Detectives investigating the death of a loving mother are probing whether there was a history of domestic violence in her relationship with her former partner.
Rebecca Walker, 46, was found dead alongside a 48-year-old man inside her Fulham Road unit in Gulliver, Townsville, on Tuesday in a murder-suicide.
Her five-year-old son, the youngest of three siblings, uncovered the bodies and walked hundreds of metres to his uncle’s house to raise the alarm.
Police on Thursday confirmed Ms Walker’s death is being treated as suspicious, while the man’s is not.
‘Police are working to understand the relationship between the pair, including any history of domestic violence,’ Queensland Police said in a statement.
Police are treating the death of Rebecca Walker, whose body was found at her home in Townsville, as suspicious
Ms Walker, 46, was found alongside her former partner inside her Fulham Road unit in Gulliver, Townsville, about 9.15am on Tuesday
‘At this stage, detectives are treating the death of the 45-year-old woman as suspicious, while the death of the 48-year-old man is being treated as non-suspicious.’
Ms Walker, a mother-of-three, had only moved in to the apartment about six weeks ago and was starting fresh with her five-year-old son.
But the little boy has been left traumatised after he found Ms Walker and the man, believed to be his father, dead inside their home.
He then walked hundreds of metres through the streets searching for his uncle’s home, where he offered ‘very limited’ information about the events as they unfolded.
Ms Walker’s sister Samantha said domestic violence was a contributing factor in her death.
‘I lost my sister to domestic violence… Every day a woman is dying from selfish individuals who just can’t move on,’ she said.
Ms Walker uploaded a profile picture standing against domestic violence
Police were called to the home on Fulham Road in Gulliver, Townsville, on Tuesday morning
‘It hurts deep that I wasn’t there to help. You can think you know that person, but really you don’t.’
Samantha said her sister’s former partner struggled to move on following their separation, and as a result a family has lost ‘a mother, sister, daughter, friend’.
‘We lost something because of an individual who is so selfish and heartless and can’t let go.’
She urged people to watch out for any potential warning signs that a loved one is suffering in silence, and said some people feel as though they ‘can’t speak out’.
She said sometimes people will mention small things that over time paint a bigger picture.
Detectives have not yet revealed a cause of death, though early indications suggest a knife was involved, Townsville Bulletin reported.
The bodies are yet to be formally identified and circumstances of their deaths is yet to be completed.
Neighbour Peter MacElroy told Daily Mail Australia he had only ever seen Ms Walker and her son at the property, and that they’d recently moved in.
‘They hadn’t been there long. Six weeks, maybe eight,’ he said.
A five-year-old boy walked to help after finding his parents dead in their North Queensland home. Pictured: police at the scene
Ms Walker always appeared friendly but largely kept to herself in the quiet neighbourhood, and Mr MacElroy said he had only ever seen her from a distance.
He does not recall ever seeing a man at the premises, but saw a group of men arrive at the home before police attended.
Mr MacElroy said one of the men approached him and ‘said the door has been knocked down (at the home), and broken into and they were waiting for police’.
He was shocked when he saw police arrive at the home on Tuesday morning and watched as they cordoned off the area and brought in homicide detectives.
Detective Inspector David Miles said it was a ‘tragedy’ that had unfolded in the quiet suburban street.
‘Any death is a tragedy… (and) in this instance … we have a young person who is without parents and obviously he’s been subjected to an extremely tragic set of circumstances,’ he said.
Ms Walker always appeared friendly but largely kept to herself in the quiet neighbourhood, neighbours say
Forensic officers spent the day at the scene in Townsville collecting evidence
The boy is now being cared for by relatives.
He will be spoken to by the Child Protection and Investigation Unit, but detectives aren’t hopeful he will provide any useful information, given his young age.
Insp Miles said all avenues are still being explored but that murder suicide was increasingly looking like the most realistic outcome.
‘We will go back and look at the full history of the individuals, that which is known to police and that which is not known to police, to try and identify if there was a pattern or the presence of domestic violence in this relationship,’ Insp Miles said.
Investigations are ongoing and police are urging anybody with information that may assist to come forward.
1800RESPECT
Beyondblue: 1300 22 4636
Source link