Dying Rose | Blood-smeared phone, dusty shed raise questions over Rose Hunter-Hebberman’s death

Rose’s shocking death was discovered hours after an extended and volatile argument with a male friend. Her mum turned detective to try and uncover the truth.

Police said a young aspiring model found dead in a backyard shed had taken her own life, but her autopsy report revealed they initially could not say exactly where she did it.

Her mother said there were no signs of disturbed dust where police said her daughter had died – leaving her with more questions than answers.

Rose Hunter-Hebberman was 19 years old when her body was discovered in Adelaide’s southern suburbs on December 4, 2019.

Within 24 hours, police ruled her death to be self-inflicted, but her mother, Courtney Hunter-Hebberman, has raised concerns about the subsequent police investigation.

Rose is one of six Aboriginal women whose cases are being investigated by The Advertiser in Dying Rose, a podcast in which their families ask whether police properly responded to their deaths.

DYING ROSE PODCAST

Listen to Rose’s story in episode 3 here, or find Dying Rose on the Apple Podcasts app

Rose Hunter-Hebberman was found dead inside a backyard shed in December 2019. Picture: Supplied

Courtney said she was told by police that Rose’s body had been suspended from a metal beam inside the dusty back shed of a man named Jared’s house, where she had stayed the night prior to her death.

But Courtney said when she went to the shed the day after her daughter’s body was discovered, there were no signs of disturbed dust, or where she might have been.

“When the cops were at my house, they tried to tell me that she had taken her life,” Courtney said.

“So I’m looking at the shed and I’m thinking, ‘Hang on a minute here, where did she do that?’ The first thing I noticed was that there was really thick dust on everything (in the shed).

“So I’m looking for the dust … I’m thinking, if she got up there, she had to climb up there and there would be signs of where that was … but none of that dust was disturbed.”

Rose’s grandmother Mandy Brown and mother Courtney Hunter-Hebberman have been on a quest for answers for almost four years. Picture: Matt Turner

Police later revealed to Courtney that, despite initially telling her that her daughter’s body was suspended, she was actually found slumped on a couch inside the shed.

She also learned, through Rose’s autopsy report, police had not actually initially been able to pinpoint where she was suspended from before her body fell on to the couch.

It was only after photos from the scene were assessed by authorities after Rose’s death that police determined a point of suspension.

“It really didn’t add up to me – that shed was maybe two metres by four metres … in that little tiny space that shed, how could they not tell?” Courtney said.

Almost three years after Rose’s death, police returned the 19-year-old‘s belongings to Courtney. Among them was Rose’s phone – which Courtney learned had been smeared with blood.

Police said the phone had been discovered on the lounge, near where Rose‘s body was slumped.

But Courtney said no explanation was given to her by police of where the blood came from, or whose it was.

Courtney said the three-year wait to receive Rose’s belongings from police had been agonising.

“We wanted to actually go and see the mobile phone right, in the beginning … even if it was a suicide, there is trauma created to victims again by the lengthy process of not being able to view evidence,” Courtney said.

Rose‘s phone revealed that she and Jared had a volatile argument and exchanged more than 500 messages and 45 calls in the hours before her death, some of which contained disturbing threats.

In some, Rose made clear that she intended to harm herself.

At one point, Jared offered to call an ambulance – but stopped responding a short time later. Her final harrowing text messages went unanswered.

The Advertiser has made multiple attempts to contact Jared but has not received a response. There is no evidence he played a part in Rose’s death, which the autopsy concluded was a suicide.

DYING ROSE PODCAST

Listen to all the episodes here, or find them on the Apple Podcasts app