Australia Australia - Marion Barter - Missing After Trip to UK - June 1997 #22

[mishy66]

Hopefully the journos are following these crumbs

 

[mishy66]

AH has been using Bali as a holding pattern for yrs before the daughters marriage.
2011 the daughter marries in Bali
AH changed his name to Blum in 2014
The book is published 2017 and on the book shelves in Bali by December that year.

How long does it take to write the drivel and then get it published in the UK...the UK Publisher is only a hop skip and jump to the area the Speaker and family once lived.
Guessing 2 to 3 yrs roughly ?? Brings it back to 2014 - 2015 ? @MrsEmmaPeel what do you think time wise?

2019 the book launch - get it out there in public


Q still remains how does she and the speaker know him.

 

[mishy66]

I've just found she also has a brother similar name @Observe_dont_Absorb married to a woman looking like the one at the launch.
Both her and the woman I speak of look so much alike its hard to tell !
He was in Australia 2017, looks to have done a world trip, Doha, London, Australia, Japan etc.

Although pictured at the same TV Station as sister, he didnt work there, was only visiting her at the time.

Worked in finance at a Malaysia Bank until Feb 1997
Then seems to run a fast food market stall and wholesale - Knows all about Korean food.

Still digging

 

[Ooohm]

Well if it’s self-published it is a matter of weeks to get it out there. Formatting, light editing. Sending files back and forth, cover design can be whacked on quickly. If they run their own print shop then a few copies done at a time and sent anywhere in the world. Access to Amazon, no problem with a credit card you can upload any old drivel.

It is interesting that this is centred around a certain specific area.

And the timing of the book launch. Hmmmm. Normally a book launches as soon as it’s published, to get any “heat” it can.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Re the book, it really is absolute drivel. I haven't noticed any glaring spelling or grammatical errors, so it's been well proof read. I can't say as it's been edited or had professional input as the rest is garbage IMO.

Is self publishing some kind of money laundering front or something? What would be someone's motivation to get that out there? Were they so narcissistic they thought it was fascinating? If so, wouldn't they have run it past some professionals who could have given constructive criticism and feedback?

 

[mishy66]

Well if it’s self-published it is a matter of weeks to get it out there. Formatting, light editing. Sending files back and forth, cover design can be whacked on quickly. If they run their own print shop then a few copies done at a time and sent anywhere in the world. Access to Amazon, no problem with a credit card you can upload any old drivel.

It is interesting that this is centred around a certain specific area.

And the timing of the book launch. Hmmmm. Normally a book launches as soon as it’s published, to get any “heat” it can.

Ok well thats interesting in itself.

The book is published in the UK in 2017, just up the road from where the speaker and family have lived and the brother goes on a whirlwind world trip in 2017 and then heads back to Malaysia to his fast food company

I also recall in 2017 that AH took out his UFO use fingers only Trademark

Is this all related???

 

[mishy66]

Re the book, it really is absolute drivel. I haven't noticed any glaring spelling or grammatical errors, so it's been well proof read. I can't say as it's been edited or had professional input as the rest is garbage IMO.

Is self publishing some kind of money laundering front or something? What would be someone's motivation to get that out there? Were they so narcissistic they thought it was fascinating? If so, wouldn't they have run it past some professionals who could have given constructive criticism and feedback?

Could it be that the book was published because the person who wrote it wanted "someone" to know that their stories of victimisation and their views on women are out in the public arena as some sort of get square? Could AH have taken this family for a ride too ?

It's the fact that a Malaysian / Chinese media company is attached to this book and the ER story about the insurance fraud with china that holds something for me.

He is involved somehow!

 

[Ooohm]

So it’s a first novel by someone who badly wants some sort of revenge on AKA?

I like this theory.

 

[mishy66]

So it’s a first novel by someone who badly wants some sort of revenge on AKA?

I like this theory.

Yes could it be that the MOTHER of the woman and her brother was the one that was duped by AH and the book was written under the name he gave the mother at the time as a get square??
To me it kind of makes sense that is why it took 2 yrs to launch it - getting it out to a wider audience?
Here we are in 2023 / 2024 when the book lands on the MB FB page.

 

[KathPlumber]

Thank you, @KathPlumber!!! I watch every true crime doc and listen to podcasts regularly. I can’t believe “The Thief Collector” slipped past me— especially since I live in New Mexico and have driven through the Alter’s remote home location. The correlation with this case of a man who committed crimes his whole life and never suffered consequences and who thought he was smarter than everyone is eerie. To me this explains a lot about how RB charmed everyone and got away with it all. It also makes me wonder if he collaborated on the book with a team of Bali friends as a narcissistic lark— meanwhile laying his life of crime out for all to see. Just like Jerry Alter did in New Mexico. — FWIW on Reddit a viewer wondered if Alter might be D B Cooper and/or the thief behind Isabella Stewart Gardiner museum, Boston, unsolved theft in 1990. Hmmmmmm…

I saw those comments too! I went looking for a discussion of the Alter’s case and found there isn’t much out there. (?? Weird?!) I feel like the Gardner theft is a stretch due to the clear links to organised crime that have emerged in that case (I assume you’ve watched This Is A Robbery?) but I agree there was overlap in the MO of both crimes.
Amazing that you live in NM, you'd be well-placed to sleuth that case and any other small-time jobs they pulled locally!

I did wonder about the suggestion that the Alter’s might have taken items to other countries to sell. There were several photographs of them in Australia.

I would really like to hear more from the legitimate experts who knew RB from his dodgy dealings in coins and stamps. We know people were warned about him. I feel like understanding how he disposed of his ill-gotten gains (or tried to) could be helpful for tracing his movements / understanding patterns

 

[KathPlumber]

Is self publishing some kind of money laundering front or something?

That’s an interesting one. Some of my colleagues have self-published their PhDs and it’s a VERY expensive endeavour. I’m not sure if it’s as expensive for fiction, but I know it still costs the author money, and is a lot of work because you don’t get any publicity or deals with booksellers via the publisher to help sales.
People only really make any $ from it if their book is very niche and has a ready-made, easily targeted audience (think: romance genre, investment advice). This book is niche yes, but the audience for gloomy expat short stories is … not big?!

Academics don’t usually care if they don’t make money from it they just want the publishing record. Other authors don’t mind if they have to pay to get a foot in the door of a cut throat industry. But if you’re not even using your own name AND you’re not going to have big sales (any sales?) then what’s the point? Tax write off? Need to get rid of a large sum of money? Really want to be a writer but don’t want the salacious content to affect your pre-existing career or social reputation? Revenge publishing sounds less silly, in a way!

 

[mishy66]

By the looks of it the family and or speaker linked to the book don't need the money at all.
Travelled all over the world many times
IMO this is a book written because a family member was a victim and because they couldn't find him, they wrote a book with his alias as the author.

JMO of course

 

[Liselle]

By the looks of it the family and or speaker linked to the book don't need the money at all.
Travelled all over the world many times
IMO this is a book written because a family member was a victim and because they couldn't find him, they wrote a book with his alias as the author.

JMO of course

Not sure if this was discussed previously but what if this family hasn’t heard about AKA, MB, the Inquest and the Coroner’s Findings? Maybe it needs to be picked up by journalists at the Leicestershire Mercury and the Melton Times. Any help, @Lord Peter Flimsy?

 

[mishy66]

Not sure if this was discussed previously but what if this family hasn’t heard about AKA, MB, the Inquest and the Coroner’s Findings? Maybe it needs to be picked up by journalists at the Leicestershire Mercury and the Melton Times. Any help, @Lord Peter Flimsy?

Good idea.
It would be worth it if it is all connected to another victim.

And I did notice another journo was onto it !

Be good if there were more hints about it from the MB FB Page. That way we arent chasing dead ends

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Self-publishing is also known as an act of vanity. So I can see this book as a lark spearheaded by RB, his daughter, and their Bali buddies. (a reader, a proofreader, a hostess, etc) This jives with criminals who can’t stand the world not knowing how smart they are. It also jives with the slowdown in RB's life, since he can't con women the way he used to. What to do with all that mad energy?

But I can also see the “revenge” theory being true, although it seems a lot of work and effort— unless the joke is local. And everyone in RB’s Bali circle gets it. (Haha, he was a s***b*g after all.) It would be interesting to know if RB has been back to Bali since it was published. Maybe a warning to keep away. (We see you!)

I think it’s interesting that the book has made so many lists of Bali books. For tourists, people who love Bali. Even sold in the airport and bought as souvenirs! That would be a good way to warn someone away from your paradise island.

A journalist can just ask these people! Sure wish one would.

 

[MrsEmmaPeel]

One more stray thought: In The Pigeon Tunnel, a doc on writer John Le Carre (David Cornwell), the writer discusses his con-artist, fraudster father. Cornwell talks of the adrenaline rush of his father's “self-imposed schizophrenia.” That the father LOVED the madness and chaos of appearing to be entirely different people. I thought of RB immediately. When we think how horrible it is to keep his stories straight-- all the moves, the identities-- this is the fuel that feeds him. Bali Man, Stamp Man, Coin Man, Lover Boy, Artist, Writer, Good Father. The fractured pieces he juggles, and he loves how well he's pulled it all off. How stupid the rest of us are. Truly, how stupid the police are not to see. (PS. Cornwell's father was a criminal dirtball til the day he died and thought he'd been a great father.)

 

[mishy66]

A journalist can just ask these people! Sure wish one would.

One has ..... hopefully they have got further on it

 

[Procrastinator]

From Missing Person Marion Barter FB page (2 August 2022), Marion's timeline for anyone interested in a refresher. If there is a more up to date one could someone please post. There's quite a bit of info in the post; maps, Marion's passenger card, photo of a white Mitsubishi Magna and other pics to jog memories from 1997.

note sure if this one below works ?

https://www.facebook.com/profile/100064847581856/search/?q=timeline

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Thanks for the facts reminder.

Re-treading ancient history here but someone please remind me, what did the Novotel Hotel, Brisbane, ever say about the booking?

I assume that they are the same hotel still in existence and they would not necessarily destroy records, many places keep records indefinitely.

Did anyone ever check in and stay? Did they charge the full fee? Was it paid? Was their charge deducted from Marion's account? Were there other charges / fees charged to her account? Most people staying in a hotel for a week rack up additional charges on things like room service or in house restaurant meals.

Are there issues that LE detectives can investigate that have not yet been delved into?

 

[Procrastinator]

From Missing Person Marion Barter FB page (2 August 2022), Marion's timeline for anyone interested in a refresher. If there is a more up to date one could someone please post. There's quite a bit of info in the post; maps, Marion's passenger card, photo of a white Mitsubishi Magna and other pics to jog memories from 1997.

note sure if this one below works ?

https://www.facebook.com/profile/100064847581856/search/?q=timeline

View attachment 491000

Sorry, I think the last link didn't work.

This one works ...

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