SHE WAS JUST 17, A NEW MOM WITH AN 11-WEEK-OLD BABY — THEN SHE WALKED OUT TO THE SHOPS AND VANISHED

Natalie Putt disappeared from her home in England in 2003. Twenty-three years later, her father is still searching for the answer he says his family desperately needs.

For 23 years, David Putt has lived with the same unanswered question: What happened to his daughter, Natalie?

Natalie was only 17 years old when she disappeared from her home in Thornleigh, Lower Gornal, Dudley, England, on September 1, 2003.

She had recently become a mother.

Her son, Rhys McCallum, was just 11 weeks old.

That day, Natalie left home to go to the shops.

She never came back.

SHE LEFT HER BABY — AND NEVER RETURNED

According to West Midlands Police, Natalie left her infant son with family before going out.

There was nothing to suggest that she was planning to disappear.

She did not take possessions with her, and police say her bank account has remained untouched since the day she vanished.

Her last known communication was also made that day.

Then the trail simply stopped.

More than two decades later, investigators have still been unable to locate her.

YEARS OF SEARCHES — BUT NO BODY

Natalie’s disappearance triggered multiple searches and investigations over the years.

Police searched rivers and lakes near her home.

Private land in Wombourne, South Staffordshire, was also searched after information was received from members of the public.

Specialist officers carried out searches in woodland areas, including Ellowes Hall Wood, as detectives investigated the possibility that Natalie may have been buried there.

Her former home was also subjected to detailed forensic examination.

In March 2004, an 18-year-old man was arrested in connection with Natalie’s disappearance.

He was later released without charge.

In 2017, police also examined several graves in a Dudley cemetery.

But nothing provided the answers Natalie’s family had been waiting for.

HER FATHER IS STILL WAITING

Now, at nearly 70, David Putt has decided to make another public appeal.

He has released previously unseen family photographs of Natalie, including pictures of her with her father and one showing her celebrating Christmas with her family.

This year would have marked Natalie’s 40th birthday.

David says he wants anyone who may have known something about her disappearance to finally come forward.

“Somebody out there knows something,” he said in an appeal released through police.

He has also urged people not to dismiss information simply because it seems insignificant.

Even the smallest detail from September 2003, he says, could potentially help investigators understand what happened.

NATALIE WAS OFFICIALLY DECLARED DEAD

In January 2019, a coroner formally pronounced Natalie deceased.

Her cause of death was recorded as unascertained.

But there was still one enormous problem.

Natalie’s body had never been found.

Her family therefore remains without a clear explanation of where she went, what happened to her, or why she never came home.

Detective Inspector Jim Church said investigators believe Natalie did not simply choose to disappear.

“She was a new mom who loved her son and would never have left him or left her family without reason,” Church said, according to West Midlands Police.

23 YEARS LATER, THE MYSTERY REMAINS

Natalie’s son, Rhys, was only a baby when his mother disappeared.

He has now spent virtually his entire life without knowing what happened to her.

Her father has spent more than two decades waiting for an answer.

Police continue to appeal to anyone who may have seen Natalie around Dudley on September 1, 2003, or in the days immediately afterward.

Investigators are particularly interested in information that may have seemed unimportant at the time but could now help reconstruct her final movements.

For David, the passage of 23 years has not made the question disappear.

It has only made the need for an answer more urgent.

Natalie walked out of her home as a 17-year-old new mother. She was never seen again.

And 23 years later, her family is still waiting to find out why.