Merrylands woman Erin Gilbert died after being found with stab wounds to the head
A woman found dead inside her Merrylands apartment was stabbed multiple times in the head with a sharp object, as her killer remains on the run.
NSW
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A woman found dead in a pool of blood inside her Merrylands apartment was stabbed multiple times in the head with a sharp object by an intruder who remains on the run more than 48 hours after the attack.
Several voices were heard yelling inside Erin Gilbert’s second-floor unit late on Sunday before her husband arrived home to find her body, with police now scouring CCTV cameras in the hope of identifying who paid her a visit.
Nicholas Gilbert was performing CPR on his 42-year-old wife when police arrived at their Newman Ave unit to check on her welfare after a worried neighbour called Triple-0 with concerns for her welfare.
Mr Gilbert spent much of Easter Monday assisting police with their inquiries, but is not understood to be a suspect with CCTV confirming his alibi.
Police sources said the wounds inflicted to Mrs Gilbert’s head by an unknown sharp object were “severe”.
NSW Police Superintendent Andrew Holland said Ms Gilbert had no serious criminal history and appealed for the public’s help them identify those responsible for inflicting her fatal injuries.
“Erin was at home at a unit block that evening … we are just concerned that someone else may have been at the unit block with her,” Supt Holland said.
“Our lines of inquiry are open at this stage, it’s too early to determine what has actually happened hence why we are asking the community to come forward.
“We are asking members of the community who may know the last movements of Erin in the lead up to her death to contact our investigators or Crime Stoppers.
“Erin and her partner are well known in the local community, and we’re looking for people who may know her so we can piece together her movements.”
Mr and Mrs Gilbert had met in 2018, before getting engaged in 2019 and marrying a year later in 2020.
In Facebook posts Mr Gilbert described their special relationship, telling how: “I was broken and then I found my best, my better half, without you bub … I love you”.
Police said the couple were well known throughout the local area, with a neighbour telling how Mrs Gilbert had sought her assistance on how to sew.
“I knew her and her husband, they were pretty quiet people,” the woman said.
“I sew and she came to me and asked if I could teach her how to sew, so we were going to do that.”
NSW Police have launched Strike Force Trevelyan with detectives from the local Cumberland Police Area Command and Homicide Squad to investigate Mrs Gilbert’s death.
They are hopeful a post mortem, due to be carried out on Wednesday, will provide them with vital clues.
WOMAN FOUND DEAD IN POOL OF BLOOD
A woman found dead in a pool of blood on the bed of her Merrylands apartment had only moved in with her husband a few months earlier.
Erin Gilbert, 42, was discovered dead by her husband Nic Gilbert, 38, inside their home on Newman Ave about 11.30pm on Easter Sunday.
Mr Gilbert helped police with their inquiries and is not considered a suspect.
Police have now launched a major manhunt to find her killers, with Strike Force Treleyan formed with detectives from the local Cumberland area and Homicide Squad.
One neighbour said she knew Ms Gilbert only by her first name and that she wanted to teach her to sew.
“I knew her and her husband, they were pretty quiet people,” the woman said.
“I sew and she came to me and asked if I could teach her how to sew, so we were going to do that.”
The 42-year-old was on Sunday night discovered covered in blood on the second floor unit of a Merrylands apartment block where she lived with her husband.
Detectives at Merrylands are understood to have been alerted to Ms Gilbert’s death by Mr Gilbert when he arrived home
On Monday, one neighbour in the unit block said there were a lot of people “coming and going” from the apartment.
Homicide detectives and forensic police remained at the taped-off crime scene well into Monday night, dusting for fingerprints and collecting items including mascara and keys from the bedside table next to where her body lay.
Forensic officers were seen taking swabs of the metal balcony railing and the inside of a doorway.
A rainbow-coloured, round rug hung over the railing.
One bag was marked “mascara found next to deceased on bed in bedroom”.
The balcony was cluttered by other items, including a telescope, a wooden jewellery box and a number of plastic tubs.
The group, dressed in blue hazmat suits, sealed a number of items from the home into brown evidence bags as uniformed officers watched on.
Officers were also seen closely inspecting the open entrance area under the apartment, with one holding a blood-soaked sock.
It’s understood sheets and a doona in the home were also stained with blood.
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