Katie Walker, a 46-year-old British-born mother of two, has been missing since 23 May, when she was last seen on CCTV walking through Tamarama in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Her ex-husband, Arizona-based wellness entrepreneur Dean Taraborelli, has now spoken publicly for the first time, saying she changed dramatically after moving to Dubai in late 2023, becoming glamorous and image-conscious in a way he barely recognised. Friends and family dispute the police theory that she went into the ocean via a coastal walking track, and one friend believes she may have been trafficked, adding urgency and public interest to an already puzzling case.

Police believe Walker climbed over rocks near the Bondi to Coogee walk to reach the water, but relatives argue this is implausible given she was wearing high heels and would likely have been noticed by passers-by at a busy tourist spot. Investigators have also noted that she had two packed suitcases at her Darling Point rental, had contacted a travel agent about leaving Australia, and that her phone pinged a Bondi tower some six hours after she was last seen. Adding to the mystery, unidentified individuals have been deleting her social media, Telegram account and jewellery-website images. Taraborelli, married to Walker for six years before their 2024 divorce, said she had become erratic and reckless with money, which he attributed to possible undiagnosed borderline personality disorder, though he never considered her suicidal or delusional.