Killer concealed Sarah Gatt’s brutal murder for nine months
WHILE Sarah Gatt’s body was rotting in a bathtub for almost nine months, those responsible for her brutal murder took deliberate steps to make out the mother of four was still alive.
Law & Order
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WHILE Sarah Gatt’s body was rotting in a bathtub for almost nine months, those responsible for her brutal murder took deliberate steps to make out the mother of four was still alive.
Neighbours say people often dropped in, stayed the night and rummaged through her letterbox at the dishevelled Kensington public housing property, while her decomposing corpse lay just metres away in another room.
It has been suggested Ms Gatt’s Centrelink payments were also being collected, but by who, has left the quiet Lambeth St neighbourhood puzzled.
SEARCH FOR ANSWERS AFTER GRUESOME DEATH IN KENSINGTON
Forensic testing revealed the 40-year-old died from a violent assault sometime between April 20 and 24 last year.
When family were told she was killed, they weren’t aware she had been missing for so long.
For almost nine months people peddled a story to make out she was still alive.
From collecting her mail, to telling concerned neighbours she was locked up in a psych ward, those suspected to be responsible for her death kept up the elaborate rouse.
Police have refused to reveal specific details on just how her death was concealed but detectives say Ms Gatt knew her killer.
When they arrived at the property, detectives were overcome by the stench of a rotting body.
A wheelie bin found inside the home was intended to be used to dump her corpse, police say.
If the killer had succeeded to cover up the crime, who knows whether Ms Gatt would ever be found.
In the months leading up to her death Ms Gatt became paranoid, according to her close friend and neighbour Alex Rinvenuto.
BODY FOUND AT KENSINGTON HOUSE
“Sarah used to spend a lot of time at my house,” he told the Herald Sun
“She used to talk about people, all these types of people. She became very paranoid and scared.”
Mr Rinvenuto said he used to sleep on her couch almost three nights a week just to make her feel safe.
“She didn’t feel like she could be in her own home,” he explained.
“I would stay there … especially after her children were taken off her two or so years ago and after many relationship breakdowns.”
Ms Gatt became isolated after a series of failed friendships, partners and even lost touch with family who hadn’t heard her in more than 18 months.
It was no secret Ms Gatt, who was once an aspiring model, battled a long and hard heroin and ice addiction, dating back to when she was in her mid-teens.
Her father, Victor, described her as a “great person” who went down a bad path and couldn’t be helped.
“I lost my daughter,” he said.
“I should have pushed myself to go see her but Sarah was the type of person if she didn’t want to see you, she didn’t want to see you.”
Mr Rinvenuto said he last saw his friend alive in February last year and wondered why she suddenly disappeared.
“It was unusual, I couldn’t work out why I all of a sudden stopped hearing from her and seeing her in the street,” he said.
But what was most unusual to Mr Rinvenuto was the amount of “different” people coming and going late last year.
“I never saw Sarah, but I would see different people going in and coming out of her home,” he said.
“There was a lot of presence, but no sign of Sarah.”
One morning in the middle of last year, Mr Rinvenuto bumped into two of Sarah’s friends at the Salvation Army in the city.
“I said to them I haven’t seen Sarah for a while, and asked where she was,” he said.
“They told me she was locked up in a psych ward but didn’t know which one she was in.”
He didn’t think too much off it until a number of police cars blocked off Ms Gatt’s unkempt home one summer afternoon in January.
“To be honest, when I found out Sarah was dead I wasn’t shocked because of her hard life,” he said.
“But to find out her body was rotting there for so long, and there was people there after she died is strange.”
Ms Gatt’s stepmother, Cheryl, made an emotional plea for information.
“No one deserves to die like that,” Mrs Gatt said.
“It doesn’t matter what happened or what her life was like, she doesn’t deserve this.”
Ms Gatt’s death and disappearance went unnoticed for far too long, but her family are determined to find justice.
“We would really like those people with information to come forward because sometimes it’s just a little bit of information that fits in with the puzzle.”