New South Wales police have confirmed that a decomposed body discovered in a remote stockyard trough in the state's far north is Yvonne Whear, the 73-year-old who disappeared in February. Her death is being treated as homicide.
The body was found last week partially submerged in a disused stock dip, a large trough commonly used to bathe livestock in anti-parasite solutions, at a property in Terragon, near Murwillumbah and close to the NSW-Queensland border.
Acting Superintendent Matt Zimmer 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," he said. "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," Zimmer said. "Whether you have previously spoken to police or have information you have not yet shared, we need you to come forward."
Whear was last seen on CCTV on 19 February buying orange juice and adding $50 credit to her phone at a service station in Murwillumbah, before driving through cane fields to her hobby farm at the hamlet of Dungay, where she had lived for 23 years with a menagerie of animals.
In mid-September, police divers found her car in the Rous River at Dulguigan, a short distance from her home. Several personal items believed to belong to her were also recovered, police said at the time.