How a work gang of prisoners and gruesome clue could unlock the mystery of three Aussies who vanished off the face of the earth

The baffling mystery of how four people linked to a doomsday cult vanished from the face of the earth could be solved by a prisoner work gang making a gruesome discovery.

Chantelle McDougall was last seen alive with cult leader Gary Felton, their six-year-old daughter Leela and boyfriend Tony Popic in a remote area of ​​Western Australia in July 2007.

Ms McDougall, 27, had fallen under the spell of Felton, 45, a British-born spiritualist who in 1986 had assumed the identity of an English colleague called Simon Kadwell.

At the time of their disappearance, Ms McDougall and Leela were living with Felton in a derelict farmhouse in Nannup, about 280 kilometers south of Perth, with 42-year-old Mr Popic.

A coronial inquiry into the foursome’s disappearance in December 2017 ended without concluding that the missing cult members were dead, let alone how they might have died.

Now Ms McDougall’s uncle Barry McIntosh, who served in Victoria Police for 35 years, is conducting his own investigation into the fate of the four and appealing for the public’s help.

Mr McIntosh wants to track down witnesses who can shed light on what happened to his niece, her daughter, Mr Popic and Felton – and in particular a group of prisoners who were never interviewed by police.

Those inmates found clothing near where Mr. McIntosh believes Ms. McDougall and at least some others might have been buried, and also reported smelling of what could have been human remains.

The charismatic Felton – “Si” to his acolytes – was the founder of Truth Fellowship and had 40 online followers of what has been described as an international doomsday cult.

Felton called his followers The Forecourt and spoke to them through a chat room known as The Gateway, where they would discuss teachings from his book, Servers of the Divine Plan.

That book warned of the impending demise of the Earth, but promised a new world with a higher consciousness once a 75,000 year ‘cycle’ was over.

Felton told members of The Forecourt that he planned to make a suicide pact with Ms McDougall and Mr Popic, which would involve the murder of his daughter.

He had also talked about moving to Brazil with his Nannup ‘servers’ to live an alternative lifestyle in a commune in the Amazon.

Felton was last seen on July 13, 2007 with Ms McDougall, Leela and Mr Popic in Busselton, a coastal town about 60km north-west of Nannup.

They sold a car to a dealer for $4,000 and drove away in a waiting car.

Three days after the group walked out, landlord Elizabeth Crouch found a note on the front door that read, “Gone to Brazil.”

Mrs Crouch said Felton and Mrs McDougall had sold their two dachshunds, given away their chickens and left the property spotless. They took all their clothes with them, but left behind their credit cards, furniture and electronic gadgets.

Police initially suspected the four had fled to New Zealand before heading to South America.

But immigration records do not show that any of the four ever left the country, and their bank accounts remain untouched.

The 2017 inquest found evidence that final calls from the Nannup address and Mr Popic’s mobile phone were used to book trains and buses to Kalgoorlie and Northcliffe.

Kalgoorlie is located 790 km northeast of Nannup, and Northcliffe approximately 100 km south.

Three months after the group disappeared, prison staff found scattered clothing near Northcliffe and feared something sinister had happened, they told authorities.

The Pardelup Prison Camp inmates had been working near railway lines and said they had also noticed a smell of ‘dead meat’ in the surrounding bushland.

Police on the scene found a woman’s red shirt which had been lost before being forensically tested.

Mr McIntosh plans to visit Northcliffe bushland with cadaver dogs and undertake another search.

“I am concerned that the Western Australian police present may not have traveled to the correct location that the detainees reported at the time,” he said.

‘Since I think they went to the wrong location, I don’t think the loss of the shirt is a big deal. Incompetent yes, but will have no influence on the final outcome.’

By the time detectives began following up on inmates’ information again in 2015, major wildfires had ravaged the area.

Mr McIntosh had since located the prison officer who supervised the prisoners on the day they made their discovery and provided GPS coordinates which did not match whether the police had searched.

The former police officer also said police told the coroner they had failed to track down the prisoners who found the clothes.

“I find this difficult to understand,” he said.

As part of his public appeal, Mr McIntosh has set up a freephone number – 1800 489 819 – where witnesses, such as the prisoners, can leave a message.

Mr McIntosh believed there were ‘only one or two people who actually know what happened and where our loved ones are’.

“I’m afraid I’m going to look for a cemetery,” he said.

Mrs. McDougall’s parents, Jim and Cathy, initially thought their daughter was hiding somewhere under the control of her spirit guide.

“I think he probably has them hidden somewhere, doing his usual tricks of taking people’s money by scamming them over the Internet with this cult thing,” McDougall said in 2010.

Seven years later, Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Balfour told the inquest into the foursome’s disappearance that the investigation had left him perplexed.

“It’s such a bizarre story and we have as little idea of ​​their whereabouts today as we did in 2007 when they disappeared,” Senior Sergeant Balfour said.

“There is no evidence to suggest they are dead, just as there is no evidence to suggest they are alive.”

In May 2018, coroner Barry King said he could not establish beyond reasonable doubt that any of the missing four were dead.

Mr King said investigative opportunities, such as examining the T-shirt found near Northcliffe and surrounding bushland, had not been pursued.

Mr McIntosh, who worked in Victoria’s major crime squads including Homicide, received a copy of the investigation file following his investigation and examined those documents.

He has launched a GoFundMe appeal to raise $5,000 so he can travel to Western Australia to conduct further research, especially around Northcliffe.

Mr McIntosh said his niece was believed to be dead and buried somewhere with her daughter and Mr Popic.

“I will attempt to use cadaver dogs to search a particular area in the bush that Western Australia Police have been unable to properly identify,” he wrote in his appeal.

Mr McIntosh is seeking $5,000 to cover travel costs, vehicle hire and caravan park accommodation.