Three years after Constance Watcho’s bones were found in a bag at Kangaroo Point, there’s ‘still no answer’ to her alleged murder
More than three years after a woman’s bones were found in a sports bag near a popular Brisbane picnic spot, there are ‘still no answers’ to her alleged murder, a source has said. coroner’s court.
Constance Watcho, 36, was reported missing by family members in November 2017 after they had not heard from her for several weeks.
Disclaimer: This story contains an image of an Indigenous person who is now deceased.
Almost a year later, the heavily decomposed remains of the 10-year-old mother were found stuffed in a bag at the foot of the Kangaroo Point cliffs by a man she knew just before she went missing.
Other bones were also found outside the bag in the same area, but since there were no bodies to examine and there were no significant fractures on the remains, the cause of the death could not be determined.
However, as Ms Watcho’s arms were disarticulated at her shoulders and her lower limbs had been dislocated at the knee, police concluded that she had encountered foul play.
Investigators issued a public appeal and offered a $250,000 reward for information.
There have been no arrests and no new leads since and the Deputy State Coroner will now review the circumstances of his death.
A preliminary coroner’s hearing held in Brisbane on Tuesday was told at the time of Ms Watcho’s disappearance that she had just been released from prison and had been ‘couch surfing’ in a unit on a street above the cliffs.
Advocate Assistant Coroner Sarah Lio-Willie told the court that her final movements were largely unknown.
“To this day, Constance’s family does not know how or why she died,” she said.
“And despite the police investigation and the public appeal, there are still no answers.”
Ms Lio-Willie told the court it was hoped that her family, who were present at the hearing via video link, the inquest would bring some closure.
“The fundamental task of this investigation is to identify, if possible, what happened to Constance,” she said.
The court heard that when Ms Watcho went missing she was in a relationship with a man known as “Sam”, who was the last person to see her but did not report her missing.
“Sam told the police that it was not unusual for Constance to go home to Cherbourg without telling him,” Ms Lio-Willie said.
“He didn’t seem concerned when he didn’t hear from Constance for weeks.”
The person who found her body was a man she was staying with at Kangaroo Point, but the court was told he had not reported the find to police for two days.
The inquest has been set for five days in September and is expected to hear from more than a dozen witnesses, including her partner, the man she was staying with and police officers.
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