Ric Blum and Marion Barter: everything we know about the case
The stone cold mystery of missing mum Marion Barter and her secret ties to conman Ric Blum has sent sleuths into overdrive. Here’s everything we know about the case.
The cold case of missing Queensland mum Marion Barter and her secret ties to the convicted conman Ric Blum has made headlines around the globe and is sending amateur sleuths into overdrive. Here’s what we know about the case so far.
Who is Ric Blum?
Belgium-born Ric Blum, 83, has been based in Australia for more than 40 years with his fourth and current wife, Diane De Hedervary. Previously jailed in France for fraud, he has at least 50 aliases and a long history of deceiving and exploiting women. Blum’s other names include Willy Wouters, Richard Lloyd Westbury, Richard West, Willy David-Coppenolle and Rich Richard.
Who is Marion Barter?
Marion Barter is a Queensland maths teacher and the former wife of Australian football legend Johnny Warren. She was 51 years old in 1997 when she quit her job at The Southport School on the Gold Coast, sold her house and travelled overseas on a holiday.
Marion Barter disappearance
How deep and dark does Ric Blum’s backstory go?
He’s the shadowy figure looming over Queensland mum Marion Barter’s disappearance. Fresh claims continue to emerge painting Blum as a master manipulator.
Accused Casanova conman denies dabbling in poisons
A man who has become the focus of inquiries into a schoolteacher’s mystery disappearance has denied having an interest in poisons.
Conman dad ‘gave lessons on poisons’
A convicted conman questioned over the disappearance of a Queensland teacher spoke in horrifying detail about how to kill people with homemade poison, his daughter says.
Conman ‘gave false evidence’ about daughter
The alleged serial fraudster who denied killing Queensland teacher Marion Barter gave false evidence when he said under oath that he’d never been in contact with his daughter, witnesses say.
Curious case of alleged conman and missing coins
It’s the conman’s collection – a combination of unusual artefacts and rare coins traced back to alleged serial fraudster Ric Blum.
New claim in missing mother mystery
A convicted conman questioned over the possible murder of his missing lover – the former wife of a Socceroos legend – is facing new claims he ripped off a widow.
Deceit and duplicity: the toxic trail of Ric Blum
The stone cold mystery of missing mum Marion Barter and her secret ties to conman Ric Blum has sent sleuths into overdrive. Here’s everything we know about the case.
Blum claimed entire family ‘exterminated’
Neighbours of the convicted conman — linked to missing mum Marion Barter — tried to raise the alarm when his bizarre stories began to unravel. Other lies were more disturbing.
A 40-year con, yet citizen swindler still here
Ric Blum, a central figure in the mystery of a missing teacher, became a citizen and claimed welfare for decades despite a serious criminal history abroad.
Border alerts failed to apprehend fraudster
A convicted conman who had an affair with a Queensland teacher just before she vanished was previously on a border watch list as authorities considered charging him with citizenship fraud.
‘If authorities acted … he’d have never met mum’
Missing teacher Marion Barter’s daughter says officials should have taken action against a convicted conman when they first concluded he’d obtained his citizenship fraudulently.
Conman should never have been able to become an Australian citizen
Marion Barter’s daughter Sally Leydon has every reason to be upset, angry and frustrated over the light touch shown by authorities to Ric Blum.
Bumbling case of serial fraudster
For Immigration, Mr Blum’s presence remains unfinished business.
Blum’s victim speaks out: ‘My God, I hope he suffers’
After conman Ric Blum connived is way into her home, Andree Flamme went right to the top but was never contacted by police. She tells her story for the first time.
Conman made quick buck on coins, were they stolen from widow?
He’s a prominent figure at a missing teacher’s NSW inquest, and now serial fraudster Ric Blum has been found selling the exact same type of coins he’s accused of stealing.
Fraudster’s wife warned ‘he has a gun’
Serial conman Ric Blum’s estranged wife warned her new partner he had a gun in the car when he turned up at a Belgian ferry terminal, a new witness says.
Conman Blum ‘got me at a low point’
A woman says serial fraudster Ric Blum got her at her lowest before threatening to send intimate images of her to her family, friends and church.
Missing mum inquest extended amid new evidence
An inquest into the presumed death of Queensland mother of two Marion Barter will hold extra hearings to examine new evidence.
Conman’s $80,000 mystery ‘mugging’
Serial fraudster Ric Blum was ‘calm and relaxed’ when he told officers he had just been squeezed unconscious and robbed of €50,000 in a Gold Coast car park, police reports reveal.
Fraudster’s unguarded moment caught on camera
Momentarily left alone in a police interview room, with a camera still recording, convicted conman Ric Blum dropped his head and appeared to utter a single audible word.
Premonition of burial site sparked search for missing teacher
Police searched a rural area of NSW for the grave of missing teacher Marion Barter after a man reported a vision of where she was buried.
Ric Blum has confirmed to NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan at an ongoing inquest that he had been in a secret relationship with Barter for about four months before she vanished, but he denies any knowledge of her fate and maintains his innocence in all allegations against him.
Who is Florabella Remakel?
Florabella Remakel is the name Barter gave herself when she went overseas. A man with the same unusual surname had placed an ad in French-language newspaper Le Courrier Australien in 1994, seeking a relationship and potential marriage.
Where is Barter now?
Barter’s whereabouts are unknown and her disappearance has been the subject of an inquest and police investigation in NSW. Authorities assume that Barter is dead.
What is known is that after leaving the country in 1997, she returned the same year without contacting family or friends, used her Medicare card at an optometrist’s appointment, made a series of large cash withdrawals, then dropped off the face of the earth. Among the few clues are that Barter’s daughter Sally Leydon fleetingly saw her mother, single and looking for love, in a car with a mystery man at a petrol station shortly before her big overseas trip. Barter appeared startled to be spotted, and hurriedly drove off.
Five days before Barter departed to the UK, Blum also left Australia for Europe. Two days before she came back, Blum returned.
Barter or someone posing as her was subsequently in the Byron Bay area, making daily cash withdrawals, with Blum living just down the road in Wollongbar with his wife and teenage children.
On October 14, 1997, Blum opened a safety deposit envelope with the Commonwealth Bank. The next day, $80,000 was taken out of Barter’s Colonial State Bank account in Byron, the biggest single withdrawal. Soon after that, Barter’s trail goes stone cold.
Why the sudden interest in this 1997 cold case?
There are several reasons: a podcast, an explosive Belgian media report, and fresh revelations by The Australian’s national crime correspondent David Murray involving Ric Blum’s dark backstory.
In February this year, in a joint investigation between the Luxemburger Wort, Luxembourg Times and Nieuwsblad newspapers, it was reported that Blum had swindled a Belgian woman out of €100,000 in 2012 following her husband’s death the previous year. Blum was the cousin of the woman’s late husband and is said to have convinced her to travel with him to Bali to jointly purchase a house. Then, after booking her in for a massage and hairdressing appointment, he disappeared with her cash.
Back home, valuable and sentimental jewellery was missing, including her wedding ring.
Late last year, he was accused of stealing about €70,000 from another Belgian widow, Ghislaine Danlois, in 2006 after she placed a personal ad in a newspaper. Blum’s long and eloquent handwritten letter in French responding to the ad had perfect spelling and stood out from the other replies.
Her abrupt plans to sell her home and car before moving to Australia with Blum was a red flag for relatives. So too was the discovery that Blum, who claimed to travel the world collecting rare coins, was slumming it in student accommodation in Brussels when he claimed he usually bedded down in luxury at the five-star Astoria Hotel.
Danlois’s daughter-in-law, Alexandra Peereboom, has prepared a statement about what happened for NSW Coroner.
Blum’s daughter Evelyn Reid this week told The Australian her father had previously spoken to her in horrifying detail about how to kill people with homemade poison.
“He wanted to teach me how to poison people. I ended up being terrified,” Ms Reid said.
Police have contacted her only once, during the ongoing inquest into Barter’s disappearance, and had not taken a formal statement, she said. Blum denies dabbling in poisons and says he met Reid only once, as a baby, and had never seen or spoken to her since.
Meanwhile, amateur sleuths have joined the search for Barter on the back of a popular true-crime podcast, The Lady Vanishes, about her disappearance.
What has the investigation and inquest found so far?
A NSW inquest into Barter’s disappearance and suspected death remains ongoing.
When asked outright by homicide detectives whether he murdered Barter Blum emphatically denied it. He did the same at the inquest and strenuously maintains his innocence in all allegations against him.
Blum told the inquest he had changed his name “as a fantasy”. But Adam Casselden SC, counsel assisting the coroner, said in his closing submissions that Mr Blum had a pattern of exploiting vulnerable women. “He has led an extraordinary life of deceit and duplicity,” Mr Casselden said.
Forty-eight hours before NSW State Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan was due to hand down findings last November into Barter’s disappearance, the case was unexpectedly put on hold to allow homicide squad detectives to conduct further investigations.
Joni Condos, who has been on the trail for the podcast The Lady Vanishes discovered Barter underwent a full liver function test in mid-May, just before leaving, despite having no known health issues. Belgian widow Danlois spoke of Blum also insisting she undergo liver tests.
“There are so many threads in this case, it goes in so many different directions,” Condos told The Australian.
Know more? Contact journalist David Murray at murrayd@theaustralian.com.au.