Sister of Gwen Grover, found dead with gunshot wound, renews push for fresh inquest

The determined sister of a woman found dead in Cairns has returned to the region to renew her push for a fresh inquest.

The determined sister of a woman found dead in a car in Cairns exactly 40 years ago has returned to Cairns to mark the anniversary and renew her push for a fresh inquest.

Passer-by Craig Lock saw a woman sitting in a Valiant sedan on Lake St in Cairns North about noon on October 14, 1983, and leaned in to check if she was all right.

The woman, mother of two Gwen Grover, 32, was sitting upright in the driver’s seat with a rifle between her legs and was clearly dead, Mr Lock told a coroner’s inquest held 37 years later.

At the time, police determined Gwen had shot herself in the left temple and no inquest was held.

Gwen Grover's light green 1975 Valiant Galant sedan was found with her body inside it on Lake St, 125m south of Rutherford St, about noon on October 1983. by Craig Wallace Lock, who said Mrs Grover was sitting upright in the vehicle. Picture: Supplied

Her sister Sue Cole is pushing for a fresh inquest.

“I’m not retired with nothing better to do, and I am not on a vendetta,” she said.

“I’m always drawn back to Cairns, this is where Gwen died, I am drawn back here as though it is my last link with her, I go to quiet places and wonder, ‘did she come here, did she walk down this street’,” Ms Cole said.

Sue Cole is pushing for a new inquest into circumstances surrounding the death of her sister Gwen Grover, who was found dead with a single gunshot wound to her temple on Lake Street, Cairns North, in 1983. Picture: Brendan Radke

Police undertook a 2020 cold case investigation, concluding there was no evidence to contradict the suicide finding, before the two-day inquest in Cairns in 2021.

Coroner Nerida Wilson, who ruled Gwen’s death was suicide, said the police investigation at the time was “perfunctory”.

A police photograph of the interior of the Valiant sedan that Gwen Grover was found dead in on Lake St in Cairns North on October 14, 1983. Note that there is no blood on the handbag. Picture: Supplied

“Although the investigation reached a threshold of adequate, the investigation was left vulnerable because not all reasonable and relevant evidence was obtained,” Ms Wilson said.

“I could not find any review of the matter by a more senior officer.”

She noted inconsistencies, and said opportunities were lost to interview key witnesses.

It was unclear who last saw Gwen alive the night before she died.

Ms Cole wants the inquest findings set aside.

Gwen Grover holding her baby sister Sue, who was 19 years old at the time of her death in 1983. Picture: Supplied

She said a second witness would testify they saw Gwen that morning sitting upright, and there was evidence the man Gwen had just dumped, Ken Soper, was violent with a previous wife, and was a convicted pedophile.

“She left Soper on the 12th and she was moving in to a unit at 177 Esplanade on the night she died, and that’s my big bugbear, why drive 50m down the road to the hockey field at Lake St – it is one of many, many inconsistencies for me,” Ms Cole said.

Ken Soper died in an accident while riding his Harley Davidson along Toogood Rd on February 3, 2022. Picture: Supplied

Gwen began a whirlwind relationship with Soper in March 1983, but on October 13 she was moving out.

Ms Cole believes Soper killed Gwen and rearranged her body.

She said Soper, who died in February 2022, had previously been married, and his former wife has now stated publicly that he was an extremely violent man.

Bayview Heights man Ken Soper was killed in a motorcycle accident in Cairns in February 2022.

“It is so fresh in my memory, I can still remember the exact moment I got the news, what I was wearing, the song that was playing, in some ways it’s like it only happened yesterday, in other ways a lifetime ago,” Ms Cole said.

Gwen Grover, who died in October 1983, pictured with a friend's baby. Picture: Supplied

“And 40 years later we still can’t get the justice for her that she deserved – so many families with similar circumstances have contacted me.

“As soon as we ask questions we get belittled and ridiculed and there’s a character assignation of the victim, particularly women, victim blaming and victim shaming, instead of investigating what actually took place.

“They cast the victim as an irresponsible nobody.”

Just five photographs, one of which is double exposed, exist from the scene.

In her inquest findings, Ms Wilson said none of them clearly depicted the gun or ammunition.

Originally published as Sister of Gwen Grover, found dead with gunshot wound, renews push for fresh inquest