Case 348: Toyah Cordingley

**SPEAKER_1** (0:13)
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At around 1.45pm on Sunday, October 21, 2018, Marco Heidenreich drove from his home in Warree, Cairns to the coastal resort down of Port Douglas. Marco, who was in his late 20s, had grown up in Port Douglas and had made plans to catch up with his best friend there. The roughly hour-long drive is a famously scenic one that showcases some of the striking natural beauty Far North Queensland is known for. It twists along the winding Captain Kulkaiway with stunning coastal views of the Coral Sea on the right and lush rainforest to the left. The route is dotted with pretty beaches such as Palm Cove and Dallas Beach that are favoured by tourists and locals alike.
About two-thirds of the way into his journey, Marco Heidenreich spotted a familiar vehicle as he passed Wangetti Beach, a four-kilometre-long stretch of coastline tucked behind a dense thicket of trees and forest. Parked in the beach's southern car park was a pale blue 2009 Mitsubishi Lancer that belonged to Marco's 24-year-old girlfriend, Toyah Cordingley. Marco knew Toyah had been planning to walk her dog Indy at Wangetti Beach that afternoon as she'd left their shared home just 15 minutes before he had. Marco and Toyah were both dog lovers, having met while volunteering at an animal shelter in 2016 They lived together in Cairns and had three dogs between them.
Marco stopped at a petrol station and picked up a six-pack of beer in a Port Douglas bottle shop before collecting his longtime friend Joel Cuman. The two drove about 13 kilometres south to the Mowbray Valley. The slightly inland area was known for its rainforest hikes and waterfalls. Marco, Joel, and Marco's two pet dogs, Jersey and Bentley, set off on a hike to Spring Creek Falls, a secluded yet popular local swimming spot. In the late afternoon, as they made their way to the bottom of the falls, Marco heard a sudden yelp. Looking around, he realised his dog Jersey, a red healer, had vanished. It appeared that she had caught sight of a scrub turkey or some other animal and disappeared into the rainforest in pursuit of it. Marco called for the dog, but she didn't return. Marco and Joel began looking for Jersey without any luck. Daylight began to fade and it soon grew dark, but the two didn't want to stop searching. At around 7pm, they visited two different friends' homes to borrow some torches before heading back out to the falls in search of the missing dog. Extremely distraught by his dog's disappearance, Marco tried calling his girlfriend, Toyah, at 7.04pm to let her know. But Toyah didn't answer her phone. In fact, the phone didn't even ring. It just went straight to voicemail. Marco tried calling her nine more times, with all of his calls going unanswered. At around 9pm, Marco and Joel gave up the search for Jersey and returned to the port to the homeless home of their friend, Toby Petrach, who'd lent them one of the torches. They sat around and drank a beer, with Marco visibly unsettled. As well as being concerned over Jersey's disappearance, he was upset and frustrated about not hearing from Toyah.
A little while later, Marco got back in his car to drive home to Cairns. As Marco drove by Wangetti Beach's southern car park for the second time that day, he noticed something alarming. Parked in the same spot as it had been roughly seven hours earlier was the Mitsubishi Lancer that belonged to Toyah.
Marco Heidenreich pulled over to take a closer look. There were a few other vehicles also parked nearby, including a camper van and three four-wheel drives. Marco approached Toyah's car. Its doors were unlocked. Toyah wasn't inside and nor was her dog Indy. Marco ran down to the beach and raced along the sand, screaming Toyah's name as he went. The wide expanse of white sand was framed by the coral sea to one side and dense marshy scrubland to the other. Mountains covered in rainforests loomed in the background. After searching for about a kilometre north of the car park, Marco called his friend Toby, whose home he'd just left, and told him what he'd found. Toby told Marco to call the police. Marco called Triple Zero to report his girlfriend missing, while Toby, his brother Max, and their friend Joel Cuman hurried to Wangetti Beach to help Marco look for Toyah.