ABOUT THIS EPISODE
When 23-year-old Leisl Smith left home on the New South Wales Central Coast on August 19, 2012, she told her father she’d be back by five to feed her animals.
She never returned.
In this episode of The Missing Matter, Leisl's mother, Sandi Harvey, shares the story of the quirky, animal-loving young woman who preferred horses and swimming pools to crowded rooms—and the day her life changed forever.
What began as a routine meeting near Tuggerah Railway Station would become the start of a mystery that still haunts her family more than a decade later. Leisl was reported missing days after she vanished, and the investigation that followed would stretch across ten years, uncovering disturbing inconsistencies and ultimately leading police to charge the man they believed responsible.
With the verdict sealed by law and Leisl still missing, Sandi has been left navigating a grief without resolution. Yet her determination to speak, to push for change and to bring Leisl home has never wavered.
Because Leisl matters.
