Grim discovery gives police fresh hope in case of Ballarat mum Kobie Parfitt

Police are moving rapidly in their hunt for answers over the disappearance of Kobie Parfitt.

Ballarat woman Kobie Parfitt.

The discovery of a body dumped in a mineshaft near Ballarat shapes as a major breakthrough in the case of missing Ballarat mum Kobie Parfitt.

Testing has not yet confirmed that the body is that of Ms Parfitt but missing persons squad detectives are operating in the belief that it is.

The find has given fresh momentum to the rapidly evolving investigation into the suspected murder of the 43-year-old.

Investigators, who descended on Ballarat last month, had made significant early progress and already believed they knew where Ms Parfitt was killed.

That suspected crime scene was a property in Hickman St, where the mother-of-four was last seen alive on April 28.

Ballarat woman Kobie Parfitt was last seen in April. Source: Victoria Police

That home has undergone painstaking forensic examination for any indication Ms Parfitt met with foul play within its walls.

A 31-year-old Mount Clear woman was interviewed and released without charge last Wednesday, a day after the body discovery in former goldmining country near Snake Valley, west of Ballarat.

Police had publicly revealed eight days earlier that they were searching bush around Snake Valley for her remains.

It is unclear why they zeroed in on that area but the efforts of search and rescue squad officers paid dividends last Tuesday when they made the grim discovery.

Ms Parfitt had over the years fallen in with criminals and figures in the Ballarat drug trade and it is feared those connections may have been a factor in her death.

The grim find followed appeals from Ms Parfitt’s family for help in finding her.

The mother-of-four and grandmother-of-three vanished on April 28 and her bank account and phone have not been touched since that day.

Her mother Kathy Snowball made a public plea for information in November and described her daughter as a “beautiful person who lost her way”.

“I just hope that someone out there that knows something can please stop this nightmare that we’re living,” she said.

“So that we can tell her kids move forward, put her to rest, and so we can just remember the beautiful person that she was.”

Police had previously searched a house in Ballarat, where Ms Parfitt was last sighted.

Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said in November: “The investigation has led us to determine that Kobie was last seen alive at a property on 28 April, and we believe she was murdered the same day.”

Insp. Stamper said police knew there were people in the community with information on what happened to Ms Parfitt and who was responsible for her death.

“It’s only a matter of time before we find them,” he said.

Originally published as Grim discovery gives police fresh hope in case of Ballarat mum Kobie Parfitt