Homicide investigation launched into ‘horrific’ death of 76-year-old woman

A homicide investigation has been launched into the death of a Far North Queensland woman who was found deceased in her home on Tuesday morning, with police describing the scene they were faced with as “distressing”.

The 76-year-old was discovered by police at her home in the Cairns suburb of Woree at around 6.50am, as officers conducted a routine inquiry at the property on Windarra Street. A 43-year-old male, who was restrained at the scene upon arrival, is currently assisting police with inquiries and a number of items have been seized from the property to help determine the woman’s exact cause of death.

“She has extensive injuries, she has considerable head injuries, there’s evidence of blunt force trauma, and that’s about as far as I can take it,” Detective Inspector Jason Smith said in a press conference on Tuesday. “[It] Appears as if she was still alive yesterday evening and of course discovered this morning shortly before 7am.”

A homicide investigation has been launched following the discovery of an elderly woman's body inside a home at Woree in Cairns. Police made the grim discovery while searching the property for evidence on another matter. https://t.co/VZ3A1cpmr5 #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/zXddTBShAA

— 7NEWS Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) June 9, 2020

Forensic officers have since attended the property and conducted extensive investigations and examinations. Meanwhile, a door knock has been carried out at nearby properties and a number of witnesses have provided information to help identify what occurred. However, investigations remain ongoing.

“There has been information of an argument [at the house] and we’re following that up,” he said.

According to Smith the 43-year-old man found at the woman’s home was restrained by police upon arrival at the scene, and there was a level of resistance. He is known to the woman and frequented the property regularly, however the nature of their relationship has not yet been revealed.

“As part of our investigations we’ll be looking at the history between these two parties as well as anything that could have contributed to this horrible death,” he said. “This is a distressing scene, the poor woman has suffered significant injuries and unfortunately we had some very junior police first on the scene. We now provide them support not just from senior officers who attended, but human services officers who are there to support officers who are exposed to these sorts of things.”