Sporting porting a chic bob, a friendly face and a warm smile, Marea Smith has the perfect cover for her life as a spy.
“I don’t look suspicious – I just look like a grandmother going about doing some shopping,” Marea, 76, tells Woman’s Day from her home on the NSW Central Coast.
The great-grandmother, who boasts she’s never had her cover blown in her 30 years as a private investigator, thrives on the thrill of chasing criminals, investigating crooks, catching cheats and collecting debts.
“That adrenaline rush when you solve a case… there’s nothing better!” says Marea, who runs private investigation company Blondell Group.
RIVALLING 007
Always curious, even as a child, for Marea it was the brutal stabbing murder of 15-year-old friends Marianne Schmidt and Christine Sharrock at Wanda Beach in Sydney on January 11, 1965, that drove her to pursue her career as a private investigator.
At the beach with her brother John on the day the girls disappeared, Marea, 16 at the time, maintains she knows who committed the still unsolved murders.
“We always suspected that it was a neighbour of ours, a teenager,” says Marea, who was also at the beach when the girls’ bodies were discovered stabbed and badly beaten the following day.
“He always carried a knife on his hip, he just seemed evil.”
Police dismissed their claims, telling the teenagers they already had a suspect in custody.
But the incident struck a chord with Marea.
“That case is what started it all,” she says.
“I’ve always been interested in trying to solve things… what someone will take at face value, I delve into it. I need to understand.”
It’s this curiosity that led Marea to apply to the National Investigation & Research Training Centre, where she honed her skills as a sleuth and learned how to be a private investigator.
Training alongside a group of 10 agents, she learned how to handle firearms, run covert and overt surveillance, and develop key investigative skills.
“We were trained in different scenarios, we’d have to follow someone without being seen. I was always told ATMD (Attention To Minor Detail) was key,” says Marea, who was awarded a certificate of excellence for her ability to trail suspects undetected.
“I’d roll under garage doors before the door closed if I was following someone. I know my way into secure buildings… I loved every minute of it.”
Over the years Marea has taken on hundreds of clients.
Specialising in debt collection, she regularly serves papers worth millions of dollars, which often brings her into contact with all sorts of shady, sometimes aggressive, characters.
“The one that struck me the most was ‘Mr Businessman’ in North Sydney,” she recalls of the man she declines to name.
“I served him, and he didn’t like that… he started grabbing at me and he cut off my exit to the elevators. I saw my escape, got into the elevator, and when I left went straight to the police to report it. It was very unnerving.”
And though she may not have a signature cocktail or a flashy car, the seasoned investigator does have a collection of gadgets and disguises to rival 007.
“Wigs, GPS trackers, camera pens… I’ve got it all,” says Marea.
NOT GIVING UP
She admits one of the toughest parts of her work can be separating her emotions from the job, especially when it comes to missing persons.
“I had a young girl come to me, she was adopted and looking to find information about her father, who she believed had died… and I found him very much alive,” says Marea. “It can be really emotional work. But being able to solve the case for the person and putting their mind at ease, that’s the main thing that keeps me coming back.”
And she has no plans to give it up.
“I thought I was going to retire recently, but no, I love coming to work every day.
“Though I don’t need to roll under garage doors any more!” she chuckles.
