New South Wales police say a decomposed body found in a stockyard dip last week was missing woman Yvonne Whear, who vanished eight months ago after last being seen in Murwillumbah.
Police said a week ago that a partially submerged body believed to be a woman had been discovered in a remote stockyard in Terragon near Murwillumbah.
The badly decomposed body was found partially submerged in a disused stock dip, a large trough-type structure used to bathe livestock in anti-parasite solutions. Police on Tuesday confirmed it was Whear and her death was being treated as a homicide.
“As a result of the forensic examinations that were conducted … we are satisfied that Yvonne has been murdered,” Acting Supt Matt Zimmer said on Tuesday.
He said investigators were determined to find those responsible.
“Yvonne was a mother, grandmother, a great grandmother and a person who was clearly loved by those around her.
“While we can now provide some answers to her family, there are still significant questions about what happened to her and how she came to be where she was found.
“Someone knows what happened to Yvonne. Whether you have previously spoken to police or have information you have not yet shared, we need you to come forward.”
In mid-September, police divers found her car in the Rous River in Dulguigan – a short distance from her home.
“Several personal items, believed to belong to Yvonne, were also recovered,” police said at the time.
Zimmer was asked on Tuesday if Whear’s killer could have been picked up after dumping her car in the river.
“That’s certainly one of the possibilities we’re exploring – that there could have been more than one person [involved],” he said.
Whear was last seen on CCTV on 19 February buying orange juice and putting $50 credit on her phone at the Shell service station in Murwillumbah, before she drove through cane fields to her hobby farm at the hamlet of Dungay.
She had lived there for 23 years with a menagerie of animals she cared for.
At 8.30pm a member of the public reported seeing her car, a gold Ford Escape wagon, parked in the dark without lights, on Dungay Creek Road, less than a kilometre from where she lived.
Her daughter Gillian Hallac said that she never drove at night if she could help it.
Whear’s boots and hat that she had been wearing in the CCTV footage were still in her house, she had food in the slow cooker, her usual shoes were at the door. Her clothes were folded on her bed ready for the next day. Her family said she would never leave her animals.
Her phone last pinged at 10am the next day from a tower that put her mobile in the area where her car was subsequently found.
Zimmer said Whear’s family was “devastated” by the homicide.
“They described this loss as unimaginable grief,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
The superintendent said her killing had rocked the “very tight knit community” in which she lived.
“Yvonne was a 73-year-old woman with no criminal history. A mother of three. A grandmother of 10. A great grandmother of one. She was a cherished friend and very valued member of that community.”
NSW police set up a strike force to investigate. Specialist police were conducting forensic testing and again searching Whear’s property.
Zimmer said police were not drawing links to other cases.
“At this point in time, there’s no information and no evidence to indicate there’s any involvement of a serial offender,” he said.
“Obviously, this incident has caused the community a lot of alarm. It’s causing distress. But on the information that we have, there’s no broader threat to the community.”
Zimmer said police were exploring possible motives but he would not comment on whether investigators had any suspects.
He described the cattle dip as a concrete structure 15 metres long and about 1.8 metres deep off an “overgrown” fire trail.
“That particular location is very isolated,” he said. “It’s about 300 metres down an overgrown fire trail off Kyogle Road there.”
Whear’s remains were found by two trail bike riders. Zimmer said the area was used by bikers and also near a swimming hole.
Asked if the person who dumped Whear’s body would have to have known the area, he replied: “That’s one of our lines of investigation.”
Zimmer said police were investigating how long Whear’s remains had been in the cattle dip.
“We’re very interested in that location,” he said on Tuesday. “In particular, people that may have frequented that location between 19 February and when the body was located last Monday.”
