‘So angry’: Friends of 19-year-old mum demand answers after North Bondi death

Friends of a young mum found dead in her Sydney unit say they are shocked after seeing the “happy, healthy” teen just last week.

Friends of the young mum found dead in a Sydney apartment this week say they are “angry” and want answers over how she lost her life.

Yolonda Mumbulla, 19, has been remembered for her “joyful” nature and big smile by those closest to her as they try to process her tragic death, with her baby daughter born just last year.

Police discovered the young mother’s body at a unit at North Bondi on Tuesday after a welfare call was made to emergency services.

The call came from her partner, Aron Carey.

He has not been accused of involvement in Ms Mumbulla’s death, and was later charged with unrelated theft offences.

Yolonda Mumbulla died in Sydney’s east.

She had recently become a mother. Pictures: Supplied

Alyah Pera, who has known Ms Mumbulla since primary school, said it was hard to believe the young mother had died just a week since they last met.

“She was happy, she looked healthy,” Ms Pera told news.com.au.

Another close friend, Isabelle Pike said Ms Mumbulla was an “amazing mum”.

“She was still always happy. You never saw her mad, and if you did it didn’t last long,” she said.

“We’re so angry... we just want answers.”

Police are investigating misadventure as a cause of death, with news.com.au understanding a fatal drug overdose is one line of inquiry.

Police on the scene where Ms Mumbulla’s body was found. Picture: Jonathan Ng

A strike force has been established to probe the circumstances around Ms Mumbulla’s death and detectives charged another man, 34, with drug possession offences on Wednesday.

The scene where the teenager died in Sydney’s eastern suburbs this week was largely deserted on Wednesday afternoon.

There were no floral tributes, cards or teddy bears left outside the Hardy St apartment block, where police had since packed up following investigations on Tuesday.

If not for the small remnants of police tape on a few handrails and poles, you’d be forgiven for not realising anything tragic had happened there at all.

The door detectives were seen going in and out of earlier this was boarded up.

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The apartment block on Hardy St.

Some small bits of police tape remained.

Ms Mumbulla grew up in the Macquarie Fields area in Sydney’s southwest and split her time between Bondi and visiting her friends and family in the suburbs.

In a newsletter from 2015, the principal of Guise Public School paid tribute to the both Ms Mumbulla and Ms Pera for their “excellence in netball” at a junior tournament.

Ms Pera said her late friend was “very good” at netball and football in her youth.

The group of friends later attended James Meehan High School in Macquarie Fields.

A fundraising page was set up by Ms Pera to help pay Ms Mumbulla’s funeral on Monday night. It had gained more than $1700 on Wednesday.

Ms Pike said Ms Mumbulla was “very loyal” to her friends and always checked in on their lives.

“She was just always joyful, a very bubbly person,” she said.

A young Yolonda Mumbulla. Picture: Supplied

Police revealed Mr Carey, 32, was wanted on an outstanding warrant for alleged larceny offences at the time of his partner’s death.

In a post on social media last year, Mr Carey thanked his partner “for starting a family with me”.

“I’m the luckiest guy ever to have you in my life Yolonda,” he wrote.

“You make me the happiest man ever. I love you so much.”

Yolonda Mumbulla and her partner Aron Carey. Picture: Facebook

The friends said they did not know whether Ms Mumbulla was using drugs.

“We feel we would have known,” Ms Pera said, who admitted her friend had “slipped away” from her somewhat in the past year.

Court records show Ms Mumbulla had recently appeared before Waverley Local Court on larceny, fraud and identity offences.

She was convicted and ordered to pay $1550 in fines by a magistrate on February 8.

As police continue to probe how Ms Mumbulla died, Ms Saini said her loved ones were desperate for closure.

“All we want right now is what really happened,” she said.

Investigations under Strike Force Eacham continue.

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