Former missing person Natasha Ryan remembered as devoted mum after her death

Former missing person Natasha Ryan, who was previously known for being found hiding in her boyfriend's cupboard as a man was on trial for her murder, is being remembered as a "devoted mum" and nurse after her body was found in Central Queensland.

Police told 9News Queensland the 40-year-old was found dead at the Rockhampton Golf Course yesterday morning.

Officers will prepare a report for the coroner, with police saying the circumstances of her death were not suspicious.

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Ryan gained national media attention after she ran away from her Queensland home at the age of 14 on August 31, 1998 and disappeared.

Police had wrongly suspected her best friend, who was 15 years old at the time, had killed her.

Local serial killer and rapist Leonard Fraser was later accused and charged with murdering her.

Almost five years after her disappearance, Fraser was on trial for her murder when police raided her boyfriend's home and found the then-schoolgirl, alive and well, hiding in his cupboard.

She then became known as 'the girl in the cupboard'.

Ryan went on to have a family and cared for her community as a respected nurse.

Many people in the Rockhampton community have urged others to remember Ryan for the life she built for herself as an adult.

"She was a person who made a mistake," an online tribute said.

"She had a family, she was a devoted mum who loved her kids, she had a good job and just wanted a peaceful life.

"Remember her now for who she was."

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