Australia Australia - Chantelle, 27, and Leela McDougall, 6, Toni Popic, 40, Nannup, 13 July 2007

Gardener1850

Timeline Guru (Still Remembering Cupcake)
Joined
Jun 9, 2016
Messages
42,107
Reaction score
117,011
222222.jpg

Nearly seven long years have passed since the disappearance of the then 40 year old Antonio POPIC, 27 year old Chantelle McDOUGALL and her 6 year old daughter Leela, causing family and friends to hold fears that something sinister may have happened to them. Since July 2007, the trio have not been seen or heard from at all, leading to missing persons reports being filed in October 2007 by the parents of Chantelle, and then again in November 2007 by Antonio’s brother. Their last known residence in Nannup was discovered abandoned with all their belongings left behind untouched. Despite extensive inquiries by police and their families, with known associates, child care officials and financial institutions their whereabouts still remain unknown.
https://www.crimestopperswa.com.au/open-cases/leela-mcdougall/

[h=1]Fate of Australian doomsday internet cult family from Nannup, Western Australia remains mystery[/h]
289473f4561082edac8ccf91f3012401

THE second last time Bruce Blackburn set eyes on Simon Kadwill before he disappeared with his young family and their male lodger in 2007, he was surprised at Kadwill’s “calm and relaxed” mood.


Surprised because on previous occasions when he’d encountered his neighbour, Kadwill had been a hot, paranoid mess, “ranting and raving” about electromagnetic fields and getting so worked up he’d break out in hives.
Life next door to the strange Englishman had become difficult in recent months due to Kadwill’s extreme reaction to plans by utilities company Western Power to install a nearby power pole with a transformer.
Kadwill, 45, moved into the rented property in tiny Nannup, Western Australia, with his much younger girlfriend Chantelle McDougall and the couple’s daughter Leela, six, about three years earlier. Their friend, 42-year-old Tony Popic lived in a caravan parked outside the house.
Locals were familiar with Kadwill’s noisy tirades about some sort of conspiracy against Leela and himself by diverting electromagnetic waves towards their home, but put it down to eccentricity.
What they didn’t know at the time was their strange but undeniably charismatic neighbour was operating an internet doomsday cult called the Truth Fellowship, which had roughly 40 followers worldwide.
Afer the family became the subject of a national, then international police search, his cult ties emerged along with the revelation that “Simon Kadwill” was actually Gary Feltham. According to investigators, Feltham had stolen the identity of a former associate in the 1990s.
One day in July 2007, Kadwill, McDougall, Leela and Popic drove away from their Nannup residence forever, leaving behind wallets, credit cards and dirty plates on the table. A note scrawled with the words “Gone to Brazil” was found stuck to the front door by their landlord a few days later.
The last official sighting of the four was on July 13, 2007 in the WA town of Busselton where they sold a car to a local dealer for $4000 and drove away in a waiting vehicle. Popic’s father Joe told police he had recently given his son $25,000 to take care of what he had believed to be a “legal matter”.

Police initially thought that they may have sneaked out of the country to New Zealand before travelling to Rio Branco, a Brazilian city known for its religious cults that both McDougall and Kadwill mentioned in conversation before they vanished.
However, immigration authorities have no record of the group leaving the country and their bank accounts have remained untouched, raising fears the four were dead, possibly even murdered.
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...y/news-story/838f1baa6a6d069e3033df8b57ce88ee
 
Oh, wow. Ranting and raving about conspiracies and electromagnetic fields... Sounds like he may have been suffering from paranoid schizophrenia or something like that.

Also, sometimes someone who is suicidal will suddenly become much calmer and more cheerful once they've actually planned how to kill themselves... They feel relieved their problems will soon be over.

However, that doesn't tie in with all the money they took with them.
 
2013:

A man using Mr Popic’s identification stayed at a Northbridge backpackers on the night of July 15, 2007.

Police say they believe that man caught a train from Bunbury to Perth earlier that afternoon using the name J Roberts and caught a 7.15am train to Kalgoorlie the next morning also as J Roberts.

But it is there the trail goes cold again.

The man had bought a return ticket for the Kalgoorlie trip but police are still unsure if he travelled back to Perth on July 17 as booked.

Police suspect it was Mr Popic who used the J Roberts’ ticket and stayed in the Underground Backpackers because his mobile phone was used in the city within minutes of the train’s arrival in Perth. His driver’s licence with his photo was also used as identification to rent the double room.

But it may have been Mr Kadwill posing as his friend, as it emerged after the group’s disappearance his real name was Gary Felton and he had stolen the Kadwill identity from an associate in England...

r Popic and Ms McDougall’s families fear their disappearances could be linked to Mr Kadwill’s involvement in a secretive doomsday cult and have previously accused the Englishman of brainwashing their loved ones.

None of the adults have touched their bank accounts or used their phones since July 2007 and police are investigating if they are in hiding or died in a murder-suicide pact.

Mr Kadwill had told friends he was becoming disillusioned with the world and considering using drugs to end their lives.


https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/18471021/train-trip-link-to-mystery-disappearance/
 
["Cult Buster" Adrian] van Leen said Mr Kadwell, who he claimed was also known as Simon Kadwill and Simon Kaddy, proported to be a "higher being'' who was preparing the Earth for a global spiritual evolution overseen by "various interstellar confederations''.

Mr Kadwell had promoted the book while living in Australia and the UK by targeting New Age believers via the internet, Mr van Leen claimed.

"It seems like a con job using new-age spirituality,'' Mr van Leen said.

"Since being made aware of the book, I have discovered that the book is linked to the people who disappeared.

"It was written by the guy involved with the disappearance, Simon Kadwell.

"The book itself seems to be full of standard new-age cliches and jargon.

"I think this is a case of a conman rather than a cult and what happens when a conman is about to be exposed or thinks he is about to exposed? They do a runner.

"Lets just hope he has taken the others with him and there is nothing more concerning to it.''

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/cult-author-among-missing-four/story-e6frg12c-1111115965810
 
Mr McDougall and his wife have previously accused Mr Felton of brainwashing and seducing their daughter when, as a 17-year-old, she started babysitting for him.

Mr Felton and Chantelle had Leela and in 2004 moved with Mr Popic to Nannup, where Mr Felton operated the doomsday forum called The Gateway.

He was called Si in the internet chat forum, which involved about 40 members around the world who referred to themselves as the Forecourt - a religious reference to the place where believers wait for "judgment day".


https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/9876015/brazilian-search-for-cult-family/
 
Ms McDougall's parents, Jim and Cathy McDougall, have not given up hope of finding their daughter and granddaughter safe and well, but remain convinced it was Mr Feldman who persuaded them to disappear.

"Originally this guy - Gary Feldman, as we know him now - claimed to be some sort of religious guru and he enticed them into his little flock that way," Mr McDougall said.

"(It) was September two years ago that we found he was English, and his parents were from England, and he had taken money off people, and that his name was Gary Feldman, and the real Simon Kadwell was quite a nice guy in England."

He said his daughter was a vulnerable and naive teenager when she met Mr Feldman in Victoria.

"He was operating in Melbourne when Chantelle met 'Simon Kadwell', if you want to call him that. Chantelle was only a teenager, only 16 or 17. She's 30 now," Mr McDougall said.

"That guy had other young girls with children and when they moved over there (to WA) she went over to help with the kids and it went on from there.

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/i...nnup-family-disappearance-20110525-1f4dm.html
 
This is such a complex case I don't know where to start with what could have happened. I can think of at least 3 possible scenarios, probably more, with sub-scenarios:

1. They all went someplace remote and killed themselves and their bodies have yet to be found

2. One of them killed all the others and took off to another country (possibly with Leela or possibly alone)

3. They split up to avoid detection and somehow made it someplace else on false ID's
 
The conspiracy of diverting electromagnetic waves towards his home reminded me of cases such as mass shooter Aaron Alexis.
Where the person becomes psychotic, and has persecutory delusions of some kind of "influencing machine" or "Air Loom" that is controlling them or tormenting them from afar.

Aaron Alexis was under "the delusional belief that he was being controlled or influenced by extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves" before he embarked on a bloody shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, an FBI official said Wednesday....

"Ultra low frequency attack is what I've been subject to for the last 3 months," read a message obtained by federal authorities from Alexis's thumb drives, phones and computers. "And to be perfectly honest, that is what has driven me to this."

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/25/us/washington-navy-yard-investigation/?hpt=us_c2
 
Thank you for starting this thread, Gardener.

This could cause an interesting development...

http://victimsnewsonline.com/2016/11/has-mystery-girl-been-wrongfully-identified/
This is very intruiging . Thanks for documenting the thread .
New developments about the lone Traveller on the bus & train...
IF there was false passports used to leave the country would they go undetected ? just a hypothetical question. The evidence that the man travelled alone is more alarming .

And the Girl in rome was identified not leela ?

unable to attach links
 
This is very intruiging . Thanks for documenting the thread .
New developments about the lone Traveller on the bus & train...
IF there was false passports used to leave the country would they go undetected ? just a hypothetical question. The evidence that the man travelled alone is more alarming .

And the Girl in rome was identified not leela ?

unable to attach links

I believe so. Sorry I posted the link previous to this all with Embla's parents going to Rome.
 
Thank you for starting this thread, Gardener.

This could cause an interesting development...

http://victimsnewsonline.com/2016/11/has-mystery-girl-been-wrongfully-identified/

This is very intruiging . Thanks for documenting the thread .
New developments about the lone Traveller on the bus & train...
IF there was false passports used to leave the country would they go undetected ? just a hypothetical question. The evidence that the man travelled alone is more alarming .

And the Girl in rome was identified not leela ?

unable to attach links

I believe so. Sorry I posted the link previous to this all with Embla's parents going to Rome.

It was amazing nonetheless
You never know unless you try [emoji122]
unable to attach links

The link has been updated as of 23 November 2016:

Has ‘mystery girl’ been wrongfully identified?

I would hope WA Crimestoppers has been informed.

It's a long shot but with the connection of her alleged father to Sweden, writing her name as 'le e la' on the plastic shopping bag the Polizia gave her to carry her belongings and the fact she only seems to speak English seems enough tentative evidence for Australian authorities to at least make initial enquiries into her identity.
 
The link has been updated as of 23 November 2016:

Has ‘mystery girl’ been wrongfully identified?

I would hope WA Crimestoppers has been informed.

It's a long shot but with the connection of her alleged father to Sweden, writing her name as 'le e la' on the plastic shopping bag the Polizia gave her to carry her belongings and the fact she only seems to speak English seems enough tentative evidence for Australian authorities to at least make initial enquiries into her identity.

I agree.
I think it's questionable enough they need to look into it. Also, interesting (imo)-- pictures of Embla's father and Simon Kadwell AKA Gary Feldman (Source links below pics):
3AA8B7F900000578-3964684-image-m-6_1479914444805.jpg
dd277203c5440182b1ed6689a06ea2ae

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...eak-ENGLISH-ITALIAN-refusing-home-Sweden.html
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...y/news-story/838f1baa6a6d069e3033df8b57ce88ee

It may not be readily obvious because of the different poses but I see some similar features in these two men's pictures, namely:
Similar hair line and hair texture
Eyes open about the same amount
Similar attached earlobes
A nose the flares towards the bottom
thin lips
A cleft in the chin.

Differences I see:
Kadwill/Feldman appears heavier (could be the angle/pose)
Embla's father has grey hair and more pronounced wrinkles
Slightly different eyebrow line/shape
Glasses, which change the apparent shape of a face

However, 9 years between photos could account for some changes

I hope Mr J continues to try to get his daughter back, assuming he is who he says he is and she is his daughter, Embla. But I also hope the authorities are taking a good look at why "Embla" does not speak Swedish, knows very little Italian after supposedly being in Italy 6 months and speaks English. And she still refuses to go with the people claiming to be her parents according to the most recent articles. I hope the mystery girl is okay and I hope some new leads appear in Leela's case soon.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
89
Guests online
1,411
Total visitors
1,500

Forum statistics

Threads
589,168
Messages
17,915,105
Members
227,745
Latest member
branditau.wareham72@gmail
Back
Top