Mother Maree Crabtree allegedy tortured, killed her offspring for financial gain

Police allege that not only was Maree Crabtree secretly torturing her daughter, she had also murdered two of her adult children.

Maree Crabtree with her surviving daughter while visiting Sydney.

To her surviving daughter, Maree Crabtree was the mum who helped her rescue small animals in need of a new home.

But police now allege that not only was Ms Crabtree secretly torturing her daughter, she had also murdered two of her adult children, staging their overdose deaths to make them look like ­suicides for her own financial gain.

Handwriting experts have been consulted to examine her son’s apparent suicide note, which police believe was written by Ms Crabtree. The shocking case emerged yesterday when Ms Crabtree, 51, was arrested in Brisbane.

She was charged with two counts of murder over the Gold Coast deaths of her daughter Erin, 18, and son Jonathan, 26, as well as one of torture, two of fraud, two of attempted fraud and one of armed robbery.

Police allege she attempted to benefit from a $125,000 Sunsuper superannuation death benefit policy and from a $238,000 total and permanent disability claim.

Police arrest Ms Crabtree yesterday in Brisbane.

She is also accused of fraudulently receiving an insurance payout of $567,863 from a policy that police have not yet specified. Detective Inspector Mark Thompson said there were “strong links that a fraud has been committed in relation to those deaths” and that the deaths were “financially motivated”.

“These acts haven’t been compassionate acts of a stressed mother at her end; we will be alleging that these are premeditated acts of murder,” he said.

“The health and wellbeing of these children, we believe, was impacted by the guidance the children had received from their matriarch, their mother, and the family dynamic was harmful to those children.”

Police allege she tortured her surviving daughter, now 25, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on several dates over a period of years up to July last year.

“It will be alleged the mother of the 25-year-old female caused significant harm over a significant period of time to that victim,” Inspector Thompson said, adding that some of the injuries began while they were living interstate.

The family had lived throughout Australia and police are ­appealing for anyone from interstate with information to come forward.

Police said Ms Crabtree had previously used different names, including the maiden name of Graham.

Ms Crabtree with her daughter Erin.

Erin Crabtree died in September 2012 in Maudsland, on the Gold Coast, where the family lived at the time.

It is understood the death went to a coroner, but police initially accepted it was a suicide, despite suspicions about the state of the crime scene.

The Australian has been told police now believe Ms Crabtree gave her daughter an overdose of drugs before taking the rest of the family on a cruise. It is understood a family friend discovered her body.

Inspector Thompson said the investigation into Erin’s death remained open and was reviewed upon the death of Ms Crabtree’s son Jonathan in July last year, leading police to combine it into a single probe, which led to yesterday’s arrest.

Jonathan had previously been charged with a knifepoint robbery of Southport’s Chempro Chemist in 2015. While wearing a balaclava, he had demanded staff hand over “all your Tramadol”. He had been addicted to the prescription painkiller since a 2009 car accident, his defence lawyer told Southport Magistrates Court at the time.

An objection-to-bail document noted he had attempted suicide several times and his mother had advised he had been revived some of those times.

Jonathan Crabtree.

Police have now charged his mother over the armed robbery, alleging she counselled him to commit the crime. It is understood that when he died, a suicide note was found, but police suspect his mother prepared it.

The Australian has also been told Ms Crabtree’s children had long-term illnesses and impairments, and it will be alleged she contributed to them being administered increasing doses of prescription medication that may have been unnecessary and added to their health problems.

A police statement called for “anyone who has concerns about the abuse or exploitation of persons with vulnerabilities to contact Crime Stoppers or Policelink”.

As police investigated the two deaths, the surviving daughter was taken away from her mother and into care and has staged a major physical recovery, The Australian has been told.

On Facebook, Ms Crabtree’s surviving daughter had a page devoted to “small animal rescue” on the Gold Coast. “If you have any pets that you cannot look after and need a home for whatever reason, we are happy to take them,” she wrote.

“My mum Maree and myself treat your beloved pets as part of our own family, they will live the rest of their lives with us.”

Another Facebook post says she rescues “rats, guinea pigs, budgies, all types of birds and small animals, I will love and care for your loved pets as my own, they will live out their lives in a loving, caring environment”.

A separate Facebook profile for the surviving daughter says: “I miss my life, my friends and my chihuahua tinkerbell, my german shepherd and casey my cat.” Ms Crabtree has used Twitter and in October last year tweeted about her surviving daughter: “Miss you.”