Can Marion Barter’s Disappearance Be Solved by Forensic Advances
Australian True Crime
Meshel Laurie
4.6 • 979 Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2025
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Marion Barter was a respected Australian teacher who disappeared on June 22, 1997, under circumstances that remain unresolved.
In this episode, guest host and criminologist Dr. Xanthé Mallett is joined by forensic DNA expert Dr. Jodie Ward, who shares insights from her humanitarian work, and Marian’s daughter, Sally Leydon, who discusses her ongoing efforts to uncover the truth behind her mother’s disappearance.
Missing Person Marion Barter Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MissingMarionBarter/
Sally Leydon’s website: https://themissingmatter.com/
Forensic Human Identification Co.’s website: https://forensichid.co/
For Support:
Lifeline on 13 11 14
13 YARN on 13 92 76 (24/7 crisis support phone line for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)
1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732
CREDITS:
Guest Host: Dr. Xanthé Mallett
Guest: Sally Leydon and Dr. Jodie Ward
Executive Producer/Editor: Matthew Tankard
This episode contains extra content from Channel 7 and the ABC.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And I think for me at the end of the day, my mum's still missing. |
| 0:03.5 | When can I stop and have a rest and actually just take a moment to breathe? |
| 0:08.0 | I can't. |
| 0:09.0 | And there's lots of me out there. |
| 0:10.6 | There's lots of people just like me who are living this stress. |
| 0:13.7 | And you still have that ambiguous field around your head that's sort of suffocating you while you don't actually know what's |
| 0:20.8 | happened and it's a horrible feeling, I can tell you. |
| 0:28.0 | We're joined again in this episode of Australian True Crime by guest host, |
| 0:32.4 | criminologist and forensic pathologist Zanthi Mallet. |
| 0:36.4 | On today's episode, I'm joined by two wonderful women, Jodie Ward and Sally Leighton, |
| 0:41.9 | who are going to be talking to us about the case of Marion Barter, |
| 0:46.1 | who is an Australian missing person who disappeared on Sunday the 22nd of June 1997. |
| 0:52.2 | Now, Jody is joining us as an academic in this space. She's a good friend of mine. |
| 0:56.5 | I've known Jody for a long time and I've been trying to get her onto the podcast to talk about |
| 1:00.6 | something forensic DNA expert led because she is the guru of forensic DNA in Australia. |
| 1:06.2 | And she's going to be talking to us about her humanitarian work. And Sally's joining us because she is actually |
| 1:12.1 | Marion's daughter and she is very passionate about keeping Marion's story alive and finding out |
| 1:17.6 | what happened. This is Australian True Crime. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land |
| 1:23.7 | on which this podcast is created, the Warrandri Woi Warang people of the Kulin Nation. |
| 1:29.3 | And a warning, this episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence. |
| 1:39.5 | Every day, incredible women are working to keep the public safe from terrorism. |
| 1:43.8 | None of my family or friends would believe me if I said, this is what I do for a job. |
... |
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