The Baffling Case Of Natasha Ryan, The ‘Missing’ Australian Girl Who Hid In Her Boyfriend’s Cupboard

Natasha Ryan had previously escaped. Therefore, when the disturbed 14-year-old in Australia abruptly vanished from her school in August 1998, her parents had hope that she would come back shortly.

However, months went by and Ryan was never discovered. Fears about Ryan's safety then grew as more women and girls started going missing in the neighborhood, and authorities started to believe she might have been another victim of Australian serial killer Leonard Fraser.

Natasha Ryan, the “missing” Australian girl Fairfax Media/Getty Images

Five years after Ryan vanished, Fraser was put on trial for several counts of murder, one of which included Ryan's. However, on April 11, 2003, a prosecutor in the case made the following announcement to a courtroom full of witnesses: “I’m pleased to inform the court that Leonard John Fraser is not guilty of the murder of Natasha Ann Ryan. Natasha Ryan is alive.”

Ryan hadn't been kidnapped and killed, which was an amazing change of circumstances. She had voluntarily disappeared and had spent the last five years hidden in a home she shared with her partner, less than a mile from her mother's house.

Natasha Ryan’s Troubled Teens

Born in 1984, Natasha Ann Ryan spent her childhood in the 68,000-person small city of Rockhampton, Queensland. The New Zealand Herald says that "Rocky," as the locals fondly called it, was a welcoming community where knowing one other's business was a way of life.

As a young girl, Ryan's father affectionately dubbed her "Grasshopper" because she walked rather than crawled. Ryan's mother moved her to North Rockhampton while she was in her teen years. Her father had remarried, moved to a different Queensland city more than three hours away, and filed for divorce when her parents separated.

Rockhampton in Queensland, Australia. Wikimedia Commons

By the age of 14, Ryan had already experimented with drugs, made a suicide attempt, and developed a passion for eluding capture. She was also seeing Scott Black, a 21-year-old.

While taking the family dog for a stroll one day in July 1998, Ryan escaped. Later that week, when she was discovered by police at a Rockhampton outdoor music venue, it was quickly learned that she had been sharing a hotel room with Black. Police initially accused the considerably older guy of kidnapping; however, the accusation was ultimately withdrawn, and Black was punished for hindering the investigation.

Natasha Ryan would eventually run away from home again.

Her Seemingly Fatal Disappearance

Natasha Ryan's mother dropped her off at North Rockhampton State High on the morning of August 31, 1998. That day, at some time, Ryan disappeared. She wouldn't be seen again for another five years.

The police were confident they would soon find Ryan again because they were aware of her history of evading capture. But as the months went by, there was less and less reason to believe Ryan would be discovered alive as three women, ranging in age from 19 to 39, as well as a young girl, went missing. They were eventually identified as the victims of serial killer Leonard Fraser.

Scott Black And Natasha Ryan. Twitter

Leonard Fraser, a convicted rapist who committed more rapes after being released from prison in 1997, was described as a "sexual predator of the worst kind" and a "classical psychopath" by police psychiatrists.

Fraser stalked Keyra Steinhart, 9, as she walked home from school on April 22, 1999, and then raped and killed her. He was sentenced to prison once more for this offense. Furthermore, Fraser first denied that he had killed Natasha Ryan, despite the fact that authorities were persuaded that all of the local disappearances were related.

Fraser later confessed to killing all five victims, including Ryan, after investigators successfully convinced another prisoner to pressure him into making a confession. She was allegedly attacked in his car after he gave her a ride home and then hid her body in a pond. He claimed to have met her at a movie theatre.

Her family organized a memorial service for Ryan in 2001 on the occasion of her 17th birthday since they thought she was one of Fraser's victims. Ryan's body was never discovered, despite Fraser being able to show authorities where he had hidden the other victims' remains.

The Hidden Life Of Natasha Ryan

Natasha Ryan was hiding out with her boyfriend Scott Black in various nearby homes, the final one being only a short distance from her mother's house in North Rockhampton, as her family desperately sought her.

Black was a milkman in a dairy factory, and his coworkers were unaware that he was Ryan's host. He looked to live alone based on all sources. The only laundry that has ever been hung up outside is his own. And anytime Black had guests, Ryan would merely hide in a bedroom cabinet until they left.

Scott Black’s home, where Natasha Ryan was hiding. Fairfax Media/Getty Images

But for the most part, Ryan kept the curtains shut and was free to walk around the house. She seemed content to spend most of her adolescence in a dimly lit home, doing things like cooking, reading, sewing, and surfing the internet. Only a few times in nearly five years, Ryan ventured outside to shift houses or visit a nearby beach at night.

But it appears that by 2003, Ryan may have been concerned about what would happen to the suspect in her slaying. It's assumed that Ryan called a children's counseling service's helpline three weeks or so before Fraser's trial.

Ryan claimed to be a runaway named "Sally," who was residing with her boyfriend, and that a man was set to be on trial for her murder to a counsellor. On April 2, 2003, the counsellor sent a message to the police under an alias. However, the on-duty officer was unable to track down the call.

A short while afterwards, Ryan was claimed to be alive and well in an anonymous letter to the Rockhampton police that included a phone number.

Police officers broke into a home on Mills Avenue in North Rockhampton that evening on April 10, 2003. They discovered Natasha Ryan, the "dead" girl who had been hidden in the bedroom cupboard for years without being exposed to sunlight, there.

Natasha Ryan Returns From The Grave

The police called a prosecutor on the 12th day of Fraser's trial to say that Natasha Ryan was still alive, according to CBS News.

Ryan's father, Robert Ryan, was quickly located by the prosecutor who hurried into the courtroom to inform him that his daughter had been located. Robert thought the police had discovered her dead when he first heard this, and he nearly passed out when he learned Ryan was still alive.

Natasha Ryan with a 60 Minutes crew member. Fairfax Media/Getty Images

To make sure it was really his daughter, Robert was told to call the police station. When he did so, he asked the woman who answered the phone for the nickname he had given her when she was younger.

“Dad, it’s me, Grasshopper, and I love you and I’m sorry,” Ryan told him.

It was less than nice for Ryan to see her mother, Jenny Ryan. Jenny was indignant that Ryan had, although living less than a mile away, misled her into believing she was dead for all these years.

“I hated her,” she told CBS. “I could have grabbed her and just shook the hell out of her. But when I saw her… You forget all that.”

Natasha Ryan then showed up in court for her own murder trial, giving the public the impression that the now-18-year-old had returned from the dead. In her testimony, she denied that Fraser had actually killed her.

Naturally, the court found Fraser not guilty of killing Natasha Ryan. He was sentenced to life in jail despite being found guilty of the other killings he had been accused of.

Natasha Ryan was dealing with difficulties of her own at the time.

The Aftermath Of Ryan’s Return

While the world was delighted that Natasha Ryan was still alive, many people were outraged by her abrupt return and questioned how she could have caused her loved ones years of pain by making them believe she had been killed.

According to a 2005 report in The Guardian, Black, Ryan's lover, was given a year in prison for making a false statement to the police about Ryan's whereabouts.

Additionally, Ryan was found accountable for fabricating a police inquiry in 2006. She was penalized $4,000 and required to pay $16,000 in costs of the investigation.

However, Natasha Ryan was making money from the publicity. By selling her tale to the Australian edition of 60 Minutes for 120,000 Australian dollars while under the representation of a publicist, Ryan was able to make up for years of lost income. In 2008, Ryan and Black got married, and they made an additional $200,000 by selling Women's Day the news of their union. Right now, they are parents to three kids.

Police reportedly questioned Natasha Ryan about her decision to remain hidden for so long when she was found, according to The New Zealand Herald. When it became apparent that she had been murdered, why didn't she leave?

“The lie had become too big,” she said.