A note left behind simply said: "Gone to Brazil".

It was the only clue internet cult leader Simon Kadwell, partner Chantelle McDougall, their daughter Leela, and lodger Tony Popic left at their home in Nannup in 2007.

Ten years on, their disappearance remains among Australia's most baffling missing persons cases.

It gained extra notoriety because of the mystery surrounding Mr Kadwell, a man of many aliases who has been called a conman and cult leader.

There are fears Ms McDougall, Leela and Mr Popic were swept up in Mr Kadwell's self-styled New Age religion that prophesised an imminent judgment day.

A coronial inquest examining the disappearances begins today in the south-west WA town of Busselton.



The four fled their home in the nearby town of Nannup in July 2007, leaving behind wallets, credit cards, food in the fridge and dirty dishes on the table.

There is no proof they left the country. Their bodies have never been found and there is no proof they are dead.

There is also no proof they are alive.

Chantelle McDougall and daughter Leela have not been seen since 2007. ( Supplied: McDougall family )

A decade of dead ends

For years, Chantelle's parents Catherine and Jim McDougall have hoped their daughter and granddaughter would be found alive as the search expanded from WA to Australia and overseas.

After a decade their hopes have faded, although they believe someone, somewhere, knows what happened.

Over the years there have been glimmers of hope the four might be found.

WA police investigated whether they snuck out of Australia and travelled to Brazil to live in a commune on the outskirts of Rio Branco — a town in the Amazon rainforests that is home to syncretic religious cults.

A few years after they went missing it was discovered the cult leader had stolen his identity from a former colleague, and Mr Kadwell's real name was Gary Felton.

Amateur sleuths also argued over the group's fate in online private investigator forums, putting forward the idea they had been aboard an Airbus plane that crashed and exploded, killing all on board, in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2007.

The last lead investigated by police was evidence Mr Kadwell or Mr Popic had stayed in a Northbridge backpackers before catching a train to Kalgoorlie on the night of July 15, 2007, just days after they went missing.

All leads on their whereabouts were dead ends.

Jim and Catherine McDougall hope to hear new information at the coronial inquest. ( ABC News: Allison Jess )

Every time a body is found, the McDougalls think that perhaps, this time, it will be their daughter or granddaughter.

"It's terrible. Your heart races and your mind spins and you think, 'Maybe it is them'," Ms McDougall said.

"Then you find out it's not [Chantelle or Leela] and you think 'Another dead end'. It's really hard."

Chantelle was last seen on July 13, 2007, when she sold her car for $4,000 at a Busselton dealership.

That money sits untouched in her bank account, along with the money she made from selling her breeding dogs — two long-haired dachshunds.

The McDougalls have prepared for the coroner to this week rule their daughter and granddaughter are dead.

"We would like some final decision. If it's an open finding then … it is what it is," Mr McDougall said.

How 'Si' directed his 'servers'

Nannup, a timber town about 270 kilometres south-west of Perth, is home to just 500 people.

In a rented house, Mr Kadwell wrote under the name "Si" to his 40 online followers in a group forum called The Truth Fellowship.

His followers call themselves "servers" and are still posting about his book Servers of the Divine Plan in a social media group.

Mr Kadwell's books call on people to prepare for judgement day. ( Supplied )

Mr Kadwell also authored a similar book with doomsday themes called The New Call, which can still be bought online. Paperback copies sell for an eye-watering $360.

All of Mr Kadwell's writing prophesied Earth was heading to the end of a 75,000-year cycle and a new world would be born.

He wrote to followers that every 75,000 years a judgment day occurred, and those who had learned "the lessons of the physical plane will be harvested into, or promoted to, a higher, more expansive level of experience".

His books are still finding fans online who do not know the mysterious story of the four West Australians' disappearance.

The pain of not knowing what happened to Chantelle and Leela is like an open wound for the McDougalls.

"It would be so much of a relief to find out what happened, whether it is good or bad," Ms McDougall said.

"It's the not knowing that's horrible."