Lesley TROTTER
Police are becoming increasingly concerned for a 78-year-old Toowong woman who has been missing for more than six days.
The 78-year-old Toowong woman last spoke with family about 11am on Monday, March 27, and has not been heard from since.
Family visited her house on March 28, but found she was not home and left her phone and wallet behind.
Acting Inspector Michael Butler said every effort was being made in an attempt to find Lesley as “significant concerns for her safety” grew.
“Several resources have been deployed, including specialised land-based search assets from Queensland Police, State Emergency Service and other organisations, in an earnest effort to locate her,” Inspector Butler said in a statement on Monday night.
“We’re asking members of the public, particularly those in the Toowong area and surrounds, to be vigilant and report any information to police.”
Police ask other bushwalkers and residents at Mt Coot-tha and Toowong to keep a lookout for any possible signs or sightings of Lesley who may be travelling with a dark coloured backpack.
She is described as caucasian in appearance, about 162cm tall with an athletic build, short blonde hair and blue eyes.
Police appeal to anyone with information regarding her whereabouts to immediately come forward as family hold serious concerns for her welfare with the disappearance out of character.
It was the case that captivated Queensland.
A 78-year-old woman goes missing from her inner-city Brisbane home, triggering a major search of bushland, only for police to make a grim discovery metres from her front door.
It's the story of Lesley Trotter — a woman with a passion for her community, whose body ended up in a wheelie bin and was driven to the tip, never to be seen again.
One year on, exactly what happened to her and how she died remains a mystery, leaving her family and friends without answers or closure.
A neighbour who knew Ms Trotter for decades says her death has affected her "more than she ever expected".
The retired teacher was an avid bush walker, gym-goer and cyclist.
Those who knew her said she went to the gym nearly every day and was "extremely fit", often hiking the trails of nearby Mount Coot-tha with her bushwalking club.
She had lived in her Maryvale Street unit in Toowong for nearly four decades and was the head of body corporate for her complex.
Residents say Ms Trotter was passionate about where she lived and held her neighbourhood's kerb appeal to a high standard.
But a neighbour told the ABC "she was absolutely pedantic about the rubbish".
"She would rummage through people's bins to ensure everything was [recycled correctly]," the person, who did not want to be named, said.
"She was collecting cans for charity – it was for the grandson of a friend of hers."
Neighbours say they never saw her jump inside a bin but would often see her reaching inside to inspect the contents.
It was something that became a point of friction in her neighbourhood.
University student Max Doyle recalled seeing her fighting with a man on the street one day, "presumably over the rubbish".
"It could have been anyone," he said.
"There can be a lot of unfriendly people here. I still get a weird feeling every time I walk past her [unit complex]."
Ms Trotter's many years in Maryvale Street were about to come to an end.
She'd just sold her home and was preparing for settlement before moving into a retirement village.
It was a plan that never eventuated.
On March 28, 2023, Lesley Trotter's brother went to visit her.
When he arrived, the door of her unit was unlocked and open. He made contact with his sister just 24 hours earlier.
He discovered her phone and wallet were still in her home and reported her missing.
In the days after her disappearance, word spread across Maryvale Street.
It was approaching Easter, and while some residents were at home watching carefully as police conducted their investigations, others were away for the holidays.
One of her neighbours was out of the state, but told the ABC the moment he heard she went missing on a Tuesday — bin day — he "knew it had something to do with the bins".
A large-scale land and air search was orchestrated at Mount Coot-tha.
Friends and family thought she may have gone for a walk and got injured or become lost.
But by this time, Ms Trotter's body was much further away.
Police revealed to media 10 days after her disappearance that they no longer believed they were searching for a missing person, but a body.
They said they had evidence Ms Trotter's body had ended up in a wheelie bin in a neighbouring unit complex.
"Due to the positioning of the body, I can't rule out foul play at this stage," Detective Superintendent Andrew Massingham said at the time.
Twenty-three trucks, including the one carrying Ms Trotter’s body, dumped waste at the Nudgee transfer station on the day of her disappearance.
Six B-double semi-trailers then transferred the compacted loads — five to Swanbank and one to Rochedale landfills.
It prompted what was described as a "lengthy", "complex" and "challenging" search operation.
About 3,000 tonnes of waste were sorted through by dozens of police and Australian Defence Force personnel.
They found a letter addressed to a home a few doors down from Ms Trotter's — a sign they perhaps got close to her remains — but her body was never recovered.
The search was called off just over six weeks after she went missing, and officers conceded it was unlikely her body would ever be found.
Police had told media they had three main theories about what happened to Lesley Trotter.
The first being that she had a medical episode when she went to collect the recycling.
Another option was that she somehow met with misadventure.
And of course, the third line of inquiry – that she met with foul play.
Asked a year later whether her death was still being treated as suspicious, police didn't give a direct answer.
"Investigations into this incident are ongoing and several inquiries are yet to be finalised," a police spokesperson said.
"Anyone with information or relevant vision, particularly between 5am and 7am on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, near Maryvale Street in Toowong, should contact police."