Woman Found Alive as Murder Trial Opens

[olena]

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - An Australian teenager who disappeared nearly five years ago turned up alive just as an alleged serial killer was standing trial for her murder.
Natasha Ryan, now aged 18, was found by police just a half-mile from her mother's home in Rockhampton, in the northern Australian state of Queensland.
Just nine days before she was found on Thursday, Leonard John Fraser, 51, went on trial in the Supreme Court of Brisbane, charged with murdering her and three other women.
"I'm pleased to inform the court that Leonard John Fraser is not guilty of the murder of Natasha Anne Ryan," prosecutor Paul Rutledge told the court on Thursday, according to Australian Associated Press. "Natasha Ryan is alive."
Acting on an anonymous tip-off, police found Ryan on Thursday hiding in a house she had been sharing with 26-year-old Scott Black, her boyfriend at the time she disappeared.
Police have been questioning her in a bid to establish where she has been since leaving home in July 1998 to walk her dog.
Fraser was charged with Ryan's murder in 2001 despite the absence of any remains, while the bodies of his three other alleged victims have all been found. His trial was adjourned until Monday.

 

[Muffy]

Unbelievable! thanks for the info!

 

[olena]

Amazing to think she was so close and managed to stay hidden. I know they found Elizabeth Smart, but this girl stayed gone for 5 years.

 

[ltldeb]

Wow! Absolutely unbelievable!

 

[Lorix2]

uggh - how she could do that to her parents? I'm I understanding correctly that she wasn't kidnapped by this man at all and has been just living with her boyfriend all this time?

 

[olena]

Apparently, she ran away to live with her boyfriend. You'd think the publicity about someone going on trial for her murder would bring her out of hiding.