 

[TootsieFootsie]

The police didn't seem to want to go into the subject of activity on Lesley's bank accounts.

 

[SouthAussie]

Maybe it took someone a week to open their bin - perhaps to finally put their rubbish in there, right before bin collection - and saw blood inside. Does everyone open their bin to check it is empty, before pulling it back into its storage spot?

Then called the police. Because it was a lot of blood and/or because they knew that Lesley was missing.

The actual crime scenes couldn't have been too messy, or were not in plain sight, if they weren't noticed for a week.
.

 

[SLouTh]

An early report states that Tuesday was Lesley’s usual hike day …. (Assuming morning?? With her hair appointment in the pm )

I will try to re-find the links …

Finally found the link that Hiking Day was Tuesday ….

(Also hair appointmment was scheduled for 3:30pm on Tuesday 28th)

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[LacieL]

The police didn't seem to want to go into the subject of activity on Lesley's bank accounts.

Yes I can’t let go of this either.

I also wondered if there was something else in the apartment that is missing but no one else knew about it?

If she was moving, she could have sold some things and had cash on her. The person who made the purchase would have known about the money but potentially no one else would know it was missing. My speculation only.

I’m really hoping there are leads the police can follow besides waiting to hopefully recover her body. It would be awful for the search to be unsuccessful and there be no answers.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Does everyone open their bin to check it is empty, before pulling it back into its storage spot?

Lately I do because of the time that mine didn't get emptied recently when a truck parked there late at night and I guess they couldn't access my bins.
So I've got into the habit of checking.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

If she was moving, she could have sold some things and had cash on her. The person who made the purchase would have known about the money but potentially no one else would know it was missing. My speculation only.

It's also in my mind that something may have been taken from her unit, cash, valuables.
Something that may not have been known to her family.

And what about the clothes. Would her family or friends know what items of clothing were missing or what she may have been wearing at home.

 

[SouthAussie]

Finally found the link that Hiking Day was Tuesday ….

(Also hair appointmment was scheduled for 3:30pm on Tuesday 28th)

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I can't recall what time her gym appointment was, but I do remember it was during the morning. I may find the right link again one day.


"Her family revealed they'd found her diary and discovered she hadn't turned up for her gym or hair appointment."

Neighbours of missing Brisbane woman believed to be dead speak out

9now.nine.com.au

(Not that a killer would have known or cared about her appointments that day. It was Hiking Day, and Rubbish Day.)
.

 

[T-dawg420]

Maybe it took someone a week to open their bin - perhaps to finally put their rubbish in there, right before bin collection - and saw blood inside. Does everyone open their bin to check it is empty, before pulling it back into its storage spot?

Then called the police. Because it was a lot of blood and/or because they knew that Lesley was missing.

The actual crime scenes couldn't have been too messy, or were not in plain sight, if they weren't noticed for a week.
.

This makes sense to me. I never check my bin after bin day unless there was weight in it (such as it hadn’t been emptied fully etc). I would only ever look in the bin once I was putting rubbish in it the next time I needed too.

 

[LacieL]

I would only ever look in the bin once I was putting rubbish in it the next time I needed too.

If the bin was from an apartment building too, potentially the same person could be taking them all in, in which case they’d probably only check one (if any) and if enpty assume they’d all be.

 

[SLouTh]

I can't recall what time her gym appointment was, but I do remember it was during the morning. I may find the right link again one day.


"Her family revealed they'd found her diary and discovered she hadn't turned up for her gym or hair appointment."

Neighbours of missing Brisbane woman believed to be dead speak out

9now.nine.com.au

(Not that a killer would have known or cared about her appointments that day. It was Hiking Day, and Rubbish Day.)
.

“We found her diary, she was due to be at the gym Tuesday morning. I rang the gym, her last check-in was Saturday (March 25). And she had a hair appointment at 3.30pm Tuesday afternoon and her hairdresser said she never showed up.”

https://www.couriermail.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-qld/police-launch-homicide-investigation-after-disappearance-of-lesley-trotter/news-story/a6206978cda845d6f7bc7c1d9a7f07ba

 

[LacieL]

It's also in my mind that something may have been taken from her unit, cash, valuables.
Something that may not have been known to her family.

I’m thinking about this a lot. Clearly this case is troubling me a lot.

As far as I can tell Leslie wasn’t on Facebook. At least not under her name. So probably wasn’t selling things on Facebook marketplace unless her family were helping her.

I wonder if her building had a notice board in a common area. I’ve lived in some that do and some that don’t. Maybe she sold things to a neighbour via there, or a community notice board elsewhere - the library, a supermarket?

I know when my own father moved into a retirement complex was selling things right up to the day he moved.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

You would assume that she went through her things and would have not wanted to take everything with her to her new place.

What if she did put something up for sale, maybe on Gumtree, where people usually pick up the items in person.
Or yes a notice board somewhere.

I would assume that fingerprints have been taken from her unit. And from all the bins from the two unit complexes.

Was Lesley online at all, ie on her phone, computer etc.

 

[SouthAussie]

Somehow it seems more plausible that Lesley was killed for money than because she sorted people's rubbish.

Perhaps the police are letting the "could be related to her practice of sorting rubbish" thing dominate, but they know otherwise. While they investigate, and search for Lesley.

 

[SouthAussie]

You would assume that she went through her things and would have not wanted to take everything with her to her new place.

What if she did put something up for sale, maybe on Gumtree, where people usually pick up the items in person.
Or yes a notice board somewhere.

I would assume that fingerprints have been taken from her unit. And from all the bins from the two unit complexes.

Was Lesley online at all, ie on her phone, computer etc.

She wrote an online thank you to the real estate agent, on his Instagram account. Unless someone wrote it for her.

I'd say that many people Lesley's age are good on a computer. We get emails at work that make that evident to me.
PC's have been around for years and years now. Lesley was likely using them in some capacity when she was a teacher. imo

 

[LacieL]

Was Lesley online at all, ie on her phone, computer etc.

She has a laptop pictured in the real estate photos and as above, appeared to have typed the agent a testimonial that he posted on instagram. I agree she would have definitely been online when she was working as a teacher.

It’s possible I guess that she only used the laptop for writing. As an English teacher I presume she was also a writer, even if only for herself to read. The interviews I have read from people who knew her point towards an eccentric type of person.

I can’t see any evidence that she was on social media at all.

 

[SLouTh]

Lesley did have a Laptop … shown here in her second bedroom when the unit was on the market …

 

[TootsieFootsie]

It's funny really, I've met people in their 40s and 50s who don't have a clue how to use the internet and don't even want to try.
But I know others Lesley's age who have been using the internet since it first became available to the public.

I guess we really can't generalise. Everyone in every age group aren't all the same.