Murdered with a Frog

Leigh was a fascinating person with some inconsistencies in her personal stories. Despite this, she was known for her captivating storytelling and lively personality. After her passing, it was revealed that she had a hidden secret - she had killed and kept her husband's body in her home for 18 years!

When Leigh was 16, she worked as a nurse and had a relationship with a married man named John. When his wife found out, John and Leigh moved to Australia, got married, and had five children. Later, they moved to New Zealand and made their home in Auckland.

They had award-winning dogs and were well-known at dog shows in the area. After a few years, John and Leigh moved back to Australia. Leigh got a job as a cabaret dancer, and John worked as an accountant. 

They left New Zealand without their children, who ended up spending their childhood in state-run homes. All of the kids were under ten years old at the time. It was a pretty heartless thing to do! However, they didn't stay in Australia for long before returning to New Zealand.

This time, they moved to a different part of the country and told their new neighbors that they didn't have any children. 

They spent the next few years traveling around the North Island. By the way, New Zealand is incredibly beautiful! We have some stunning places here. 

My favorite is Queenstown! Around this time, New Zealand officials were trying to find the abandoned children's parents, and they managed to track down the couple.

Because you can't just leave your kids! They could have done it legally through adoption if they really didnt want to be parents, but no.. They just left them, and they were in trouble for this.

Authorities did try to get the family back together, but it didn’t work out and Leigh got into a pretty bad argument with one of her daughters.

The kids were mad that they got ditched, which is fair enough.. I would be angry too. 

The couple's second son, Steve, mentioned that his parents re-entered their lives when he was 23 years old and attempted to reconcile, but their efforts only lasted for a short while.

Apparently people would ask the kids why they tried to reconnect with Leigh and John after being treated so badly, and they said that all their lives all they wanted was to have a mother and a father.”

That's so freaking sad to hear right. Poor kids.

Also, according to Steve one of his brothers never really came to terms with what happened and eventually took his own life. Steve also said that with their parents it was always all about them, never about the kids.

Then, in the 90s, the couple decided to start over once again, this time returning to South Wales. In this new chapter, Leigh began using the name Ann Sabine and also Lee Sabine. Police think that John was killed in 1997, the same year they moved into their apartment in Beddau. His wife never told the police that he was missing. What's even more surprising is that his name still showed up on the list of people eligible to vote for the small property they lived in.

It is believed that Leigh received benefits using his name by having his pension deposited into a shared account. Their neighbors, unaware of this, assumed that the couple had split up.

Just a few years ago, Leigh was featured in a council magazine talking about her love for gardening. She talked about how she turned the area outside her apartment, where she lives with three roommates, "into a little piece of paradise." 

She said that growing up in New Zealand, she had always been used to working with soil.

Leigh mentioned that she enjoys spending time outdoors and prefers working in the garden over watching TV. She expressed that she takes pride in her home and wants her neighbors to feel the same way.

She mentioned that every summer she throws a big barbecue and all the neighbors come. She said it has helped bring them all closer together.

So, In 1997, 67-year-old John disappeared from his home, and Leigh didn't report it to the police because she said he had left on his own. But, he didn't leave on his own.. He wad killed. Leigh had committed a terrible crime, and she killed John by using a decorative stone frog from their bedroom. She then wrapped his body in plastic and bags, essentially preserving him, and hid him under a bed. 

Later, she moved his remains to a garden shed and then to her attic. 

Shockingly, she continued to collect her deceased husband's pension for the next 18 years.

Leigh passed away from cancer on October 30th, 2015. A few weeks later, her friend Michelle was going through Leigh's things in the attic when she found a large package. Without knowing what was inside, Michelle opened it and discovered the mummified body of John.

Imagine how scary that would have been! I probably would have fainted if I found a body like that.

Michelle was really upset after making the shocking discovery. And things got so confusing and messy that she was briefly arrested by the police because they thought she might have been responsible for his death.

His death was determined to be caused by blunt force trauma that matched perfectly to the frog-shaped ornament. The frog was later found in a box of trinkets Leigh had left to her friend Michelle.

Its said that Leigh was really smart, super confident, and a little bit eccentric. She called everyone "darling" and kept her secrets hidden behind her colorful and flamboyant personality. 

It's puzzling because usually when people have something they want to keep secret, they stay quiet and keep to themselves. But Leigh was different - she hid her secrets right in front of everyone.

In 2015, during the investigation into her death, it was revealed that Leigh grew up in a Welsh village, was the daughter of Ronald, a coal miner, and Margaret, who left the family when Leigh was young. Leigh was moved around a lot, going from relatives to an orphanage and then to different foster homes.

I guess the lesson from this story is that you can never fully know someone. They might be kind to you and you'll never have any issues with them, but they can also be a terrible person. However, it's important not to go through life being scared and thinking that everyone is bad, because not everyone is.