Final footage of woman Nicole Cartwright found dumped in Hunter’s Hill park
ON September 28, she sent her family a selfie from Maroubra. On September 30, CCTV captured her happily passing through Opal barriers in a CBD train station. By October 3, Nicole Cartwright was dead.
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ON September 28, she sent her family a selfie from Maroubra in Sydney’s east.
On September 30, CCTV captured her smiling as she passed through Opal barriers in a CBD train station.
By October 3 — last Wednesday — Nicole Cartwright was dead.
The discovery of the 32-year-old bound, dumped and covered in leaves beside a playground in Sydney’s inner north has sparked a sweeping murder investigation.
Homicide specialists announced yesterday they were painstakingly combing over where Ms Cartwright went, what she did and — most importantly — who she met, in her last three days.
They want to understand how the “free-spirited” woman from Lansvale in Sydney’s west, who frequently called in on friends across the city and eastern suburbs, wound up dead in a park in the affluent suburb of Hunters Hill.
“We’re seeking to fill the gap between the 30th of September and the 3rd October,” Homicide Squad commander Detective Superintendent Scott Cook said.
“It’s quite possible she was placed there (in the park) on the 2nd or quite early on the 3rd.
“She was bound with her hands in front of her body and she was dressed in the same clothing, or similar to, what she was wearing on the 30th.”
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Ms Cartwright’s heartbroken family — parents Terry and Brenda and brother Ben — were still too distraught to speak from the family home in Lansvale yesterday but Ben managed an online tribute.
“Rest in Peace my little sister! I love you with my all,” he wrote.
“It is with very sad and heavy hearts that we announce that our beloved daughter, sister and friend Nicole Cartwright has sadly passed away.”
Her family reported Ms Cartwright missing on October 4, the day after her body was found in Buffalo Creek Reserve. At the time police were still trying to identify the woman’s body, which had a purple collar around her neck.
It was in the following days police linked the missing person and the grisly discovery and the family was notified.
“Her family is devastated,” Supt Cook said.
In the hunt for her killer, officers want to get to know Ms Cartwright.
“We’re doing a lot of work around the victimology of this, understanding her life,” Supt Cook said. “She was a free spirit, she certainly travelled around a lot on the Sydney train system. We need to understand her and her background in detail.”
They know Ms Cartwright was single, did not work and did not drive.
She had a quirky dress sense. She wore animal-themed furry hats and collars like the buckled strap she was found with on October 3.
Investigators feel critical evidence about her death may lie with some of her many friends. “We would like to hear from Nicole’s friends and associates who might have been in contact with her between the 30th and the 3rd,” Supt Cook said.
Investigators have also placed Ms Cartwright boarding buses outside various railway stations between September 27 and 30.
They also know she travelled by train from Bondi Junction to St Marys early on September 29. The following day, she was captured on cameras at Strathfield, Central, Ashfield and then finally Museum train station, her last known sighting.
Supt Cook believes someone who frequently drives on Pittwater Rd at Hunters Hill may also have critical video evidence of the killer or victim, without even knowing.
“We’d like to hear from any member of the public who may have a dashcam who drives Pittwater Rd.”