Rene Latimore murder: Sister speaks out in push for information

The day after making Rene Latimore’s funeral arrangements, her sister and her family had a pyjama and games day – something the suspected murder victim would have approved of.

The sister of suspected murder victim Rene Latimore ­believes someone in the tight-knit rural Ilbilbie township could hold the vital piece of information police need to get justice.

Katie Marchetti wants her younger sister “by one year” to be known for the fearless life she led, not its violent end or makeshift burial on a 271ha cattle property south of ­Mackay.

She also wants those responsible for the single-mother’s tragic death to be prosecuted.

“It’s just been surreal – that’s the word I keep using with everyone,” Mrs Marchetti said.

“We don’t know when we’re going to get her back but we’re still organising the funeral and getting everything sorted that we can, and waiting.

“We just have to wait.”

Mrs Marchetti spoke publicly for the first time since her sister’s body was found on Sunday, August 29, a few kilometres from the house on the property the Latimores owned for 20 years.

They had recently sold it to Mackay councillor Marty Bella – a fact which dominated headlines and took the focus away from a woman who loved the Lion King as a child.

“That basically turned the spotlight away from what happened to my sister,” Mrs Marchetti said.

“My sister was a person.

“Very little phased her. I don’t know who could have done this to her – she wasn’t afraid of anyone. She was honestly the most easygoing person I’ve ever met.”

Rene Latimore celebrates her 10th birthday with her family. Picture: Katie Marchetti

Rene’s best friend was her 14-year-old son. “From day dot” the two were inseparable.

“He’s a champ,” Mrs Marchetti said.

“I’m really proud of him.

“We’re getting through it, better than I thought we would. It’s obviously not easy. It’s bad enough when anyone passes away but given the ­circumstances …

“We’ve had what I wouldn’t call good and bad days, but better days and worse days.”

Mrs Marchetti said Rene was not living at the Ilbilbie property when police allegedly found more than 800 marijuana plants in February.

Murder victim Rene Latimore and sister Katie Marchetti. Picture: Katie Marchetti

“She was living in Mackay at the time; she had nothing to do with that,” Mrs Marchetti said.

But she had been living there when Mr Bella was allegedly run over on his quad bike on the property in July.

Mrs Marchetti said she did not know what, if any, involvement Rene had in that incident, which remained under investigation.

Homicide police investigate the suspected murder of Rene Latimore at an Ilbilbie Cattle property. Photo: Daryl Wright

She said police were “holding their cards very close to their chest” and she had faith in the ongoing investigation.

Having grown up in Ilbilbie and attending school in Sarina, Mrs Marchetti said she knew how people could close ranks.

“I grew up out there, I know how people are,” she said.

“They think, ‘I’ll just mind my own business and stay out of it’. But I urge them to come forward.”

The day after making Rene’s funeral arrangements, Mrs Marchetti and her family had a pyjama and games day – something her sister would have approved of.

Rene’s son had set up a Monopoly board that triggered a memory of Mrs Marchetti and her sister playing the game as primary school students.

“The board would stay set up in the room for days and we were the worst cheaters,” she said.

It is an anecdote she hopes will remind people Rene was a real, beloved person.

“I just want people to know her son was her best friend and she deserves justice just like anybody else,” Mrs Marchetti said.

Detectives focus on 48-hour window in murder investigation

Detectives are focusing on a 48-hour window they believe is the crucial time frame in the murder of Mackay mother Rene Latimore.

Extensive inquiries over the past two weeks have identified August 9 to August 11 to be a critical period in the investigation.

Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said Ms Latimore’s social media activity stopped suddenly the night of August 9, with investigators progressively piecing together the single mother’s movements in the Sarina and Ilbilbie areas up to that point.

“We’re well aware that her activity ceased around the night of August 9 so we’re ­really interested in what happened in the evening of August 9 and especially the movements of August 9 and August 11 in and around that property,” he said.

The 271-hectare property at Ilbilbie, formerly owned by the Latimore family but recently sold, was a declared a crime scene as forensic investigators scoured the land in the investigation into the suspected murder of Rene Latimore. Photo: Daryl Wright

Ms Latimore was found on the 271ha cattle property about 2.30pm on Sunday, August 29.

The Latimore family had owned and lived at the property for about two decades and had recently sold it to a long-term neighbour.

Inspector Armitt said the property had been declared a crime scene earlier this week after an exhaustive forensic examination.

“We’re really heavily focused on a lot of our forensic results right now,” he said.

“We’ve followed up on a number of inquiries.

“We’re still canvassing local people and still really interested in her movements leading up to her disappearance.

“Any other suspicious movements or observations people made in the local area of either people moving around that witnesses may have observed, or vehicles, come forward.”

Ms Latimore was formally reported missing on August 18, nine days after her last known contact in person or on social media.