Man charged over 2012 Central Coast murder

A man has been charged with the murder of NSW woman Leisl Smith six years after she disappeared.

Ms Smith, then 23, was last seen leaving her Wallarah home on the state's Central Coast on August 19, 2012.

Police searched extensively but failed to find any trace of her although more than a month after she vanished, her Honda Accord was found abandoned at Tuggerah railway station.

In April 2013 detectives spoke to a then 42-year-old man before searching two properties 80kms apart in Wallarah and Brookfield and seized several items.

More properties were scoured bordering the Golden Highway at Merriwa in the far west of the Hunter region.

After ongoing investigations, a 48-year-old man was arrested on Thursday on the Gwydir Highway, west of Inverell, in northern NSW.

He was charged with murder and refused bail to appear in Inverell Local Court on Friday.