SHE WALKED TOWARD THE OCEAN… AND NEVER CAME BACK! – A MOTHER OF TWO WHO VANISHED NEARLY TWO MONTHS AGO REMAINS MISSING AS A DISTURBING POLICE THEORY EMERGES.
A mother-of-two who disappeared almost two months ago in mysterious circumstances has been taken to a tribunal by her landlord over a $4,000 ‘break lease fee’.
British-born Katie Walker, 46, had a phone call with a loved one on Friday May 22, before she was seen on CCTV walking down Alexander Street in Tamarama, in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs, at 1.12pm the following day.
Ms Walker, who once ran a jewellery company featured in British Vogue, was dressed up in high-heeled boots, jeans and a black coat, while carrying her favourite $2,000 red Medusa ’95 Versace handbag.
Nine days later, Ms Walker’s father in the UK had a phone call with her Australian ex-partner and they realised no one had heard from her. She was reported missing on June 2.
Police issued a missing persons notice two days later, but according to a podcast about her disappearance, a leading theory is that she took her own life.
Investigators believe she walked down a staircase to the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk – a tourist hotspot – clambered over the rocks and walked into the ocean.
But her family and friends say that doesn’t explain why her phone pinged at a Bondi Beach cell tower at 7.40pm, about six hours later. It never pinged again, and she was not seen again.
On Tuesday, the owner of Ms Walker’s $995-a-week Darling Point rental, Georgia Rose Ellis, got her lease terminated at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
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Katie Walker (pictured) was last seen in Sydney’s eastern suburbs at 1.12pm on Saturday, May 23. She was carrying her favourite Versace handbag when she disappeared
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Pictured: The last known sighting of Katie Walker, 46, walking down Alexander Street in Tamarama
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The owner of Katie Walker’s $995-a-week Darling Point rental (pictured) got her lease terminated at the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday
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Ms Ellis was represented by property manager Jasmin Markham from boutique Double Bay agency, Bradfield BadgerFox.
Ms Markham told the tribunal that Ms Walker’s father flew to Sydney from the UK, walked into the agency and explained his daughter was a missing person.
He removed her possessions from the one-bedroom unit, paid the rent up to June 23, handed the keys back to the agency the following day and promised to pay for a professional cleaner.
Ms Markham asked the tribunal to terminate the lease agreement so they could market the property and rent it to another tenant.
The tribunal member presiding over the matter pointed out there was no outstanding rent, the property was empty, and the keys had been returned.
‘They’re sad circumstances but you have the keys and the property is empty,’ they said.
Ms Markham then mentioned a break lease fee, which is applied when a tenant terminates a lease before the end of the agreement.
Ms Walker rented the unit in March and disappeared three months later, which means she was about 25 per cent through the contract and would have owed $3,980 – four weeks’ worth of rent.
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Katie Walker lived in a $995-a-week unit in Darling Point (pictured)
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Pictured: Alexander Street in Tamarama, where Ms Walker was last seen, leading down Gaerloch Avenue. Police believe she walked down the steps to the ocean
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Police say Ms Walker may have walked down these stone steps (pictured), climbed over the rocks, and taken her own life
The tribunal member replied: ‘There’s no break lease fee – she didn’t break the lease, she’s gone missing.
‘I’m not prepared to make that order for a tenant who’s been missing for six weeks and the landlord has possession.’
The agency was granted permission to put the unit back on the rental market.
Within about two hours, the unit could be seen on the agency’s website for $925, marking a $70 reduction.
According to the podcast, Ms Walker had two teenage children with her Australian ex-partner, before she married a man in the US.
Ms Walker moved back to Sydney in February after her marriage broke down, and tried to reconnect with her children.
Her friend Justine told the podcast that Ms Walker had ‘relocation stress’, but was otherwise ‘very optimistic’.
‘I think for Katie she …. definitely had a big transition in her life,’ Justine said.
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Katie Walker was born in the UK before she moved to Australia more than 10 years ago
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Katie Walker used to run a jewellery business which was once featured in British Vogue
‘She relocated to Sydney because she wanted to be closer to her children, she was experiencing the usual stressors.’
Ms Walker’s friends and family say they struggle to make sense of the police theory that she walked into the ocean and don’t believe she would have taken her own life.
But if she had, they can’t understand how no one saw her in a tourist hotspot on a Saturday in the middle of the day.
Her father has hired a private investigator to find out what happened to his daughter.
Ms Walker is described as slim with brown eyes, long brown hair, about 172cm tall with a small black butterfly tattoo on her right hand.
Anyone who has seen her is urged to contact NSW Police.
