A man has been arrested over the disappearance of Leisl Smith, who went missing from the Central Coast in 2012, NSW Police say.
Leisl Smith, then aged 23, was last seen about 1pm on Sunday 19 August 2012, leaving her Wallarah home.
Concerned family members alerted police when she failed to return home and she could not be located or contacted.
Extensive searches were conducted for Leisl; however, police have been unable to locate her.
Strike Force Wehl – comprising detectives from Tuggerah Lakes Police District – was subsequently formed to investigate her disappearance.
Leisl’s car, a Honda Accord, was found abandoned at the Tuggerah Railway Station car park on Wednesday 26 September 2012.
Strike Force detectives spoke to a then 42-year-old man before searching two properties in Wallarah and Brookfield on Thursday 4 April 2013, seizing a number of items.
Further properties were searched bordering the Golden Highway at Merriwa, approximately 60km west of Scone, in the upper Hunter Valley.
The investigation has been ongoing since this time.
About 5.10pm (Thursday 18 October 2018), detectives from Tuggerah Lakes Police District
arrested a 48-year-old man on the Gwydir Highway, west of Inverell.
He was taken to Inverell Police Station where he was charged with murder.
He was refused bail and will appear in Inverell Local Court on Friday 19 October 2018.
