Mum prays for answers to daughter Maddy Murphy-West’s violent death

A MELBOURNE mum prays an inquest will finally give her answers three years after her daughter’s body was found next to her toddler son.

Paula Murphy with Maddy’s son, Noah. Picture: Tony Gough

THE family of Melbourne mum Maddison Murphy-West hopes an inquest will finally expose what really happened to her and who was involved.

Sunday marks three years since Ms Murphy-West’s body was found at her Pakenham home, her toddler son Noah nearby.

Police later concluded Ms Murphy-West was murdered before her killer tried to manipulate the crime scene to give the appearance of a suicide.

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Her boyfriend, Troy Boothey, is the man police suspect but has never been charged.

Investigators have sent a brief of evidence to the State Coroner, potentially meaning the case will go before an inquest.

Maddison Murphy-West with her mum, Paula.

Ms Murphy-West’s family say that if they can’t get justice for her yet, they want answers.

They have long suspected a second person was involved in trying to give the appearance Ms Murphy-West had taken her own life and that others are withholding information to protect the killer.

Her mother, Paula Murphy, said she wanted to see those people answering hard questions about what they knew.

“They’re not up at night with Noah when he’s crying. They don’t take him down to his mother’s gravestone,” she said.

“They need to face what has happened. This will never go away for us and they’ve just gone on living their lives.”

Troy Boothey with Maddy Murphy-West.

Ms Murphy said Noah, four, who she is now raising, was a loving, affectionate boy, but he could not yet comprehend what had happened.

“He just doesn’t get it and we can’t explain it properly,” she said.

“I’m getting questions like ‘why can’t I have a sleepover at my other mum’s’?”

Ms Murphy said a person capable of killing her daughter had the capacity to do the same again and had to be stopped.

She said the past three years had been terribly difficult, but giving up was never an option.

“I haven’t given up. I’m trying to keep the faith,” Ms Murphy said.

A spokeswoman for the coroner said evidence provided to them was now being ­reviewed before a decision was made on what happened next.

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