Shoe found as police hunt Crystal Beale’s killer

Police have made a breakthrough in investigations into the death of Sunshine Coast mother Crystal Beale, whose body was found in the Brisbane River in February.

Beale, 49, was last seen in West End about 9.30pm on February 21, following a family dinner at the Sunnybank Hotel earlier that night. Her body was found the next morning near the Brisbane Corso at Yeronga.

Beale’s body was discovered with “no obvious injuries”, leading police to initially rule her death as non-suspicious, but a subsequent postmortem examination resulted in a murder investigation.

Crystal Beale’s body was found in the Brisbane River in February.Credit: Queensland Police Service

Since then, police have found one of Beale’s sandals in shrubbery on Ryan Street in West End, and several of her personal items at Orleigh Park, near the river.

Detective Acting Inspector Rod Watts said investigators had watched 1000 hours of CCTV footage for clues, and had spoken with her former partner, friends, and family.

“The piece of the puzzle we are trying to understand is how Crystal got from Ryan Street into the Brisbane River,” he said.

“This incident happened on Friday evening in West End. It is 1 kilometre from her last confirmed sighting to where we located her personal belongings at Orleigh Park.

“If Crystal had taken this route on foot, part of her journey should have been captured on CCTV, but we are yet to receive any eyewitness accounts or CCTV footage to confirm this.”

Watts said police were still desperate for information that could shed light on what happened to Beale.

“From everything that we have been told, Crystal was a loving mother of two, she was well known in the Sunshine Coast community, and there is no reason why this has happened to her,” he said.

CCTV shows Crystal Beale leaving the Sunnybank Hotel on February 21.Credit: Brisbane Times

“We know people, who are not suspects, were in this area that evening, and we continue to ask them to come forward. Even if the information you have seems small, it may be the crucial piece of the puzzle we need to solve what happened to Crystal that night.

“To everyone who has already come forward with information, thank you.”

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