The bodies of Helena Wright, 36, and her 23-month-old daughter were found in the ocean west of Port Macdonnell on Monday in a suspected murder-suicide. South Australia police have confirmed that Wright visited a police station the day before the incident.
Police end search for missing infant
On Wednesday afternoon, police ended the official search for a missing three-month-old after “careful consideration”, stating the infant “could not have survived the period of time that has elapsed, either in the water or on land”. Supt Trent Cox said earlier on Wednesday: “The reality is, after three days, the chances of finding the baby alive are zero.”
Events leading to discovery
Emergency services were called to the area on Monday after a vehicle was found abandoned with its engine running at 11.15am. Wright, originally from Estonia, had been living in Compton, a small locality outside Mount Gambier about 26km north of Port Macdonnell. At about 9.30am on the day of the incident, officers conducted a welfare check at Wright’s home after a friend called police. Nobody was home at the time. The mother and child were found below the cliffs and retrieved with help from local fishers.
Investigation details
Police have spoken to the woman’s husband, the father of the children, and said “based on the evidence currently available, the matter is being investigated as a murder-suicide”. Land and sea searches around Cape Northumberland, near Port Macdonnell on the Limestone Coast, were conducted for the three-month-old. “Comprehensive physical search efforts have focused on a sizeable area of water and land, unfortunately the infant has not been found,” police said on Wednesday.
Challenging search conditions
Cox said extremely challenging conditions had hampered the search, forcing emergency vessels to stay out of the water for much of Tuesday and limiting efforts to shoreline and clifftop sweeps. “We’ve been unable to … launch water assets. We’ve been able to get the SES aerial drone up,” he said, adding that experts had advised against deploying an underwater drone in the dangerous conditions. Police said they will continue to “coordinate shoreline monitoring and inspections across the coming days”.
Community and official response
The SA premier, Peter Malinauskas, said the tragedy had shocked the community. “If it involves children, that breaks your heart,” he said on Tuesday. The incident has been referred to the coroner to examine the cause and circumstances surrounding the deaths. Police said “there is no information to suggest that any person other than the mother and her two children were involved in this heartbreaking incident”.
