Eerie new clue in murder of mum, 31, whose decomposed body was found on a farm

Police have released an eerie new clue in the murder of a mum whose body was found on a farm weeks after her social media activity abruptly ceased.

Mackay Police have released a grainy image of a vehicle on a road off which the heavily decomposed body of murdered 31-year-old woman, Rene Latimore, was found two months ago.

The image is the latest, eerie clue in the case of Ms Latimore, who vanished in early August and whose body was found in a makeshift burial site in bushland on a remote property.

The new image of a vehicle Mackay detectives are interested in was taken from CCTV of a car travelling on Schirmers Road, Ilbilbie near Koumala south of Mackay, on the evening of August 9.

It depicts a four-wheel drive leaving the Ilbilbie property where Ms Latimer was last seen alive.

The photo shows bright pools from what appears to be the headlights and tail lights of a car

driving past a star-picket fence lined with overgrown grass.

That evening was when Ms Latimore’s activity on social media abruptly ceased, although she was not reported missing until nine days later.

Strange goings on have been recorded on the 271ha cattle property sold by her family in June this year and the site of where her body was found.

When Rene Latimore was around ten years old, her father Terrence Latimore bought the property for $360,000.

Rene, her two older siblings, Katie and Daniel and younger sister Becky, grew up there around the time Mackay police raided the nearby property of meth kingpin Michael Falzon, aka the “Speed King”.

Rene Latimer vanished and her decomposed body was found on a remote property.

Homicide police at the Ilbilbie property (above) the day after Rene Latimore’s decomposed body was found on her former family farm south of Mackay. Picture: Daryl Wright.

Rene Latimore, 31, mother of a 14-year-old son, vanished from a remote property south of Mackay and her body was found in late August.

The photo shows bright pools from the headlights and tail lights of a four-wheel drive vehicle driving past a star picket fence lined with overgrown grass on the night Rene vanished.

Falzon, who lived only 14km away but on the other side of the Bruce Highway south of Mackay, was jailed for 10 years for supplying drugs to Rebels bikies.

Rene eventually moved away from the property to live in Mackay.

In February this year, police raided the property and allegedly seized 800 cannabis plants and charged Terrence and his son Daniel with drug and weapon-related alleged offences.

They faced Sarina Magistrates Court in April this year.

Ms Latimore’s sister Katie Marchetti has since said Rene was not living at the Schirmers Road address at the time of the raid and “had nothing to do with” the alleged drug case.

But Ms Marchetti did say that Rene had subsequently moved back at the time of her disappearance to the property, although it had been bought by neighbour, Mackay regional councillor Martin Bella.

Mr Bella was allegedly run down by a car on the same property a few weeks ago, but police don’t believe the incident and Ms Latimore’s disappearance are related.

There is no suggestion Mr Bella is in any way connected with Ms Latimore’s murder.

The Latimore family, who had been on holiday at the time Rene vanished, reported her as missing on August 18.

Her body was found a few kilometres from the house on the property the Latimores owned for 20 years, around 2.30pm on August 29.

Ms Marchetti said the fact the property had recently sold to Cr Bella had unfortunately dominated headlines and taken away the focus from her sister.

Rene Latimore was murdered and her body dumped on a remote part of a property owned by her family.

CCTV footage of Rene Latimore shows the murdered woman at a Sarina supermarket two days before her social media posts abruptly ceased.

Homicide police investigate the suspected murder of Rene Latimore at an Ilbilbie cattle property in late August after her body was found. Picture: Daryl Wright.

Katie Marchetti pleaded for her sister’s killers to be found and prosecuted. Picture: Seven News.

“That basically turned the spotlight away from what happened to my sister,” Ms Marchetti said.

Detectives believe a 48-hour window between August 9 and 11 is the crucial time frame in the murder of Rene, who was the mother of a 14-year-old boy.

Mackay Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said Ms Latimore’s social media activity stopped suddenly the night of August 9.

His team has pieced the single mother’s movements in Ilbilbie and the town of Sarina, 40km north and almost half way to Mackay up to that point at a Sarina supermarket on August 7.

“Her activity ceased around the night of August 9 so we’re ­really interested in what happened in the evening of August 9,” Det Insp Armitt said.

“Especially the movements of August 9 and August 11 in and around that property.”

Police scoured the Schirmers Road property for clues after discovering Ms Latimore’s body.

Katie Marchetti told Channel 7 she believed someone in the tight-knit rural township of Koumala might have vital information to help police.

“I grew up out there, I know how people are,” she said.

“They think, ‘I’ll just mind my own business and stay out of it.’ But I urge them to come forward.”

Ms Marchetti said her younger sister “by one year” was a fearless person and she wanted Rene’s killers prosecuted.

Rene Latimore was murdered in late August near Koumala after two days earlier being caught on CCTV shopping in Sarina. Picture: Seven News.

Rene Latimore was caught on CCTV at a Sarina supermarket, two days before she vanished. Picture: Queensland Police.

Detective Inspector Tom Armitt said police had interviewed more than 100 people in the Rene Latimore investigation. Picture: Seven News.

“It’s just been surreal – that’s the word I keep using with everyone,” Ms Marchetti told Channel 7.

“My sister was a person.

“Very little fazed her. I don’t know who could have done this to her – she wasn’t afraid of anyone.

“She was honestly the most easygoing person I’ve ever met.

“I just want people to know her son was her best friend and she deserves justice just like anybody else.”

Inspector Armitt said police have canvassed local people about Rene’s possible movements leading up to her disappearance.

“Any other suspicious movements or observations people made in the local area of either people moving around that witnesses may have observed, or vehicles, come forward,” he said.

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