The Woman Who Vanished in Plain Sight
“She Paid Her Bills, But No One Noticed She Was Gone.” A haunting true-to-life mystery of urban isolation in Sydney. Story: S A Spencer Author of Popular Fictions : The Pink Mutiny , The Black Waters , Dream In Shackles Maya Lin had covered dozens of stories in her freelance career — housing crises, council corruption, the slow death of Sydney’s old neighbourhoods. But nothing prepared her for the call she got on a rainy Tuesday morning in October. “They found a body,” her friend whispered over the phone. “In a locked apartment. Been there for years.” The building was a crumbling 1960s walk-up in the inner west, long slated for demolition. Developers had finally moved in, eager to replace it with glass towers and rooftop pools. But when the demolition crew forced open the door to Unit 12B — a unit thought to be vacant — they found something else. A skeleton. The Discovery The apartment was sealed from the inside. The windows were shut, the door ...