Body found in livestock dip confirmed as missing Australian woman Yvonne Whear

Police in the Australian state of New South Wales confirmed on Tuesday that a decomposed body found last week near the town of Murwillumbah is that of Yvonne Whear, 73, who disappeared eight months ago. Her death is being treated as a homicide.

The body was partially submerged in a disused stock dip, a large trough normally used to bathe livestock in anti-parasite solutions. It lay in a remote stockyard at Terragon, near Murwillumbah.

Acting Superintendent Matt Zimmer said investigators were determined to find those responsible. He said the family now had some answers, but significant questions remain about what happened and how she came to be where she was found. Police are urging anyone with information to come forward, including people who have already spoken to officers.

Circumstances of the disappearance

Whear was last seen on CCTV on 19 February, buying orange juice and adding $50 credit to her phone at a Shell service station in Murwillumbah. She then drove through cane fields to her hobby farm in the hamlet of Dungay, where she had lived for 23 years with many animals.

At 8.30pm a member of the public saw her gold Ford Escape wagon parked in the dark without lights on Dungay Creek Road, less than a kilometre from her home. Her daughter, Gillian Hallac, said she avoided driving at night when possible. Her boots and hat were still at the house, food was in the slow cooker and clothes were folded for the next day. Her phone last connected at 10am the next day, via a tower covering the area where her car was later found.

In mid-September, police divers found the car in the Rous River at Dulguigan, a short distance from her home, along with several personal items.

The investigation

Zimmer said Whear had no criminal history and was a mother of three, grandmother of 10 and great-grandmother of one. He said her killing had shaken the tight-knit community where she lived. Police have set up a strike force, and specialist officers are conducting forensic testing and searching her property again.