My sister, 17, vanished 20 years ago without her newborn son – but here is why I know someone killed her
THE sister of a young mum who vanished 20 years ago has revealed the reason she believes the 17-year-old was murdered.
Natalie Putt disappeared from her home in Dudley, West Mids, in 2003 – leaving behind her newborn son.
Despite huge searches of lakes, graveyards and woodland near her home, a body has never been found.
An inquest into her death heard in 2019 heard she most likely died on the day she was last seen.
Two decades after her disappearance, her older sister Rebecca says she is sure Natalie was killed – as she never would have left her son.
Speaking to BirminghamLive: “She was absolutely blown away by her little baby, he was just handed around and he was loved by everybody.”
“I knew there was no chance in this world that had happened, not a snowball’s chance in hell that my sister, who had a baby, had got up and just walked out without him.”
She added: “In my heart, I always knew (she had died). I knew she wouldn’t have left her son.”
However, Rebecca still hopes that the mysterious case will at some point be solved.
She explained: “This isn’t a closed case. This is still an ongoing inquiry. It just needs a phone call or someone to help. There is a missing part of the jigsaw.”
She continued: “I’d love to be able to just know. I think there is someone who knows exactly what happened and they have obviously got no conscience but modern technology is improving every single day.
“There are always cases, there was one recently where a family were reunited with a loved one.”
An 18-year-old local man was arrested in March 2004 in connection with Natalie’s disappearance but was later released without charge.
Rebecca is haunted by the fact that her sister’s murderer still walks the streets freely.
She said: “It’s heartbreaking. The fact is I’ve not got justice for Natalie but more importantly, Natalie is out there somewhere. I’ve got nothing.”
In the run-up to the 20th anniversary of Natalie’s disappearance, Rebecca is pleading with anyone who has any information to come forward.
She said: “Speak up. Don’t be part of this any longer. Give her the right to have a decent burial or cremation, give her that decency that a human being deserves.
“She doesn’t deserve to be deserted somewhere or laying wherever she is. She was a human being. She was a mother, she was my sister, she was a daughter.
“Even if it’s the most minute thing they think is insignificant, it’s not, it builds a picture and the police will listen. Or totally anonymous, ring Crimestoppers and they won’t ask whoever it is any details about themselves.
“They will not be dragged into this, they will just give Natalie that decency, as a human being, as a member of my heart and a member of a family that are bereft.”