Dying Rose | Police weren’t looking: Nine lost days before Charlene Warrior’s formal police report

Charlene Warrior’s family say they filed a missing persons report with police – but it fell on deaf ears. Thirteen days later, she was found dead.

For nine days after they reported her missing to police, the family of Charlene Warrior waited in desperation for news of the 21-year-old mother.

Their wait was in vain because for those nine days, police were not looking.

Nearly two years after Charlene was mysteriously found in a tree in plain sight in the small Yorke Peninsula town of Bute, the coroner has claimed she was not reported missing until September 29, 2021 — 11 days after she disappeared and nine days after her sister, Theresa Newchurch, said she made the initial report.

Theresa, who adamantly refutes the coroner’s timeline, has provided messages sent before September 29 which state a report had already been made.

Her parents say they also visited Port Adelaide police station and her baby’s father spoke with police at Kadina station.

Police have offered no explanation for the nine missing days.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains images and voices of people who have died.

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Charlene Warrior and her daughter, A'methyst. Picture: Supplied by the Warrior family

Charlene and A'methyst. Picture: Supplied by the Warrior family

Theresa said she remembers vividly the last time she spoke to Charlene.

That night – September 18 – Charlene was on a park bench somewhere in Bute when she called her younger sister in a distressed state.

“The last phone call that we had was of her crying in tears,” Theresa said.

“That’s how I knew something was wrong, because she was crying in tears and she was saying ‘I need to get back to Adelaide’.”

Later that night, Charlene messaged her sister to say “I hate this literally the saddest shit ever”.

Charlene 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.

Family’s pleas ‘unheard’

A two-hour drive north of the Adelaide CBD, Bute sits on Narungga country, where Charlene and her family were originally from.

She had gone there to pick up her one-year-old daughter from the home of her ex-partner when she vanished about eight days into the trip.

A local man out walking found her body in a tree on October 3 – 13 days after Theresa said she first reported her missing.

By the following morning, police had published a statement the death “appears to be non-suspicious” – meaning Charlene had died by suicide.

But what the family said happened in the days following Theresa’s last contact with Charlene is vastly different to the timeline that has been put forward by the Coroner’s Court in recent weeks.

The youngest of Alma Warrior and Kent Newchurch’s six children, Theresa and Charlene were close.

They kept in frequent contact when Charlene was away from the family home at Seaton, in Adelaide’s western suburbs, and Theresa realised quickly that her sister had disappeared.

“The next day, I thought something was wrong because she never got back to me. I kept calling and calling her but she never got back,” she said.

“I messaged her ex-partner but he never got back to me and then he messaged me the day after and got back to me and said that he woke up and Charlene was gone.”

Missing woman Charlene Warrior with her one-year-old daughter. Pictures: Facebook

Charlene Warrior with her sister, Theresa. Theresa says one of the last messages she received from her sister read "I need to run away with daughter". Picture: Supplied

At that point, it was September 20 and Theresa was going out of her mind with worry.

She said it was that day that she called police to file a missing persons report.

But, in a statement, a Coroner’s Court spokeswoman said “Ms Warrior was reported missing on September 29, 2021”.

“On this date, uniformed police were tasked to the address where Ms Warrior was last seen,” she said.

The court has not said who, according to the police’s account, reported her missing.

However, messages Theresa sent to Charlene’s ex-partner before September 29 said “I already reported her missing”.

Theresa told him “don’t you understand, I don't know where she is” and “that very unusual for her”.

On September 29, Charlene’s ex-partner told Theresa he had been at the Kadina police station but “they haven’t heard anything yet either”.

It‘s not suggested the ex-partner had any involvement in Charlene’s disappearance and death.

Timeline in dispute

Asked about the nine-day discrepancy over when Charlene was reported missing, Theresa said the family has told the Coroner’s Court directly that they dispute the September 29 timeline.

“That’s what they said in the coroner’s meeting the other month and we were shocked,” she said.

“They said that a missing person’s report wasn’t done until the 29th of September and that it was the only one done.

“When they said that, mum and dad hit the table and said that they physically went into the Port Adelaide police station and made a second report after mine.

“Why would I report her missing that long after I last spoke to her? It makes no sense.”

Alma Warrior adamantly disputes the coroner’s timeline of her daughter’s missing persons report. Picture: Emma Brasier

Charlene’s mother, Alma Warrior, said her daughter’s ex-partner told the family that he believed Charlene had caught a bus back to Adelaide.

They do not believe he ever filed a missing person’s report with police.

The Coroner’s Court said, after Charlene was reported missing on September 29, the search immediately ramped up.

“On 30 September 2021, detectives from Port Pirie CIB (crime investigation branch) commenced investigations which included a further attendance to the address where Ms Warrior was last seen,” the court spokeswoman said.

“On the same date, Port Pirie CIB consulted with SAPOL Major Crime Detectives.”

Charlene Warrior, left, and her sister, Theresa. Picture: Supplied by the Warrior family

Charlene ‘let down’ by police

Police and the family agree that the co-ordinated SA Police search for Charlene began on October 1.

Her body was found by the walker about 6pm on October 3.

She was in a tree at the edge of a paddock on Martin St, about 200m and within eyeline of where the search had been based and 100m from the house where she had been staying.

Her family were astonished to learn the date of death listed on her autopsy report was on or about September 20 – meaning she had been in the tree for two weeks by the time she was discovered.

Theresa said she felt her sister had been let down.

Charlene’s sister Theresa says she was “let down” by police. Picture: Facebook

“Even with the police, I just reckon that they failed that case miserably. I would tell them to this day too. They know how I feel about it,” she said.

“It just went unheard to them. It wasn’t important enough. I felt like she wasn't important enough for the police for them to find her, for her to be there for two whole weeks.”

Charlene’s ex-partner was unavailable when The Advertiser knocked on his door at Bute this month, but his dad answered.

He said Charlene took her own life and his family has been unfairly targeted ever since.

Police back ‘very thorough’ investigation

Police declined a request for interview but in a statement said they were confident Charlene’s death was not suspicious.

“SAPOL have listened to Ms Warrior’s family and appreciate and understand their concerns about the circumstances surrounding Ms Warrior’s tragic death,” a spokeswoman said.

“Senior SAPOL representatives have met previously with Ms Warrior’s family on a number of occasions and provided updates on the status of the very thorough coronial investigation.”

The spokeswoman said a comprehensive report into the cause and circumstances of Charlene’s death had been prepared for the coroner.

“In circumstances such as this, investigators are always alert to any possibility of foul play,” she said.

“Investigators, including support from SAPOL’s Major Crime Investigation Branch, are confident that Ms Warrior’s death is not suspicious.”

A subsequent statement from Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said the coroner was satisfied with the evidence presented and has found Charlene’s death was as a result of suicide.

The Coroner’s Court declined to release files on Charlene’s death on the basis that the matter was not heard at inquest.

Dying Rose: Six deaths. One national shame.

Originally published as Dying Rose | Police weren’t looking: Nine lost days before Charlene Warrior’s formal police report