She was known as The Girl in the Cupboard in a missing person investigation that gripped the nation, but tragic Natasha Ryan took her biggest secret to her grave.
The body of Mrs Ryan – now known as Tash Black – was found by police on Rockhampton golf course on Sunday after her husband reported her missing.
It is understood she had previously left her home on foot towards the golf course, prompting her husband’s call for help.
Her death is not being treated as suspicious and a report is being prepared for the coroner.
But she died without ever revealing the reason why she first made headlines 26 years ago when she suddenly disappeared, aged just 14.
She was eventually discovered almost five years later, hiding in the closet of her older boyfriend, Scott Black.
They later married and had four children together before she tragically passed away this weekend.
Natasha Ryan was found hiding at her boyfriend’s home in Rockhampton in 2003
It was revealed that she hid in the cupboard when visitors entered the house and only moved around the property with the curtains drawn
Scott Black (pictured) was charged with perjury after hiding Ms Ryan and obstructing the police investigation
Despite being at the center of one of Australia’s most infamous cases and the intense investigation that followed, the pair remained in the central Queensland community.
Until recently, the family lived a quiet life in suburbia, just a few streets away from the north Rockhampton home where she hid out all those years ago.
The mother-of-four became a dedicated radiology nurse, proudly sharing social media posts about frontline workers during the 2021 Covid lockdowns.
She is believed to be an adventurer who, in 2022, shared photos of herself skydiving and proudly inked the names of her family members in a series of tattoos.
She and Mr Black married in a secret ceremony north of Yeppoon in 2008, surrounded by their family and friends, before starting their family together.
The couple reportedly sold their wedding photo for a large sum to Women’s Day, but despite this they forever avoided answering the key question of why she had eloped.
During her long years in hiding, she had no contact with the outside world and only occasionally ventured out at night to visit the ocean.
The former teen runaway was seen visiting her boyfriend-turned-husband, Scott Black, at the Capricornia Correctional Center in 2005
Teenage runaway Natasha Ryan, now known as Tash Black, with one of the couple’s four children in 2005
Her family was so certain of her death that, three years after she disappeared, they held a formal memorial service for the teen in 2001 to give the family “closure.”
Her disappearance occurred around the time of a number of well-publicized disappearances of women and girls in Rockhampton, who later turned out to be victims of serial killer Leonard John Fraser.
Fraser was charged with the teen’s murder, but the case was turned upside down in 2003 after local police received a bizarre anonymous note that allegedly read: “Natasha Ryan is alive and well.”
During Fraser’s trial, police received an anonymous tip that Ms Ryan was hiding in Mr Black’s house. They found her hiding in a closet during a subsequent raid.
It was later revealed that she had locked herself in the cupboard when visitors came to the house and only moved around the property with the curtains drawn.
Mr. Black was charged with perjury, and both he and Ms. Ryan were accused of causing a false police investigation at Fraser’s trial, during which he testified that he had not seen Ms. Ryan since she disappeared.
In 2005 he was sentenced to three years in prison, then suspended for one year.
She was 18 at the time and was fined $1,000 for causing the false police investigation.
Shortly after she was found in 2003, Ms Ryan appeared on Nine’s 60 Minutes programme, insisting Mr Black, seven years her senior, was not holding her against her will and saying he had tried on several occasions to let her go home to call.
Tributes have been paid to the mother-of-four and dedicated nurse
Tash (pictured right) next to her mother Jenny Kerwin (left)
Several years later, she told New Idea magazine that she would never publicly reveal why she ran away.
“He protected me and I made him do it – it was my fault he did that,” she told the magazine in 2005.
‘It was my decision to run. He did something very sweet and protected me, and I felt like I should have been punished, or deserved to be punished.”
Community members who knew her posted messages online after her death, with one remembering her as a “caring and incredibly talented caregiver” and “beautifully devoted parent.”
“She was a wonderful nurse and a dear friend. This is so very sad. I really sympathize with all her family and friends. Be at peace now Tash, you will never be forgotten,” wrote another.
Asked about her death at a press conference this morning, Queensland Premier Steven Miles said it was a tragic story.
“My condolences go out to her family and loved ones,” he said.
If you or someone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.